What it is?

There are several things that decide how powerful your engine is, and how fast your car can go, but it all comes down to one basic factor: friction. And it doesn't have to be friction between two pieces of metal. You can have friction in gas flow for instance, and that's where the Stage 1 tuning kit comes in. This kit makes the pathway of the gases thorugh the engine smoother, so less power is wasted on sucking in the mixture, and breathing out the exhaust. The kit has several componenets:

• an improved-design inlet manifold, often water heated
• a free-flow outlet manifold and wider pipe with freeflow muffler
• a free-flow air filter that doesn't obstruct plenty of air getting into your combustion chamber
• a niddle for the carburator that will provide sufficient gasoline for the extra air that the engine will get from the new filter
• all the fittings that go along.

What will it give?

You are probably looking at several bhp increase with the stage itself. I am open to quotes on the actual numbers, but I think a 998cc motor will gain just under 10bhp with this addition.

What will I have to do?

Well, there will be a little fiddling with the kit. You need to remove your inlet and outlet manifolds, and while that, the carburator will be out as well. The exhaust will come off too. Check a manual on how to remove the stuff if you don't know. You will most probably want to check out the manual for the carburator unless you are very sure of what you are doing (have done it times and times over before). If someone would provide a small paragraph on the procedure, I would be greatful.

What will it cost?

I think the regular price seems to be in range of œ140-170 punds. Make sure you get good quiality stuff. Look for things like RC-40 or RC-50, LCB, and stuff like that. K&N airfilters are supposed to be excellent, but make sure you don't have to modify the bulkhead (bonnet, hood, whatever you call it) to fit the filter. Piper filters are supposed to be good too. According to Doug Bridgens, the easiest filters to fit are tapered K&N.

What else?

You might want to take the car to a dyno (rolling road), where the car will be tuned to achieve the best performance out of your newly uprated engine. If you want to go further, you are looking at a new cam shart, new cylinder head, and stuff like that, but bear in mind that if you increase the power too much you will need to uprate the breaks, the gearbox might give up on you, and so on. Oh, yes. A stage 1 will give you slightly better mpg ratio, but it might increase the noise slightly.

Stage   Torque   Power   Price (about)
  1       12%     20%     150 UKP
  2       ?        ?        ?
  3       ?      30-35%   300-> UKP

fast
road      ?      40-55%   100? UKP
cam