Vauxhall Owners Forum banner

Slow XEs

4K views 110 replies 23 participants last post by  saabturbonova 
#1 ·
I have seen/been in a few coras and novas of late fitted with XE engines.
Most of which were no where near as fast as they ought to be,and I think a lot of the time ,lads come on mig asking about performance mods ect..havent even got standard power to start with.

I think this is an age issue as a lot of conversions are mix and match parts,maybe motronic 2.5/2.8 sensors mixed up...?Smokey engines destroying the lamda?

Anyway what I want to say is before any mods the engine should be tip top ie,new lamda,AFM,lifters....This will give more power than expensive cams on a high mileage engine..I know the more technical guys know this but I keep seeing cars being built with people missing this point.

I had a few of GTE 16Vs when they were a lot newer and they were razor sharp,I recall sitting on the boot of standard 3 door cozzys and scoobs,the cars ive been in recently arnet much faster than a corsa GSI!
 
#60 ·
aye but theres the casting issues, the chain issues, the overheating issues, and the millions of other strangling parts vaux fitted stu. plus its a 2.2 not a 2.0. i know thw chevy version is available as a 2.0 supercharged but then its not n/a. joe joe, we arnt saying scrap your xe because its old, were saying its time for peeps to look at other solutions. look at the vw 20v in turbo and non turbo format. an excellent engine design, based on a trusted block, and good for 250bhp easily in turbo spec. plus the winner, its cheap. my mate paid 600 for the full front of a golf mk4 180. he even got the recaro seats ffs. now go do that with a let, and see how hard the guy laughs at ya. i was told buy a guy who tunes porsches, after 5 years old he strips, inspects and replaces everything, except the bolck. certain stuff gets re used, if its ok. he said that any engine at 10 years old needs the same treatment. remember the youngest xe is 15. the ford silver top isnt a fully new design, its actually a slightly modified cvh block. although the cvh is agood engine, it too is old. if it was me id look at raceco's 300bhp duratec's. now thats an excellengt choice for a vaux. all alloy, strong, compact and powerfull with simple tweaks. i think the next big vaux engine is going to be the 1.8 vvti engine. fair enough the wiringis a bit crazy, but thats what megasquirt was made for......

p.s stu/cambridge, i sugesst you speak to m9opel, he has a cally running the saab lump. and there are alot more being built. chip knows of about 10.
 
#61 ·
chain issue is on the early ones, and a SIMPLE change for little more than the cost of a cam belt job on most cars anyway
casting issues? you mean the foam cast heads..... not that many fail and when they do its due to the monkey who put the plugs in too tight
Not heard of any overheating, and you would have thought the best place to overheat an engine would be in the back of a car with little to no airflow in there ;)
as for restrictive parts, you can get less restrictive parts for next to nothing, and they still look factory :D

who cares if its a 2.2 and not a 2.0.... big deal. Destroke it to a 2.0 and rev the slag to 10K then :D

would only consider M/S to run a modern VVTI engine if they have upped it to a 32bit platform, which iirc they havent.
 
#62 ·
v3 runs the toyota ones. a few guys have done it in the us. stu, the early ones blew headgaskets. the build up of heat in a certain place buggers the block, basically the bonds between the poly balls, detach, thus the blocks integrity is compromised. it also does the same for the head. the chain swap is easy, but how many people on here that are used to belts wanna tackle a chain?
 
#63 ·
I'd sooner do a chain than a belt after doing my chain... everything is silly easy with them coloured links, arrows everywhere..... even a vaux fitter could get it right first time

as said, even some of the early 2.2's that have now been S/C'd and subjected to shed loads of heat havent failed in those ways. so I want tp see some examples of genuine heat failiures.
 
#64 ·
i agree id rather do a chain than a belt. but other peeps maynot. i was told of the overheating issues by a vaux tech. he showed me the vaux info sheets, apparently it was due to poor coolant changes and hard use from cold, resulting in hotspots in the chamber. remember, under normal conditions, there is an even burn in the cylinder, if the gasket goes the heat will go to the break thus creating a hotspot. the effect of this is like a cutting torch to the block. i understand that the z22se is a good lump, but i think there are more suitable more compact alternatives.
 
#70 ·
Just want to point out that I dont think the XE is finished,a good example is wonderfull with amazing low down torque,spins the wheels as soon as you look at the throttle.

If we made it clear to people how to restore its quality there would be less of what fastra said(he hit the nail on the head) as said,most of the time its just a service and a lamda sensor-maybe a MAF. The engine itself is strong.
Saying lads cant afford to do this is incorrect as they come on thease forums asking about cams injectors,chips ect.....maybe its just not as cool/big to buy service parts?
 
#73 ·
Reading through this all again,some people dont see the need for another engine...
They must be the people who have £1200-1500 to spend on an LET.

For other people who want 200bhp up another engine is needed.

A saab 9000t engine with exhaust/filter/boost raised will be 280-300bhp and a whole car costs £400

If any of you can build a vauxhall with an LET for £400-500 then we will get this thread closed.
 
#79 ·
Lots I expect but so what?

Go out and buy a Saab then, I've been out in Lugy's at Combe and it was great. What does that prove?

People go on about how XE's and LET's are old and slow but with some maintenance and TLC they will still perform strongly.


i think he meant another way of going past 200bhp cheaply ie not 2k for a std let,then 8k on bits, for example, mr draper spent 10k iirc on the lump and got 440bhp. throw that at a saab lump youd be pushing 800bhp like the swedish boys do. imo its no contest. the let is like an ageing rocker at a techno gig. usefull but so out of it its funny!
So it's old so what?? You bash on about how things are old but why does that matter if you're spending big money then you're going to rebuild it. So whether the engine is 5 years old or 15 years old it makes no difference.

The Saab lump is great but you seem to be carrying on that everyone who owns an LET is a fool and should all go and get the Saab lump and it's just not the case.
 
#78 ·
i think he meant another way of going past 200bhp cheaply ie not 2k for a std let,then 8k on bits, for example, mr draper spent 10k iirc on the lump and got 440bhp. throw that at a saab lump youd be pushing 800bhp like the swedish boys do. imo its no contest. the let is like an ageing rocker at a techno gig. usefull but so out of it its funny!
 
#80 ·
@jack


You dont need many parts for pub BHP,here is the chart for standard pub cars-
@bsp- bull s**t power

Corsa XE- 200bsp - (acual-120bhp)
Corsa LET 400bsp
astra gte/gsi- 190bsp
rst s1- 250bsp)
rst s2- 249bsp
cosworth any- 500bsp (most are stg 3 @330bhp)
skyline any- 1000bsp (normally about 280/300bhp)
subaru(blue&gold)- 420bsp
subaru-red- 280bsp
saab-any- 3bsp
volvo t5- 2.5bsp (actual-225/240bhp)
Saxo vtr- bugatti engine. :nod:
 
#81 ·
@jack


You dont need many parts for pub BHP,here is the chart for standard pub cars-
@bsp- bull s**t power

Corsa XE- 200bsp - (acual-120bhp)
Corsa LET 400bsp
astra gte/gsi- 190bsp
rst s1- 250bsp)
rst s2- 249bsp
cosworth any- 500bsp (most are stg 3 @330bhp)
skyline any- 1000bsp (normally about 280/300bhp)
subaru(blue&gold)- 420bsp
subaru-red- 280bsp
saab-any- 3bsp
volvo t5- 2.5bsp (actual-225/240bhp)
Saxo vtr- bugatti engine. :nod:
lmaolmaolmao
 
#83 ·
roflmao! m9 thats ace. andy i didnt say that eveyone should bin their lets, just that there are better cheaper options. for average bob who has a corsa b that wants a transplant, his options are, ebay let, £800+ thats gonna be fooked, ebay xe, £150+ needs a rebuild,so all of 110 bhp. or a full saab at £300+ thats prob got fsh, and had some guy who spent loads looking after it. i know what id do if i was average bob!
 
#85 ·
But then Average Bob might not want the hassle of making the Saab work. I'm personally "growing out" of wanting to transplant X into Y (apart from the car's that will never be built :rolleyes::cool:) and I'd just rather buy a car, drive it, tune it when I can afford it and drive it. I don't particularly want something I'm spending weekends getting dirty under :nod:

As my dad said one sunny summer day, you could have a nice car and be out enjoying it, instead you're lying under a pile of **** spending loads of money. That's why the Vectra was broken.:nod:
 
#86 ·
Forgot an rs500- has 500bhp standard-that would make the rs200 very slowlmao

IM NOT saying the let is a bad engine,but for the cost of buying a standard high mileage one you can buy/rebuild/tune and fit the saab - its not possibly the best option,just the cheapest and that for some is what its about.

There is no point in me spending 3k on buying,modding,re building a 280bhp LET vauxhall, I would just buy an M3evo or a 944turbo and go faster with RWD and german build quality.(Actually ive done this- and stupidly sold them both:()
 
#87 ·
The Nova / Corsa / Tigra are relatively easy to XE though. How easy are they (at the moment) to drop a Saab lump into?

The know how just isn't as widespread.

I see your points about slow, smokey 20XE's but those that have a bit of grey matter between their lugs will give them a bloody good service before they fit them so they are closeish to standard power then either keep them serviced or mod them from there. Its all the back street Bob's and chavvy feckwits claiming that their XE is cammed and has a 4 branch (making it 180BHP innit) that don't bother with servicing them first that has led to your initial thoughts (I suspect).

IMO the XE is a cracking engine when treated right and given a bit of TLC. If it wasn't then stockcar's, rallycars and cars built for the drag strip would be running something else.

I agree that the Saab 2.0 and 2.3 Turbo may well be the next step forward in Vauxhall Modifying but at the minute there is only a select few that have knowledge of transplants. Once this gets more widespread I would bet that "old smokey Saab lump" threads will appear too ;)
 
#88 ·
Lugy - the trick is to have another car to enjoy on sunny days(mx5 on ronals and coilovers) and go in the gararge when its raining or hollyoaks is on or you have no money for petrol.
Your not meant to spend sunny days under the car,you have got it backwards man.:doh:
 
#90 ·
People started to move away form xe's in motorsport 2 years ago, but they all came running back and they are just as popular as they always were....

Most 2 litre 4 cyclinder engines can be put in any car and maybe it will be cheaper than the let... but who cares, id quite happily have put a saab lump in my corsa but to be honest i couldnt be arsed with the hassle.

I enjoy working on my car in the summer.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top