Vauxhall Zafira Tuning

"Zafiras on Fire - HOT mods."

For the larger family you will often choose a Zafira the MPV from Vauxhall. Sadly having a family will usually restrict your choice of cars and leave you wanting for more performance.

The cars were built for comfort so we would advise uprating the suspension and making hte family sit on cushions! We suggest that you fit uprated suspension and lower the car by 35-40mm. Larger drops require arch work.

Turning our attention to the Zafiras engine we need to get a bit more power out of the top end. 2001 saw the arrival of the GSi turbo with 180-190bhp. If you have the 1.8 or 1.6 you should really think about an engine swap as these do not gain much from your tuning investement.

One of the best mechanical mods you can do is to fit a fast road cam. You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling.

A fuel pressure boost valve will make the car more responsive and respond better. Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine. Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned Zafira.

Vauxhall Zafira Intake and Exhaust.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Induction kits work well on turbo engines and larger engines, for the smaller Zafira engines you should go with a sports panel air filter. Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can find - the best for power gains are usually between 2 to 2.5 inches.

In nearly all cases of Zafira tuning your clutch will start to slip and this needs to be uprated - read our article on clutches for more tips on this. Remaps offer significant power gains on all turbo charged cars.

Thankfully you have some powerful engines from the Astra and the Calibra along with the Vectra that will open up a world of posibilities.

Some of the Diesel engines can be quite lively and will respond well to a remap.

Vauxhall Zafira Wheel modifications.

The benefits of alloy wheels include a lower unsprung weight and more efficient brake cooling. It is worth noting that although they can look cool on the Zafira Big alloy wheels will actually decrease your performance and really impair the ride quality.

The larger you go the lower you top speed will be due to the change in your effective final drive ratio. Aim to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the same as supplied from the factory. In all cases we do not recommend going above 17 inches and then you need to fit some ultra low profile tyres.

Please join us in our forum to discuss the Zafira options in more detail with our Zafira owners. It would also be worth reading our Vauxhall tuning articles to get a full grasp of the pros and cons of each type of modification.