Daewoo Kalos Tuning

"You can't afford to be callous"

The little Kalos competes in the small hatch sector with the Polo and forms an important part of the Daewoo portfolio. There are lots of young drivers out there looking for performance mods for the Kalos.

We'll take a good look at Kalos tuning and summarise the optimum modifications - there are a lot of dubious parts out there that will just waste your money and time.

The Kalos is a good car tuning project to play with. If you do your homework then you can create an awesome Kalos but don't be fooled there are lots of performance parts out there that will simply not suit it read our unbiased guides first.

Tuning tips and articles

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

Improving the handling should be your first priority in your Kalos tuning project. We suggest that you fit uprated suspension and lower the car by 30-35mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with sports suspension.

Top end power should be your overall aim on the Kalos with a nice fat peak torque band.

Spending a little money on the right engine and handling upgrades will transform your car into a credible track car.

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.

Tuning modifications.

These are the mods that are usually performed by our members, decide how far you want to go before you start.

Getting the correct grade of mods for your planned usage of the car is essential. Stage 3 motorsport parts just won't work well on the road difficult in stop start traffic.

Stage 1 modifications: Lighter flywheel,Panel air filter,Sports exhaust,Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm),Remap,Alloy wheels.

Stage 2 modifications: Fuel injector & fuel pump upgrades,Ported and polished head,Power clutch,Fast road cam,.

Stage 3 modifications: Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves),Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger),Competition cam,Engine balancing,Sports gearbox.

You should keep as much low end power as you can and aim to get a wide power band rather than a narrow top end power spike.

The whole point of this article is to give a little insight into the world of car tuning performance parts and point you in the right direction, our forum is best place to go if you need more detailed advice and tips on your project and all aspects of modding cars.

The intake and exhaust durations play a large part in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car difficult to drive in traffic.

You'd need to follow a camshaft upgrade with other mods and finish with a remap to fully realise your gains.You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling. Using high octane fuel is another option if you find you are suffering from detonation or premature ignition on your Daewoo project after fitting other mods. To get sufficient fuel you may need to uprate the injectors on your engine. Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned Kalos uprated injectors.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Breathing mods are usually next up. Air induction kits only help to add power if your air intake is restricted! Adding an induction kit to most standard engines will see NO POWER GAIN AT ALL.

If you have heavily modified your engine and it's need for air INCREASES DRAMATICALLY then an induction kit is the answer and will help remove this restriction. Induction kits can work well on turbo engines and larger engines (if supplied with a suitable cold air feed or air box), generally though we'd just recommend for Kalos engines you should just fit a sports panel air filter prefereble made from cotton.

Sports exhausts can usually air flow through the engine but do not go too large or you could will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2 inches for best results.

Head work including a gas flow (ported and polished) and 3 or 5 angle valve job will really help to release the potential of the engine. When you tune up your Kalos you will discover that the standard clutch starts to fail so get an uprated clutch. 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.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Because alloy wheels are lighter they improve performance and they can help to cool the brake disks. The downside to large alloy wheels on your Kalos is that you alter your effective final drive ratio and this will have a detrimental effect on acceleration and performance. Aim to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the same as supplied from the factory. In all cases we do not recommend going above 16 inches.

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

We need your help improving this article, so please send us your feedback in the comments box below and pass on any tips, points or facts we have wrong or have not covered. We really like hearing from our readers, and hearing about which mods were the most effective for them, it helps us improve our recommendations and articles to reflect current trends in modifications and ensures that our guides and tips are kept up to date.

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