X14xe simple tuning advice

[SR-Rally]

Decided now that 1400 16v is the way to go in the rally car.

I have to retain the standard plenum chamber and throttle body for the class I run in so my mods are limited.

Is there a benefit sticking 1600 16v cams in it?

Porting inlet and head?

Any mods I can do to the throttle body?

[Dayle_]

Its a shame that you have to run the standard plenum that's where these make the power. What sort of rallying do you compete in the have regs in class? Road rallying?

[SR-Rally]

yeah road rallying. could just do with a little more power if possible. but dont want to waste my time/money if its not going to benifit :)

[NOVA saloon]

The heads are same as 1.6. Apparently the c16xe cams are different. Erm good 4 branch de cat exhaust. Use a 1.6 16 v chip in ecu. Fuel reg port and polish head. Shame you have too run standard inlet.

Oh and nova gte lightened and balanced fly wheel.

[comptoncj]

You need to use the head off of a x16xel if you can find one as they have the best port shape/size, pair of cams and a decent exhaust system should see a gain in bhp, that inlet is sooooo restrictive though it strangles the engine.

[SR-Rally]

not sure i want to spend alot of money on kent cams etc as the inlet is so restrictive they wont be much gain (engine would still be sucking in through a straw). if 1600 cams will make a slight difference i will try them as i should be able to find some 1600 cams locally.

how much difference does a xel head make? and what cars were they in?

is there anyway i can try and make the inlet slightly less restrictive? knife edge butterfly or enlarge plenum chamber some how :s

[NOVA saloon]

Think xel was an astra mk4 but wait till somebody else says lol. Could give modifying the throttle body a go but as you say it's so restricted it's untrue.

[SR-Rally]

i will be removing secondry air pump i think its called and cat but where is the egr valve an how hard is it to remove?

[NOVA saloon]

Farty bits that are a pain in the **** tbh.

[SR-Rally]

ohhhh :s is it worth removing egr?

[NOVA saloon]

Yes. Every little helps. Be ok if you could cheat lol by putting the 1600 16v in as it's exactly the same but that's not the way forward lol.

[Dayle_]

The 1400 xe has a flywheel like the nova GTE its not a pot type one like the 1600.

You could look at modifying the standard inlet? Does the C16XE plastic inlet flow better than the x14xe? If so I have one lying around you can have. No one would know the difference. there is a horrible restriction on the back plastic pipe of the inlet too (the one that runs up the back of the engine. as though the pipe has imploded, maybe have a look if you can alter this.

Arp rod bolts so you can raise the limiter too 7300 rpm?7

I'd stay with standard cams they are pretty good to 160hp on these engines any higher lift ones and you need to start pocketing pistons and to pay 600 quid for some fast road kent ones which may give you 5bhp really isn't with it in my opinion.

[SR-Rally]

thanks Dayle

i seem to remember the black pipe that runs behind the engine is a very restricted looking thing, wheather i could just run a simple circle pipe so theres less restriction. can't see it being a problem with regs as that black plastic part is after the throttle body

[SR-Rally]

Yes. Every little helps. Be ok if you could cheat lol by putting the 1600 16v in as it's exactly the same but that's not the way forward lol.

i was planning on sticking a 1600 16v in and just running in the class above but found a mint 1400 sport thats had a rear end shunt and they only want £100. engine only done 80thou.

[peester]

nah, best mod you can make is to choose the 1600 in the first place i reckon.

[SR-Rally]

1600 would be ideal but unfortunately i dont have time to wait for a 1600 corsa to come up cheap :(

plus its more satisfying when you beat escorts, subarus etc in a little 1400 :)

[NOVA saloon]

Dayle you sure it was a standard flywheel on your 1400 xe because every 1 I have had have all been pot. Iv had about 10 - 15 now.

If you can find a c16 in let get it same with the restrictive pipe only has 1 dead end bend and the x14/16 have 2. Iirc

[Adam]

Keeping the standard inlet is your big issue. You are not going to really see any worthwhile gains whilst that inlet is still fitted as its so restrictive.
Can you remove the long plastic air pipe from behind the engine? Or has it got to be 100% as it left the factory?

[SR-Rally]

I have to retain original plenum and throttle body. I've been told that basically means throttle body and everything the engine side of it. Which means I could remove/change the black plastic that runs from throttle body to filter. But how would you do it? Just run a pipe round the back of the engine again or try and move air filter position?

[NOVA saloon]

Maybe try fit the air filter at passenger head light that would be least restrictive way to throttle body or is that breaking the rules????>

[AlexW]

If you have the space to run (and are allowed) a 180 degree pipe for the filter and put it directly over the gearbox that will help with the induction side of things.

1600 cams are slightly higher lift than 1400 ones, but not by much. XEL head wont give amazing gains, if you port matched it to the inlet you might get 6bhp.

You would remove the SAI when fitting to a nova anyway, EGR is pish easy to do aswell.

If your allowed a nice 4-2-1 mani and freeflowing exhaust wont do any harm. Don't really know what else, As said the normal course on these engines is powerbox which gives 15/20bhp depending on how strong the engine is.

[Dayle_]

Dayle you sure it was a standard flywheel on your 1400 xe because every 1 I have had have all been pot. Iv had about 10 - 15 now.

If you can find a c16 in let get it same with the restrictive pipe only has 1 dead end bend and the x14/16 have 2. Iirc

The X14XE is 100% deffo a flat flywheel. They only fitted the pot type to the C16XE and X16XE.

I would try and do something with that plastic pipe that runs up the back of the engine though maybe take a pipe from the throttle body through the bulkhead seen that done a few times.

[Adam]

1600 cams are slightly higher lift than 1400 ones, but not by much. XEL head wont give amazing gains, if you port matched it to the inlet you might get 6bhp.

lol
No chance with that std inlet still fitted ;)

"powerbox" gives 12bhp at best.

[Pancho]

the inlet on some later mk3 astra 1600 16v's is like the 2.0 ecotec ones, i.e shorter. try to find one of these inlets and fit that.

[Adam]

Thats a different engine though. Its a z16xep iirc.
Mk4 astras had them

[SR-Rally]

Will that inlet match onto the 1400 head?

[AlexW]

"powerbox" gives 12bhp at best.

1.6 put out 98bhp, Powerbox fitted and 2 weeks later put out 117bhp on the same rollers.

Depends on the engine.

[John]

I used to run the astra F X16XEL inlet pipe on mine, it just squeezed in. :)

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l240/tooleater16v/XI7K1524.jpg

[Adam]

1.6 put out 98bhp, Powerbox fitted and 2 weeks later put out 117bhp on the same rollers.

Depends on the engine.
So you had an under-powered 1.6 to start with ;)

Mine did about a 11hp gain before/after powerbox :thumb:

[NOVA saloon]

Dayle I stand corrected been and looked today and I was wrong. That's all.

[SR-Rally]

Thats a different engine though. Its a z16xep iirc.
Mk4 astras had them

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1999-VAUXHALL-ASTRA-G-1-4-INLET-MANIFOLD-INC-EGR-X14XE-/190532548837?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2c5c9ff8e5

is it an engine with this inlet manifold i'm after? would this make a difference? and just for sake of it, would this inlet fit on a corsa sport head?