
Originally Posted by
ferdi
modern diesels are the way to go for performance with economy. there are some basic things you can tweak but the biggest bang for the buck for me was remapping. a simple tweaking on injection timing and duration will yield very dramatic results (20+ hp, 50+ nm of torque).
I used to do full rebuilds of gas engines i.e p&p, big valves w/tri-angle grinds, high lift & overlap camshafts, stroker cranks, lightened flywheels, double diaphragm clutches, headers w/freeflow exhaust, cd ignitions, twin side draft carbs, etc. and get 30 to 50+hp and a very narrow torque band. it would idle so rough and would not idle below 1200rpm.
diesels you can easily get 20 to 30% more power and torque without altering driveability and depending on your commute, might even increase your economy. there are other tweaks you may do like add an intake intercooler (or if you already have one, upgrade to a larger capacity), you may play around with your boost, upgrade to larger turbos, increase fuel injection pressure, etc. these will not give as dramatic an increase as a remap.
re-mapping may be accomplished via a reprogramming of your existing cpu, changing your "chip", or installing a piggy-back chip. a lot of options out there.... you will be happy with your diesel
and you will not need to rev so high to squeeze power out of your diesels.