100 NX Tuning modifications

"The small but fun coupe from Nissan"

The diminutive 100nx is often overlooked by the car tuner but it acutally has a great chassis and engine to work with. The 2.0 Gti is the best choice and gives the best power gains but even a 1.6 can be improved and turned into a fun car to drive.

Handling modifications.

Alloy wheels will help the brakes cool down and are generally less heavy than steel ones. The downside to large rims on your 100 NX is that you're altering your effective final drive ratio so this will have a detrimental effect on performance and acceleration.

Due to this fact aim to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the standard factory sizes. In all cases we do not recommend going bigger than 17 inches.

Next up we should focus on handling modifications and we recommend a drop of 30-40mm on adjustable coilovers. Fixed setups are fine but TorqueCars prefer to allow the drive to set the spring rates themselves to suit their driving style.

We suggest you turn your attention first of all to the brakes and fit vented disks. It would also be better if you could get a big brake conversion kit fitted. Sometimes you can get bigger disks from other Nissan models that are suitable, TorqueCars forum members will be happy to pass on tips like this to you.

100nx tuning mods should start with braking and handling then you can focus on wringing every last scrap of power from the engine.

Engine tuning mods.

With the sensible modifications out of the way we can start to focus on increasing the power output of the engine.

The 100 NX is popular among our members for tuning projects Think carefully and research 100 NX tuning to avoid making the usual expensive errors we get told about.

Handling modifications are top of many to do lists for the 100 NX. We suggest that you fit uprated suspension and lower the car by 30-35mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with performance suspension.

Top end power should be your overall aim on the 100 NX with a nice fat peak torque band.

To be completely frank and honest, on the more modest engine sizes you are wasting your time spending money on modifications, so if this applies to you get yourself an engine swap then apply the following mods.

These are the motorsport mods are usually carried out by our members, decide how far you wish to go in your tuning project before you begin.

Getting the best modified mods for your planned usage of the car is a time and money saver. Stage 3 motor sport parts just don't work well on the road and will make the car undrivable.

Many of our members have fitted induction kits and sports exhausts to make the car more fun to drive although the power gains are not particularly noticeable, especially on the 1.6 engines.

To maximise the power delivery we would recommend an engine rebuild with some porting and polishing and get the engine balanced to take advantage of a higher red line. Match these mods up with a fast road camshaft profile and you have a very fun hot coupe.

Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

Best Engine Mods for your car

1. Engine Tunes - engine tuning/remapping provides the most advantage in terms of cost savings,  aftermarket ECUs, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
2. Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but they must be installed by someone who knows what they're doing and they are not always easy to source but you might find a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft.
3. Intake and Exhaust - Note that on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER in most cases, but they can help enhance power after other mods by removing the restriction.
4. Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - forced induction is the most efficient approach to increase air supply, allowing you to burn more fuel and make more power. It is one of the most costly upgrades but provides the best gains.
5. Head work - The goals of porting and flowing the head are to get air flowing into the engine while removing flow restrictions and turbulence.

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm), Engine Tunes/Remapping, Panel air filter, Sports exhaust, Alloy wheels, Lighter flywheel.

Typical stage 2 mods often include: Power/Sport clutch, high flow fuel injector, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Sports gearbox, Engine balancing, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam.

You really need to keep as much low end torque as possible and aim to achieve a long power band across the rev range rather than a narrow top end power hike.

In this article we shall give a limited introduction to the best upgrades for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance part.A fast road camshaft usually works out as one of the best NASP power modifications you can do mechanically to your engine.

It maximises the intake and exhaust durations and pushes up the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a remap. We'd also caution you not to go with a competition cam as this upsets the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.When pushing up the power you will need to pay attention to the fuelling. More power needs more fuel.

Using high octane petrol is another option if you find you are suffering from detonation or premature ignition on your Nissan project after fitting other performance upgrades. Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine. A fuel pump will only deliver a finite amount of fuel, so you may need to uprate this if your injectors are demanding more fuel.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Please note that WE DO NOT RECOMMEND INDUCTION KITS, unless you have tuned your car extensively and are finding that the standard air intake has become a restriction. Derestricting the airflow into the engine is the primary part of tuning so get a freer flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean only if you find the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound great but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not really increase power and more often than not rob you of power.

Sports exhausts can help increase the flow of gases through the engine. But if your exhaust pipe is too big, ie: over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose a great deal of the flow rate and end up sapping power and torque.

Getting the head flowed (ported and polished) will allow you to get more air into each cylinder. This is definitely a job for a pro with a flow bench. Your clutch can lose you loads of power as the power goes up if it starts to break and the standard clutches are only ever good for power gains of up to 45%. Fit an uprated clutch to avoid power leak through the transmission. NA (naturally aspirated) engines do not achieve big power gains if you tune/remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. With turbocharged engines this is another story. A tuned/remapped turbo will give big power gains and take full advantage of the strength of the block. Adding forced induction will see impressive power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. It is often simpler to add a supercharger than it is to bolt on a turbo. Turbos provide boost in increasing proportion to th engine speed and this can make mapping difficult.

The nice correlating boost and rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them easier to map. Decreasing the engines compression ratio will allow you to add forced induction, water injection may also help prevent detonation.

If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss 100 NX options in more detail with our 100 NX owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Nissan tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below. We love hearing about our website visitors projects, especially the mods done and which work best for you on your car. Which helps us keep our guides and tips up to date helping others with their modified car projects. Your feedback and comments are used to keep this page up to date, and help improve the accuracy of these articles which are kept updated and constantly revised.

If you've enjoyed this page we would be very grateful if you could share a link to it on your favourite forums or on your social media profiles, it helps us keep going.

Please Check out my YouTube channel, we're regularly adding new content...

Click to accept YouTube Cookies & Play.

This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Nissan. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.