The 106 the often overlooked capable track day car.

"The Baby Peugeot"

The 106 Gti was frequently voted best car due in no small part to its lively engine and sharp handling.

On a twisty track with short straights that favor cars with decent handling, the 106 can easily keep up with much more powerful cars, where its sharp handling and fast throttle responses come into their own.

The 106 shares many parts with its sister the Citroen Saxo which means that the 106 tuner has a larger selection of parts to choose from.

The GTi version also ensures you have easy access to performance parts in your local breakers/reclaim yard providing low cost upgrades and mods.

The 106 has been a popular track day car and even has its own class and TorqueCars have seen a humble 106 Gti beat cars with over 4 times the power on small twisty tracks.

As far as a cheap and fun car goes you can do no wrong by choosing a 106. It is cheap to run, economical and simple to work on. (Although it can be a pain finding French socket sizes!)

The baby in the Peugeot stable but by no means childlike, what it lacks in power it more than makes up for in maneuverability.

All of the 1.6 engines are lively performance but the ultimate base for a tuning project has to be the 16v 1.6 GTi.

Engine swaps on the 106 are a good way to increase power but we should warn you that these are rarely straightforward affairs. The aim of turning a 1.0 into the Gti will generally cost more than just buying a Gti.

Petrol:

We have a new separate guide to  TU engine tuning methods.

  • 954 cc TU9
  • 1124 cc TU1
  • 1294 cc TU2
  • 1360 cc TU3
  • 1587 cc TU5

Diesel:

  • 1360 cc TUD3 I4
  • 1527 cc TUD5 I4

Petrol engine specs on the 106

  • 1991–1992 1 TU9K
    44 hp@6,000 rpm Solex Carburettor
  • 1993–1998 1 TU9ML/Z (CDY)
    44 hp@6,000 rpm Mono–Bosch Motronic MA3.0
  • 1993–2001 1 TU9ML/Z (CDZ)
    49 hp@6,000 rpm Mono–Bosch Motronic MA3.0
  • 1991–1992 1.1 TU1K 60 PS
    44 kW; 59 hp@6,000 rpm Solex Carburettor
  • 1991–1997 1.1 TU1ML/Z (HDZ)
    49 hp@5,800 rpm Mono–Jetronic
  • 1993–1996 1.1 TU1ML/Z (HDZ)
    59 hp@6,200 rpm Magneti Marelli FDG6
  • 1997–1999 1.1 TU1M (HDY)
    53 hp@6,200 rpm Bosch Motronic MA3.1
  • 1997–2001 1.1 TU1M (HDZ)
    59 hp@6,200 rpm Bosch Motronic MA3.1
  • 2000–2003 1.1 TU1JP (HFX)
    59 hp@5,500 rpm Bosch Motronic MP 7.4.4
  • 1993–1996 1.3 TU2J2L/Z (MFZ)
    97 hp@7,200 rpm Magneti Marelli 8P
  • 1991–1992 1.4 TU3K
    74 hp@6,000 rpm Solex carburettor
  • 1991–1993 1.4 TU3M/Z (KDY)
    72 hp@5,800 rpm Mono–Jetronic
  • 1991–1992 1.4 TU3FJ2 (K6B)
    99 hp@6,600 rpm Bosch Motronic MP3.1
  • 1991–1992 1.4 TU3FJ2 (KFZ)
    94 hp@6,600 rpm Bosch Motronic MP3.1
  • 1993–1996 1.4 TU3M (KDX)
    74 hp@5,800 rpm Mono - Bosch Motronic MA3.0
  • 1997–2001 1.4 TU3JP (KFX)
    74 hp@5,500 rpm Magneti Marelli 1AP
  • 1998–2001 1.4 TU3JP/IFI4 (KFX)
    74 hp@5,500 rpm Bosch Motronic MP7.3
  • 1994–1996 1.6 TU5J2 (NFY)
    102 hp@6,200 rpm Magneti Marelli 8P
  • 1997–2001 1.6 TU5JP (NFZ)
    87 hp@5,600 rpm Bosch Motronic MP5.2
  • 1997–2000 1.6 TU5J2 (NFW)
    102 hp@6,200 rpm Magneti Marelli 8P
  • 1996–2003 1.6 TU5J4 (NFX)
    116 hp@6,600 rpm Magneti Marelli 1AP

Diesel engines

  • 1991–1994 1.4 TUD3Y (K9Y)
    49 hp@5,000 rpm
  • 1999–2003 1.5 (VJX/VJY)
    57 hp@5,000 rpm Bosch VP 20
    The Uk 106 VJX had a catalyst and EGR which used a Bosch ECU to manage this.
  • 1995–2003 1.5 TUD5Y (VJZ)
    57 hp@5,000 rpm Lucas Type 070

The best mods that we recommend for your 106 are

  • Suspension Mods
  • Braking upgrades
  • Weight reduction
  • Head porting
  • fast road cams
  • Lighter flywheels
  • Remapping (piggyback ECU's for some models)

Fast road cams offer one of the biggest torque gains for your money as far as a bolt on modified mods goes on a NA (naturally aspirated) engine.

Sourcing a decent cam is the challenge in most areas, so one option might be to get a stock cam reground to a fast road profile, but avoid going too extreme, it will ruin the car's low end power and idling, making it a challenge to drive in traffic.

106 Handling/Suspension upgrades

Improving the handling for most drivers, is rated as a top priority mod in your 106 tuning project.

The old worn bushes will not do much for your car's handling and a fresh set will really improve the feel.

Strut braces help to correct the outward bias of your suspension as it ages and help you to get the alignment back to factory specs (or better)

We found that most 106 factory suspension setups need tweaking, a degree or so of toe out for cornering, or toe-in bias for stability, and a bit of negative camber will often improve your cornering and handling.

Drop the car optimally somewhere in the region of 26mm - 37 mm and fit motorsport grade stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances and will not improve the ride quality any more.

Whilst you are increasing the power you should also ensure you can safely stop.

Upgrade your brakes. The easiest option is to fit GTi calipers or go with the brakes from a 206 GTi 180 or 306 GTi-6.

Larger wheels will allow larger brake discs to be fitted, but there is a tradeoff here.

Wheels 15's or 16's with a suspension drop of around 35 mm. Fitting 17-inch rims to most 106 hubs requires extensive arch work to avoid rubbing. You will lose performance fitting larger rims to the 15 inch option would seem to be the best compromise.

Tuning tips and articles

Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

Fit a power clutch to avoid power leak through the transmission, and while the clutch is off you might as well investigate a lighter flywheel which improves the cars free revving engine making it feel more sporty (but this won't add power, it does reduce the weight of the car by a little).

106 Engine mods

Note that on the smaller engines you'll be paying quite a bit for very little extra power so think of power gains as a percentage boost and the higher the cars base power the better your returns will be.

Throttle body upgrades are worth looking into, getting air and fuel into the engine is a priority of tuners, and a new better flowing throttle body will really help improve things.

Turbo engines are just crying out to be remapped so having the diesel in particular makes this a no-brainer and adds around 20-30% more power.

The most significant power gains for NA (naturally aspirated) engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. Turbos are often harder to add than a supercharger. Turbos increase power in increasing proportion to increasing engine speed and this can make mapping difficult.

Some tuning companies have come up with turbocharger kits for the 106 which produce lethal amounts of power for the size of the car.

Personally we wouldn't add a turbo to any model other than the GTi, the cost and complexity and overall power gain just doesn't make it viable.

Turning our attention to the engine we need to get a bit more bhp out of the top end.

Keep your car looking standard and take off the badges for the ultimate sleeper!

Smaller engines do not provide much of a return in terms of power so start with a bigger engine. Engine swaps are a good option if you have a small engine size.

Best 106 Engine Upgrades.

These are the modified 106 parts and upgrades which are usually fitted by our members, decide how far you want to push your car before you begin.

Getting the best motorsport mods for your planned usage of the car is a time and money saver. Stage 3 motor sport mods just don't work well on the road making the car difficult to drive.

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), Sports exhaust, Alloy wheels, Panel air filter, Lighter flywheel, Remap.

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

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

Your aim when modding your car should be a nice flat torque range. You don't want all the power to be at the top end unless you are creating a motor sport car.

In this article, we shall give a brief overview of 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 upgrade.

106 Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Breathing mods are usually next up. Contrary to popular belief there is usually very little power gain got by fitting an induction kit, they only become beneficial and are recommended after you raise the engines power to the point where the standard air intake box cannot cope!

For most 106 engines TorqueCars would suggest you just go with a washable panel air filter. On heavily tuned engines and turbo vehicles an induction kit will help release the power providing you address the problem of needing cold air.

Sports exhausts will certainly help air flow through the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too large or you could very well end up with a reduced flow rate. So generally speaking, keep to 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.

Exhaust changes can be a pain due to the 2 lambda sensors but many aftermarket exhaust manufacturers are providing suitable replacement systems. Addressing the air intake is your next job after the exhaust and we would recommend a panel air filter rather than a full induction kit.

There are a huge selection of performance parts and styling parts around for the 106 and we would recommend that you join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss 106 options in more detail with our 106 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Peugeot tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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One Response to “106 Tuning”

  1. rab106gti says:

    think off fitting a 255upgrade fuel pump and an ajust able fuel pressure regalter will it give me much more bhp

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