Tuning - Murena 1.6

[Roly]

Having done a basic service - plugs, cap, arm I would like to get the car running a little better.

So...
1. What are the options for optimising performance on the standard car?  

2. What are the options for enhancing the performance by modification?

It doesn't help that my headlights only lift after a few seconds with the engine running.  I guess there must be a leak in the vacuum system somewhere.  

Thanks,
Roly

[krede]

A leaking vaccum system, can actually cause the engine to run poorly.(any engine that is... not just murenas, and their fancy popup headlignts  )
This issue should be addressed, as a leaking vaccumsystem can be a place for the engine to suck in "false" air.. (air that hasnt been mixed with fuel on carburetted engines, or air that hasnt been mesured by the Airflow meter on injection engines).

I have no experience reguarding the 1.6.
But the general oppinion on the forums i've been to is, that tuning the 1.6 is a waste of both time and money. It is.. after all, an ancient design that allready was pretty much obsolete before they even put it in the Murena.
So to me the only real way to more power is an engine swap.

 

[Lennart Sorth]

I agree, - there isn't much you can do with the 1.6,

HOWEVER,  I once killed my 1.6 engine by not noticing the trail of coolant behind
me on the M25 (the frost-plug had dropped out of the radiator) :-(
I had the engine rebuilt (by Matramagic) and it came back tighter than ever, with
noticably more torque and smoother running than I had ever experienced in the
preceeding years of ownership.

So a major overhaul, replacing gaskets, pistonrings etc may give you a nicer
engine.

As far as I know, Matra sharpened the cam, and of course put the Weber carb on
it to make it produce the 95 hp, compared to the 75 it produced in the stock Talbot
Solara (Talbot Alpine on the UK market)

/Lennart