Metro Upgrades 1.0 3 cyl Standard

[Lemming]

Okay, not looking to race or anything, I just firgure if I can get a lil more Hp and maybe a lil better fuel useage why the heck not? I tried looking up things with the search option but I didn't find it too effective, so I'm posting.

-Turbos: Can you get one anywhere? I know the old (late 80s early 90s) 3 cyl sprints and fireflys had them, And they were suppose to get in the 70s for hp and better gas mileage then the 4 cyls. If I found an old junk yard one, would the turbo just bolt on to my newer 99' ?

-Air Fiters/Systems: K&N anyone know the stock number of the filter for my vehicle or where I can locate the number (1999 Chevy Metro 1.0 3cyl)? Is it worth while to install a free flow or cold air intake?

-Exhaust: I have read about putting on 2 inch pipes, will changing just the pipes be enough, or do I need to change the cat and muffler too? If so, please recommend some.

-Cams: I read one dude makes them, are they worth it, how does it effect milieage and hp, prices? Are there any others out there?

I firgure the filter and exhaust will come as things need to be replaced, but the turbo and cam are just more interest things. And heck, going from 55hp to 70-90 hp in a 1600 pound car would be pretty neat, especialy if you still getting crazy good gas mileage. Just think 3/4+ the hp of a cavalier or sunfire, and like half the weight

[Lemming]

Okay, more questions.

-Upgraded alternators: anyone know of any, and where I can get them?

-Tachometers: okay the high priced tachs all say good for 2,3,4,6,8,10 cyls, but the cheaper ones only say 4,6,8 cyls. Is that just the packaging? or will the 4,6,8 cyl one really not work on my lil 3 cyl?

[geozukigti]

Well, where should I start? heh. Let's go in order

Turbos: No such thing as just a "bolt on". You'd need the turbo, turbo manifold, piping, intercooler, fabricate oil lines to and from the turbo, lower the compression, and to get a sprint turbo intake manifold. The stock fuel system could not keep up with a turbo. The sprint turbo has a bottle intake manifold, with 1 fuel injector per port, and a 4th cold start injector. Also, your metro's MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure)sensor would become useless to the stock computer. The sprint turbo uses a MAF(Mass Air Flow) sensor. Turbo is a very time consuming and pricy addon. So if you've never done one before, scratch that. Unless you can source a whole sprint turbo parts car.

Air Intake: Your car has a cold air intake. It takes air from behind the fender, and runs it into the intake. Your intake options are very limited on the 3cyl. You could put a K&N filter in. They can order them at any local auto parts store. It would be a small gain, but a gain nonetheless.

Exhaust: Changing the pipes would do no good if you still have 1 3/8" cat and muffler inlets. You can order low price universal cats from Ebay. Same with mufflers. Just measure, and make sure it'll fit in your car first. But a 2" exhaust would make it run a lot better on the highway. But you'd lose 2-3hp in the low end.

Cams: A cam, and cam gear runs $150 through him. They are excellent cams. Between a cam, +8deg cam gear, exhaust, and K&N filter, you'd prolly expect 10-12hp gains. Doesn't seem like a whole lot of power, but on a 55hp car, 10-12hp is huge. You'll prolly lose a couple MPG, but not much. Maybe 3 in worst case scenario.

Upgraded Alternators: MSD makes up to a 300a universal alternator. Unless you're running more than a 600w system, don't worry about it. Get a 1 farad cap. Upgraded alternators means more hp being lost at the crank also.

Tachs: A tach works off of the pulses from the ignition coil. If you have 3 pulses@1rpm, it needs to calculate that in the tach. Most cheaper tachs only have a 4-6-8 switch. So if you select the 4cyl one, you're gonna have problems. You have to buy one with a 3cyl option.

Now, of you're really looking for performance, I'd start looking into a motor swap. The N/A 3cyl was not built for performance, and won't handle a ton of abuse. if you try to rev it up too much, you're gonna throw a rod, burn a valve, burn up your piston rings, and all kinds of good stuff. By the time you get done with turbo, cams, intake, exhaust, and all that, you'd spend wayyyy more getting 100hp than you would from a DOHC 1.3 swap. That's 100hp outta the box, ready to go. And there's TONS of bolt-on parts for them. The whole swap could possibly be done in a weekend too if you know what you're doing. Only 1 frame modification needs to be done, and that can be done with a drill and a hole saw. really easy. And it'll bring you down to the low 16s 1/4 mile mark bone stock.

[Lemming]

Hey, thanx for all the info.

As I said, I am not looking to race, so scratch the turbo and engine ideas for me. In a few years when the engine goes, then maybe I'll upgrade, maybe, but it sounds like alot of cash.

-I'll buy a K&N filter (sheesh I always do when I get a new vehicle), and being you can wash the K&N it pays for it's self in time.

-Exhaust, sounds worth while, and now I know what to look for. Although I know she got new pipes, cat, and muffler installed in May 2003.

-Cams, hmm this is sounding like a good idea to me, spend my tax return on it or something, maybe.

-Alernators, this makes me sad. I firgure I will stick the audio system from my old car into this thing, which is a lil over kill, but I have the stuff so why not? 2 10" 1000watt JBL subs, they are 300 watt RMS each, and then I got a matching amp to push them so it pushes 600 watt RMS in total. Then I firgure I will sell the old interior speakers and replace them with interior JBL 5 1/4" (why 5 1/4s becasue I like it too look stock and not have to cut anything),I think they were 45 watts RMS each, and well I got some left over amps so I will just use whatever is the best match. I am not a fan of caps, so I firgure it's a second battery or an upgraded alternator, got an opinion on which? I just firgured the alternator would be easier and maybe cheaper then the second battery.

-Tachs, grrr, so I have to spend 100-200 bucks on a performance tach instead of 30-40 on a cheapy one.....and to tell you the truth the cheap one looks better, grrrr. Those 4 cluster set-ups on www.ssgti.com wouldn't fit in my console would they?

I bought this vehicle becasue I needed/wanted something economical and cheap on insurance, but just like any big kid I like to play with my toys. So thanks for the tips, to be honest most of my time will be spent on electrical and interior upgrades, I just firgure why replace parts with stock ones when there are better things out there.

[slimonsays]

I also have a system in my 96 metro. It has the 1.0l 3cyl engine. I have about 700RMS (2 amps 2 subs) and i had a 1.5 farad cap which didnt do a single thing for me. (yes i charged the cap first) I added a second battery and it helped a lot.
I was looking into a higher output alternator too, but if you think about it a higher one would be something that comes stock on a truck/suv. I think stock is 65 amps? Not too sure about that. But your system will need about 60amps (or so) itself
so a 130-150 would do the trick.
But to have one rebuilt or custom made will be more then say a optima yellow top battery. Plus its also movable to a new vehical, unlike the alternator.
Unless you can rebuild it or make one your self i found it cheaper to buy a second battery.
So would suggest putting a 2nd battery in there which will help with dimming lights and you will be able to run it longer with the car off.
Stay away from the caps unless you have a close enough amps to watts ratio. (or second battery)
Funny story before i had my second battery i was driving down the high way at night with my system cranked so my headlights were at a minimum, and during a very long bass beat my cd player skipped because it wasnt getting enough power to read the cd!! Sad i know, but funny.

[Cross121988]

I have a 95 geo metro lsi 1.0 3cyl standard engine. I cant find a 3cyl tach anywhere online or in any store. Can you help??

Originally Posted by geozukigti

Well, where should I start? heh. Let's go in order

Turbos: No such thing as just a "bolt on". You'd need the turbo, turbo manifold, piping, intercooler, fabricate oil lines to and from the turbo, lower the compression, and to get a sprint turbo intake manifold. The stock fuel system could not keep up with a turbo. The sprint turbo has a bottle intake manifold, with 1 fuel injector per port, and a 4th cold start injector. Also, your metro's MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure)sensor would become useless to the stock computer. The sprint turbo uses a MAF(Mass Air Flow) sensor. Turbo is a very time consuming and pricy addon. So if you've never done one before, scratch that. Unless you can source a whole sprint turbo parts car.

Air Intake: Your car has a cold air intake. It takes air from behind the fender, and runs it into the intake. Your intake options are very limited on the 3cyl. You could put a K&N filter in. They can order them at any local auto parts store. It would be a small gain, but a gain nonetheless.

Exhaust: Changing the pipes would do no good if you still have 1 3/8" cat and muffler inlets. You can order low price universal cats from Ebay. Same with mufflers. Just measure, and make sure it'll fit in your car first. But a 2" exhaust would make it run a lot better on the highway. But you'd lose 2-3hp in the low end.

Cams: A cam, and cam gear runs $150 through him. They are excellent cams. Between a cam, +8deg cam gear, exhaust, and K&N filter, you'd prolly expect 10-12hp gains. Doesn't seem like a whole lot of power, but on a 55hp car, 10-12hp is huge. You'll prolly lose a couple MPG, but not much. Maybe 3 in worst case scenario.

Upgraded Alternators: MSD makes up to a 300a universal alternator. Unless you're running more than a 600w system, don't worry about it. Get a 1 farad cap. Upgraded alternators means more hp being lost at the crank also.

Tachs: A tach works off of the pulses from the ignition coil. If you have 3 pulses@1rpm, it needs to calculate that in the tach. Most cheaper tachs only have a 4-6-8 switch. So if you select the 4cyl one, you're gonna have problems. You have to buy one with a 3cyl option.

Now, of you're really looking for performance, I'd start looking into a motor swap. The N/A 3cyl was not built for performance, and won't handle a ton of abuse. if you try to rev it up too much, you're gonna throw a rod, burn a valve, burn up your piston rings, and all kinds of good stuff. By the time you get done with turbo, cams, intake, exhaust, and all that, you'd spend wayyyy more getting 100hp than you would from a DOHC 1.3 swap. That's 100hp outta the box, ready to go. And there's TONS of bolt-on parts for them. The whole swap could possibly be done in a weekend too if you know what you're doing. Only 1 frame modification needs to be done, and that can be done with a drill and a hole saw. really easy. And it'll bring you down to the low 16s 1/4 mile mark bone stock.

[Cross121988]

I have a 95 geo metro lsi 1.0 3cyl standard engine. I cant find a 3cyl tach anywhere online or in any store. Cn you help???

[Metro Mighty Mouse]

Originally Posted by Cross121988

I have a 95 geo metro lsi 1.0 3cyl standard engine. I cant find a 3cyl tach anywhere online or in any store. Cn you help???

Just buy the guage cluster from a 3 cyl with the factory tach, it will plug right in and save all the hassle, unless you are looking to get laughed at or called a ricer.

[unbe]

Originally Posted by geozukigti

Well, where should I start? heh. Let's go in order

Turbos: No such thing as just a "bolt on". You'd need the turbo, turbo manifold, piping, intercooler, fabricate oil lines to and from the turbo, lower the compression, and to get a sprint turbo intake manifold. The stock fuel system could not keep up with a turbo. The sprint turbo has a bottle intake manifold, with 1 fuel injector per port, and a 4th cold start injector. Also, your metro's MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure)sensor would become useless to the stock computer. The sprint turbo uses a MAF(Mass Air Flow) sensor. Turbo is a very time consuming and pricy addon. So if you've never done one before, scratch that. Unless you can source a whole sprint turbo parts car.

Air Intake: Your car has a cold air intake. It takes air from behind the fender, and runs it into the intake. Your intake options are very limited on the 3cyl. You could put a K&N filter in. They can order them at any local auto parts store. It would be a small gain, but a gain nonetheless.

Exhaust: Changing the pipes would do no good if you still have 1 3/8" cat and muffler inlets. You can order low price universal cats from Ebay. Same with mufflers. Just measure, and make sure it'll fit in your car first. But a 2" exhaust would make it run a lot better on the highway. But you'd lose 2-3hp in the low end.

Cams: A cam, and cam gear runs $150 through him. They are excellent cams. Between a cam, +8deg cam gear, exhaust, and K&N filter, you'd prolly expect 10-12hp gains. Doesn't seem like a whole lot of power, but on a 55hp car, 10-12hp is huge. You'll prolly lose a couple MPG, but not much. Maybe 3 in worst case scenario.

Upgraded Alternators: MSD makes up to a 300a universal alternator. Unless you're running more than a 600w system, don't worry about it. Get a 1 farad cap. Upgraded alternators means more hp being lost at the crank also.

Tachs: A tach works off of the pulses from the ignition coil. If you have 3 pulses@1rpm, it needs to calculate that in the tach. Most cheaper tachs only have a 4-6-8 switch. So if you select the 4cyl one, you're gonna have problems. You have to buy one with a 3cyl option.

Now, of you're really looking for performance, I'd start looking into a motor swap. The N/A 3cyl was not built for performance, and won't handle a ton of abuse. if you try to rev it up too much, you're gonna throw a rod, burn a valve, burn up your piston rings, and all kinds of good stuff. By the time you get done with turbo, cams, intake, exhaust, and all that, you'd spend wayyyy more getting 100hp than you would from a DOHC 1.3 swap. That's 100hp outta the box, ready to go. And there's TONS of bolt-on parts for them. The whole swap could possibly be done in a weekend too if you know what you're doing. Only 1 frame modification needs to be done, and that can be done with a drill and a hole saw. really easy. And it'll bring you down to the low 16s 1/4 mile mark bone stock.

I think you mean 3 pulses@2 rev

[carpenter_jai]

K and N air filter for my 95 3 cyl is part no. e-9209. Not sure if you have the same air filter though. Mine is about 13 inces in diameter, short and a little flat. I know that some models have a small cylindrical air shroud. Very different. Hope that helps.

Jai