Daewoo Matiz Tuning

The little Matiz is a popular car with young drivers and as such we are frequently asked about performance mods and upgrades for it so we've produced this introductory guide to allow you to get the most from your Matiz. We look at Matiz tuning and summarise the optimum modifications. 

Daewoo Matizs are popular tuning projects and with a few sensible performance parts you can substantially increase your driving pleasure.The Matiz is popular among our members for tuning projects We see many people wasting money on their Matiz doing the wrong mods and then having to start over. Follow our advice to avoid wasting your money

Improving the handling should be your first priority in your Matiz 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.

Turning our attention to the Matiz engine we need to get a bit more power out of the top end.

The best power gains come from larger engine sizes. The more you start with the bigger the return on investment so engine swaps are good value mods for small engined cars.

This list of the stages and mods that are usually performed by our members, decide how far you want to push your car before you get started.

Getting the best mods for your planned usage of the car is a time and money saver. Stage 3 competition upgrades just don't work well on the road as it makes the car hard to control in slow traffic.

Stage 1 mods: Remap,lighter flywheel,sports exhaust,Panel air filter,suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm),alloy wheels.

Stage 2 mods: Fast road cam,power clutch,fuel injector & fuel pump upgrades,Ported and polished head,.

Stage 3 mods: Engine balancing,sports gearbox, competition cam,adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger),Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves).

Engine Tuning.

Peak power is all well and good but for a daily driven car you need a wide torque band and perhaps extending the rev range. In this article we shall give an overview and introduction to the best mods for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance part.

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 hard to drive in traffic. You'd need to follow a camshaft upgrade with other mods and finish with a reflashed ECU for the best performance gains.

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling. Frequently power losses, flat spots and erratic idling after mods are done can usually be traced to timing or fuel delivery issues.Uprating the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel. A fuel pump will only deliver a finite amount of fuel, so you may need to uprate this if your injectors are demanding more fuel.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Breathing mods are usually next up. Contrary to popular belief there is usually very little power gain to be had by fitting an induction kit, they only work well and are recommended after you increase the engines power to the point where the standard air intake box cannot cope! Derestricting the airflow into the engine is the primary part of tuning so get a better flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound great but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not add noticeable power and actually rob you of power.

Sports exhausts will certainly help air flow through the engine but do not go too large or you could will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1 to 1.5 inches as a rule of thumb.

Getting a professionally flowed (ported and polished) head with larger valves can fully maximise your power gains. A good heavy duty fast road uprated clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never skimp or expect the standard clutch to cope. NASP engines do not achieve big power gains if you remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. 

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Because alloy wheels are less heavy they improve performance and they help to cool the brake disks. Large Matiz alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get big alloy wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio. 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 Matiz options in more detail with our Matiz 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.

Please Check out my YouTube channel, we're regularly adding new content...

Click to accept YouTube Cookies & Play.

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 Daewoo. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.