[Corsa C 2000-2006] New Car Needs More Power

[krazeddd]

Hi all, getting a new car next week and its a 1.3cdti corsa c, it seems really nippy for what it is, im unsure if its remapped (is there anyway to tell via opcom or whatever) and I was just wondering how I could get more power out of it (besides the remap if it hasnt had one)

I've heard you can get 110bhp out of them dont know if its true or not, its the 69bhp model
120k miles 03' plate

What i was thinking was

k&n panel filter
front mount (but ive heard you can get turbo lag from it)
decat (maybe a backbox, ive just been driving a 1.4 golf with a huge one so will be nice for some quiet for once, never had a diesel before so dont know how loud the after market backboxes are)
and then maybe strip it out
oh and i wouldnt mind a subtle dump valve, not a stupidly loud one, just a quiet one, anyone know of a quiet one


cheers

[Hardcore]

The little 1.3cdti engines are abit fragile in their older age. More so on the Corsa D than C it seems.
Does it have good service history and low miles?

K&N panel filter, i'd avoid personally and just use the paper one with standard airbox.
K&N needs oiled to stop all the dust but then if you have a MAF the oil can be sucked down the intake, into that and cause it to fail.
If you don't use oil, small particles of dust get in and over time it acts like a sand blaster on your turbochargers compression wheel.

Front mount lowers intake temps so you get a little more power from it standard but allows for more power during a remap without the car belching out too much black smoke.
The bigger the intercooler the more work the turbo has to do to compress the air to the desired psi so it can result in more lag if not remapped to suit it.

Exhaust changes can help. Decat helps keep the turbo cool as you don't want a red hot cat close to it baking it every time you drive it hard.
Bear in mind though a decat is illegal and an MOT fail currently but MOT is just a visual inspection. So if it looks like there's a cat on the car it'll pass (some people suggest cutting open the cat, emptying it and weld it shut again)
I think Corsa C has the cat, centre resonator and rear silencer. If i had one i'd probably get the cat gutted and welded then a cat back performance exhaust with the centre resonator removed and performance back box. This removes the restrictions and you shouldn't lose any power as the turbo blades maintain the back pressure.
Diesels aren't as noisy as petrols so keep the resonator if you want it to sound quiet, but remove it if you don't mind a sporty sound.

Dump valve - avoid. Terrible sounding on a diesel. Nothing like a petrol one, they don't help performance and cost a fortune

[krazeddd]

The little 1.3cdti engines are abit fragile in their older age. More so on the Corsa D than C it seems.
Does it have good service history and low miles?

K&N panel filter, i'd avoid personally and just use the paper one with standard airbox.
K&N needs oiled to stop all the dust but then if you have a MAF the oil can be sucked down the intake, into that and cause it to fail.
If you don't use oil, small particles of dust get in and over time it acts like a sand blaster on your turbochargers compression wheel.

Front mount lowers intake temps so you get a little more power from it standard but allows for more power during a remap without the car belching out too much black smoke.
The bigger the intercooler the more work the turbo has to do to compress the air to the desired psi so it can result in more lag if not remapped to suit it.

Exhaust changes can help. Decat helps keep the turbo cool as you don't want a red hot cat close to it baking it every time you drive it hard.
Bear in mind though a decat is illegal and an MOT fail currently but MOT is just a visual inspection. So if it looks like there's a cat on the car it'll pass (some people suggest cutting open the cat, emptying it and weld it shut again)
I think Corsa C has the cat, centre resonator and rear silencer. If i had one i'd probably get the cat gutted and welded then a cat back performance exhaust with the centre resonator removed and performance back box. This removes the restrictions and you shouldn't lose any power as the turbo blades maintain the back pressure.
Diesels aren't as noisy as petrols so keep the resonator if you want it to sound quiet, but remove it if you don't mind a sporty sound.

Dump valve - avoid. Terrible sounding on a diesel. Nothing like a petrol one, they don't help performance and cost a fortune

it does have good service history but 121k miles, the previous owner was my dad and he changed oil&filter and fuel filter every 6k (still stook in 1982 haha)
he got the car at 101k miles

ok, ill avoid the air filter and the dump valve.

so if i was to get a front mount intercooler, which would be the best one to go for, and im guessing id be better off fitting the intercooler then taking it for a remap?
and ill get rid of the cat and see how that sounds, if its not bad ill get a straight through centre and see how that sounds etc etc.

what are these chip tuning boxes like? avoid at all costs? or decent. cheers

[Hardcore]

Chip tuning boxes (the generic ones off ebay etc) increase the fueling but not in a good way and they don't raise the boost. It gives you more power by flooding the engine with fuel so you end up contaminating the oil faster from over fueling and leaving big clouds of black some everywhere.
Remap would give it more power and less smoke and better mpg and reliability.

Get rid of the cat internals but not the cat itself or you'll have troubles MOT time or VOSA roadside stop. As long as the car looks like it has a cat, they won't care about if it's still got its internals though.
Removing the centre silencer if you have one will make a lot more difference than the decat power and noise wise.
You could get it cut out and replaced with a straight pipe and then gut out the cat and just fit a generic performance backbox. More power, less turbo lag and minimum cost.

Front mount wise i'd just get a generic one that'll fit ok then buy the pipes and hoses to fit it. That and the exhaust mods should give about 10bhp on their own and with a good remap i think 100bhp would be good to go for without risk of popping the turbo. You could go higher but then reliability suffers

Here's my Corsa B 1.5TD with a decat and centre resonator removed onto a performance backbox

And my Ibiza FR 1.9TDi with same idea as above (decat, one silencer etc)

[Danny]

Is a dump valve even possible on a diesel? Isn't the whole point of it to release pressure after the throttle body... Which diesels don't have...

[Hardcore]

They can have them, but it's just a valve that collects pressure and them dumps it to the atmosphere.
The problem is they sound the same pitch of tssss no matter how hard or soft you drive it

They are terrible

[Danny]

So it's just noise for the sake of making noise rather than being functional then?

[Hardcore]

Yeah. Zero performance gains from them.

[krazeddd]

[Hardcore]

The 1.5TD corsa only had a modded air box and panel filter, and 2.5" cat back with decat.
Was 66bhp standard and mines had done 180k+ miles and still managed to make 77bhp before it got wrote off.

[krazeddd]

thats pretty good going that, cant wait to see what increase i will get cheers

[krazeddd]

UNIVERSAL FRONT MOUNT TURBO INTERCOOLER VW GOLF CORSA NOVA ASTRA C20LET PUNTO | eBay

would this be too big?

[krazeddd]

anyone?

[Hardcore]

No idea. You'd need to measure out the width of the radiator and stuff to see if you have enough clearance for it behind the bumper.