K&N Induction Kit or K&N Air Filter Replacement

Tiago

New member
Points
16
Location
Portsmouth, Uk
Car
Zafira 1.8 Exclusiv
Hi everyone

I have a Vauxhall Zafira 1.8 Exclusive and I'm trying to improve its performance (to go from 140BHP to some 165BHP).

I've been reading in different articles that an Induction kit will improve the Air Flow to the engine so that way increase the BHP and improve the sound made by the engine. On the other hand there are K&N Air Filter designed to replace the factory air filter.

For this reason I'm not entirely sure of what to do...

Well let me make it clear of what are my intentions:

1 - Improve my car's performance step by step (no engine swap)
2 - Improve the engine sound
3 - Improve the look of my engine bay.
4 - Re-Map the ECU to get an extra 15 BHP

Also if I put an Induction Kit and Re-map the engine in my car do I need to Up-rate any other part of my car (like the Fuel Pump, Injectors etc...)?

So if anyone as some ideas on how to achieve this please let me know...

Thanks
Tiago
 
If you want to improve the engine sound :blink: then you can fit the induction kit but it will not increase your engine power by any significant margin on your size engine, it will however make the engine sound more noticable. If you fit the panel filter then this will be slightly better for your car but you will not get the noise that you are looking for.

If you are having a standard stage one remap which it sounds like you are (15 BHP) then you will not need to upgrade anything.

Improving the looks of your engine bay can be made with the addition of coloured silicon coolant and air pipes with stainless steel or polished alloy adaptors, painted engine covers etc.

This is a picture of my engine bay from early last year, it is being modified yet again as we speak;
IMG_1417.jpg
 
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Bear in mind that the power gains will only be at the top end of the rev range. You're going to wind up with a noisy car with little better than pedestrian performance. Q: Is it worth it?
 
Bear in mind that the power gains will only be at the top end of the rev range. You're going to wind up with a noisy car with little better than pedestrian performance. Q: Is it worth it?

So what else could I do to improve it performance apart from swapping the engine?
 
That's the problem with just about any naturally aspirated engine. There ain't a busting lot available. Common rail diesels are the easiest and cheapest to tune however. They respond superbly to remapping but the cost of fitting a 1.9 CDTi unit is going to be insane.
 
So what else could I do to improve it performance apart from swapping the engine?

Performance is only limited by the size of your wallet and your imagination.
If you use your car for work on a daily basis then a big project taking the car of the road for a while might not be any good to you. If you are not fussed about fuel economy then you could have a custom map instead of a generic one which could release you a bit more power but at the cost of increased fuel and mapping costs. Maybe our resident genius HDi might be able to come up with a smart alternative for you ;)
 
You get hold of some fast road cams... Induction kit or panel filter, then a decent exhaust and remap it. I can't see why that wouldn't boot yoy bhp to 165bhp.
 
Yeah but this is surely going to mess up the low end driveability. I had a Vectra Estate on loan in 2009 (with the same 140bhp 1.8 litre unit) and I found that to be totally spineless throughout the rev range anyway.
 
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Personally I wouldn't bother with tuning the 1.8 nasp. If it is something you need to do then seriously consider changing cars. A member on another forum just sold a low mile GSi Zafira for around £3800 running 302bhp with very tasty mods. The CDTi engine can be tuned nicely and can still return good mpg whilst upping the power output.
 

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