Chevrolet F14D3 Tuning

"All you need to know about performance parts and tuning the Chevrolet F14D3 engine!"

The Chevrolet F14D3 offer good returns when tuned and with the ultimate uprated parts like remaps, turbo kits and camshafts you will certainly maximise your driving pleasure.

Here we review F14D3 tuning and point out the best modifications for your car.

History, Power & Specs of the F14D3 Engine

Power 69 kW (94 hp) Torque 130 Nm (at 4200 rpm)

Tuning the Chevrolet F14D3 and best F14D3 performance parts.

Best F14D3 parts

Just because particular mods are are common on F14D3 it doesn't mean you should fit it, we will be recommending only the optimal tuning mods that we have found to be effective upgrades ie: Those that will give your F14D3 the best power gain for you spend.

Significant gains on the F14D3 can be made from camshaft upgrades. Altering the camshaft profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the torque and power output.

Fast road camshafts usually push up the bhp throughout the rev band, you may lose a little low end bhp but the higher rpm power will be higher.

Motorsport and race camshafts, push up the higher rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

For a typical daily driver must carefully try to match your engines power to your usage of the car.

You will never find a F14D3 Competition cam is a pleasure to live with when driving in heavy traffic. The low end idle will be very lumpy and irregular, so something you would notice on a track when you drive in the upper third of the rpm band, but on roads this is a serious issue and we've heard from lots of drivers lamenting their decision to add an extreme competition cam profile to their engine.

Different F14D3 engines respond better to more or less aggressive camshaft durations so view each engine as unique.

The engine timing and fuelling also have a large bearing on the bhp gains you'll make.

A longer valve duration can alter the bhp band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

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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.
  6. Typical stage 1 mods often include:
    Intake manifolds, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Panel air filters, drilled & smoothed airbox, Fast road camshaft, Sports exhaust header/manifold.

    Typical stage 2 mods often include:
    Fast road cam, Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injectors, fuel pump upgrades, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, induction kit.

    Typical stage 3 mods often include:
    Twin charging conversions, Competition cam, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).

    Carefully think through your options and then buy your tuning mods and set yourself a power target to save yourself from expensive mistakes.

    Mapping allows a tuner to fully realize the full potential of all the mods you've done to your F14D3.

    (In some cases, as the factory ECU is locked flashing is not an option, so an aftermarket ECU is the route to take, and many of these will outperform factory ECU's but make sure it has knock protection and that you get it setup properly.)

    It will usually give you around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NA (naturally aspirated) engines, but figures achieved usually depend much on the mods you've applied and the condition of your engine.

    Pushing air into your F14D3 is the aim to any engine performance tuning job.

    Intake carry the air during the suck phase from the air cleaner and allow it to be drawn into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

    The bore size, shape and flow characteristics of the Intake manifolds can make a substantial improvement to fuel delivery on the F14D3.

    Many mass produced engine air intake manifolds are begging for motorsport parts, although a few manufacturers provide well optimised air intake manifolds.

    Fitting big valve kits, getting F14D3 port enlargement and head flowing will also increase performance, and importantly will give you an improved performance increase on other parts.

    F14D3 Turbo upgrades

    NA (naturally aspirated) engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your F14D3

    The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes significant power gains.

    When the engine has a turbocharger tuning parts are going to make more power and most turbo engines are made using stronger components.

    However engines have weakspots.Research these limitations and fit forged components to survive the power.

    There are many people spending a lots of money on turbo charger upgrades on the F14D3 only to suffer the indignity of watching the engine block literally blow up just after it's been finished.

    Bigger turbo chargers will usually experience low end lag, and small turbo chargers spool up quickly but don't have the top end engines power gains.

    Thanks to new tech the range of turbo chargers is always developing and we commonly find variable vane turbo chargers, permitting the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end power.

    Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust gases into 2 channels and flow these at differently angled vanes in the turbo. They also boost the scavenging effect of the engine.

    It is not unusual that there is a limitation in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on the F14D3 when loads more air is being drawn into the engine.

    We note 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor sapped bhp at a much lower level.

    Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large power gains, although harder to install. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

    Fuelling

    You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to look at the fuelling when you start exceeding 20% of a performance increase.Don't forget to be generous with your injector capacity.

    The rule of thumb is to add 20% to the flow rate when buying an injector, this allows for injector deterioration and allows some spare capacity should the engine need more fuel.

    We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.

    All the following flywheel power targets will assume an injector duty cycle of 80% and a base of 58psi of fuel pressure at idle.

    4 Cylinder turbocharged engines

    • 58 PSI 340cc/min 200hp
    • 58 PSI 511cc/min 300hp
    • 58 PSI 682cc/min 400hp

    4 Cylinder NA (naturally aspirated) engines

    • 58 PSI 285cc/min 200hp
    • 58 PSI 426cc/min 300hp

    4 Cylinder supercharged engines

    • 58 PSI 312cc/min 200hp
    • 58 PSI 468cc/min 300hp

    F14D3 Performance Exhausts

    You may need to increase your exhaust if the current exhaust is actually causing a restriction.

    On most factory exhausts you'll see your flow rate is fine even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

    Sports exhausts can usually air flow through the engine but do not go too big or you might just stuff your flow rate and make things worse. So generally speaking, keep to a size of 1.5 to around 2.5 inches to maximise flow rates, and this should take into account the amount of air your engine is moving.

    Typically exhaust restrictions are traced to the catalysts installed, so adding a faster flowing sports alternative is the answer. This keeps the car road legal and will flow much better due to it's higher internal surface area and design, so has the added benefit of keeping your car road legal. The alternative decat should be considered an off road only mod, as removing a catalyst is illegal in most territories and regions for road registered cars..

    Weak spots, Issues & problem areas on the F14D3

    The F14D3 engines are generally reliable and solid units, as long as you follow the manufacturers service schedules, and use a good quality oil to ensure longevity. Few problems should happen as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.

    Carbon build up in the head, particularly around the valves which will sap power or create flat spots, this is a larger issue on direct injection engines but should be looked out for on all engines. We have tips on removing carbon build up.

    Some of our members have had issues with flat spots or glitches after applying mods and upgrades or tuning, this is not usually related to this engines design, so instead see our article on diagnosing flat spots and problems after tuning which should help you get the bottom of this issue.

    Regular oil changes are vital on the F14D3, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine.

    If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your F14D3 engine please join us in our car forums where you can discuss F14D3 tuning options in more detail with our F14D3 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Chevrolet tuning articles to get insights into each modification and how effective they will be for your car.

    Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

    We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which tuning mods 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 F14D3 tuning guides which get regular updates and revisions.

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