Tuning the Maruti / Suzuki Ertiga

"Tuning guide to the greatest Maruti Ertiga modifications."

The Ertiga is a great tuning project to play with. We see car owners wasting money on their Ertiga doing the wrong mods and then having to start over. Follow our hints to avoid ruining your car so we shall look into Ertiga tuning and summarise the optimum modifications.

Maruti Ertigas are fantastic to work on and with carefully chosen tuning modifications you can really increase your driving fun.

Tuning tips and articles

Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

 

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Handling modifications are the thing most do first for the Ertiga.

We found that most Ertiga factory suspension setups need tweaking, a few degrees of toe out for cornering or toe in for stability, 1-1.7, and some negative camber will substantially enhance your cornering and handling.

We suggest that you fit sports suspension and lower the car by 22mm - 39 mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with motorsport suspension.

Don't just look at the peak power figures, you need to see the whole torque curve when determining if a mod is right for you Ertiga.

Spending just a little money on the right engine and handling mods should transform your car into a potential super car beater.

Smaller engines do not provide much of a return in terms of power so start with a bigger engine. Engine swaps are a good option if you have a small engine size.

Power mods.

This list of the stages and modified modifications are usually fitted by our members, decide how far you want to go before you get going.

  • 1.4 L K14B DOHC 16-valve EFI inline-four with VVT
    70 kW (94 hp; 95 PS) at 6,000 rpm
    130 N⋅m (96 lb⋅ft) at 4,000 rpm
  • 1.5 L K15B DOHC 16-valve EFI inline-four with VVT
    77 kW (103 hp; 105 PS) at 6,000 rpm
    138 N⋅m (102 lb⋅ft) at 4,400 rpm
  • 1.3 L D13A DDiS DOHC 16-valve inline-four with turbocharger
    68 kW (91 hp; 92 PS) at 4,000 rpm
    200 N⋅m (150 lb⋅ft) at 1,750 rpm
  • 1.5 L E15A DDiS DOHC 16-valve inline-four with turbocharger
    70 kW (94 hp; 95 PS) at 4,000 rpm
    225 N⋅m (166 lb⋅ft) at 1,500–2,500 rpm

Second generation

  • 1.5 L K15B i4 77 kW (103.3 hp; 104.7 PS) (petrol)
  • 1.3 L D13A I4-T 68 kW (91 hp; 92 PS) (1.3 L diesel)
  • 1.5 L E15A I4-T 70 kW (94 hp; 95 PS) (1.5 L diesel)

XL6/XL7 (Crossover SUV version)

This came in 3 trim versions Zeta, Beta and Alpha

  • 1.5 L K15B i4 (petrol) 77 kW (103 hp; 105 PS)

Getting the correct grade of modified upgrade kits for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 competition upgrades just won't work well on the road and will make the car undrivable.

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How to tune your car

  1. Improve the handling

    Focus on Suspension improvements, such as coilovers and make sure the bushings are in good order and that the alignment is correct. Then focus on improving the brakes, with a big disk brake conversion kit and fast road brake pads.

  2. Remove restrictions

    Focus on the intake and exhaust with filters being the common point of restriction in a tuned car. Intercoolers may also become restrictive on turbo engines so this may also need to be uprated.

  3. Burn more fuel & air

    Increase the fuelling so it matches the air coming into the engine. The ratio is important so you need to improve the fuel pump and injectors, so the head mods, big valve conversions, fast road camshafts and forced induction upgrades extra supply of air is adequately met.

  4. Test and replace any weak parts

    Weak areas are commonly the clutch, the turbocharger and pistons and crankshaft in a highly tuned engine. Makes sure these components will cope with your power aspirations.

  5. The Tune or Remap

    A cars ECU controls the fuel, timing, spark and even the turbo in some cases, so to fully extract your gains you should remap the car last and this will fully release the power. Some cars are easy to map, and others require piggyback ECU's or aftermarket ECU's but this is the most vital step of your tuning project.

Modifying to Stage 1:

 Remap, Panel air filter, Lighter flywheel, Suspension upgrade (drop 22mm - 39 mm.), Sports exhaust, Alloy wheels.

Modifying to Stage 2:

 fuel pump upgrades, Ported and polished head, Power/Sport clutch, high flow fuel injector, Fast road cam.

Modifying to Stage 3:

 Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Engine balancing, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Sports gearbox, Competition cam.

Peak power is nice in motorsport but for a daily driven car you need a long power band and perhaps extending the rev range.

The point of our guides is to give a brief overview of tuning modifications and point you in the right direction, our forum is the place to go for detailed advice and tips on your car tuning project, the best uprated parts and all aspects of modding cars.One of the best mechanical modified upgrades you can do to your NASP engine is to fit a fast road camshaft .

It maximises the intake and exhaust durations and increases the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a remap. We'd also caution you not to go with a motor sports profile cam as this affects the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to look at the fuelling.

Most power losses, flat spots and erratic idling after uprated kits are done can usually be traced to fuel delivery or timing issues. Upgraded injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine.

Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned Ertiga's uprated injectors.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Contrary to popular belief there is often very little if any power gain obtained by fitting an induction kit, they only work well and are recommended after you raise the engines power to the point where the standard air intake box cannot cope!

For most Ertiga engines TorqueCars would suggest you just go with a washable panel air filter. On heavily tuned engines and turbo vehicles an induction kit will help release the power providing you address the problem of supplying cold air.

Sports exhausts balance the flow of gases through the engine. But if the exhaust pipe is too large, ie: over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose much of the exhaust flow rate and end up lacking power and torque.

Getting a professionally ported and polished head with larger valves can fully maximise your power gains. A good heavy duty fast road sports clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never make false economies or think that a standard OEM clutch to cope. The best mods we recommend for your Ertiga are fast road camshaft, remap, induction and exhaust, suspension.

NASP engines do not achieve big power gains if you remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. With turbocharged engines this is another story. A remapped turbo will give impressive power gains and take full advantage of the strength of the block. Adding forced induction will see significant power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. It is usually easier to add a supercharger than it is to get a turbo working. With a turbo the boost curve is related exponentially to the engine speed making it harder to map.

Superchargers will give a boost which is directly proportional to engine speed so is simpler. Adding forced induction will nearly always require a lower compression ratio or water injection.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

As alloys are less heavy they improve performance and they help to cool the brake disks. Further improvements can be made to your cars handling with the addition of soft compound tire. Large Ertiga alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get big alloy wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio.

With this in mind endeavour to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the OEM setup. In all cases avoid going over 17 or 18 inches.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss Ertiga options in more detail with our Ertiga owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Maruti tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which mods work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually updated.

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