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C20XE to C20LET, Regrets

4K views 77 replies 38 participants last post by  Miles 
#1 ·
Right, so I know the XE replacement with the LET is common & many more are wishing to do so. But of those who have made the change are there any regrets/down-sides &, if so what are what are they?
 
#2 ·
Ive upgraded from an LET to an XE on gas.

Car is quicker up the quarter than a phase 2 LET
Car gives better economy
Throttle response is far better
Its quicker in low speed situations (twisty lanes or roundabouts etc, due to better control)


So the downsides i was finding was the opposite of all the above.

Benefit with the LET was not needing expensive nitrous refills.



Chip
 
#4 ·
xe conversion on my nova 4 years ago, never had any problems with it. car ran and did over 20k with just leads plugs dizzy cap etc, usual service bits. no problems or complaints at all.

all changed for a let engine, currently doing the 2nd rebuild at a few thousand quid after repairing the block for the 2nd time.

if you got deep pockets and handy with spanners, you wont regret it for 2 months of the year. the other 10?????????

n/a power anytime. wish i hadnt bothered and just bought some tb's for that nova over 2 years ago. its sat gathering dust for 10 months now
 
#8 ·
i guess not many judging by the number of people who end up regretting it. this time around im building it properly instead of quick fix and 11bar of boost
 
#12 ·
reasons for regrets?

the way i see it as john says (well kinda) it seems like the people who regret it are the people who cut corners trying to get the job done quickerly rather than properly, like getting pissed off when pipes rub through when an extra couple of hours doing a proper job in the first place and ensuring pipes cant rub through or loom cant rub through would have cured it... u get the point

olly not being funny or owt mate but id say some of ur regrets are self inflicted, u abused that let, (booting it from cold and adjusting the actuator in a pitch black loughbourgh car park armed with no more than a spanner)

i dont know if i will regret it yet my conversion isnt finished yet thanks to vauxhall (nearly tho) but ive made every precaution to make sure i get some worry free driving (fingers crossed) all thanks to johnA's site btw
 
G
#14 ·
Reece said:
olly not being funny or owt mate but id say some of ur regrets are self inflicted, u abused that let, (booting it from cold and adjusting the actuator in a pitch black loughbourgh car park armed with no more than a spanner)
yep, probably - so what? my car.

your just gonna drive your turbo like a pansy are ya? so whats the point in having one?

as for you doing things properly reece lmao please tell me thats a joke.
 
#15 · (Edited)
JohnA said:
What do you expect if you swap a well running XE engine with an old battered smokey LET? Which you try to run at higher boost as well?;)

How many people take the time to recondition the LET properly before the transplant?

Not sure if that was aimed at me, but if it was the LET was completely rebuilt with new pistons, shot peened rods, balanced bottom end, ligthened flywheel, lower cr gasket, hybrid turbo etc.
The XE was just an average condition low miler.

I wasnt just basing it on that car though, ive driven lots of cars with both engines and always found the same, the LET just doesnt have the instant punch off the throttle that i like for coming out of an apex.

As for running more boost, yep i did wind the boost up, and then started backing the fuelling off in a search for a few more horses, at which point i managed to blow the head gasket (and scrap the head into the bargain) thats just one of those things though, i wouldnt blame the engine for that, i pushed the envelope a little too far, that was my own choice, besides its hardly a big deal swapping a head over anyway, so no big deal really.
 
#16 ·
OllyHewitt said:
yep, probably - so what? my car.

your just gonna drive your turbo like a pansy are ya? so whats the point in having one?

as for you doing things properly reece lmao please tell me thats a joke.
yeah your car, but whats the point in moaning like a fecking baby when the turbo smoked, when u treated it like ****. why put other people off and put down what others have done because your SELF INFLICTED BAD EXPERIENCE.

shut up will ya, yer im doing things properly unlike u who does ***K ALL, you always get other people to do it for u, xe transplant for instance (second one) u practically did ***k all, me and neil did most of it. oh sorry u lossened one bolt (steering column) and tightened it again n u didnt even do that right cos it came loose within a day.

pansy lmao, so anyone who doesnt drive like an irresponible **** like you do is a pansy then, im sure you'll remember when your driving nearly got you kicked in (A6 200SX about a year or two ago). and its already got u involved in 2 crashes that i know of, dont use road surface as excuse ive seen you drive, your not a good driver your a liability.
 
#17 ·
No regrets although I still have teething problems to sort out 6months and 1500 miles later :rolleyes: but that's mostly down to not starting the swap (first I'd ever done) until the Thursday before PV and being hell bent on getting to the show which I did (just).

LET is a lot quicker but I also find it more civilised to drive, by that I mean there's power and torque on tap whenever I want it rather than having to rag the XE to get the best out of it... it's a much nicer car to drive sensibly than it was before rather than just booting it everywhere.
 
G
#18 ·
So a there are just as many 130k+ LET's as there are XE's?

There seems to be less Let owners on mig but Lets are all you hear of going wrong.

To me it sounds like there is a higher percentage of Let problems than XE problems.

And with the Let 9 times out of 10 its a big problem like a rebuild, not a £50 fix.
 
#19 ·
I went from an XE in a Cav to a LET in a cally, not quite the same I'm sure but hey its the engines that count..

Round town theres little difference between the 2 if your off boost, I've not had any real problems with the LET any more so than I did the XE, people say they miss the get in thrash and turn off ability of the XE over the LET, well tbh after the 8 or so months I've had the LET I can say that thats balls tbh, you still ahve to wait for the car to warm up and by the time I've driven thru the village from the bypass where I thrash the car the engines cooled anyways..

As for motorway work the LET wins everytime...

MPG, I'm running about .5mpg difference in favour of the LET, I find I dont have to give it such a big dose of beans to get the same result...
 
#21 · (Edited)
We've been through this 'throttle response' thing several times in the past.
One just cannot expect the same instant response from an LET (comparing a well-setup XE and LET)
The whole turbocharging avenue dilutes this response, in exchange for oodles of torque (above the boost threshold).
If you want razorblade throttle response, then stick to a high-compression n/a engine.

As for average reliability, then we can only compare like with like (stock engines of similar age/condition)
There the LET loses again, because there are more things that can go wrong.
Simplicity wins every time.
 
#22 ·
Xe power for me. Always fancied a turbo. i think if i ever touch one it would be a seat leon 1.8 20valve lump. And not a let!

But if its straightline speed you want its gotta be turbo. Mainly due to the tuning that can be done. Alot more power if done right and the money spent in the right areas.

but xe. reliable 'cam get decent power out of them and will stand heavey abuse as mines had too. And on track id back a 200bhp xe against a turbo everytime i think unless serious moneys been spent on a turbo!!


:beer: lmao

Respect to chip in a way for nozzing his valver and running a 13.3. shows the quick and most precise way to big power. Something we choose to ignore. But alot of people have spent crazy money and still not got anywhere near his time.
 
#24 ·
nowt wrong. But i find the let expensive if owt goes wrong. I mean xe these days are so cheap and easy. A let you can pay from 1100 up to £1600 which to me is daylight robbery and there not worth that.

But thats my opinion!!
Tbh if you want true turbo power buy a ford! sad but oh so true!!
 
#26 ·
still think xe is cheaper option.
Not so powerfull granted. But would take more abuse than a turbo.
And the hassles of 6 speed boxes ect.

If a engine is bought and stripped and rebuilt . then perhaps no problem
a 100k turbo engine thats been ragged will end up costing .

just my view. i might be bias lol
 
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