Tuning.

There's not much to present in this section yet, but we hope it will change in the future.

If You have any experiences with tuning Renault 9/11, or You know other methods of tuning than these mentioned below, let us know about them! We will update this section at once. If You don't agree with some methods presented here - We're ready for discussion.

Disclaimer. The presented ways of improving performance should work fair on most of the R9/11 cars, but they might in some rare cases decrease the performance, or increase the fuel consumption, or even reduce the lifetime of the engine. In most European countries modifications on vehicles to increase power output (if the vehicle is used in public traffic) are subject to official authorisation. Use of non-authorised modifications on vehicles in public traffic is illegal and punishable, can be reported to justice and may lead to the cancellation of admission and refusal of obligations by the insurance company in case of damage or/and injury. Therefore information provided in this section is not dedicated for vehicles in public traffic. Neither R9/11 Club nor Renault Freaks Online service is resposible anyhow for violation of laws connected with use of information listed below on vehicles in public traffic. For further infromation regarding this topic, please contact your local traffic authority, traffic admission office, MOT.
Remember! If you decide to use this website and it's content - do it at YOUR OWN RISK!

Not scared? So here we go!!

There are not many Renault tuners in Europe, and even less in the World, I suppose. Poland is really a kind of desert if it comes to tweaking a Renault, especially these older models, like R9/R11. These few already tuned were serviced in Germany or France, long long time ago...

But don't worry! We'll try to do something to force Your car to perform better.

Increase the amount of air the engine gets. This will supply Your engine with more oxygen and will allow it to burn the fuel more effciently thus increasing the power and torque at the same fuel consumption. There are several way to do this.

The racing air filter. It is made of oiled cotton instead of paper. There are two types of racing air filters - one is the replacement fiter that fits Your air filter box, second is the complete separate filter box that is used instead the original one, and it is most commonly mounted on the side of the engine chamber (but it depends mostly on the filter design). Both types are manufactured by K&N filters and Jamex. The replacement filter increase the amount of air the engine gets at about 40%, and it doesn't need to be serviced for about 100,000 km. It is the cheapest tuning part avaliable, but the increase of the power and torque is moderate, because the original air filter box design reduces the air flow.
K&N replacement air filter - costs around 30 pounds
The second one is a complete direct induction kit that is designed specially for the particular type of engine - it performs much better than the replacement filter, but it is also more expensive, and isn't avaliable for all R9/11 models (e.g. the non-turbocharged C engines family). Using of a direct induction kit for purposes other than racing isn't allowed in many countries. If you are interested - take a look at the 57i kits from K&N or PowePlus kits from Jamex.
K&N 57i direct induction kit.

Modifications of air inlet. The original air inlet and hose in non turbocharged engines isn't designed to supply the engine with higher pressure air. Some modifications here may increase the amount of cold, nice air the engine gets. There are three main targets - first is to let the air inlet take air directly from the front of the car. The pressure of the air will rise with the speed of the car, thus making the carburretor better supplied with cold air - ideal for burning fuel. The good place to locate the inlet is the perforated square area at the lower part of the bumper (see picutre 1) - important note - not every R11 has this front bumper lateral perforation! You can do it on your own, or buy a R11 Turbo front bumper, which already has it - for the intercooler.

Location of air intake.

The second target is to make the air supply hose 100% hermetic, or the pressurized air won't flow to the carburretor. You will have to buy a new air supply hose, because the original one is made of some kind of shitty rayon, thus it is not suitable for higher pressures - it is not hermetic at all, and of course it will be too short! A good one is 100mm aluminium hose sometimes found in the household.
Third target finally is to "switch off" the hot air induction, or it will steal our precious pressurized air and take it someplace else - simply remove the metal hose that goes from exhaust collector to the air filter box, and seal the hole in the air filter box!
Congrats! - You've made a nice modification of your induction system, which will increase your car's performance. But - remember to restore the original hot air induction (that metal hose we threw away) during the winter, when the temperature drops below zero, or you may encounter troubles when starting/warming up the engine.

This way of engine tuning works well with the racing air replacement filter. We have checked described ways, when modifing my Renault 11 TL.

Self-made direct induction. I found this method wandering somewhere in the net and decided to check it out. Our friends at Renault 19 World also describe it as the way "to make your car blow the dust", which is really the truth!!!
I have immediately applied it to my R11 and it really works giving you nice performance increase and wonderful sound.
So - let's do it!
The method is F2N and C1E, C1J (non turbocharged), C2J compatibile - the requirement is to have the oval air filter box sitting on the carburettor (we haven't tested it with C3J single point injection).
The idea is simple! To replace the original air filter box cover, with a self-made cover which will cause the whole stuff behaving like a direct induction kit.
1. You'll need a piece of metal plate (2mm thick), wood ('bout 6mm thick) or plastic (2-3 mm thick)
2. Remove to original air filter box cover - don't let any dirt getting in your carb.
3. Remove the air filter, and place it on your metal plate/wood/plastic
4. Draw a line around the air filter, and cut out the oval-shaped plate - it should be 1-2cm bigger than the air filter
5. Find the cover mounting screw(s) - one in C engines, may be four in F engines, and put some lube on it's top
6. Place the air filter back in air filter box, and your oval form on air filter - it should cover it in 100%.
7. Drill the hole(s) in place where the lube sticked to your plate (6mm should be enough)
8. Clean your "cover" and place it in the air filter box - fasten it and see if it fits tightly with the filter, if not - remove the cover, place some lube on the contact surface, and fasten it again. If it wont help you may do the following:
a. C engines - drill the larger central hole - so the plate center could be fastened deeper;
b. All engines - take the window seal (a rubber one) and place on your new cover exactly where the air filter surface contacts with your cover - this should help in all cases.

That is all - 'bout 20 minutes of work and really good result - so assemble the whole stuff back, hit the road, press the pedal to the metal and feel the difference !!!

Self made direct induction kit (F2N engine). Courtesy of R19 World.

Turbochargers. This is only for Your reference. We don't recommend You to try to equip the standard engine with a turbocharger on Your own - it won't work (eg. the normal engines don't have the "pressure carburettor" which is designed to work with turbochargers or the lubrication system for the turbocharger). If You're still looking for extra power - contact the proffesional tuners like Elia, or look around for the complete Renault 5/9/11 turbocharged engine - 1397 ccm - about 85kW (115PS).

Sport exhaust system. There's not much to do alone in a garrage - You will need to contact the sport exhaust system manufacturer like Ramus. The sport exhaust system looks good, increases the power and provides Your car with a "sporty" sound. It is rather expensive and hard to find. But keep on searching (and if You find something - let us know). The Renault 11 TXE Electronic (1721ccm - 82PS) equipped with a racing air filter and exaust system, should have about 110PS after modifications. There are also so called "universal" exhaust system parts, that theortically allow to tune-up every single car (e.g. R9/11). Most of the tuners/tuning stores offer these parts among the others, but they are quite difficult to set up and require many modifications of the exaust system.

Chip tuning. Something to forget about, when tuning older R9/R11. It works only with electronic fuel injection systems. The phase 1 and early phase 2 R9/R11 engines were equipped with ordinary dual carburretor, or dual carburettor with EGR, thus aren't suitable for chip tuning - we're sorry. The newer R9/11 (and CAT. equipped models) however are engined with fuel injection based engines, so it is possbile to tune'em up buying a chip. The engines with a fuel injection were C3J (55PS 1397ccm) and F3N (75PS (95PS - GTE) 1721ccm)