Cheap small car, performance boost question...

konfab said:
Newton's second law:
Acceleration = Force applied/mass.

Increasing the force is one way(engine power)
Decreasing the mass is another.

In order of difficulty:
Take out all the rubbish you keep in your car
Drive in your underwear
Loose body fat.
Take remove sound system.
Remove interior finishes
Remove seats
Remove aircon
Sand off body paint

A Ford ka weight about 870kg.
From this video:
[video=youtube;ZyZTzYHwnvw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyZTzYHwnvw[/video]
the 0-100 km/h acceleration is about 20 seconds, which equates to 1.39 m/s^2.
This means the engine exerted an average force of 1209 N.

Now if the above modifications yield about 150kg, the new mass will be 720kg. Using the same engine, your car would then accelerate at 1.68 m/s^2. Working back to a 0-100km/h measurement, you would do it in 17 seconds as opposed to 20 seconds. That is a 15% improvement.

That is a bit more nippy IMO.


:D
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Damn! I also thought the best way to get some more pep would be to lighten as much as possible,

hmm, seems the general consensus here is that it's not worth it...

That then begs the question, why is there such a huge market for such things? You see citi golfs that have been modded to within an inch of their lives, why if there is no significant power increase? Street cred?
 
ChrisThomas said:
Damn! I also thought the best way to get some more pep would be to lighten as much as possible,

hmm, seems the general consensus here is that it's not worth it...

That then begs the question, why is there such a huge market for such things? You see citi golfs that have been modded to within an inch of their lives, why if there is no significant power increase? Street cred?
Click to expand...

Few few people would mod a 1.3 citi golf. IFAIK most mods happen on 1.8 models. Spending money on a 1.3 is crazy when you can buy a perfectly good 1.8 engine at a scrap yard for less than the mods on a 1.3 would cost.
 
ChrisThomas said:
Hey Guys,

Ok so this is a purely hypothetical situation and would like some different views on the topic.

Let's say for arguments sake the car in question is a cheap Ford Ka, all stock. 1.3 Kent engine.

What would you do, or what would you suggest to up the power output.

I'm not talking crazy super / turbo chargers. I'm talking real world, cost effective ways to make the car a bit more nippy.

In my mind I'm thinking air flow, exhaust, possible a remap of sorts...

Wanted others to chime in as to what they would do.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Cheap and lazy solution: Put a Turbo on it

Expensive and decent option: Everything needs to be re-done in the engine. Things like: Valves replaced, valve springs, sleeves cut to a bigger size, bigger pistons added, longer stroke so replace the head. Do a fuel management system, do the gearbox and flywheel. I can go on like this for days on end :D
 
Pitbull said:
Cheap and lazy solution: Put a Turbo on it

Expensive and decent option: Everything needs to be re-done in the engine. Things like: Valves replaced, valve springs, sleeves cut to a bigger size, bigger pistons added, longer stroke so replace the head. Do a fuel management system, do the gearbox and flywheel. I can go on like this for days on end :D
Click to expand...

Not going to lie, with that chassis I'd love to have a go in one that had all these mods on it, would be like a go-kart on roids!
 
Even if you were to sell the KA and buy a M3 it will still be cheaper than matching the M3 in performance via mods on the KA
 
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ChrisThomas said:
Damn! I also thought the best way to get some more pep would be to lighten as much as possible,

hmm, seems the general consensus here is that it's not worth it...

That then begs the question, why is there such a huge market for such things? You see citi golfs that have been modded to within an inch of their lives, why if there is no significant power increase? Street cred?
Click to expand...

probably,
citigolfs are built for this kind of treatment, they locally assembled,
come apart easily, and lots of people know how to work on them,
can you get serious performance, not unless you shoehorn a v8 engine into that tiny car
and then its light weight helps a lot as well,


something like that was done on my car initially,
drank fuel like a drunken sailor, and ride was horrible, and I had all the "cheap" mods,
lowered suspension and cone filter, (back to stock now- see my previous threads)

its actually a waste of time trying to mod a small car, its never gonna be fast ,

TLDR, waste of money and time, if you want performance, buy a proper car....
 
ChrisThomas said:
Not going to lie, with that chassis I'd love to have a go in one that had all these mods on it, would be like a go-kart on roids!
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The amount of cash needed will be insane. Talking upwards of a R 100k on a 1300 engine :D. But nothing like a Normal aspirate engine with insane grunt. I'm with you, if I had that amount of cash to spend, I would. Just to drive it till It explodes :p
 
Pitbull said:
The amount of cash needed will be insane. Talking upwards of a R 100k on a 1300 engine :D. But nothing like a Normal aspirate engine with insane grunt. I'm with you, if I had that amount of cash to spend, I would. Just to drive it till It explodes :p
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I'd like to leave the body stock and just shock people when I pull off, see their reaction lol
 
ChrisThomas said:
I'd like to leave the body stock and just shock people when I pull off, see their reaction lol
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You could do it the other way around. Every exterior mod on the planet till it looks like something out of a cartoon but leave the engine stock... pull of like a snail and watch their reaction! Would be cheaper at least.
 
Vegeta said:
You could do it the other way around. Every exterior mod on the planet till it looks like something out of a cartoon but leave the engine stock... pull of like a snail and watch their reaction!
Click to expand...

That's what just about every ricer on the planet does though
 
Sinbad said:
That's what just about every ricer on the planet does though
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Well they make a massive noise and all the kids think they're going 200km/h when they're "racing" down the street at 40km/h!
 
thechamp said:
Thanks for the replies, Anyone care to weigh in on that 115kW 1.6 NA Corolla RSI engine? Why does it seem impossible to replicate that or improve on it?
Click to expand...
Today you can get 990, 1.2, 1.5 and 1.6 engines that outperform the RSi engine, with warranties. I do not know whether the RSi engine would have lasted with no issue beyond 150,000km. The 1.6 VTEC from the Civic/Ballade of the same era would...
 
My take on the new cars is a balance between meeting emissions standards and performance . (Unless you are VW they just crook it )
The new EU emission standards are quite strict that is why most manufacturers like the turbo engines because it is easy to meet the standards .
Most non turbo motors run very lean to meet emissions, so a decat and remap should give you more power , fuel consumption will shoot up obviously .
 
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