tuning my MK 4 1.4 s 16v

[alastairant]

HI

just got a mk4 golf 1.4s and am looking to get a little more power out of it.
Any advise?
dont want to spend a great deal of money got about £300 on the engine.

Thanks
Alastair

[Rhyso]

get a decent air filter to improve the breathing   

the best advice really is to save your £300 to be honest mate 

you'll get very little gain out of the engine for the amount you want to spend.

[alastairant]

 

what about chipping?
Or an exhaust?

[Rhyso]

I'm not aware of anyone who would chip the 1.4.  Do you have a local garage who carries out re-maps? Might be worth a visit to see what they can offer you.

Exhaust will help but I reckon you'd only see 1-3bhp increase realistically  (if that)

You could invest in a decent suspension package as the MKIV is not a great handling car. Power is nothing without control after all 

[Ivor Mk4 Turbo]

Chip will do hardly anything on a N/A engine, mate.  Personally, I think you're best off the saving up some cash to put into a quicker car as standard, later on down the line.  But. if you're determined to plough money into this car, then maybe invest in a rear ARB to tighten the handling up, then brakes, then exhaust, then springs and/or shocks, then wheels, then.....

All in my opinion, of course.  Don't forget, it would even take a lot of cash to get some decent power out of the N/A 2.0!!!

[New Duncan]

Alastairant,

"just got a mk4 golf 1.4s and am looking to get a little more power out of it"

Enjoy the car for what it is. Golf Mk4 is a great car, yours  is easy at the Petrol Pumps. Drive it well  , and it will do a good job for you. Change plugs every 10k, oil and filter as well, and buy good quality tyres for handling. Keep the car looking sweet, clean it regularly, a nice clean interior is always good to get into.

As other folk have said, keep your £300 for another day. Golf's are great cars, and you have one of them  .

[ub7rm]

Chipping a N/A engine cannot increase your power, the limiting factor for power for any engine is not the fuel delivery but the air delivery, a chip or remap cant help with this alone.  What a chip can do is allow your engine to make full use of any mods such as free flow filters and exhausts as your standard ECU will have been set up with the manufacturers components in mind - should result in releasing a few ponnies.  This is why turbo engine can get such a drastic power increase from a chip as the air pressure / delivery can be incresed easily via the turbo, N/A engines are stuck with air at atmospheric pressure and rely on the air being sucked in whereas with a turbo of course it is forced in - at various rates depending on the programming.

Chipping can also alter the characteristics of a N/A engine making throttle response sharper etc but this is at the expense of fuel economy or reliability - not to be confused with genuine power increase.

[golfpro]

got to agree with all the above. My mk3's a 1.4 and all Iv done is an air filter and a full sainless exhaust, neither of which were for increased power, more for sound. Keep you 300 quid for wheels and suspension. With a mk4 all you need to do is drop it a little onto some nice wheels and it will look great.

Welcome to the club anyway.

[GolfGL]

You can chip the 1.6 so you might be able to do the 1.4. dont expect big gains but might give you a bit more responsiveness i think the company was chipped UK if your interested and should be under £300. Standard mk4's are comparable to boats and a friends of mines got one with uprated suspension and f/r anti roll bars and makes a huge difference.