Hi guys, new to the forum. I have a 2008 Accent GS 1.6 w/ CVVT. This post is more to spark an idea, and I'm interested in some power gains with my car but I'm not sure whether to go turbo or stick to N/A.

I'm aware that the stock pistons are junk, which is why I'm more inclined to run some boost and pull timing, which would make more power for the same stress on the stock pistons, however, turbos cost money, a lot more of it than a few N/A mods.

I've recently discovered the AEM FIC, which can piggyback off of the stock ECU and feed it the info it needs to run stock, but then actually run all of its own maps. You don't have to tune the whole map either, which means you can keep everything stock *except for* 80% MAP and above. The AEM FIC also has functionality for CVVT tuning and boosted applications.

Advancing the intake and practically bottoming out the advancement of the exhaust will suck more air into the engine and push it out before BDC, add in a little ignition retard and you can spool a turbo more than twice as fast as the stock map. Our cars can do this. Vitara pistons can also fit on our rods given you bore out the small end of the rod, making the engine good for 200WHP.

That's not what I'm here for though. Assuming you advance the intake cam at the low end of the curve and increase overlap at the high end, in combination with a full exhaust and a nice header, E85 tuned and with a short-ram intake, how much could I expect to gain? I'm throwing out a wild guess at 15WHP. Thoughts? Anyone done this before?