diesel performance

[wally]

I have a diesel bravo TD100sx and I was wondering if there was a way of improving the performance? I've considered changing the car but I do like the car and get great fuel economy. I understand that I may lose sum economy but I don't intend to race around on full throttle but its nice to have it there when you need it.

 

[Chris B]

TD

There isn't much you can do to increase performance on the TD. You can add a performance filter, but it's unlikely you'll notice any difference. Using a diesel additive (such as Redex) will help keep the injectors clean and the whole engine generally. The JTD is a more versatile engine. I fitted a tuning box earlier this year to mine, and the difference is very noticable. A tuning box will give you a power increase of 25%+. It's certainlly well worth doing, and will actually help fuel economy if you don't thrash it.

So no, there isn't a lot you can do with the TD. If you're after more power consider trading for a JTD

 

[wally]

cheers chris for the info looks like i'll have to make due with what I got for now (maybe next year I'll invest in the jdt)

 

[Marc]

underpowered diesel?

What about:

- Adjusting the dieselpump to increase fuelpressure
(did it with mine TD75, bosch VE pump)
- Replacement filter K&N
- Replacement performance exhaust
- Boost- or bleedvalve to raise turbopressure
- Bigger turbo perhaps?

So, there are a lot of things to be done.

 

[Rab]

boost power and get economy

Try looking into getting your diesel converted to run L.P.G.
You can't run it alone on L.P.G. but you can mix it with your diesel saveing fuel by reducing diesel consumption and useing very little L.P.G. ( only 30p a litre anyway).
The L.P.G. will clean your engine for you and help to boost your power output due to the petrol/butane kick you will get costs around a grand to do so if you did go down this road i'd make sure your car was in really good nick cos your gonna want to keep it a while to pay for the conversion.

Rab.

 

[Dug]

Re: boost power and get economy

Are you sure you can mix lpg with diesel? I know some trucks and buses run LPG with a diesel engine, but it's damned expensive because you have to fit spark plugs to the block to ignite it.

I doubt it will add more power: lpg has only marginally higher calorific value than diesel, although it's meant to have a slight effect on truck conversions.

 

[Chris B]

Marc

True, all of your ideas will increase performance, but not by a great deal. Once you've spent all your cash on that little lot, you may as well have bought a JTD.

 

[Anonymous]

TD or JTD ?

The JTD is superior over the TD because the new generation common rail diesel injects the fuel at 1500 bar opposed to the 800 bar the conventional pump does. So it will give better performance with better economy.

However tuning the dieselpump of the TD100 is possible.

Have a look at http://www.kempower.be/index2.htm

 

[joerg]

adjusting the dieselpump has great effects

i adjusted the lucas-dieselpump almost a half turn. i think about 10 or even 15hp. and not to much smoke. a guy at a tuning center told me more would be possible but then it would start smoking if i dont increase turbo too

if u have got a 1996 or 97 u should check if the air intake is covered by the mat mounted on the dont know the word for it and dont wanna look up in dictionary thing that covers the engineroom.

at the garage they told me it was a failure on all 1996 and 97. just cut the mat until it doesnt cover the air intake any more.

i just ordered a again dunno the word thing that shows u what turbo pressure u currently got, cus i'm going to increase it. (no idea how, yet) i'll report as soon as i know more.

by the way, my brava now accelerates as fast as a celica (the new one) 1.8 vvti (tested with a friend who got one). smiles im looking forward to how it goes off when the turbo is up grins

ok... enough for now

 

[trev]

Fast as a Celica!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe your friend is a slow driver!!!!!!

 

[joerg]

really!!

i'm absolutely serious. maybe the comparison isn't a good one cus the 1.8 vvti is quite a slow motor (for the 143 hp it has); the performance curve is bad. after gearing it doesn't make more than about 110 hp. then, considering the better torque a diesel has at low rpm it's not a big problem accelerating as fast as the vvti. of course when it comes to higher speeds (140 kph and more) the celica leaves me be behind due to far better aerodynamics and the fact it has got 6 gears. 1,2,3 and 4 of the celica are just a litte faster at gearing rpm but when it comes to 5 my brava doesn't push alot any more whereas the celica is still moving like hell.

 

[Marc]

adjusting dieselpump

Did the same with my Brava TD75. This one has the Bosch VE pump. Losened the collar on the adjustment screw and turned it in as far as it went while still being able to run the engine at tickover (had to adjust this too). Then went for a testdrive and it drove like hell, including the smoke though. Had lost all torque in the lower revs and had lotttsss of torque in the higher revs. Then started slowly to turn the screw down just about where the collar used to be. There it went fine with a good build up of torque trough the revs. Did however turned it this week down 1/4 turn to reduce the occasional smoke. However will turn it up again after fitting a boostvalve, the engine needs more air because smoke is unburnt diesel.

I think it wouldn't run this well without the K&N filter and it is a lot nicer to drive than it used to be (not being pulled out by VW vans ).

I have also monitored the build up of turbo pressure. However the Garett GT15 is a small turbo (designed for 80 bhp dieselengines) so I'm still a bit sceptical on the effects of the boostvalve. This is maybe why fiat didn't fit the car with a overboost cutoff while most other makes are fitted with them.

I'm very curious on other TD drivers experiences.

 

[Rab]

boost power & get economy

This thread is all about diesel pumps and tweeking them but I really wanted just to clear up one little thing .
I think it was Dug that said mixing l.p.g. with diesel was tricky as you would have to fit a spark plug to ignite the gas.
This is quite wrong as the gas is fed through the air system and mixes with the diesel and air in the normal way, when the diesel ignites in the cylinder it burns as a mixture of diesel, air & gas giving the improved performance due to the power released from the gas.
Just wanted to clear that little point up.
Rab.

 

[joerg]

exhaust air re-use

not sure if thats the correct name in englisch but u should know what i mean.

when u block the exhaust air re-use u can make a few extra hp and reduce diesel consumption a litte cus the engine will then use fresh air instead which leads to more completely burn of the injected diesel. however the engine then takes a litte longer to get warm; i have no winter expierience yet. but if there would be a problem it can be (depending on the way u block it) removed within 2 to 3 minutes.

should work with any engine. if u can send me photos of your engine i can tell u which tube to block
(if it doesn't look completely different from the td100)
[email protected]

as for the turbo. you said the garrett gt15 doesn't have a overboost cutoff.
do you mean a wastegate or by-pass? if so my td100 got one .... maybe another turbo?

 

[Marc]

re exhaust air re-use

Thanks Joerg,

Haven't got any pictures yet, if I do I will sent them.

The differences between the TD75 and TD100 are:

Bosh VE pump against Lucas pump
Wastegate opens at 0.95 bar against 1.05 bar
The TD100 has an intercooler fitted.
Ratios of the 5th gear are different.

With a overboost cutoff I mean a sensor that cuts off fuel when a certain boostlevel is reached. However there is only one hose running from the turbo to the wastegate-actuator.

 

[sietse]

How adjusting?

hey,

I also drive a TD100, and for a long time now, i'm searching to increase the performance of this diesel engine.
I will try the idea of adjusting the diesel pump, but i don't know what i have to adjust. Which screw or valve is it? I do have the bravo manual, but it just explains the diesel pump itself. Anyone can help me out here???
thanx

sietse

 

[Nigel]

For """"" sake

You bought a diesel for economy because you are tight or tow a caravan. Now you want performance.

If you want performance but a petrol, if you want false economy buy a diesel.

You guys will be off the road soon with the new emissions regs anyway so don't spend too much.

Sorry to sound harsh but D's, TD's and JTD's are a pain in the arse on A and M roads.

The funniest one was BMW's TDS (which as you all know is shorthand for tedious)! At least they admitted it!

N

I await the barrage!

 

[joerg]

re for *********** sake

if you want sound and style buy a petrol. if you want performance buy a diesel. (if you want raw power and don't mind enormous fuel consumption buy a turbo petrol or v8)

as known, nowadays diesel engines are faster when compared to a petrol having the same hp.

as for economy: the savings in fuel are about the same the car is more expensive when bought. but, what makes the fiat td cheaper is the lifetime. (as long as u don't increase turbo pressure too much) the td was designed for the ducato --> i.e. as a beast of burden with a life expectancy of up to 300k km (or sometimes even more)

my personal opinion is that on the long run diesels will prevail. just take a look on nowadays highclass diesels. i.e. the cdi. my dad got a 3,2 litres cdi delivering incredible 470 nm. and as you know its the torque only what pushes the car forward. and once again... the economy: that diesel needs (when drove as maniac as possible) 10,5 to 11 litres. that's pretty little considering a car weight of 1700 kg plus fuel and driver.

 

[Koen]

What about the torque of the Bravo JTD 105 GT?

I've been driving a Bravo JTD since 1999 and I am still quite happy about the performance and the comsumption (+/- 6 l) of the car. But I've got a question about the engine's torque. I had a discussion with a friend this week about the actual torque of the 1.9 JTD engine of the Bravo GT version. Is it really 255 Nm or just a modest 200 Nm? Please let me know, cos I cannot find reliable information about this anywhere. Thanx !

 

[Marc]

re re for ************* sake

Still did about 6 ltrs/100 km last week with the adjusted dieselpump. This would give it a theoretical range of 1000 km on a single tank.

I was quite happy about this consumption while on holiday in Scotland given the fact that diesel is enormous expensive in the UK (hence the adversion on dieselpowered cars maybe?).