Tuning the Toyota 4A

"Comprehensive guide to tuning and performance parts on the Toyota 4A engine!"

Now we shall outline options for your 4A tuning and outline the best modifications for your car. Toyota 4A make a good tuning project and with the right motorsport modifications like a remap, turbo kits and camshafts you will maximise your driving pleasure.

Just because particular parts are appear in lots of 4A projects it doesn't mean it is good, instead we'll best parts that will give your 4A the best power gain for you money.

Significant gains on the 4A can be made from camshaft upgrades. Altering the camshaft profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the power band and power output.

NB: Fast road camshafts normally bump the bhp and torque over the rpm range, you may lose a little low down bhp but the top end will improve.

Competition camshafts, bump the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

On a car driven daily you need to match your power band to your typical driving style.

I'd be amazed if you find a 4A Competition cam is a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas.

Some 4A engines respond better to extreme camshaft durations than others.

The map and injectors and fuel pump also have a large bearing on the bhp gains you'll make.

Altering valve durations can alter the bhp band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

Stage 1 modifications: Fast road camshaft, Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Panel air filters, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold.

Stage 2 modifications: Fast road cam, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades, high flow fuel injectors, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, induction kit.

Stage 3 modifications: Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Competition cam, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Twin charging conversions.

A remap should help to fully realize the full potential of all the parts you've fitted to your 4A.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but your mileage usually depend much on the parts you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

Shoving more air into each cylinder is the main goal to any engine tuning job.

Intake headers carry the air during the suck phase from the air cleaner and allow it to be drawn into the engine and mixed with fuel.

The bore size, shape and rate of flow of the Intake headers can make a large effect on to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the 4A.

We often see intake are improved through aftermarket parts, although a few manufacturers provide reasonably good intake.

Fitting big valve kits, carrying out port work and head flowing will also raise bhp and torque, and significantly will allow you to get increasing the bhp and torque increase on other tuning mods.

Turbo upgrades

NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your 4A

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes massive power gains.

If an engine is fitted with a turbo parts are more reliable and most turbo engines use uprated components.

There are practical limits for every engine, with some being extremely strong and some just sufficiently able to handle stock power

We recommend you find these limits and upgrade to higher quality components to cope with the power.

There are many mechanics spending a loads on turbocharger upgrades on the 4A only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the whole thing explode soon after it's finished.

Large capacity turbochargers commonly suffer a bottom end lag, and smaller turbochargers spool up really quickly but don't have the high rpm engines power gains.

Over the last 20 years the range of turbos is always developing and we now see variable vane turbos, permitting the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end power.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust flow into 2 channels and feed these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo. They also help the scavenging effect of the engine.

You'll commonly see there is a limitation in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the 4A when a lot more air is being sucked into the engine.

We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor was restricting torque at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large power gains, although more challenging to setup. We have this in depth look at twinchargers if you want to read more.

Fuelling upgrades and mods

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so need to ramp up the fuelling when you start exceeding 20% of a power increase.It is important to be generous with your injectors flow rate.

As a rule of thumb add another 20% when specifying an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and gives you some spare capacity should the engine need more fuel.

We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.

Exhaust upgrades and mods

You only need to to increase your exhaust if the current exhaust is actually creating a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you should find that your flow rate is ok even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Don't go with the largest exhaust you can buy you'll reduce the exhaust flow rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Common exhaust restrictions are in the catalyst installed, so adding a higher flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Weak spots, Issues & common problem areas on the 4A

The 4A engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

Regular oil changes are vital on the 4A, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

History of the Engine

North American market engines:

4A-L, 4A-LC & 4A-C

• 4A-LC 1.6 L I4, 8valve SOHC, 52 kW (70 hp; 71 PS) @4800 rpm
• 4A-C 1.6 L I4, 8valve SOHC, 55 kW (74 hp; 75 PS) @5200 rpm

European (and other) market engines: (excepting some EU areas)

• 4A-L 1.6 L, I4, 8valve SOHC, 58 kW (78 hp; 79 PS) @5600 rpm (123Nm 90 lbft) @4000 rpm (Indonesia)
• 4A-L 1.6 L, I4, 8valve SOHC, 62 kW (83 hp; 84 PS) @5600 rpm (130Nm 96 lbft) @3600 rpm (compression @9.3:1) (Europe)
• 4A-LC 1.6 L, I4, 8valve SOHC, 57 kW (77 hp; 78 PS) @5600 rpm

This version of the 4A was fitted to...

• AT151 Carina II 1983–1987 (Europe only)
• AT160 Celica 1985–1989 (excluding Japan)
• AE71 Corolla 1982–1984 (North America, Australia & South Africa only)
• AE82/86 Corolla 1983–1987 (excluding Japan)
• AT151 Corona 1983–1987 (excluding Japan)
• A60 Daihatsu Charmant 1984-1987 (excluding Japan)

4A-ELU

• 78 hp @5600 rpm (118Nm 87 lbft) @4000 rpm
• 100 hp @5600 rpm (127Nm 94 lbft) @4000 rpm JDM
• AT151 Carina 1984–1988 (JDM)
• AE82 Corolla 1983–1987 (JDM)
• AE82 Sprinter 1983–1987 (JDM)

4A-F

• 95 hp @6,000 rpm (127Nm 94 lbft) @3,600 rpm
• AT171 Carina II 1987–1992 (Europe only)
• AE92/95 Corolla 1987–1992 (excluding JDM)
• AE95 Corolla 1988–1989 (JDM)
• AE101 Corolla 1992–1998 (Asia, Africa & Latin-America)
• AE111 Corolla 1997–2001 (Asia, Africa & Latin-America)
• AT171/177 Corona 1987–1992 (excluding JDM)

4A-FE

North American market engines:

• 113 hp @5,800 rpm, (107lbft) @4,800 rpm
  European market engines:
• 104 hp @6,000 rpm, (105lbft) @3,200 rpm

Asian market engines:

• 114 hp; 116 PS) @6,000 rpm
  South African market engines:
• 78 hp; @6,000 rpm and torque (103lbft @4,400 rpm

This version of the 4A found it's way into many popular cars and export models

• AT220 Avensis 1997–2000 (excluding JDM
• AT171/175 Carina 1988–1992 (JDM)
• AT190 Carina 1984–1996 (JDM only)
• AT171 Carina II 1987–1992 (Europe only)
• AT190 Carina E 1992–1997 (Europe only)
• AT180 Celica 1989–1993 (excluding JDM)
• AE92/95 Corolla 1988–1997
• AE101/104/109 Corolla 1991–2002
• AE111/114 Corolla 1995–2002
• AE101 Corolla Ceres 1992–1998 (JDM)
• AT175 Corona 1988–1992 (JDM)
• AT190 & AT210 Corona 1992–2001
• AE95 Sprinter 1989–1991 (JDM)
• AE101/104/109 Sprinter 1992–2002 (JDM
• AE111/114 Sprinter 1995–1998 (JDM)
• AE95 Sprinter Carib 1988–1990 (JDM)
• AE111/114 Sprinter Carib 1996–2001 (JDM)
• AE101 Sprinter Marino 1992–1998 (JDM)
• AE92/AE111 Corolla/Conquest 1993–2002 (South Africa)

4A-FHE

• 110hp @6,000 rpm  (142Nm 105 lbft) @4,800 rpm
• AT171 Carina 1990–1992 (JDM only)

4A-GE 16v

• 115–128 hp; 117–130 PS @6,600 rpm 109 lbft @5,800 rpm
• AA63 Carina 1983.06–1985 (JDM only)
• AT160 Carina 1985–1988 (JDM only)
• AT171 Carina 1988–1992 (JDM only)
• AA63 Celica 1983–1985
• AT160 Celica 1985–1989
• AE82 Corolla saloon, FX 1984.10–1987
• AE86 Corolla Levin 1983.05–1987
• AE92 Corolla 1987–1993
• AT141 Corona 1983.10–1985 (JDM only)
• AT160 Corona 1985–1988 (JDM only)
• AW11 MR2 1984.06–1989
• AE82 Sprinter 1984.10–1987 (JDM only)
• AE86 Sprinter Trueno 1983.05–1987 (JDM only)
• AE92 Sprinter 1987–1992 (JDM only)
• AE82/AE92 Corolla GLi Twincam/Conquest RSi 1986–1993 (South Africa)
• Chevrolet Nova (based on Corolla AE82)
• Geo Prizm GSi (based on Toyota AE92 chassis) 1990–1992

4A-GE 20v 4th generation

• AE101 Corolla Levin coupe 1991–2000 (JDM only)
• AE101 Sprinter Trueno coupe 1991–2000 (JDM only)
• AE101 Corolla Ceres hardtop 1992–1998 (JDM only)
• AE101 Sprinter Marino hardtop 1992–1998 (JDM only)
• AT210 Carina 1996–2001 (JDM only)
• AE101 Corolla 1991–2002 (JDM only)
• AE101 Sprinter 1991–2000 (JDM only)

4A-GZE

• 143 bhp @6400 rpm 140 lbft @4400 163-180 hp 155 lbft
• AE92 Corolla 1987–1991 (JDM only)
• AE101 Corolla 1991–1995 (JDM only)
• AW11 MR2 1986–1989 (Japan, 1988-1989 North America)
• AE92 Sprinter 1987–1991 (JDM only)
• AE101 Sprinter 1991–1995 (JDM only)

For more information on Tuning your 4A engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our 4A owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Toyota. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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