You have chosen the two litre turbocharged, four cylinder Hyundai Genesis Coupe as a weapon with which to slay the souls of your neighbors and fellow motorists. You probably chose this model of the car for a few common reasons:
- You bought the bullshit that it's powered by the same engine found under the swiss-cheesed hood of an Evo X. Turns out you were wrong.
- You seriously thought you could turn one of these things into a 600whp monster for about two grand.
- You figured at this price point, for a 2.0T rear wheel car, you can't get a better bang for your buck and building it for power is straightforward.
- You were too cheap to swing the extra five grand and get into a six cylinder, but you damn well weren't leaving that dealer driving a pair of Nikes.
- You are a pathological dumbfuck who thinks rolling up to people in actual sports cars and popping a blow off valve actually makes you awesome.
- Your parents bought you this one because they felt you'd do more damage to yourself than others if they bought you the cheaper one.
Quick & Dirty Strengths/Weaknesses, 'What can I do with this thing' in Nutshell Format
Strengths:
- Match/just barely exceed a V6's wheel horsepower and outmatch it's torque for less than half the price difference between the two cars
- Absolutely bulletproof OEM turbo setup; Cornucopia of safeties prevent you from breaking your shit so long as the OEM turbo & sensors remain
- Slightly high compression for a turbo motor = faster spool of any given aftermarket turbo vs. most any other 2.0 inline motor
- Brutally simple and spacious engine bay means your average Teletubbie can be taught to do heavy work on the engine quickly and easily
- OEM clutch could be proficiently operated by a comatose mental patient
- OEM transmission known safe to basically whatever power you want to make (so long as you upgrade your fluid)
- Stock block known safe to ~400whp with a good tuning job. Your neighborhood Evo driving meat head with a CMD piggyback doesn't count
- Parts now exist to modify your 2.0T to fit any T3/T4 turbocharger so cheaply these days that running a stock turbo is... unacceptable
- Multiple builders/shops now offer full longblock builds, and race-application internals and bearings are now offered by even premium race suppliers
- Stock block has oil jets facing upward inside each cylinder, shooting oil at the rod/piston assemblies; this is a good thing - nod and say 'yes'
Weaknesses:
- 6spd Transmission is about as smooth as the Lunar surface. OEM syncros are poor quality. Thankfully this only affects feel, not safe operation
- If you got an automatic transmission, I apologize and my heart goes out to you - nobody knows how much power that trans will take, so go for it!
- Nuns have more options for sex than you do for user-tunable ECU flash tuner products (luckily Haltech standalones exist for those with the cash)
- OEM intake manifold was designed by a Korean cartoon character who abuses amphetamines -lean condition in cylinder 4 is awful at high boost
- OEM fuel pump starts to run home to momma around high 300whp-400whp area (drop-in replacements are available)
- OEM fuel injectors can't handle the truth between 260-280whp (drop-in replacements are available)
- OEM clutch eats shit and dies at 300wtq with clockwork-like reliability (yes, people sell those too)
- OEM BPV leaks boost above ~17psi (yes, they make those too, in every flavor)
- OEM rod bearings are barely acceptable for use in an erector set, much less an engine
- OEM turbo is less-capable at pressurizing air than some leaf blowers
- OEM charge piping was routed around the engine by the same coke-addled cartoon character that handled the intake manifold design
- OEM intercooler is a highly efficient core - but it's the size of a Washington politician's conscience
