Mods

Mistar_T

hey fellas... this is going to be my first topic, and i was hoping you guys would be able to give me some info on various different mods for my x-reg vectra. It's actually turning into a very long post... so if you cant be bothered reading it all I'll summarise all the questions i have at the bottom so you dont have to read all the garbage 😃

Basically... I'm wanting to know what the best mods are to be done which will give the most power gain without too much harm done to my wallet.

I was originally thinking of the following:
Exhaust (cat-back since you guys seem to think de-catting causes more problems than it solves?)
Air filter (not sure if i should go for a cone filter or panel filter? K&N is most likely either way...)
Chip/Re-map

I was hoping this would give me a reasonable increase in power and performance without being too costly and without having to mess around with the engine itself too much. However:

I took my car down to work today to do a service on it (changed oil + filter, fuel filter, spark plugs, pollen filter - not that that's even imporant here)... left air filter since i'll be fitting a K&N (not sure panel or cone yet) filter anyway.

Anyhow... its been using about 1/2 a liter of oil a week so far, so once i'd done the service i revved it up to check for any signs of blue smoke (for burning oil)... nothing really noticeable at all from the exhaust... so assumed it must be down to the oil leak(s) on the engine... first port of call being the rocker cover gasket which i plan to do next weekend.

anyway... after i'd done all this, i switched it off and left it stood while i was busy doing other bits and pieces... came to drive it out and when i started it up the engine was missfiring really badly. took spark plugs back out and found cylinder 1 full of coolant. I assume this will mean the head gasket is on its way out... but i've had no other symptoms until i did the service (other than the heaters blowing warm shortly after engine started... even from cold... is this normal?)

I left it running while i put it through the car wash, then switched it off when i went back inside for about 5 or 10 mins... came out and it started up fine... drove home fine... no smoke, no lack of power, parked up for about half an hour and started up fine again. Seems strange that it was full of water that one time, but now seems fine.

anyway... the main point in all this is that if i do have to replace the head gasket, i'm wondering if it will be worth putting a pair of cams in while i'm in there... since it would all be stripped down and ready...? are there any other bits and pieces you guys would recommend while im in there which aren't too time consuming to do before it gets built back up?

I'm obviously gutted that I've found this 2 weeks after buying the car, but atleast it might motivate me to do a little more than first planned to tune it up a bit.

Heres the list of questions :roll:

1) Is a cat-back exhaust my best bet, or should I de-cat it, or get a sport cat? Basically... what exhaust system will be best?
2) Air filter... unless you guys know any better... I'll go with K&N... but should i get a panel filter or cone filter? I've been told panel filters seem to be better on normally aspirated engines...?
3) Is it normal for the heaters to blow warm fairly soon after driving off from cold compared to other cars? somone told me vectra's have a pipe from the exhaust manifold to allow the heaters to warm up quicker, is this true?
4) If I'm in there doing the head gasket, is it worth buying a set of uprated cams and doing those while im in there?
5) Any other bits and pieces which i should do while I'm in there doing the head gasket? (not too costly or time consuming).
6) If cams are a good idea while im in there... can anyone recommend which cams to get and from where?
7) I've been wondering about Nitrous Oxide and while talking to a friend of mine i dismissed the idea... but i read a thread on here which has begun changing my mind... is it a good cost-effective way to increase power?
8) I read about a 250bhp threshold on these engines... what does this refer to? is it how much you can squeeze from them before having to up-rate the pistons or what?

Sorry for the mega-long post and loads of questions :lol:

JohnnyN

2.5 inch Cat-back system is best with a centre section. A 200cpi Sport cat would be a welcome addition. Removal of the precat is a must and is free. You could get a 2.5 incg downpipe made up too at a later date. Piper do a downpipe and also a 4-1 Stainless steel tubular manifold. (Please stay away from the Remus straight through pipe.)
K&N Panel Filter in your airbox is best. Drill another port at the front of the box to increase airflow.
True. The water pipe is within an inch of the manifold. Temps there are extremely hot!!
Would be another good addition but you would be better porting the head at the same time for increased flow.
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Piper cams. There are others like Schrick but they are top of the range with a price tag to match. I'm sure other members can advise.
Nos would really require a professional set up and I would be looking at changing internals before doing this. Wizards of Nos are the tuners for this.
I am producing 264bhp with my Stage 2 SC. The rods are rated to 250bhp safe limit. Pistons are rated to around 280bhp. My car is producing 250bhp at 6000rpm and seeing as i'm not up in that region very often, its not been a high priority to get the internal changed yet. vx220 owners generally get their rev limits rasied for track use thus really needing uprated rods and pistons for safety.

Long posts are not a problem and we'll do what we can to advise you. We're only too happy to help.

thumbup

MikeS

but i've had no other symptoms until i did the service (other than the heaters blowing warm shortly after engine started... even from cold... is this normal?)

z22se vectra has a very efficient heating system, car warms up the heaters very quickly, downside is engine takes a while to reach operating temps in the winter

is there water in the cylinder or spark plug recess ?

Mistar_T

Cheers Johnny for the info... I'm fairly new to this level of modifying... so i could do with a few things explaining...:

How do you go about remving the pre-cat? (is it a case of smashing it out, or replacing it with another pipe or what?)
What do you mean by "with a centre section"? a straight through pipe rather than a silencer?
What is meant by "porting the head"? - is it increasing the size of the valves in some way or am i miles off?

sorry if these are amature-ish questions :oops:

Mike: If you mean is there water in the any of the cylinders then cylinder 1 did have water in it when i removed the plugs to investigate the missfire. after i blew it out with an airline and dried off the plug i havent (yet) had any trouble with it again.

JohnnyN

Have a search around the site for precat removal. Get a feel for the forum. You'll find lots of info on this. Its very easy to do. Only tools required are a socket set, a rather large hammer, cold chisel or a very good set of drills. A combination of all 3 work well, lol! I'll let you find the rest out. ;-)
Don't go for a straight through pipe. Stick to a center pipe with a silencer.
Porting a head is a job for someone who is VERY confident in head modification. We have Vocky on here who is based in Milton Keynes who is very experienced in this operation. You could also take the head to a engine builder to have this carried out. It involves removing the rough cast aluminium material and smoothing the inlet/exhaust ports out for a nice smooth flow of gases through the head. It can go wrong if you're not up on how this is achieved. You can increase the size of the valve seats too but you would then need to buy larger seat valves. Again there are threads relating to this. Vocky has done some great work on this topic.

Ask any questions you want.

thumbup

Mistar_T

Just had a read on another thread which is on here relating to rough running... turns out the fella has a cracked head... since this coolant in cylinder 1 has only appeared once i did the service (including spark plugs) im thinking i've probably cracked the head when un-doing the plug... as is stated in their post...

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14012

looks like its going to be even more costly than i thought cryb..

JohnnyN

Have a look here for a possible replacement head,

http://www.vvoc.com/forum/showthread.php?t=274799

Mistar_T

cheers johnny, will have to look at it later... dont have much time at the moment and i'll need to sign up to view it...

im totally gutted about this. i got a bargain with this car... pretty much nothing wrong with it and only set me back a grand... now its looking like ill be putting near enough another 500 into it to get it right again :thumbdown:

JohnnyN

Try jaysvectras on here for any Vectra parts that you need. He's recently joined the site and is a breaker. Worth giving him a PM to see what he's got is stock.

;-)

Mistar_T

sweet. cheers mate...

been speaking to a friend of my about this, and hes wondering if it is a cracked head by the spark plug, if there is some sort of repair that can be done on it rather than having to replace the head?

MikeS

problem is m8 once u take the head off then u need a new head set & bolts

for the sake of a £150 is it worth trying to repair the head for it break down again a few months later

the price of a z22se head is coming down all the time as the rot sets in on vectra's

JohnnyN

I'm sure it can be repaired. It would be fairly poor to scrap a head due to this.

MikeS

suppose it all depends on how bad the crack is really

Mistar_T

all may not be lost then... suppose first port of call is to find out if it is definately a crack... think im going to be pressure testing the cooling system next week to see if i can spot the leak without the spark plug removed... that should give me a fairly decent idea of what im dealing with. then i'll just have to go from there.

johnny, in terms of fitting cams and porting the head... would i have to get the head ported for the cams? how much would you expect to pay to have this done?

I cant really afford to have the car off the road for any longer than necessary you see, and i dont have a lot of money to pay for it all doing quickly...

MikeS

worth getting a 2nd hand head and having a chat to vocky about porting it

JohnnyN

Porting is not necessary for cams, its just another option for more flow.