The Lowdown on "C24SE Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Vauxhall C24SE

"Comprehensive guide to tuning and performance parts on the Vauxhall C24SE engine!"

Forums like the one at TorqueCars are always seeing threads requesting info on how to improve the C24SE from people inquiring about getting more power from the C24SE and wanting to know what are the things tuners recommend when it comes to C24SE power upgrades. So let us look into Vauxhall C24SE parts and outline the best upgrades on this great engine and point out some potential pitfalls along the way.

The Vauxhall C24SE have loads of potential and with carefully chosen modified tuning mods like a remap, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will greatly improve your driving enjoyment.

Let us detail the best approach to C24SE tuning and provide tips on the premier mods that work.

The optimum C24SE parts on an engine are usually the ones that give the best power gain for your hard earned cash.

We won't be swayed by popular C24SE parts, they need to be cost effective.

Improving air intake on the C24SE

You need air and fuel for an engine to work. If there is too little fuel then it will run lean, if there is little flow of air it runs rich losing power and potentially damaging the engine. We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So it's important to any engine performance tuning project to feed fuel and air into each cylinder but this has a knock on effect with the air flow sensor.

It is common that there's a limit in the air flow sensor (AFM/MAF/MAP) on the C24SE when loads more air is being fed into the engine.

We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited performance at a much lower level.

Intake flow the air during the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

Design and flow rate of the Plenum can make a big effect on to fuel mixing and power on the C24SE.

Most intake manifold are crying out for performance upgrades, although some makers provide reasonably well designed intake manifold.

Fitting big valve kits, doing a bit of port work and head flowing will also lift bhp and torque, the fantastic side effect is it will make space for a better bhp and torque increase on other parts.

C24SE performance cam tips.

Some C24SE engines respond better to more aggressive camshaft durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The map and fuelling also have an effect on the torque gains you'll get.

Longer valve durations can alter the torque band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

The cam profile plays a big part in the engines power output so cam upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake & exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen cam profile, so large power band gains are on offer for cam upgrades.

NB: Fast road camshafts normally raise the performance across the rpm range, you could sacrifice a little low end power but high end rpm power will be better.

Competition camshafts, raise the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

On a daily driver you need to optimize your bhp range to your usage of the car.

I'd never have found a C24SE Motorsport camshaft is a pleasure to live with when in heavy traffic.

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the C24SE

Before we break the best tuning upgrades down into stages of tune, let's list the most effective tuning upgrades for you.

1. Suspension Upgrades - always improve your cars handling
2. Brake Upgrades - Even before adding power improve those brakes
3. Intake - make sure the intake is not restricted, use filters and intake upgrades to improve this
4. Exhaust - as with 3 ensure there is not restriction in the exhaust, cats are the usual bottleneck
5. Tunes - remapping, piggyback ECU's and aftermarket ECU's can all make decent gains
6. Fuelling - when you've increased power you'll need to match this with more fuel
7. Turbo upgrades - Improving the intake with a large turbo and better flowing intercooler will be the biggest power gain you'll see (but one of the most complex).

This video guide to tuning cars is a great starting point to work from in your project.

Stage 1 C24SE parts:

Fast road camshaft, Panel air filters, Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Sports exhaust manifold, Remaps/piggy back ECU.

Stage 2 C24SE parts:

Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, induction kit, high flow fuel injectors, Ported and polished head.

Stage 3 C24SE parts:

Twin charging conversions, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Competition cam.

ECU mapping should help to to establish the full potential of all the mods you've done to your C24SE.

You will typically expect to see gains of approximately 20-30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the outcome usually vary depending on the mods you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the C24SE

To get a turbo working on a NASP engine there is a lot involved, from lowering compression ratio to improved fuel supply and mapping, so we have found a great guide to helpavoid the common pitfalls or end up with an unfinished project because you were not told what you were getting into by doing this on the C24SE.

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes superb power gains.

If an engine has a turbo already fitted parts are simpler to install and turbocharged engines are made using strengthened components.

However most engines have limits

We recommend you find these restrictions and fit forged components to handle the power.

It's not unheard of drivers spending a a stack of money on turbocharger upgrades on the C24SE only to suffer the indignity of watching the engine block go up in smoke on it's first outing after it's been finished.

Large upgraded turbo chargers will usually experience no power at low rpm, and low capacity turbo chargers spool up more quickly but won't have the peak rpm bhp gains.

In recent times the range of turbochargers is always evolving and we commonly find variable vane turbochargers, allowing the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end performance.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust gases into 2 channels and push these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo charger. They also increase the scavenging effect of the engine.

Beefing up the air intake by adding a supercharger or additional turbo will help you achieve very large bhp gains, although more difficult to install. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the C24SE

When you boost the bhp and torque you will need to uprate to the fuelling.

More bhp and torque needs more fuel. Most tuners we speak with say to over specify your injectors flow rate.

The accepted safe increase is to add another 20% when specifying an injector, this allows for injector deterioration and gives some spare capacity should the engine require more fuel.

Don't forget that different fuel grades will usually require different settings, a high octane fuel will burn more efficiently than lower octane fuel for example. A car will trim fuel supply to keep within the ideal air fuel mix but at the extreme ends you may need to adjust your injector capacity, or the mapping or you'll get flat spots and potential lean or rich fuel issues..

Recommended C24SE performance exhaust upgrades

We'd only recommend you look to increase your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if the existing exhaust is actually creating a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you should find that the exhaust flow rate is still ok even on modest power gains, but on a serious tuning project with a big boost in power you will certainly need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Sports exhausts generally help improve air flow out of the engine but do not go too large or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to one and a half to two and half inches as a rule of thumb.

The usual suspects causing problems in your exhaust flow rate can be traced to the catalyst and filters installed, so adding a better flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Decats (NB:catalysts reduce harmful engine emissions) is illegal in most countries and regions.

Faults issues and things to look out for on the C24SE

Like most engines an C24SE, should have few issues if it gets properly serviced and looked after.

We cannot stress enough the need for oil changes with the correct grade of oil on the C24SE, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned C24SE this is more important than ever and close attention should be paid to your maintenance schedule.

If you are interested in learning more or getting impartial tuning advice for your C24SE why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about C24SE tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their C24SE.

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This entry was posted under Makes and Models. Tags: engine, vauxhall
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