Tuning a 156 2.0i TS SP

Guys,

My 156 is pretty stock at the moment with the only mod being the GTA intake.

Over the next year or so I plan to up the performance of the car a little bit and was hoping for some advice.

Firstly I was hoping to replace the pads and discs all round with some upgraded parts. Now, some say that the rear pads and discs are fine standard and it's only the front pads that require upgrading? What's the truth behind this? Am I better off upgrading the whole lot or just the front pads? And in either case where's the best place to buy them?

I don't plan on doing the hoses / pipes, just the discs and pads themselves.

Also, I'm looking at getting a decat exhaust for the girl. Does anyone know a place that sells these 'off the shelf' as it were, and then I fit it? Or would I be better off going to a place like Longlife and having them custom build me an entire system? I know for a fact they have to fit the cat before you leave with it, but apparently they can make it easy to remove / reattach. Also, with a de-cat, what sort of BHP gain would I be glancing at, if any?

After the brakes and exhaust I'd be looking at getting the car remapped by Red Dot as they seem pretty good. That costs around £200 I believe and supposedly gives about an extra 17BHP. Optimistic perhaps,

The SP set up is decent enough at handling for me so I'll be leaving the suspension alone.

I've also heard that replacing the air filter for an oiled induction kit (K&N etc) can wreck the MAF, and doesn't do all that much to performance anyway, so I shan't be bothering with that either.

I think that's all I'd be looking at to be honest; Brakes, Exhaust and a Re-Map.

Ideally I want to get her upto V6 performance but know that's pretty hard to achieve in the speed department though.

Any advice and help will be appreciated.

Cheers!
Darren

Didn't we talk this through in quite some depth already in another thread?

Originally Posted by Pud237

Didn't we talk this through in quite some depth already in another thread?

Gimme the link,

Originally Posted by Darren156

Gimme the link,

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/tunin...ml#post1610818 (Anyone remapped a 156 2.0 TS?)

Yeah but that was solely about the remap mate, I don't want to hi-jack the poor guys thread too much by throwing brakes and exhaust etc into the mix. Although alot of the info you spat out on there has answered a few of my questions,

Cheers, Dan.

OK here goes:

First off, I wouldn't keep any of the induction side of things standard, just get rid of it all. No GTA intake, no airbox, just a CDA with a direct air intake from the front of the car, the MAF behind it and a nice insulated silicone pipe right to the throttle body. Sorted.

When it comes to exhausts, the further towards the back of the car the less it matters. Backbox won't give you as much gain as a decat, decat won't give you as much as sports headers.. Remember though, the exhaust and induction are tuned to certain rpms. To a big extent, a massive gain at high rpms will be offset by a drop in performance at low rpms. If your exhaust is nice and wide it will help the engine breath at high revs, but there'll not be enough back pressure to keep torque up at low revs. Its a balancing act really, depending on what you want from your car.

A few times now you've mentioned you really like the T.Spark because you can rag it everyday, it doesn't have too much power. I would go for a bit more of that, make it as peaky as you can and to hell with the bottom of the rev range because you won't be spending any time there if all goes to plan. Isn't that what a T.Spark is all about?

the cda sounds really good but what about the viper from pipercross???

Originally Posted by akouzo

the cda sounds really good but what about the viper from pipercross???

Not sure, I've only ever used a CDA. Very happy with the difference it made though.

The CDA is a contentious subject, some rate them others don't.
I think someone on Alfa 156.net tried one on a dyno and gained 1bhp on a 2.0 TS over the stock air intake, and that was without the GTA inlet pipe.
The GTA intake on the stock air intake also gave 1bhp.


You can pick up a cybox stainless system on e-bay for £240 plus £75 for a slienced de-cat. Thats what I would go for, I would make sure I got a silenced de-cat though as otherwise they are supposedly too loud.

After that you are looking at mild road cams and custom mapping which should give around 180bhp. If you go for any hotter cams you will have to get the head ported for the best effect.

Originally Posted by symonh2000

The CDA is a contentious subject, some rate them others don't.
I think someone on Alfa 156.net tried one on a dyno and gained 1bhp on a 2.0 TS over the stock air intake, and that was without the GTA inlet pipe.
The GTA intake on the stock air intake also gave 1bhp.

I'd be interested to see the whole curve, a dyno doesn't tell you how much it sharpens up the throttle..

I believe the best way to test induction systems is a temperature probe in the inlet manifold, I don't think dyno's are that accurate at measuring small power differences when there can be so many variables that differ from one run to the next.

The GTA intake sharpens up the throttle as well.
I personally think the CDA is expensive for the benefits it gives. You also loose the crisp induction note of the TS, IMO.

It is expensive, not arguing there. I reckon a CDA would work a treat on your 20VT.. Are they popular on FCCUK?

Originally Posted by symonh2000

The GTA intake sharpens up the throttle as well.
I personally think the CDA is expensive for the benefits it gives. You also loose the crisp induction note of the TS, IMO.

My thoughts too.

Originally Posted by Pud237

It is expensive, not arguing there. I reckon a CDA would work a treat on your 20VT.. Are they popular on FCCUK?

I am not sure if anyone has used them on the 20VT. I think people tend to go for a cone type filter and some form of shield to seperate it from the warm engine compartment.
Some people also drill the standard airbox or fit a larger trumpet as apparently the stock airbox is quite restrictive. Some reckon on 15bhp + faster spool up of the turbo.

I am not keen on cone filters on turbo cars as you tend just to get a sucking noise instead of an induction roar like you would get on a naturally aspirated car.
I have a few mods planned on the coupe, but nothing too drastic, I can't afford to blow it up..

I would imagine the CDA would work well with the 20VT for the same reasons its the favoured induction kit for people with tuned JTDs.. As for the induction noise, it can't be helped on turbo cars, there's no 'pulse' of suck/no-suck like on an N/A engine because of the turbo, its providing a constant pull of air and as such makes a constant drone, just varying in pitch with the speed of the turbo. It was the same on my JTD when I had the CDA installed on that.

I've got to say, I think the CDA sounds awesome on my V6. I can't imagine it sounds much different on a T.S..

I've got a CDA fitted to my TS, Roars like crazy

lovely Sound

had the CDA on my TS too, sound was absolutely fantastic, in my opinion only enhanced the TS sound. its now on my MG and sounds as good as ever, that said the MG is pretty much race tuned :O

Have a look into the CDA kit, im sure it gives more than 1bhp peak but as many will tell you the peak figure is meaningless if you have gained 10bhp midrange. this is what transforms the car.

Depending on your budget you could also look at fitting some hot cams, porting the head, exhaust manifold and stainless catback system. decat if you want to but on some cars a decat will increase noise a lot. then you want to look at getting a live remap done. your a bit far away from newcastle so i cant recommend any garages in your area! all this and you should clear 180bhp but with much improved throttle response and more power thruout the rev range.

Hi Darren,
I have had my 2.0TS 156 SW from new, 2001, I went to Autodelta, and had a remap by "Jano" and the intake conversion, which is basically remove the cone from the air box, fit a sports flow filter BMC and fit the V6 intake trumpet.
The BHP gain was about 5 to 7, but the torque curve is fantastic making the car completely differnet and very tractable, pulling away from 1k revs instead of 3k, top end slightly up in the sense that it certainly gets there quicker and smoother, pull off from standing is much better, and less gear changing required for sustained cruising.
As for exhaust, I tried the longlife route, absolute waste of space unless you want to sound like anold wellington bomber, went back and changed it, had a straight through less restrictive centre box but refitted the standard rear box, makes it breath better but no headaches still hear thatv lovely TS singing away.
As for brakes, yes they are crap, I fitted "Red Dot" grooved all round with their fast road pads, which have a higher temp rating, but be warned, they need warming up in the morning, after a few miles they are really great, can squeak a bit when stopping at low speeds, its because they do not use asbestos anymore (i think).
As a little bonus I get 50 extra miles per tank of fuel than I did before the remap etc.
The only way that you will get massive increase in performance is fast road cams, but then you may loose some of the low down tractability and possibly inherit some lumpy low revs, ask Autodelta, also with the extra stress of higher lift/long duration cams you will need to be even more concerned about cambelt changes, possibly every 20 to 25k miles to be safe.
The remapping at Autodelta takes into account the air intake mods, so it is better to sort out this part first, then once set up the ecu will learn, after a remap no more supermarket fuel for the best performance.
These are not just my opinions but from what I have experienced and been told by Autodelta, who are in North Acton W3, they were the first and original people to write the mapping and also supply others with their software.
In conclusion the brakes are always worth the effort and really easy to do.
The Remap is a must to extract the Alfa potential, as these cars like most are set up for a cross section of users from the factory, and for different countries, as for the intake, yes the breathing can be improved, no need to go mad, just do the de cone, and the V6/GTA trumpet, with a either a standard or free flow filter....to answer your question about the oiled filters damaging your MAF, well actually it is people who who over oil them that ruins the MAF, when done it should be a very slight whisp of a spray, not a bloody soaking.
Regards MartynH