Lightning Coupé
Senior Member
Just thought id post some pics of my weekends achievements. The chain was getting a little noisy and as the buggers are renound for bailing out on the 2.2 so I decided to change both of em. It would have been rude not to chuck some fast road cams in whilst I was at it so I sent a spare set of to Piper for regarding a while back. Well this weekend, with the help of a friend, Ian redgrave, we swapped out all the parts and not too soon either looking at the crank sprocket. When I say we, I cant really take the credit for it, Ian works for vauxhall and has done quite a few chains so I'd have been daft not to accept his help. He did the lot in just over four hours on the driveway, I just got in the way. lol.
Cams on the way out
Old balancer shaft chain
new cams in
New Chain on
As well as a couple of worn guides, a lazy tensioner and some scarily slack bolts holding the guides in place, the bottom pulley had started to fall apart, notice the black rubber part has come away :-O (compare it to the pic above) not good really considering the cars not done 40,000 miles yet. If you have a 2.2 then I recommend getting your chain replaced after such mileage to be on the safe side. My engine came with the revised chain design and the bigger oil nozzle that was supposed to be the answer to premature failure, but having seen mine after 38,000 miles I'm gonna change it every 40,000 or so.
So, having done the cams and the chain, the car didn’t just sound a little healthier, it went a lot better too!! The cams really make a difference. You can feel it pulling all the way up to the redline now. Its hard to say how much more power than before, but i'm guessing its not a huge increase yet as its running the standard map but you can tell its better. There is one thing thats very noticeable and brings a big smile to your face. The lumpy idle!! It sounds great and like you really mean business when waiting at the lights. lol.
The Second stage happened on monday when I took a trip to Blueflame exhausts. A few of you will know I've been running a remus duplex system for the last three years, and whilst it sounds just bloody great, its only the same bore as the standard system and I'm growing a little tired of the duplex look. So I plumbed for a 6x4 oval cat back with 2.25" bore. I very nearly went with 2.5" but I decided against it in the end, it would have only cost the same, but for me I think its a little big for less than 200hp. Its great on a turbo, but on a Na car 2.5 inch would be quite a bit louder and amongst other factors like the theoretical back pressure and torque loss at low rpm I chose 2.25 inch. Only time will tell if it was the right choice but combined with the cams it really does feel like a different car now!
At idle, the exhaust is really deep and throaty, and coupled with the lumpy cams it sounds fantastic, but cruising along its nice and quiet. For me it sounds very refined and far from what I’m used to, but its a nice change and I’m very happy.
The backbox is nicely tucked right up and the 6x4 trim fits perfectly in the bumper cut out.
The build quality and fit is very good and I'd highly recomend them, But there is two minor disappointments. The first is that I couldn’t really spend much time with the chap who built it, because for health and safety reasons I wasn’t really aloud in the fitting shop. He took me through a couple of times to show me where he was up to and seek my approval, but it limited how much input I could have. At the end of the day, although I specified the trim and the bore, the rest was left to his good judgment. The second gripe was that it took all day to build, literally from 9 till 5, and whilst this is a good thing that they took the time to do it right, It meant I was stranded in skelmsdale all day. I've never been before and I highly doubt ill ever go again. Its the most dull and boring place on the planet! lol
That just leaves me to say thanks to Geoff for the advise over the last few months, Vocky for info on the cams, a big thanks to Ian for fitting the bits with me and not forgeting z22se forum!
Cams on the way out
Old balancer shaft chain
new cams in
New Chain on
As well as a couple of worn guides, a lazy tensioner and some scarily slack bolts holding the guides in place, the bottom pulley had started to fall apart, notice the black rubber part has come away :-O (compare it to the pic above) not good really considering the cars not done 40,000 miles yet. If you have a 2.2 then I recommend getting your chain replaced after such mileage to be on the safe side. My engine came with the revised chain design and the bigger oil nozzle that was supposed to be the answer to premature failure, but having seen mine after 38,000 miles I'm gonna change it every 40,000 or so.
So, having done the cams and the chain, the car didn’t just sound a little healthier, it went a lot better too!! The cams really make a difference. You can feel it pulling all the way up to the redline now. Its hard to say how much more power than before, but i'm guessing its not a huge increase yet as its running the standard map but you can tell its better. There is one thing thats very noticeable and brings a big smile to your face. The lumpy idle!! It sounds great and like you really mean business when waiting at the lights. lol.
The Second stage happened on monday when I took a trip to Blueflame exhausts. A few of you will know I've been running a remus duplex system for the last three years, and whilst it sounds just bloody great, its only the same bore as the standard system and I'm growing a little tired of the duplex look. So I plumbed for a 6x4 oval cat back with 2.25" bore. I very nearly went with 2.5" but I decided against it in the end, it would have only cost the same, but for me I think its a little big for less than 200hp. Its great on a turbo, but on a Na car 2.5 inch would be quite a bit louder and amongst other factors like the theoretical back pressure and torque loss at low rpm I chose 2.25 inch. Only time will tell if it was the right choice but combined with the cams it really does feel like a different car now!
At idle, the exhaust is really deep and throaty, and coupled with the lumpy cams it sounds fantastic, but cruising along its nice and quiet. For me it sounds very refined and far from what I’m used to, but its a nice change and I’m very happy.
The backbox is nicely tucked right up and the 6x4 trim fits perfectly in the bumper cut out.
The build quality and fit is very good and I'd highly recomend them, But there is two minor disappointments. The first is that I couldn’t really spend much time with the chap who built it, because for health and safety reasons I wasn’t really aloud in the fitting shop. He took me through a couple of times to show me where he was up to and seek my approval, but it limited how much input I could have. At the end of the day, although I specified the trim and the bore, the rest was left to his good judgment. The second gripe was that it took all day to build, literally from 9 till 5, and whilst this is a good thing that they took the time to do it right, It meant I was stranded in skelmsdale all day. I've never been before and I highly doubt ill ever go again. Its the most dull and boring place on the planet! lol
That just leaves me to say thanks to Geoff for the advise over the last few months, Vocky for info on the cams, a big thanks to Ian for fitting the bits with me and not forgeting z22se forum!
. Very happy for you. I would love to know what Bhp that lot gave you from just the cams and exhaust 
