Tuning my 4efe 1st time
Discussion
Hello Everyone,
I just bought a toyota starlet year 1998.
It has a 4efe engine 1330cc.
It's fully stock. Only 14 inches rims.
I don't want to add a turbo.
May I please have some tips to get more power ? I want to keep it naturally aspirated.
I think iridium spark plugs will give me some power, are there other parts I can change or add ?
Thanking you in advance for your help
I just bought a toyota starlet year 1998.
It has a 4efe engine 1330cc.
It's fully stock. Only 14 inches rims.
I don't want to add a turbo.
May I please have some tips to get more power ? I want to keep it naturally aspirated.
I think iridium spark plugs will give me some power, are there other parts I can change or add ?
Thanking you in advance for your help
With non-turbo tuning, you want to look at getting more air and fuel IN, and getting more exhaust gasses OUT. Gas flow efficiency is key.
Changing spark plugs wont amount to much. Nor will things like a different air filter etc. They can help when the engine is in a higher state of tune, but on their own you won't get a lot.
For power increases you want to look at a more efficient exhaust system (full system) that can allow exhaust gases to escape easier. When you do this, you will need to re-map the ECU to account for a better breathing engine - more fuel, and possibly the injection timing altered as well. If you are making for a better breathing car, then hotter cams (higher lift / more duration) with slotted sprockets to allow for optimisation of cam timing as well (when th valves open, valve overlap etc). This will also warrant some head work to ensure good gas flow properties rough the head.
Having a well balanced engine (balanced crank, rods and pistons that are as identical in weight as possible) really helps. And if these parts can be lighter, then that also helps.
N/A tuning is a really intricate thing, there's lots to change and lots to research - I hope this helps!
Changing spark plugs wont amount to much. Nor will things like a different air filter etc. They can help when the engine is in a higher state of tune, but on their own you won't get a lot.
For power increases you want to look at a more efficient exhaust system (full system) that can allow exhaust gases to escape easier. When you do this, you will need to re-map the ECU to account for a better breathing engine - more fuel, and possibly the injection timing altered as well. If you are making for a better breathing car, then hotter cams (higher lift / more duration) with slotted sprockets to allow for optimisation of cam timing as well (when th valves open, valve overlap etc). This will also warrant some head work to ensure good gas flow properties rough the head.
Having a well balanced engine (balanced crank, rods and pistons that are as identical in weight as possible) really helps. And if these parts can be lighter, then that also helps.
N/A tuning is a really intricate thing, there's lots to change and lots to research - I hope this helps!
Be careful about lightweight pulleys, especially if the crankshaft one acts as a harmonic balancer.
Ported head (Scholar Racing near Ipswich are excellent), matched inlet (unless you intend to change the carburation) and exhaust manifolds, improved air filtration (induction) improved exhaust (better manifold, less restrictive exhaust).
Move onto improved Cams, higher compression pistons, get the engine fully lightened and balanced, then improve the carburation, perhaps getting a custom ported / matched inlet manifold and bolting a single 40 Weber or Dellorto downdraft or sidedraft.
Ported head (Scholar Racing near Ipswich are excellent), matched inlet (unless you intend to change the carburation) and exhaust manifolds, improved air filtration (induction) improved exhaust (better manifold, less restrictive exhaust).
Move onto improved Cams, higher compression pistons, get the engine fully lightened and balanced, then improve the carburation, perhaps getting a custom ported / matched inlet manifold and bolting a single 40 Weber or Dellorto downdraft or sidedraft.
Late to the party, but I've got the 4E-FE in my Corolla.
You're lucky, you've got options to increase the power on your Starlet. The biggest gains I think are achieved by using the throttle body and manifold from the Corolla in your Starlet. The ones on your Starlet aren't the same size and are a bit smaller than what you've got at the moment.
I'm assuming your engine is like mine and has an electronic distributor, so adjustment of this is out of the question. Older ones have the traditional dizzy, which can be advanced or retarded depending whether you wanted better acceleration or more top end power.
You can, somewhere, get a thinner head gasket. TTE (Toyota Team Europe) used to sell a thin metal head gasket for the 4EFE engine but they're rarer than hens teeth now. There's a website, GT4-Play (they're on Facebook) seem to be good to source one though. I've asked him for one and he reckons he could get hold of one. This would increase the compression on the engine.
I think you can use lightened pulleys on the 4EFE without too much issue.
Only other gains to be hand from this engine, without changing a lot of the engine, is to allow the engine to breathe better. So a cold air intake would be ideal, don't just shove a cone on it because it'll be sucking in warm air from the engine which is no good. You can get these cone filters contained within a cylinder, which makes it a sealed unit, and then have the intake lower down the car. Be wary of how low it goes in case you ever go in a ford!
Then you have the exhaust, you can increase the diameter of it but I think a decat would give you the best results. If your Starlet is like mine, then there is only one oxygen sensor and that sits before the catalytic convertor. I haven't tried this yet myself, but as cats for these cars are silly money (I paid £30 for a Klarius one for my Corolla, brand new) then it's worth at least trying out. Remember that, to get the best out of the decat, you need to make sure it's a straight through run in to the cat. A lot of people just hollow out the cat and throw it back on, which is pointless as the air will become turbluent in the hollowed out catalytic chamber. Best thing to do is cut the two ends off of the cat, gut it, then slip a new pipe through it and weld it together.
Other than this, there really isn't much to gain from the 4EFE without investing silly money. A modified 4EFE to use a turbo is something I'm going to do, especially as 4ETFE engines are next to impossible to get hold of now.
You're lucky, you've got options to increase the power on your Starlet. The biggest gains I think are achieved by using the throttle body and manifold from the Corolla in your Starlet. The ones on your Starlet aren't the same size and are a bit smaller than what you've got at the moment.
I'm assuming your engine is like mine and has an electronic distributor, so adjustment of this is out of the question. Older ones have the traditional dizzy, which can be advanced or retarded depending whether you wanted better acceleration or more top end power.
You can, somewhere, get a thinner head gasket. TTE (Toyota Team Europe) used to sell a thin metal head gasket for the 4EFE engine but they're rarer than hens teeth now. There's a website, GT4-Play (they're on Facebook) seem to be good to source one though. I've asked him for one and he reckons he could get hold of one. This would increase the compression on the engine.
I think you can use lightened pulleys on the 4EFE without too much issue.
Only other gains to be hand from this engine, without changing a lot of the engine, is to allow the engine to breathe better. So a cold air intake would be ideal, don't just shove a cone on it because it'll be sucking in warm air from the engine which is no good. You can get these cone filters contained within a cylinder, which makes it a sealed unit, and then have the intake lower down the car. Be wary of how low it goes in case you ever go in a ford!
Then you have the exhaust, you can increase the diameter of it but I think a decat would give you the best results. If your Starlet is like mine, then there is only one oxygen sensor and that sits before the catalytic convertor. I haven't tried this yet myself, but as cats for these cars are silly money (I paid £30 for a Klarius one for my Corolla, brand new) then it's worth at least trying out. Remember that, to get the best out of the decat, you need to make sure it's a straight through run in to the cat. A lot of people just hollow out the cat and throw it back on, which is pointless as the air will become turbluent in the hollowed out catalytic chamber. Best thing to do is cut the two ends off of the cat, gut it, then slip a new pipe through it and weld it together.
Other than this, there really isn't much to gain from the 4EFE without investing silly money. A modified 4EFE to use a turbo is something I'm going to do, especially as 4ETFE engines are next to impossible to get hold of now.
sgtBerbatov said:
Late to the party, but I've got the 4E-FE in my Corolla.
You're lucky, you've got options to increase the power on your Starlet. The biggest gains I think are achieved by using the throttle body and manifold from the Corolla in your Starlet. The ones on your Starlet aren't the same size and are a bit smaller than what you've got at the moment.
I'm assuming your engine is like mine and has an electronic distributor, so adjustment of this is out of the question. Older ones have the traditional dizzy, which can be advanced or retarded depending whether you wanted better acceleration or more top end power.
You can, somewhere, get a thinner head gasket. TTE (Toyota Team Europe) used to sell a thin metal head gasket for the 4EFE engine but they're rarer than hens teeth now. There's a website, GT4-Play (they're on Facebook) seem to be good to source one though. I've asked him for one and he reckons he could get hold of one. This would increase the compression on the engine.
I think you can use lightened pulleys on the 4EFE without too much issue.
Only other gains to be hand from this engine, without changing a lot of the engine, is to allow the engine to breathe better. So a cold air intake would be ideal, don't just shove a cone on it because it'll be sucking in warm air from the engine which is no good. You can get these cone filters contained within a cylinder, which makes it a sealed unit, and then have the intake lower down the car. Be wary of how low it goes in case you ever go in a ford!
Then you have the exhaust, you can increase the diameter of it but I think a decat would give you the best results. If your Starlet is like mine, then there is only one oxygen sensor and that sits before the catalytic convertor. I haven't tried this yet myself, but as cats for these cars are silly money (I paid £30 for a Klarius one for my Corolla, brand new) then it's worth at least trying out. Remember that, to get the best out of the decat, you need to make sure it's a straight through run in to the cat. A lot of people just hollow out the cat and throw it back on, which is pointless as the air will become turbluent in the hollowed out catalytic chamber. Best thing to do is cut the two ends off of the cat, gut it, then slip a new pipe through it and weld it together.
Other than this, there really isn't much to gain from the 4EFE without investing silly money. A modified 4EFE to use a turbo is something I'm going to do, especially as 4ETFE engines are next to impossible to get hold of now.
Picked one of these up recently and I'm excited to get started making it my own, good info above so thanks for that!You're lucky, you've got options to increase the power on your Starlet. The biggest gains I think are achieved by using the throttle body and manifold from the Corolla in your Starlet. The ones on your Starlet aren't the same size and are a bit smaller than what you've got at the moment.
I'm assuming your engine is like mine and has an electronic distributor, so adjustment of this is out of the question. Older ones have the traditional dizzy, which can be advanced or retarded depending whether you wanted better acceleration or more top end power.
You can, somewhere, get a thinner head gasket. TTE (Toyota Team Europe) used to sell a thin metal head gasket for the 4EFE engine but they're rarer than hens teeth now. There's a website, GT4-Play (they're on Facebook) seem to be good to source one though. I've asked him for one and he reckons he could get hold of one. This would increase the compression on the engine.
I think you can use lightened pulleys on the 4EFE without too much issue.
Only other gains to be hand from this engine, without changing a lot of the engine, is to allow the engine to breathe better. So a cold air intake would be ideal, don't just shove a cone on it because it'll be sucking in warm air from the engine which is no good. You can get these cone filters contained within a cylinder, which makes it a sealed unit, and then have the intake lower down the car. Be wary of how low it goes in case you ever go in a ford!
Then you have the exhaust, you can increase the diameter of it but I think a decat would give you the best results. If your Starlet is like mine, then there is only one oxygen sensor and that sits before the catalytic convertor. I haven't tried this yet myself, but as cats for these cars are silly money (I paid £30 for a Klarius one for my Corolla, brand new) then it's worth at least trying out. Remember that, to get the best out of the decat, you need to make sure it's a straight through run in to the cat. A lot of people just hollow out the cat and throw it back on, which is pointless as the air will become turbluent in the hollowed out catalytic chamber. Best thing to do is cut the two ends off of the cat, gut it, then slip a new pipe through it and weld it together.
Other than this, there really isn't much to gain from the 4EFE without investing silly money. A modified 4EFE to use a turbo is something I'm going to do, especially as 4ETFE engines are next to impossible to get hold of now.
They're surprisingly torquey in first and second runs out of puff pretty quick but great fun once you get going
Atrocious body roll so I'm currently looking at picking up a rear ARB before I buy anything else for the car
I'd imagine if you can get close to the 90-100hp range and move the torque peak up the rev range a little they'd feel pretty quick!
Hello. I own a Corolla 110 1998 1.3 liter 16v 4efe and I was thinking to upgrade to a turbo kit to keep on 0.5 bar pressure to avoid breaking the engine I spoke to several mechanics and obviously the 4efte has thicker parts that makes the engine stronger. I found a few engines I could buy around 2000 pounds plus shipment but I would have to check them and replace some parts plus the labor would cost me at least €4000. On the other hand I could buy a turbo kit with intercooler for about €1200 more or less and with €1500 labor I could get it working. I really don’t know what’s but definitely it ain’t cheep! What do you suggest?
N/A tuning is very expensive, anything other than extensive gas flowing etc will give very little gain per pound spent.
By far the most effective way to increase the power of a 4E-FE is to take it out, chuck it in the bin and fit the 4E-FTE from the Glanza (starlet) GT turbo
Basically a forged, lower compression FE
By far the most effective way to increase the power of a 4E-FE is to take it out, chuck it in the bin and fit the 4E-FTE from the Glanza (starlet) GT turbo
Basically a forged, lower compression FE4efeNON-Turbo said:
Hello Everyone,
I just bought a toyota starlet year 1998.
It has a 4efe engine 1330cc.
It's fully stock. Only 14 inches rims.
I don't want to add a turbo.
May I please have some tips to get more power ? I want to keep it naturally aspirated.
I think iridium spark plugs will give me some power, are there other parts I can change or add ?
Thanking you in advance for your help
I just bought a toyota starlet year 1998.
It has a 4efe engine 1330cc.
It's fully stock. Only 14 inches rims.
I don't want to add a turbo.
May I please have some tips to get more power ? I want to keep it naturally aspirated.
I think iridium spark plugs will give me some power, are there other parts I can change or add ?
Thanking you in advance for your help
Hello, friend!
The first thing we have to note is that the 4e-fe stock postons do not like higher compression ratios. Before co siderong increasing the power you should think about the pistons.
- First Steps
- if the engine is over 160 000 km chnage the crank pulley, all four piston heads and the rods. Make a nitrous cleaning procedure for the cylinders of the engine at a specialized shop for gasoline engines.
- after doing that, change the A roles for the power steering and the water pump (you may get to change the water pump at some point of existence).
- consider buying pistons rated for 10:1+ compression ratio, so they can sustaine better load and power. Use over 95 octane fuel, 100 recommended and buy a sports air filter (the cone form) and just place it over the air intake box. Reconnect the MAF sensor for reseting the module so it can make new codes for the amount of air getting to the engine.
- important steps for NA tuning
- chnage the spark plugs to a new ones or sports one (note: sports one will do nothing unless you make an advance or retardet ignition timing set within a custom reamp for the engine)
- change the fuel rails and the coil overs for the spark plugs.
Change the rails to a better performing ones or just go straight to a sports one, but you should commit to the fact you will have to go to special shop so they can limit the amount of fuel the engine is receiving, those rails are usually rated for over 170-300hp, and those engine will want the full performance out of them, but the 4e-fe doesn't need that much fuel, all though it can sustaine 170 hp at its stock form and parts. Chnaging the pistons is just the first baby step to a more powerfull engine (NA). When the fuel rails are already optimized for the 4e-fe, then we have to chnage the comp. ratio to about 9.9:1 or fully extending it to 10.1:1. That way you will make the pistons suffer more but in the same time keeping the efficiency and the power of the engine to an optimal and overperforming state.
-After all that, we go to the clutch and the transmission.
The transmission has nothing to do for now, because the transmision with good clutch can sustaine well over 150hp. The clutch is the main part. You should buy a clutch able to sustaine 130hp and over 250nm of torque. The stock clutch will just fry under the power of the "tuned engine".
And now the final step is just paying a software specialist make a proper ecu tunning for you which will do all the job with all the new parts and performance added. You will have to buy a new ECU module, beacuse the stock one is unbreakable in a part of changing the power and air to fuel ratio. So thats a bonus 160$ added.
After all the things we have talked, you should consider buying new colling system for the oil, and the engine.
We will not go in much details bout that, it will depend on the engine you are tunning.
After everything, you will be blessed with around +30hp, and if there is a chip tunning made for the engine, it will ad up to bonus 20hp. There we go, the engine is not 134hp in NA state. It doesn't sound like a lot, but now the engine is ready to be turbocharged. But be carefull. I didn't say the part about the head gasket. You HAVE TO BUY A NEW ONE. And watch out for it, it shouldn't be aluminum. Beacuse it will just expand due to the heat and it will become weaker and increase the chances of the engine failing. It should be steel head gasket, it will not expand and will be better for this engine. The crankshaft at this state will not be a problem, as there is not extensional heat or pressure put on it. But you may get to buy a new one in case its a little too old or the engine is at over 160k km. And it can be either cast iron (cheaper) or heavy duty cast (not that cheap, but more reliable and heavier). And the flywheel comes with the clutch, so you should put it too
The first thing we have to note is that the 4e-fe stock postons do not like higher compression ratios. Before co siderong increasing the power you should think about the pistons.
- First Steps
- if the engine is over 160 000 km chnage the crank pulley, all four piston heads and the rods. Make a nitrous cleaning procedure for the cylinders of the engine at a specialized shop for gasoline engines.
- after doing that, change the A roles for the power steering and the water pump (you may get to change the water pump at some point of existence).
- consider buying pistons rated for 10:1+ compression ratio, so they can sustaine better load and power. Use over 95 octane fuel, 100 recommended and buy a sports air filter (the cone form) and just place it over the air intake box. Reconnect the MAF sensor for reseting the module so it can make new codes for the amount of air getting to the engine.
- important steps for NA tuning
- chnage the spark plugs to a new ones or sports one (note: sports one will do nothing unless you make an advance or retardet ignition timing set within a custom reamp for the engine)
- change the fuel rails and the coil overs for the spark plugs.
Change the rails to a better performing ones or just go straight to a sports one, but you should commit to the fact you will have to go to special shop so they can limit the amount of fuel the engine is receiving, those rails are usually rated for over 170-300hp, and those engine will want the full performance out of them, but the 4e-fe doesn't need that much fuel, all though it can sustaine 170 hp at its stock form and parts. Chnaging the pistons is just the first baby step to a more powerfull engine (NA). When the fuel rails are already optimized for the 4e-fe, then we have to chnage the comp. ratio to about 9.9:1 or fully extending it to 10.1:1. That way you will make the pistons suffer more but in the same time keeping the efficiency and the power of the engine to an optimal and overperforming state.
-After all that, we go to the clutch and the transmission.
The transmission has nothing to do for now, because the transmision with good clutch can sustaine well over 150hp. The clutch is the main part. You should buy a clutch able to sustaine 130hp and over 250nm of torque. The stock clutch will just fry under the power of the "tuned engine".
And now the final step is just paying a software specialist make a proper ecu tunning for you which will do all the job with all the new parts and performance added. You will have to buy a new ECU module, beacuse the stock one is unbreakable in a part of changing the power and air to fuel ratio. So thats a bonus 160$ added.
After all the things we have talked, you should consider buying new colling system for the oil, and the engine.
We will not go in much details bout that, it will depend on the engine you are tunning.
After everything, you will be blessed with around +30hp, and if there is a chip tunning made for the engine, it will ad up to bonus 20hp. There we go, the engine is not 134hp in NA state. It doesn't sound like a lot, but now the engine is ready to be turbocharged. But be carefull. I didn't say the part about the head gasket. You HAVE TO BUY A NEW ONE. And watch out for it, it shouldn't be aluminum. Beacuse it will just expand due to the heat and it will become weaker and increase the chances of the engine failing. It should be steel head gasket, it will not expand and will be better for this engine. The crankshaft at this state will not be a problem, as there is not extensional heat or pressure put on it. But you may get to buy a new one in case its a little too old or the engine is at over 160k km. And it can be either cast iron (cheaper) or heavy duty cast (not that cheap, but more reliable and heavier). And the flywheel comes with the clutch, so you should put it too
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