Tuning the Ford Duratec 33

"Comprehensive guide to performance parts and tuning the Ford Duratec 33 engine!"

We are always getting posts asking how to improve the Duratec 33 from people wanting to know what are the ultimate Duratec 33 mods that work. So let us look into Ford Duratec 33 tuning mods and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some potential pitfalls along the way.

The Ford Duratec 33 provide a fun base for your project and with the best sports mods like remapping, turbo kits and camshafts you will noticeably improve your driving opportunities.

This pages aim is review Duratec 33 tuning and highlight the best modifications for your car (The Duratec 3.3 was internally known as the Ford Cyclone V6 Engine and was designed by Ford and Porsche in collaboration.).

When talking about the best parts for your Duratec 33 engine, we are going to concentrate on the parts that give the best value for money.

The camshaft profile plays a big part in the engines power output so camshaft upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake and exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen camshaft profile, so large torque gains are on offer for camshaft upgrades.

NB: Fast road cams usually push up the bhp through the rpm range, you might lose a little bottom end bhp but the top end will be higher.

Motorsport cams, push up the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

On a road car must carefully try to optimize your bhp range to your preferences.

I'd be gobsmaked if you have found a Duratec 33 Motorsport cam is a pleasure to live with when in heavy traffic.

Some Duratec 33 engines respond better to more aggressive camshaft durations so view each engine as unique.

The ECU mapping and injectors and fuel pump also have an effect on the torque gains you'll achieve.

Altering valve durations can alter the torque 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.

Duratec 33 Best Tuning Mods & Upgrades

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Tuning Stages

Stage 1 Duratec 33 modifications: Drilled & smoothed airbox, Panel air filters, Fast road camshaft, Intake headers, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold.

Stage 2 Duratec 33 modifications: high flow fuel injectors, induction kit, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, Ported and polished head.

Stage 3 Duratec 33 modifications: Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Twin charging conversions, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression.

Mapping should help to unlock the full potential of all the parts you've done to your Duratec 33.

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 may differs on the parts you've applied and the condition of your engine.

Pulling air and fuel into each cylinder is the aim to any engine performance tuning job.

The intake plenum transmit the air from the air cleaner and allow it to be drawn into the engine and mixed with fuel.

The shape and flow characteristics of the Air Intake manifolds can make a noticeable improvement to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the Duratec 33.

Commonly we find the intake are begging for an upgrade, although a few manufacturers provide reasonably good intake.

Adding a Duratec 33 larger valve kit, carrying out port work and head flowing will also improve bhp, this will permit increasing the bhp increase on other upgrades.

Turbo upgrades for the Duratec 33

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 Duratec 33

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

When an engine is fitted with a turbo upgrades are simpler to install and most turbocharged engines are built with stronger components.

There are tuning limits for every engine, with some being incredibly solid and some just sufficiently able to handle stock power

We recommend you find these limits and upgrade to stronger pistons, crank and engine components to survive the power.

It's not unheard of people spending a lots of money on turbocharger upgrades on the Duratec 33 only to experience the engine literally blow up just after it's used in anger.

Larger capacity turbo units often experience low end lag, and small turbo units spool up much more quickly but don't have the peak end engines power gains.

Thanks to new tech the world of turbos is always evolving and we now see variable vane turbos, allowing the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

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

It is not unusual that there's a restriction in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on the Duratec 33 when considerably more air is being pulled into the engine.

We note 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor sapped bhp at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large performance gains, although more complex to install. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

Uprating Duratec 33 fuel injectors

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to increase the fuelling when you start going beyond 20% of a performance increase.We strongly recommend you to be generous with your flow rate on the injectors.

The accepted safe increase is to add 20% when fitting an injector, this accounts for injector deterioration and gives 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.

Best Duratec 33 performance exhausts

You may need to increase your exhaust if your current exhaust is actually creating a restriction.

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

Sports exhausts will certainly help air flow through the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too large or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches as a rule of thumb.

Typically exhaust restrictions can be traced to the catalyst and filters installed, so adding a faster flowing performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the Duratec 33

The Duratec 33 engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

Regular oil changes are vital on the Duratec 33, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your Duratec 33 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our Duratec 33 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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We really like hearing from our readers, and hearing about which upgrades were the most effective for them, it helps us improve our recommendations and articles to reflect current trends in modifications and ensures that our Duratec 33 guides and tips are kept up to date.

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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 Ford. 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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