Vauxhall Vectra Tuning

"Vectra mods"

The Vauxhall Vectra is a mid-size car that was produced from 1995 to 2008 and proved to be a popular choice for British drivers for many years.

Chosen by families and businesses Fleet managers alike, thanks to its spacious interior, comfortable ride, and wide range of engine options.

Model Years and Revisions

The Vectra was produced in three generations: (Technically 4 but we had the Cavalier as the Vectra A in the UK, so generations are 1 year out of step with Opel and Holden brands.)

First generation (1995-2002): (Vectra B) The first-generation UK Vectra was a stylish and modern car, with a spacious interior and a comfortable ride. It was available with a range of petrol and diesel engines, including a 2.5-litre V6.

Second generation (2002-2005):  Vectra C - The second-generation UK Vectra was given a facelift in 2000, which included a new front grille, headlights, and taillights. It also received a new range of engines, including a 2.2-litre petrol engine and a 2.0-litre diesel engine with a turbocharger.

Third generation (2005-2008): The third-generation Vectra was a completely new facelifted car, with a more modern design and a more spacious interior. It was also available with a new range of engines, including a 1.8-litre turbocharged petrol engine and a 2.0-litre diesel engine with a turbocharger.

Engine Options

The Vectra was available with a wide range of engine options, including petrol, diesel, and turbocharged engines. The most popular engine options were:

  • 1.8-litre petrol engine: This engine was available in both naturally aspirated and turbocharged forms. The naturally aspirated version produced 121 horsepower, while the turbocharged version produced 140 horsepower.
  • 2.2-litre petrol engine: This engine produced 145 horsepower and was available in both manual and automatic transmissions.
  • 2.0-litre diesel engine: This engine was available in both naturally aspirated and turbocharged forms. The naturally aspirated version produced 100 horsepower, while the turbocharged version produced 120 horsepower.
  • 2.8-liter turbocharged V6: This engine produced around 246 horsepower.

Generally speaking the turbo engines and higher powered engines give better returns when you start tuning and upgrading them.

Full Engine Choices were.

1st Gen Vectra A (Cavalier in the Uk)
Petrol:

  • 1.4 L 14NV I4
  • 1.6 L 16LZ2 I4
  • 1.6 L C16NZ/E16NZ/16SV/X16SZ I4
  • 1.8 L 18SV/C18SV/E18NVR/C18NZ I4
  • 2.0 L 20NE/C20NE/20SEH I4
  • 2.0 L 20XE/C20XE DOHC 16V I4
  • 2.0 L C20LET DOHC 16V turbo I4
  • 2.2 L C22NE I4 (Brazil)
  • 2.5 L C25XE V6

Diesel:

  • 1686 cc 4EE1 turbo I4
  • 1700 cc 17D/17DR I4

Vectra B Engines

Petrol:

  • 1.6 L 16LZ2 I4
  • 1.6 L X16SZR I4
  • 1.6 L X16XEL I4
  • 1.8 L X18XE I4
  • 2.0 L 20NEJ I4
  • 2.0 L X20XEV I4
  • 2.2 L C22SEL I4
  • 2.2 L Z22SE I4
  • 2.5 L X25XE V6
  • 2.5 L X25XEI V6
  • 2.6 L Y26SE V6

Diesel:

  • 1.7 L Circle L I4
  • 2.0 L DTi I4
  • 2.2 L DTi I4

Vectra C Engines

Petrol:

  • 1.6 L Family 1 I4
  • 1.8 L Family 1 I4
  • 2.0 L Ecotec turbo I4
  • 2.2 L Ecotec I4
  • 2.8 L High Feature turbo V6
  • 3.2 L Ellesmere V6

Diesel:

  • 1.9 L I4 CDTI
  • 2.0 L I4 DTI
  • 2.2 L I4 DTI
  • 3.0 L V6 CDTI

Why Buy a Vauxhall Vectra?

The Vauxhall Vectra is the perfect car for anyone who wants a spacious and comfortable car that is also reliable and affordable. With its wide range of engine options, you can be sure to find the perfect model for your needs.

And with its stylish design and luxurious interior, the Vectra is sure to turn heads wherever you go. So why not book a test drive today and experience the Vectra for yourself?

One of our members has completed a magnificent Vectra engine swap project which you can read about here.

These are great cars with a fantastic choice of engines which are literally crying out for more power.

Some simple Vectra tuning Mods

The Vauxhall Vectra is a great car with a fantastic choice of engines, but it can be even better with some simple handling modifications.

Handling modifications for the Vauxhall Vectra:

Lowering springs: This is the simplest and most common handling modification for the Vectra. Lowering the car will reduce body roll and improve handling.

A drop of 35mm is a good starting point, but bigger drops will require other modifications such as shorter shock absorbers and adjustable camber arms.

Stiffer dampers: Stiffer dampers will improve the Vectra's handling by reducing body roll and improving rebound and compression control. This will make the car more responsive and predictable.

Adjustable camber arms: Adjustable camber arms allow you to dial in the perfect camber angle for your Vectra's suspension. This will help to improve the car's cornering grip and stability.

Bigger brakes: If you're planning on tracking your Vectra, you'll need to upgrade the brakes to cope with the increased demands. Bigger brake discs and callipers will provide better stopping power over time and reduce fade.

(Note that big brakes do not make that much difference to everyday stopping on cold brakes as the OEM ones tend to provide enough clamping force to stop the car effectively.

Tyres: Tyres are extremely important for handling. They are the only part of your car that touches the road, so they have a huge impact on how your car grips, corners, and brakes.

Tyres that are in good condition will provide the best possible grip and handling. I strongly recommend Goodyear Eagle F1, Toyo Proxies, Uniroyal Rainsport, Continental Sports, and Michelin for the Vectra.

Tyres that are worn, damaged, or under/over-inflated will not provide as much grip, which can lead to a loss of control, especially in wet or slippery conditions.

Try to avoid large alloy rim sizes, these add a lot of unsprung weight and can adversely affect your cars ride quality.

Here are some of the ways that tyres affect handling:

Grip: Tyres provide grip by creating friction between the tyre tread and the road surface. The more grip the tyres have, the better the car will handle.

Cornering: When cornering, the tyres on the outside of the car are under more load than the tyres on the inside. If the tyres do not have enough grip, they can slip and cause the car to understeer (push wide) or oversteer (spin out).

Braking: When braking, the tyres need to provide enough grip to stop the car quickly and safely. If the tyres do not have enough grip, the car will take longer to stop and may skid.

Popular suspension brands for the Vauxhall Vectra:

  • Eibach B12 Pro
  • H&R
  • Bilstein
  • Koni
  • SPAX

Always try to get an adjustable coilover kit where possible, these allow you to fine tune the setup to suit your driving style.

Other tuning modifications for the Vauxhall Vectra:

  1. Air intake: A cold air intake will allow the engine to breathe in more cool air, which will result in more power and torque.
  2. Exhaust system: A freer-flowing exhaust system will allow the engine to breathe out more easily, which will also result in more power and torque.
  3. Camshaft Upgrades: On older engines without variable valve timing the cam profile plays a big part in the engines performance.
  4. ECU remap: An ECU remap will change the engine's mapping to get the most out of the hardware modifications. This can result in significant gains in power and torque.

With a few simple modifications, the Vauxhall Vectra can be transformed into a formidable track day weapon. It's a great car for beginners and experienced drivers alike.

Well Chosen Vectra mods can radically transform your Vectra and it can easily become a formidable track day weapon surprising other drivers.

Handling modifications are usually your first port of call for the Vectra. Drop the car optimally somewhere in the region of 35mm and fit stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.

Tuning tips and articles

Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

Our aim in Vectra engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.

Following our tips for tuning your Vectra you will end up with a practical scorching motor that will embarrass more powerful sports cars.

Smaller engines do not provide much of a return in terms of power so start with a bigger engine. The bigger 2.5 V6 or turbo power plants have a lot to offer. The 2.0 Turbo swap on the 2.0 is relatively straightforward as the engines are very similar in all except for power output!

Vauxhall Vectra Tuning modifications.

A fast road cam will be one of the best power mod you can do mechanically to your engine. Follow this up with some porting and polishing to aid the head flow rates and maximise your return on your tuning investment. 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. To get sufficient fuel you may need to uprate the injectors on your engine. When increasing your fuelling you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.

Vauxhall Vectra Induction kits and sports Exhaust.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Induction kits work well on turbo engines and larger engines, for the smaller Vectra engines you should go with a sports panel air filter. Sports exhausts balance the flow of air throughout the engine. But if your exhaust is too large (over 2.5 inches bore) you will lose back pressure on most engines.

When you start tuning your Vectra you will find that the standard clutch starts to complain so get an uprated clutch.

NA (naturally aspirated) engines do not achieve big power gains if you tune/remap them but with turbo engines this is another story.

A tuned/remapped turbo tuned/remapped turbo will give phenomenal power gain. Despite the large cost involved adding forced induction to a NA (naturally aspirated) engine will give large power gains.

Superchargers are generally easier to add than turbos. Turbos give boost in exponential proportion to increasing engine speed and this can make mapping difficult. Superchargers however will give a boost which is proporttional to engine speed so is easier to map. To cope with forced induction you will usually need to decrease the compression ratio of the engine.

Vauxhall Vectra Alloy wheels.

Alloy wheels will help the brakes cool down and are usually lighter than the steel ones. The downside to large alloy wheels on your Vectra is that you alter your effective final drive ratio and this will have a detrimental effect on performance.

For this reason we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 17 inches or 18's on the newer models, although we know some of our members have gone larger than this with no problems.

Please join us in our forum to discuss the Vectra options in more detail with our Vectra 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.

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5 Responses to “Tuning the Vectra for more bhp power and Vectra performance increase”

  1. Dave Middleton says:

    I have a 2005 Vectra 1.9CDTI SRI 150 Sat Nav.
    It has had a scorpion booster box fitted for some time now giving great throttle response and fuel economy!
    I would like to really go to town on my car now and max out its performance! What can you guys suggest be my best way of starting as i think i have little left to gain as at the moment the car is completely standard apart from the box and it really does go extremely fast!!!!!

  2. Andrew Clark says:

    I would just like to add, the 2.0ltr 16v inlet is very restrictive. Fit the Z20LET inlet, has proven gains of roughly 8bhp over the standard unit & is a direct replacement. These can be found on the Astra Coupe (2001) model.

  3. LYNDON MOHAMMED says:

    Great reading! I live in Trinidad and Tobago and there are very few vectras. I am going to undertake a new project with my 2001 Opel vectra B. This forum will be valuable for the exercise, thanks to alll the writers.

  4. Themos says:

    Hi. When i bought my used Vectra, i really convinced to gain more horsepower with a change on my exhaust pipe system and a new catalyst. The car had only 45000 Km and it was (and it is) like new despite the fact that it was born at 2003. The car changed at all with the exhaust manifold to be 4- 2- 1 and transfer the catalyst below the car. The middle and and the final canister (free flow) are also new and in total i gained a 15 Hp together with a new panel filter. The car is going faster at 3000 rpm and has gained a low to middle area torque in Nm.

  5. Zac colledge says:

    This article has confirmed everything I’ve search about the 2.0 turbo that I Brought so I can do a turbo swap and upgrade my sri to a vxr replica

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