Toyota Vios n/a modification

cyborg8071

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Sep 7, 2004
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Imho,using a vios'03 myself (daily) and also driven a 1jz (280hp stock), dont make a financial mistake with modding ur vios, if really need to see some difference with slight satisfaction, a drop-in-filter, lower ur ride for better stability, and a good set of performance tires shud suffice. Always remember you do have a stock gearbox and auto gbox's need to be treated with care..mine has clocked 250k mileage and I still have a smile on my face evrytime I'm driving..F/c is simply amazing..drive safe bro
 

cyborg8071

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Sep 7, 2004
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My 2 cents.

- Since this is a shared car between you and someone else, don't bother modding for power. Make the car handle better with a set of good aftermarket suspension, a lightweight set of rims, a good set of tyres, lightweight larger brake calipers and rotors, sound proofing and better headlights would make the car nicer to drive and possibly even easier to drive.

- Don't add a ton of UR bars too, understand what each bar does and only decide which bars you need and install those only. Adding everything will stiffen everything and that may not translate into a better drive.

- Exhaust mods at this point is pointless. If you do big mods with your engine then change exhaust to match, sure. Do nothing and just change exhaust - waste money. Stock is good enough la. 4-2-1 or 4-1 won't make financial sense, it's not like your car currently is slow. Vios' in general have great pickup and have great FC. They just don't handle well most of the time.

- Changing to a large TB will have some downsides. If you're unlucky you'll get "on/off" throttle. In my own experience with Myvis, the 2nd gen has a larger TB than the 1st gen and I have both. Swapped the two around and the response was sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiightly better on the 1st gen Myvi. Not significant. The 2nd gen one has larger valves and all - so if I swapped the head then I'd have better performance. But I wasn't going to do that on a pointless minor performance upgrade. The head gaskets cost more than the performance gained.

Like I said - the Vios is a great performing car. It's not gonna beat any land speed records or outrun a R35, but it's not a slouch and drives pretty well. With a good set of suspension, brakes and rims+tyres, you'd have a pretty nice car to drive around in. Learn to drive the car fast bro without the performance mods. I know a guy who drives his Myvi 1.5 STOCK (except for 15" rims + good tyres) faster than a lot of people going up Genting. In fact he's so fast people driving way more powerful cars have claimed he has a modded car until they see his tiny little exhaust pipe and stock engine bay.
Myvi always the street legend...move aside r35...smdh
 

TitanRev

You think I print money?
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Mar 3, 2005
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Hi guys, new member here, as a rookie to modification world, wanna ask is that any way to upgrade your car performance without turbo or supercharger modifications?
(cuz the maintaince and cost too much lol)
Besides, one of my friend recommd me to change the 1.8 throttle body, but there are others of my friend say it is not worth, any idea?
Last but not least, my car is 1st generation vios 06 year model (ncp42)
Hi, for a 1.5 NA to gain power is a difficult task and expensive, time consuming if you DIY like I do. If you just bolt on parts it's not going to work, For NA engines to see improvement is to make it more efficient and improvement on air flow in and out. Most you hear why people who bolt on bigger throttle body say it's not worth it because they are doing it wrong. The TB is just part of the intake system, if you want to upgrade you need to upgrade and improve the entire system, from the air filter box to to the intake manifold to the intake cylinder head, same goes for the exhaust side. When you've improved the air flow in and out, you need to look at ignition and fueling system and AF ratio across the rev range. modding NA is complicated and a lot of head cracking time, sleepless nights and lots of disappointment.

Suspension mods chassis mods and all other, I will not talk much, it depends on what you want the car to be and for what purpose. if modding without a target or purpose it's pointless.

I have a 1.3L NA saga FLX only..less CC than you...hahahaha
 

leinnz

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Sep 28, 2005
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Hi, for a 1.5 NA to gain power is a difficult task and expensive, time consuming if you DIY like I do. If you just bolt on parts it's not going to work, For NA engines to see improvement is to make it more efficient and improvement on air flow in and out. Most you hear why people who bolt on bigger throttle body say it's not worth it because they are doing it wrong. The TB is just part of the intake system, if you want to upgrade you need to upgrade and improve the entire system, from the air filter box to to the intake manifold to the intake cylinder head, same goes for the exhaust side. When you've improved the air flow in and out, you need to look at ignition and fueling system and AF ratio across the rev range. modding NA is complicated and a lot of head cracking time, sleepless nights and lots of disappointment.

Suspension mods chassis mods and all other, I will not talk much, it depends on what you want the car to be and for what purpose. if modding without a target or purpose it's pointless.

I have a 1.3L NA saga FLX only..less CC than you...hahahaha
true. same as motorcycles.
I mod my motor to bigger tb, remove air filter box. and bigger exhaust pipe. only can go 140 GPS. but meter shows 160. hhh
 

Mitevo7

1,000 RPM
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Jan 14, 2008
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Hi Liang95,

Honestly speaking, Vios by stock itself is quite lively, it can keep up to some bigger CC car due to its light weight body. It was never made for highway speed monster. Like most ZTH citizens here recommended, try to make the car handles better and more stable than stock. What you can do:

Handling Part
1.) Stickier tyres
2.) Lighter rims, more responsive steering wheel, however you might feel lightness in your steering wheel on highway speed
3.) Uprated struts and springs, if not, BC Racing V1 or BR Type if you have budget
4.) Install necessary chassis bars, research this properly, you don't want to waste money on those bars you do not need, car needs certain roll to be able to change direction
5.) Chassis foam, for better sound proofing and sturdier chassis. Ever wonder why Euro cars are so solid and quiet ? Sturdier chassis and undercarriage is one of those keys. It also adds comfort to reduce NVH. You feel you can drive the car for as long as it could.
6.) Harder engine mount, reduce engine flex and get the car going off the line faster. May cause discomfort as you feel more engine vibrations
7.) Better brakes ! Seriously a lot of people thought the factory brakes system is enough, it is NOT ! At least uprate the disc rotor, brake pad, brake hose and DOT4 brake fluid.

Engine Part
8.) Uprated intake system, only helps the car to breath easier but won't gives you 10+ hp like some ads claimed. Especially on a 1.5L N/A engine
9.) Free flowing exhaust, this one depends, but for me, just decat one of it will do. You won't want noisy exhaust in your DD.
10.) E-throttle controller, this can dramatically change the pedal responsiveness but will not add HP
11.) Better spark plugs and ignition system, most likely the most obvious power gains for any N/A cars, if you have access to TM Works ignition package, this will be the most obvious power gains you ever invested, however, ITS NOT AFFORDABLE !
12.) Larger TB with larger intake pipe. Adds throttle responsiveness and gain power at mid to high RPM. Not usable if you don't rev the crap out of the engine to get its full benefits.
13.) Aftermarket VVTI Valve, enable VVTI opening at lower RPM (Not VTEC like but under normal driving you feel the engine is lighter)
14.) ECU remap, another obvious power gains but need to find someone that really knows how to tune.

What i suggest, the handling part for now is the best thing you can do, as one once said, power is useless without control. It's 1.5L N/A engine
 
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Izso

NA NA NA NA NA
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Hi Liang95,

Honestly speaking, Vios by stock itself is quite lively, it can keep up to some bigger CC car due to its light weight body. It was never made for highway speed monster. Like most ZTH citizens here recommended, try to make the car handles better and more stable than stock. What you can do:
Interesting. I wanna comment on a few things here purely because I wanna ask or because I've had experience contrary to what you listed.

Handling Part
1.) Stickier tyres
2.) Lighter rims, more responsive steering wheel, however you might feel lightness in your steering wheel on highway speed
3.) Uprated struts and springs, if not, BC Racing V1 or BR Type if you have budget
1. Not technically "sticky", but better grip. Putting overly aggressive tyres may end up hurting his somewhat stock car. I recall a time I had 4 AD07 tyres on my super stock Myvi 1.3 auto. My god did it affect performance but I could corner like a demi-god.
2. Lightness in your steering wheel on highway speeds? I don't think it should be the case since it's just changing unsprung weight. It will affect steering direction changes, acceleration and perhaps braking but why would it make highway steering unstable?
3. Personally after messing with suspension for so long I don't think coilovers is the answer to everything. If it's a daily then riding on harsh coilovers over time will get tiring. I personally think either custom the suspension or opt for performance springs and shocks. Or go for the top of the range coilovers that allow multiple different aspects of adjustment. Especially since this is a Vios - the rear torsion beam won't help much in terms of coilover options. But I guess it all depends on what it is the TS wants. Daily drivability or cornering speed.

4.) Install necessary chassis bars, research this properly, you don't want to waste money on those bars you do not need, car needs certain roll to be able to change direction
4. This is debatable. I'd install some for the safety aspect but after having tried bar-ing up my whole ex-Wira I've realized that the bars add unnecessary weight. Maybe a good ARB, potentially a strut bar and maybe a fender bar will help a Vios but anything more than that would be added weight imho.

5.) Chassis foam, for better sound proofing and sturdier chassis. Ever wonder why Euro cars are so solid and quiet ? Sturdier chassis and undercarriage is one of those keys. It also adds comfort to reduce NVH. You feel you can drive the car for as long as it could.
6.) Harder engine mount, reduce engine flex and get the car going off the line faster. May cause discomfort as you feel more engine vibrations
7.) Better brakes ! Seriously a lot of people thought the factory brakes system is enough, it is NOT ! At least uprate the disc rotor, brake pad, brake hose and DOT4 brake fluid.
5. Agreed. But not any old foam. There's two major players in the market that actually work. All others are a complete waste of money and time. I've tried 3 different types of foam brands and I can safely say the cheapest ones that claim the world are pointless.
6. Don't do nylon or full rubber mounts. A compliant PU mount from superpro would be way better than solid mounts. Less harsh.
7. I dunno. I feel stock brakes are plenty unless you significantly up the cars power. Getting better brake pads and better brake oil is useful though.

Engine Part
8.) Uprated intake system, only helps the car to breath easier but won't gives you 10+ hp like some ads claimed. Especially on a 1.5L N/A engine
9.) Free flowing exhaust, this one depends, but for me, just decat one of it will do. You won't want noisy exhaust in your DD.
10.) E-throttle controller, this can dramatically change the pedal responsiveness but will not add HP
8. A free flowing airfilter
9. Don't decat la. Our weather is already crazy don't pollute anymore than we have already. Get a high-flow catcon, 2" piping throughout and straightflow muffler with a big straighflow resonator. Won't be noisy.
10. Nooooooooo... e-throttle controllers are no good. All it does it change the way the e-throttle reads the signal from the pedal. You might as well train your right foot to control the throttle pedal better.

11.) Better spark plugs and ignition system, most likely the most obvious power gains for any N/A cars, if you have access to TM Works ignition package, this will be the most obvious power gains you ever invested, however, ITS NOT AFFORDABLE !
12.) Larger TB with larger intake pipe. Adds throttle responsiveness and gain power at mid to high RPM. Not usable if you don't rev the crap out of the engine to get its full benefits.
11. Those spark enhancers have potential side-effects. Vios uses COP right? Why not just buy better COP and modify them to fit instead? And make sure the grounding and voltage from the battery/alternator is smooth and consistent.
12. Larger TB will make idling and low end driving a bit hard. Might get "surging" at low RPMs which is a nuisance during jams. I recall trying an oversized TB sometime ago and like you said high revving was great. The low rev part was a nightmare as it would surge everytime the throttle plate opened and because it was larger the amount of air flowing in was a little too much. Stock ECUs might not be able to adapt to manage that (I know Siemens VDO can't for sure) so unless you have an aftermarket ECU or something to compensate, a larger TB will be an issue. But then again if it's just slightly larger (like the 1st gen Myvi using the lagi best 1.5L Myvi TB) then it shouldn't be a problem at all.

13.) Aftermarket VVTI Valve, enable VVTI opening at lower RPM (Not VTEC like but under normal driving you feel the engine is lighter)
14.) ECU remap, another obvious power gains but need to find someone that really knows how to tune.
13. I know shit about this.
14. Get a links standalone ECU that supports VVTI. Then I can recommend a tuner who can manipulate the VVTI to give you more torque and power. VVTI tuning atm is still a closely guarded secret as not all tuners are well versed enough to properly set it up. Honda VTEC tuning on the other hand is an open secret and most if not all tuners don't even bother password protecting the map.
 

ixeo

4,000 RPM
Senior Member
Jun 26, 2005
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Wah bro put so much effort into this. Let me add my 2 cents

Hi Liang95,

Honestly speaking, Vios by stock itself is quite lively, it can keep up to some bigger CC car due to its light weight body. It was never made for highway speed monster. Like most ZTH citizens here recommended, try to make the car handles better and more stable than stock. What you can do:
Handling Part
1.) Stickier tyres
BEST MOD, BEST ROI EVER, 5/5!
15" is the best size, but performance tyres are less and lesser. Still good tyres, PS3, Hankook Ventus V12e2. If you can afford it, go for 17" then you will have a wide range of expensive rubbers.

2.) Lighter rims, more responsive steering wheel, however you might feel lightness in your steering wheel on highway speed
SECOND BEST MOD, STYLE TOO! ROI depends on how much you spend. Don't buy VOLKS lah, too expensive. ROI 4/5 to 1/5 depending on how much you pay.

Advanti DST rims are lightweight, and priced quite comfortably. Even if your stock rims are 15" and you ask, why "upgrade" to aftermarket 15"? The answer is tread width. The rims need to be wide enough to have sufficient contact for the rubbers. Detailed guide here. Lighter rims will also have less unsprung mass, better performance, better braking, better handling.

https://motoiq.com/how-to-properly-select-and-size-tires-for-performance/

3.) Uprated struts and springs, if not, BC Racing V1 or BR Type if you have budget
Done right 4/5, done wrong 0/5. The most common problem is that its "low" for better handling, lower center of gravity. If you determine how low you should go by the looks and not the suspension geometry, most likely its done wrong.

However, for macpherson strut cars like the Vios, you can go too low and impact handling, this page will explain it:

https://motoiq.com/the-ultimate-han...one-unforgivable-sin-overlowering-your-car/3/

Most of the time, it is done wrong, and the best is just stock really.

4.) Install necessary chassis bars, research this properly, you don't want to waste money on those bars you do not need, car needs certain roll to be able to change direction
5/5 when done correctly. The most obvious one is the strut tower bar. And anti-roll bar. Unlike tyres this one don't wear out. Worthwhile but don't go overkill with ALL sorts of bars.

5.) Chassis foam, for better sound proofing and sturdier chassis. Ever wonder why Euro cars are so solid and quiet ? Sturdier chassis and undercarriage is one of those keys. It also adds comfort to reduce NVH. You feel you can drive the car for as long as it could.
Doing this aftermarket, the impact really isn't that great. I've done it, at the most famous and pioneer of foaming. 1/5 for me.

6.) Harder engine mount, reduce engine flex and get the car going off the line faster. May cause discomfort as you feel more engine vibrations
Haha you'll regret it for a street car. For the ROI and pain, 1/5 for a street car.

7.) Better brakes ! Seriously a lot of people thought the factory brakes system is enough, it is NOT ! At least uprate the disc rotor, brake pad, brake hose and DOT4 brake fluid.
Better brake pads, ss braided hose and of course the DOT4 brake fluid (make sure its fresh sealed bottle). 5/5 if you choose good brake pads. Brake rotors of the same size for street driving is 0/5. Brakes stop the car by turning it into heat. More mass can contain more heat. So unless you change to the big brake kit with bigger rotor... changing just the rotor won't make a difference.

Brake pads are rated by temperature. Using race pads on the street would probably end up pretty bad if the driver is unaware of it. Plus race pads squeals like a pig.

Engine Part
8.) Uprated intake system, only helps the car to breath easier but won't gives you 10+ hp like some ads claimed. Especially on a 1.5L N/A engine
If just dropping in aftermarket air filter, just pick K&N. Washable and reusable. 2/5
Changing whole CAI... stuck in jam most of the time.. 1/5, heat soak anyway. And no turbo, what for.

9.) Free flowing exhaust, this one depends, but for me, just decat one of it will do. You won't want noisy exhaust in your DD.
This is the MOST SIGNIFICANT MOD, in terms of, awareness. You will be VERY AWARE of this mod. ROI on a naturally aspirated car? -2/5 for street driving. 2/5 for track driving.

Usually there isn't any increase in mid range torque or horsepower, sometimes there's even a dip. Mid range is where a street car spends 90% of the time. unless you drive pedal to the metal all the time. Just because its louder doesn't mean its more powerful or faster.

10.) E-throttle controller, this can dramatically change the pedal responsiveness but will not add HP
No comment on this. It's just a "feel" thing. I don't pay for feel. I pay for real absolute gains.

11.) Better spark plugs and ignition system, most likely the most obvious power gains for any N/A cars, if you have access to TM Works ignition package, this will be the most obvious power gains you ever invested, however, ITS NOT AFFORDABLE !
Changing to Denso or NGK iridium spark plugs, now most cars come with it anyway. 5/5. Ignition system, ROI 1/5. Very costly, I think spending the money on exhaust and full intake more noticeable in terms of noise and style. 2% on a car with 100hp is 2hp. 2% on an evo with 300 hp is 6hp.... Does TM Works got gains? Got, confirm got. Question is, you pay the same price as the evo owner.. you gain way less.

12.) Larger TB with larger intake pipe. Adds throttle responsiveness and gain power at mid to high RPM. Not usable if you don't rev the crap out of the engine to get its full benefits.
Might mess up your ECU tuning, if the intake of air is out of the range for the stock ECU. Actually even more significant is the intake ports itself are larger. I changed from a YRV head to a Myvi 1.3L lagi best head because the ports and the corresponding valves are physically bigger. No tuning definitely messed things up. ROI is 0/5 for no tuning, 2/5 with tuning on N/A car, 3/5 on a turbo car.

13.) Aftermarket VVTI Valve, enable VVTI opening at lower RPM (Not VTEC like but under normal driving you feel the engine is lighter)
Tak tau.

14.) ECU remap, another obvious power gains but need to find someone that really knows how to tune.
Vios can't remap, will need piggybacks like E-Manage. Not much use unless changes have been done to the intake or exhaust. Problem is 9/10 don't know how to tune. ROI? 0/5.. you find someone who knows how to tune.. with no mods.. 1/5 maybe. with mods.. on N/A.. 2/5..turbo.. tuning.. 5/5 because increase boost yo!

What i suggest, the handling part for now is the best thing you can do, as one once said, power is useless without control. It's 1.5L N/A engine
Correct.

Stuff you can do for free, ROI 5/5:

Remove the rear seats & spare tyre, less weight.
Turn off the air con compressor, free power.
Remove crap in your car.
Get a lighter wife/girlfriend or boyfriend (if that's your thing, I don't care)
Lose weight yourself
 
Nov 17, 2023
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5. Agreed. But not any old foam. There's two major players in the market that actually work. All others are a complete waste of money and time. I've tried 3 different types of foam brands and I can safely say the cheapest ones that claim the world are pointless.
6. Don't do nylon or full rubber mounts. A compliant PU mount from superpro would be way better than solid mounts. Less harsh.
Hi Izso, which are the 2 foam manufacturers which worked for you?
 

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