Modifying a Vectra "B"

[DW-Nova]

Hello all, a friend of mine just bought a 1999 (V-reg) 1.8 16v Vectra B on saturday and he's keen to do a few little mods to it, it's absolutley standard bar a Irmscher backbox that we got for free and put on today. Now i know that it's no rocket ship and it's obviously just a simple family car but i was suprised by how sluggish and stifled it felt when i had a drive in it, i belive that it's a X18XE, dose anybody know if they have a particular restriction anywhere or should we just do the usual things such as a free flowing air filter, de-cat and exhaust system ? I've heard that the ECU is mapped to be very constrictive ? other than that the plan is just some nice alloys and suspension, any reccomendations ?

[novalicous]

Maybe a good service to start of with?

and as you said a decent exausht and a filter may also help

[mowgli]

they are just crap in std form, the 1.8 is an economy model to do with company car tax bands. the 2.0 is way better

[Ben]

Best mod for it is,,,

http://www.delmarvarecycling.com/photo_gallery/images%20for%20photo%20gallery/car%20crusher.jpg

In all seriousness, yeah give it a good service and a panel filter will work well with the old drilled airbox, but in all fairness the 1.8 16v are pretty sluggish in a night on 2 tonne car.

[mowgli]

there is a reason why very few of them get put into novas.....

[mikey14sr]

Nigh on 2 tonne? Only if it's fully loaded up, kerb weight's around 1300kgs.

The 1.8 is pretty poo in a vec (2.0 aint much better tbh), but if you absolutely must try to get power out of it then just like the 2.0 it's the expensive route of throttle bodies, cams and exhaust manifold with sports cat.

Or you could stick that engine in a nova or corsa and bung a v6 into the vec.

[mayhem]

could be worse... my mate has a vectra B x16xe on g3 and 18 inch...

[craig green]

Just sort the suspension & wheels & leave it. Money wasted otherwise & lets face it, underpowered cars pretending to be fast is what Barryboys is for..

No shame in having a car that isnt special.

[craig green]

I got to get this thread onto page 2. That pic is massive!

[craig green]

Massive I say.

[Ben]

it is a tad large

[Pistol Pete]

More than a tad IMO lol

[DW-Nova]

cheers for the input, on the list to buy is a de-cat, sportex race tube and K&N induction kit, when i took the airbox apart it looked very restrictive and when looking at the exhaust system the middle box looks massive ! it may sound a bit "chav" doing the two classic mods of exhaust and induction kit but i think it's worth a go hey ! as far as i know the engine is 113bhp as standard, regal auto sport do a re-map which ups the power to 140bhp for £288.72 which dosnt sound like bad value at all ! anyhow before any mods begin it shall be having a oil and filter, spark plugs and gearbox oil, cambelt has been done 1000 miles ago ! then alloys and suspension is first on the cards, could anybody reccomend a suspension kit for the vectra "B" ? for upto about £250 ish and would anyone have any 5 stud alloys for sale ?

[mayhem]

my mate has a KW coilover setup on his vectra B, its above youre price, but its really good stuff.

[mikey14sr]

airbox - search for "3 pipe mod" on vvoc.

centre box is huge but if it's a non genuine one it'll be a straight through type, sportex/remus just makes it noisier imo (got a remus on mine).

I'd take power claims from that place with a large dose of salt, they're well known for exaggerating things, as well as completely screwing cars up in the past.

[DW-Nova]

/\ cheers for that i'll have a look about the "3 pipe mod" well i think my mate has ordered a Sportex race tube which i'd imagine is gonna make it alot louder ! regarding Regal auto sport you say that theyre well known for messing things up and exaggerating claims, never heard much about them before but have just been impressed by the amount of stuff they have on offer, will do a little more research into them now though !