Modding a NA engine

[Audi80/90ClubEurope]

Goodmorning!

By law in my country we are not allowed to swap engines. And the law just changed that i have to go to the inspection every 2 years (first i never had to go)
So swapping is not possible (legal)
My Audi 90 has an 2.0 5cylinder (PS) engine 116hp.
It is not the meaning to have big hp, but a little more power is always nice.

mods i have in mind;
cramshaft (schrick or catcams)
flow the cylinderhead
decat + full stainless exhaust
..

any tips?

[Lago Blue]

Regarding modding a N/A engine.

Inspirational! (sorry, couldn't resist). Dare I imagine there may even be some here who wish they could un-turbo-charge.

I think that will make an excellent and satisfying project sir. Instant throttle response, good torque produced at low revolutions, reliability and relatively low cost are what your engine has a reputation for. Certainly well-worth preserving and enhancing, perfect for a sensible real-world street-driven car. Apparently not a lot of those on this forum, although there ought to be. Perhaps they're just out there being driven; less eventfully.

I would guess a few here would have cut their teeth on such a car, so there will be folk who can answer more specific questions.

Q: If you de-cat, would you not fail your 2-year inspection just for not having one, let alone possible future tail-pipe test thresholds?

There are hi-flow (also stainless) cats available that wont hamper performance.

Q: Doesn't your injection system best require oxygen sensor feed-back; and if yes, wouldn't the cat's absence hurt O2 sensor signal use and overall system function?

There is a lot to be said for a stock motor simply done really well.

Q: Will you build an exhaust system or buy one?

Q: This car is 2WD, correct? Would a pre-made cat-back S/S after-market 4WD coupe specific exhaust (I'm thinking of the "CAC" brand) fit relatively easily?

Q: Would you do some of the cylinder head work and perhaps the camshaft install yourself?

A few reasons I like the idea of these kinds of mods is that they can be largely invisible (and not just because they are hidden from the prying eyes of the technical inspectors), effective in a plain old-fashioned hot-rodding kind of way at making a car that is still civilized, just more fun to drive (and ride in) without being brutish or garish; economical in that they can be incorporated singly over time as part of necessary and/or routine maintenance, and promote reliability and fuel efficiency.

Are you familiar with this old but extensive site (link below) where some of your intended paths (exhaust, head-work, camshaft) have been trod (he talks about the efficacy of these mods and suggests reasons for what order they might be best done in)?

https://audi.humanspeakers.com/index.html

Hope that helps

[varia]

Goodmorning!

By law in my country we are not allowed to swap engines. And the law just changed that i have to go to the inspection every 2 years (first i never had to go)
So swapping is not possible (legal)
My Audi 90 has an 2.0 5cylinder (PS) engine 116hp.
It is not the meaning to have big hp, but a little more power is always nice.

mods i have in mind;
cramshaft (schrick or catcams)
flow the cylinderhead
decat + full stainless exhaust
..

any tips?

sell it, and buy an s2 or move (register) your car somewhere else

[John.]

Regarding modding a N/A engine.

https://audi.humanspeakers.com/index.html

Wow! …..a lot of info there.

[jogi730]

One of my early non-turbo mods, I had a TSR 2.6 conversion. To achieve this, a crankshaft was used from a Volkswagen van. This plus headwork and the use of a K-Star (no ECU on old fuel injection car so this acted like an extra injector) achieved 200bhp. Great torque and response.

[M2ki]

I had a 90 with PS engine from belgium, no cat version. Bought a 2.3 NG engine and swapped the engine blocks. Use all the PS wiring and injection and just plug it into the NG.
Cheapest plug and play power gain if you don't consider the work. It is impossible to make a difference by just looking under the hood.
NG engines cost ~50€ here.

[Error404]

For the cost of modding you could just buy a faster car
For example, you will reach the modest 170hp of a 90 20v without spending a small fortune.

[John.]

Your 90 is a great looking car which you've clearly put a lot of time and money into...…...tweaking what you've got will give a lot of satisfaction .

[Lago Blue]

This is me on touring.

Perhaps this is why, to paraphrase Mance Etheridge, there is chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. None of them are wrong, just different.

Previously the OP had said "Forgot to add; (Audi 90 rally-look project, the vehicle wherein this engine resides) car will be used for Historical car tour rides and just for some road trips."

Looking back at some of what I liked best about touring with my several 8V Scirocco's (vs my 16V's) and at my '93 V6 sedan (each of which shares much architecture with the subject 10V), the V6 in particular, an engine not known for much other than being quite pedestrian, yet all can be made to grunt even better down at low revs (and sound good doing it). These engines respond well to attention to detail (i.e. the traditional and yes time consuming but not outright expensive art of hot-rodding) on the intake, exhaust and vacuum systems. By "well", I mean that at low revs, from say idle to 3.5k, they can be made to respond more crisply than stock, to "carburate" immediately under foot, they get on the pipes sooner and stronger; and are a pleasure to drive without having to draw anymore attention to one's self. What the peak HP may be; is of little consequence, it is simple more abundant and instant low-end torque that makes them fun to go somewhere with.

The other thing to look at is the type of car this engine is in. It doesn't need big tires or brakes, etc. It's also a little lighter and it's front wheel drive. Its' got real-world ground clearance! I think this would be a nimble week-end get-away car any of us would quite enjoy taking down some distant empty scenic winding road (maybe even gravel!); and all the way back home again.

Look what I found from long ago (and note the quietly stated but oft recurring theme of "low revs and drive-ability"):

https://www.s2forum.com/forum/member...ect-na-200-bhp