MENUTuning the Daewoo S-Tec
"All you need to know about performance parts and tuning the Daewoo S-Tec engine!"
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The Daewoo S-Tec are awesome to work on and with the optimum sports mods like remapping, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will enhance your driving opportunities.
Here we provide a guide to S-Tec tuning and point out the premier modifications for your car.
We rely on our visitors to pass on tips and tell us about their projects and what worked on their car, and this article is the culmination of the feedback we have received. First let us look at the history and specs of this engine and then consider which tuning modifications work best on it.
History of the Engine
The S-Tec is a collaborative engine from Suzuki and Daewoo (now part of GM) and was fitted to the Tico, Fino Matiz Kalos and Kwid.
S-TEC
0.8 L
(796 cc) 36 kW (49 PS 48hp @6000 rpm 71.5Nm 52.7 lbft @4000 rpm
1.0 L
(995 cc) 48.5 kW (66 PS 65hp @5400 rpm 91Nm 67 lbft @4200 rpm
1.2 L
(1,150 cc) 53 kW (72 PS 71hp @5400 rpm 104Nm 77 lbft @4400 rpm
S-TEC-II
Used in the Aveo Sail and Beat or Spark models
1.0 L
(995 cc) 50 kW (68 PS 67hp @6400 rpm 93Nm 69 lbft @4800 rpm
LMU
62 kW (84 PS; 83hp @6000 rpm 114Nm 84 lbft @3800-4400 rpm
LMH
60 kW (82 PS; 80hp @6400 rpm 111Nm 82 lbft @4800 rpm
80.5 PS 59.2 kW 79.4hp @6200 rpm 108Nm 80 lbft @4400 rpm (Gasoline)
80.04 PS 58.87 kW; 78.95hp @6400 rpm (LPG) 104 Nm (77 lb⋅ft)
@4400 rpm (LPG)
LL0
62.66 kW (85 PS; 84hp @6400 rpm 112.05Nm (82.64 lbft @6400 rpm
S-TEC III
LCU
1.4 L (1,399 cc) 76 kW (103 PS; 102hp @6000 rpm 131Nm (97 lbft @4200 rpm
L2B
1.5 L (1,485 cc) 85 kW (116 PS; 114hp @6000 rpm 144Nm (106 lbft @3800 rpm
LJO
1.5 L (1,451 cc) T 110 kW (150 PS; 148hp @5500 rpm 230Nm (170 lbft
@2000-3800 rpm
Use in the second generation Chevrolet Sail
Tuning the Daewoo S-Tec and best S-Tec performance parts.
What are the most effective S-Tec tuning mods
Just because particular parts are are common on S-Tec it doesn't mean you should fit it, we shall focus parts that will give your S-Tec the best value for money to power increase.
Significant gains on the S-Tec can be made from camshaft upgrades. Altering the camshaft profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the torque and power output.
Fast road camshafts tend to raise the power through the rpm range, you may lose a little low end bhp but your high end rpm power will be higher.
Race camshafts, raise the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.
A Race camshaft is not great in heavy traffic.
You should ideally match your torque band to your typical driving style so for a typical daily driver stick with a shorter duration S-Tec camshaft
Different S-Tec engines respond better to different cam durations so view each engine as unique.
The map and fuelling also have a large bearing on the power gains you'll achieve.
Extending exhaust or intake durations can alter the power 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.
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How to tune your car
- Improve the handling
Focus on Suspension improvements, such as coilovers and make sure the bushings are in good order and that the alignment is correct. Then focus on improving the brakes, with a big disk brake conversion kit and fast road brake pads.
- Remove restrictions
Focus on the intake and exhaust with filters being the common point of restriction in a tuned car. Intercoolers may also become restrictive on turbo engines so this may also need to be uprated.
- Burn more fuel & air
Increase the fuelling so it matches the air coming into the engine. The ratio is important so you need to improve the fuel pump and injectors, so the head mods, big valve conversions, fast road camshafts and forced induction upgrades extra supply of air is adequately met.
- Test and replace any weak parts
Weak areas are commonly the clutch, the turbocharger and pistons and crankshaft in a highly tuned engine. Makes sure these components will cope with your power aspirations.
- The Tune or Remap
A cars ECU controls the fuel, timing, spark and even the turbo in some cases, so to fully extract your gains you should remap the car last and this will fully release the power. Some cars are easy to map, and others require piggyback ECU's or aftermarket ECU's but this is the most vital step of your tuning project.
Modifying to Stage 1:
Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold, Panel air filters, Fast road camshaft, Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox.
Modifying to Stage 2:
Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injectors, induction kit, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam.
Modifying to Stage 3:
Twin charging conversions, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Engine balancing & blueprinting, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam.
Remaps allows a tuner to fully realize the full potential of all the modifications you've done to your S-Tec.
It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the end result will differs on the modifications you've done and the condition of your engine.
Pulling air into your S-Tec is the aim to any engine upgrade project.
The intake plenum flow the air during the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.
The bore size, shape and flow characteristics of the Plenum can make a substantial improvement to fuel atomisation on the S-Tec.
Commonly we find the headers are in desperate need of a performance upgrade, although some makers provide fairly well optimized headers.
Larger S-Tec valves, doing a bit of port work and head flowing will also raise bhp and torque, and as an added benefit will afford you a greater bhp and torque increase on other modifications.
Which turbo upgrades are best?
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 S-Tec
The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes significant power gains.
It is not unusual that there's a restriction in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on the S-Tec when loads more air is being sucked into the engine.
We note 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor was restricting bhp and torque at a much lower level.
Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large torque gains, although more difficult to setup. We have this article on twincharging if you want to read more.
Fuelling
When you boost the performance you will need to uprate to the fuel system.
More performance needs more fuel. 
We strongly recommend you to be generous with your injector capacity.
As a rule of thumb add 20% to the flow rate when specifying an injector, this accounts for injector deterioration and provides 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.
Choosing the right performance exhaust
One of the most common mistakes and problems we see in tuning projects is usually down to the exhaust, or rather a poorly chosen exhaust for your engine.
Only look to increase your exhaust if the existing exhaust is actually causing a flow problem.
On most factory exhausts you'll see the 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 can usually air flow through the engine but do not go too big or you could will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches as a rule of thumb.
Typically exhaust restrictions are in the catalyst installed, so adding a higher flowing performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.
Weak spots, Issues & problem areas on the S-Tec
The S-Tec engines are generally reliable and solid as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.
Regular oil changes are vital on the S-Tec, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine.
For more information on Tuning your S-Tec engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our S-Tec owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.
Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.
We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which mods work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these S-Tec articles which are continually updated.
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