VXi tune

[James.Burton]

Loving the torque VXi and 5 speed for blatting over the alps.
Fast enough, but as always some more umph for overtaking would be nice.
A local shop says a typical light tune on this motor is:
Cylinder head, Cam shaft, and narrower valve shafts, which should be doable on the current ECU.
Upping power from the current 150, to about 180.
And keep things "subtle" for the local police, as it's internal and not a throttle bodies change.

This all sounds like it'll help free up horses at the top end.
Would it rob much from the bottom end?
Would it make a significant difference to the reliability?

Any comments from people with knowledge would be much appreciated.

[ECR]

You need to be sure that your current ecu is remappable as any head work/camshafts etc would be fairly pointless without a remap.The JPE engine had headwork and camshaft change and apart from that cosworth pistons to up the compression ratio and give valve clearance. Everything else was standard Depending on cam lift you might well need to pocket the standard pistons. You won't notice any bottom end problems or reliability problems  if the job is done correctly

[alan c]

When you say VXi do you mean the twin cam often called red top or C20XE?
if so I would say if in ok condition the bottom end will be ok at those levels. I have this engine and it ran in standard form with Stage 1 Swindon cams and was good for about 180. 
Had it rebuilt by premier power, head has work done, bottom end rebuilt and balanced, lighter flywheel but same cam and standard valves and it went to 220.

so head work and new cams should be close to what you are looking for but pistons may need pockets cut.

talk to Stuart at Premier Power and he will help, there is a VX enthusiast on his team

[James.Burton]

Thanks guys.
There is a dash of red, and it's certainly a twin cam. So I guess Red top would fit. I think the C20XE was on carbs, which mine isn't.
I'm in Austria so Premier Power is too far away. There are some experts on the other side of the country called Jubu who also make wild Lotus upgrades, but they are really on the other side of the country.
I was planning to use a local shop as they have tuned lots of Opel versions of this engine. Was just wondering what the experience was with mild upgrades.

Thanks again

[Dan R]

#4 What a lovely thing that is!

[alan c]

So far as I am aware it's correct description is C20XE regardless of being on carbs or throttle bodies. Mine started on carbs but is now on TB's

i think I got the sump baffle system for mine from jubu to replace the foam.

i would say you will be fine with some mild upgrades, some people have taken this engine up to close to 300hp