best mods for an xe

[novskii]

hello all can anyone advise on best mods for a xe lump :confused:

[scott.parker]

TB's.

[turbojolt]

Cotton panel air filter in a std box

[swedge]

Xe it



Oh wait...........

[MK999]

Gasflow and cams will see the most BHP/£, not sure how well standard management stands up to changes though, if it needs standalone price rises considerably for getting huge power increase out of it, but a subtle gasflow and cam should still run and see a good increase.

[scott.parker]

best mods for an xe

A Nova!

[MK999]

A Nova!

Does indeed give it more horsepower according to top buzz: "Common engines fitted are the following. One point to note, the BHP figures are quoted by the original car, i.e. a Calibra with a C20XE is 150BHP as standard. Now if you put that into a light chassis, i.e. the Nova, the BHP will be much higher."
http://www.topbuzz.co.uk/mods/2Lconversion/2Lconversion.htm#1_1 lol

[total_vauxhall]

Bigger 4 branch. Flywheels can be made realy light. Mine is like a dinner plate. Flap in the tb can be modded easy. No big fancy air filter most rolling roads will tell u xe motors run better with standard air box if they havnt got to wild of mods on. As said head rebuild and gasflowed. All this can be done for under 150 quid with the right contacts and will make a big diffrence to a standard motor

[MK999]

I'd rather have a standard head than a £150 lightened fly, exhaust and gasflow job... say you're incredibly lucky and get an exhaust for £50, at least £50-70 worth of gaskets etc refitting the head, which assuming all the parts are in good condition and don't need replacing the days work to overhaul and gasflow it comes in at just under minimum wage. Now there's someone that values his work.

[Jack]

2 more cylinders lol

Whats your budget?

[novskii]

A Nova!
it is a 1984 nova convertible:d

[MK999]

it is a 1984 nova convertible:d

I've always wondered what a Nova would look like folded in half :d

[total_vauxhall]

I'd rather have a standard head than a £150 lightened fly, exhaust and gasflow job... say you're incredibly lucky and get an exhaust for £50, at least £50-70 worth of gaskets etc refitting the head, which assuming all the parts are in good condition and don't need replacing the days work to overhaul and gasflow it comes in at just under minimum wage. Now there's someone that values his work.
Like I said with the right contacts if you read correctly would easly pic the bigger xe 4 branch up for 50 quid my flywheel would have been free due to working at a rally center but I gave the lad 20 quid as good will and I know of plenty of people that would do the head work for next to nothing. Yea gaskets to buy if ya don't already have hunderds of them on the shelf. If your going to sit back and pay everybody else to do the work at top wack then fair does. But with the right contacts and know how it can be done easly for 150 quid.

[turbojolt]

2 more cylinders lol
Whats your budget?

A straight 6 in a nova! behave lol

[philip]

I know of plenty of people that would do the head work for next to nothing

if its cheap its going to be ****, same with buying cheap parts of ebay some of the gasket sets ive had people bring to me off their is laughable.

novskii - whats your budget and can work to that otherwise i could give you a list totalling £6-7ks worth of bits to build an xe

[turbojolt]

6 to 7k is nothing when you think about what you could spend a new set of throttle bodies, management and a 2.5 stroker kit would have you up to that already lol

[pie]

whats the TB mod?

[Old man Jimbo]

whats the TB mod?

The XE throttle body has a chuffing big wedge on the butterfly take it off and either replace with a V6 or LET one or pop rivet the two holes that are left.

Like this...

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r18/jimbo_090/ebay%20polished/000_0778.jpg

[turbojolt]

Is the let throttle bodie not the same as the xe?

[pie]

^^^ thats what i thought TJ

and is all that faffing round worth it?

[total_vauxhall]

Hardly a faf around removing the wedge and filling the holes in . Would probs take longer to do an oil change

[Hobbit]

A straight 6 in a nova! behave lol

I think Jack is on about the win of fitting a V6

[pie]

didnt mean it like that lol

it cant make tha much difference? can it

[Old man Jimbo]

Is the let throttle bodie not the same as the xe?


^^^ thats what i thought TJ

and is all that faffing round worth it?

No the LET is same basic shape but has different take offs etc. Also as mentioned above different butterfly design. It makes quite a bit of difference to the way it drives much more snappy throttle response you can get them with enlarged butterfly's but that's a waste of time IMHO as once you machine the TB out to take the larger butterfly the TB no longer lines up with the inlet manifold so you get a nasty step where the TB meet Manifold.

I did quite a bit of research a few years ago on these as they are a very underrated TB they are standard larger than V6 TB's, Cosworth TB's and so on. I did a lot of work on the underside to smooth air flow and also for a more hardcore throttle response I altered the linkage so that the smaller butterfly opened at the same time as the main one. On a turbo motor the boost started to build a full 500rpm sooner and you could flow more air and as I said a more snappy feel to the car.

It wont give you "an extra 50bhp bruv" but then that's not what all tuning is about lol Blimey bit of a blast from the past when I did all this! Managed to ram about 450bhp through one I reckon you could see 475ish tops. Not to bad. (edit that's a turbo not an XE!)

[turbojolt]

Would be interesting to see a before and after rolling road run with this throttle bodie mod

And I agree 100% tuning is not all about max HP I would rather lose a few HP top end and retain good throttle response all day long

[Old man Jimbo]

Would be interesting to see a before and after rolling road run with this throttle bodie mod

And I agree 100% tuning is not all about max HP I would rather lose a few HP top end and retain good throttle response all day long

I might dig one out and do my thing on it. Then use a willing victim to do a before and after test. See what happens. Driver feel is the main gain you may get a couple of extra BHP if you're lucky on an XE but the power/torque curves may shuffle about the graph a bit.

[philip]

6 to 7k is nothing when you think about what you could spend a new set of throttle bodies, management and a 2.5 stroker kit would have you up to that already lol

who's doing these 2.5 stroker kits? as its physicaly impossible to get any larger than a genuine 2400cc motor from an xe block, if im right in thinking your on about jre engines?

[John]

Let it lol

[turbojolt]

Phill I think it was qed I could he wrong I will have a look now but I'm sure I've seen 2.5 xe engines on YouTube as well

[16v Nova Kev]

take it back out your nova and fit it to a cav or astra.

[turbojolt]

Redtop it

[philip]

turbo - QED do a 2.3 matey, but advertise the ally millington block which you have probabaly seen. jre supposidely can do a 2.5, but its physically impossible, but hes the sort of engine builder you ask for an engine and pay, no questions really lol

[turbojolt]

Lol yer I soon realised my mistake when I Google it lol still stroker kits cost a fortune so my point still stands lol