It’s always nice when other people appreciate the quality of Torque Development’s work – in writing.

“The performance uplift is dramatic.”

“It fills the CTR’s cammy VTEC void to bursting with low and mid-range torque.”

“The result is very impress any-gear, any-revs performance, and the 2.0-litre motor is still happy to rev to 8K and beyond.”

In this case it was Evo magazine’s Richard Meaden who supplied the platitudes as he recently tested a Torque Developments supercharged Honda Civic FN2 and was impressed by both the quality and performance of our upgrade, as published in Evo no:145.

Bookings are being taken now for the FN2 supercharger upgrade, which provides excellent performance at an affordable price. Please contact Torque Developments staff for more details.

Principal Mugen stockist and leading Japanese tuning house Torque Developments International Plc is pleased to announce that the full range of Honda Civic Type R FN2 upgrades are now available for the performance aftermarket.

Covering engine, chassis, braking and visual enhancements, the Mugen Civic Type R FN2 product range has been subject OEM style levels of arduous design, testing and quality control tests, ensuring that the Mugen FN2 product portfolio offers enthusiasts the ultimate in performance and reliability.

First launch from the Mugen range are FN2 the front and visual enhancements seen adorning the critically acclaimed Civic Type R Mugen concept. Lightweight, high quality and distinctive, the Mugen FN2 body styling provides a unique look, designed for the Honda connoisseur.

Mugen’s FN2 Honda Civic Type R visual enhancements include:

Front aero bumper  RRP £1150.60

This incorporates large brake duct intakes, an aerodynamically shaped profile and a smooth undertray to decrease wind resistance while improving high speed stability.

Air intake garnish  RRP £234.38

These triangular trims are installed into the front of the Mugen aero bumper to provide additional air channelling and improved visual appeal.

Front Sports grille  RRP £372.88

A signature Mugen visual styling enhancement, the Sports grille combines great looks with a wind resistance reducing design.

Front Aero Fenders (pair)  RRP £852.29

An aggressive frontal profile and rear hot air outlet help reduce underbonnet and front brake temperatures. A unique Mugen design in high strength, lightweight FRP.

Aero bonnet  RRP £1257.14

Designed to perform, the Mugen Honda Civic Type R FN2 aero bonnet is equipped with large, functioning air outlets with a detachable air outlet inner cover. When open, the apertures allow more cool air through the engine bay, helping to lower underbonnet temperatures. Produced in high quality, weight saving FRP.

Rear Bumper  RRP £1044.07

Muscular looks combine with the Type R’s twin exhaust outlets to create a distinctive rear look.

Rear Wing  RRP £1150.60

Unmistakably Mugen, the FN2 Civic Type R rear wing provides a stunning look for Honda’s hottest hatchback. Adjustable in two places to suit driving conditions, the Mugen rear wing is made from ABS plastic, with an FRP base. Installation requires the removal of the original factory Civic Type R rear wing.

For more details on the Mugen range of Honda Civic Type R enhancements, please contact TDi-plc.

Torque Developments International were commissioned to evaluate the engine performance of the Astin Martin DB7, with a view to enhancing the torque.

We already had a wealth of experience of tuning the Jaguar 6 cylinder 4.0 supercharged engine, so we expected to apply some of our learning to the DB7 which shares some commonality with the XJR.

The test vehicle is a stunning manual transmission example in red, having covered a very modest mileage which the owner had previously installed a high performance exhaust system from the catalytic convertor backwards.

The first stage in the evaluation process was to extract some performance and dynamic data from the standard engine using our Rototest chassis dynamometer and DataQ data aquisition centre.

Our testing indicated the following limitations that need to be addressed:

1. The intake temperatures are too high and are uncontrolled (see data log sheet below showing the increase from 43 degrees at low speed on the first run, to 58 degrees at high speed on the 3rd run).

2. The power and torque drops by 10% over the course of three power runs (see attached performance snapshot – runs 5-7 below).

3. There is an intake restriction before the supercharger (see the green line on the data logging sheet – runs 8 & 9 below).

4. There is a substantial back pressure present in the exhaust system (measured in the down pipe (see data logging sheet – runs 10-11 below)) of almost 1.7 bar (absolute).

5. The air/fuel ratio is very rich.

This is the exhaust back pressure test taken from the down pipes, showing a 1.7 bar (absolute) of back pressure in the exhasut system. That is higher than the supercharger boost pressure!

This is the restriction in the intake system.

This is the intake temperature. Note how the temperatures rise from 43 degrees to 58 degree over only three power runs. Worryingly, the temperatures seem to be uncontrolled and continue to rise the longer that full power is used.

This is the power and torque curves of the standard engine. Note that the power and torque reduces by 10% after only three power runs!

Our testing has revealed that the following critical path should be followed:

1. De-restrict the exhaust downpipes and catalytic converter.
2. Design and manufacture a large capacity charge cooler pre-radiator.
3. Manufacture a less restrictive intake system.
4. Re-check the air/fuel ratio after the above solutions have been implemented.

Following the implementation of the above, if the AFR’s are still too rich we will then consider an ECU solution to remedy this. If the exhaust back pressures and intake temperatures come into acceptable limits, we will then consider raising the boost pressure.

As part of our Stage 2 upgrade for the Supercharged Lexus iS200, we incorporate a larger intercooler than the standard TTE item.

When air is compressed (such as by a supercharger or turbocharger) it’s temperature increases (see BoylesLaw) and loses density thereby reducing the amount of oxygen available to produce power, so we can see that reducing the air temperature at the back of the intake valve is crucial for increasing engine performance.

This is why intercoolers are used in an attempt to reduce and control intake temperatures. Unfortunately the presence of an intercooler also creates a restriction to airflow which in turn reduces power so we therefore have a bit of a paradox which is generally dealt with by compromising the airflow efficiency in an effort to keep the temperatures down.

The two critical design features of an an intercooler are it’s thermal efficiency (how good it is at reducing temperatures) and it’s air flow efficiency (how good it is at transferring air with minimal internal losses).

Having very good airflow testing facilities in-house, we were able to test all of the branded intercoolers on the market and found that they varied dramatically in terms of air flow efficiency so we decided to think about how we could improve this without reducing the size of the intercooler core.

Traditionally, a larger core gives a cooler charge but more resistance to flow, so we designed an aerodynamic and plate for the core which significantly increases the air flow through the core.

We also wanted to increase the volume of intercooler core to maximise the cooling capacity so we designed a intercooler which is around 250% larger than standard. We paid particular attention to the quality so we ensured that the end tanks were properly cast and aerodynamic shaped too. We increased the size of connector spigots from 50mm to 60mm so that the Katana intercooler can be used on very high power applications. We also considered the packaging to ensure that the intercooler could be installed without cutting the body work and with minimal fuss.

The end result was an increase from the standard TTE intercooler of 123CFM to the uprated Katana intercooler of 161CFM which is an increase of 30% !!!

On the chassis dyno we found that with no other modifications, changes or tuning, we saw an increase of 0.1 bar of boost pressure (due to the aerodynamic end plates) and a substantial increase in torque throughout the power band (see graph below).

We are very pleased with the results of an additional 20 lb-ft at the hubs, and the Katana high performance uprated intercooler for the supercharged Lexus iS200 can now be bought at www.tdi-plc.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=107_197_214_384_392&products_id=4117

Here’s a picture of the intercooler in place

Here is the performance certificate without any tuning or adjustments being made. Very impressive!

because of the science and technology deployed in the Katana intercooler, we are confident that it is currently the best in terms of effectiveness and quality.