All you need to know about "X24XF Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Vauxhall X24XF

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Vauxhall X24XF engine!"

TorqueCars are always getting messages asking how to improve the X24XF from people inquiring about getting more power from the X24XF and wanting to know what are the best X24XF upgrades. So let us look into Vauxhall X24XF modifications and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some common pitfalls along the way.

The Vauxhall X24XF are popular tuning projects and with the optimum upgrades like ECU maps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will noticeably maximize your driving fun.

Let us outline options for your X24XF tuning and show the greatest modifications for your car.

Just because particular parts are appear in lots of X24XF projects it doesn't mean you should fit it, we will concentrate on the top parts that will give your X24XF the best power gain for you money.

Without us subscribing to the misaprehension of 'if it's shiny and makes more noise it must be good' you seem to get in many tuning magazines and on car forums'.

Improving air intake on the X24XF

You need air and fuel for an engine to work. If there is insufficient fuel then it will run lean, if there is insufficient air it runs rich losing power which risks damage to the X24XF. We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So Forcing more fuel and air into each cylinder is the whole point to any engine performance tuning job.

It is common that there's a limitation in the air flow sensor MAF/MAP on the X24XF when loads more air is being drawn into the engine.

When tuning you may well find you need to get an air sensor or flow meter capable of upto 4 bars to cope with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited power at a much lower level.

Intake headers take the air during the suck phase from the air cleaner and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders.

Design and flow characteristics of the Intake can make a substantial change to fuel atomisation on the X24XF.

On popular production engines intake headers are in desperate need of an upgrade, although a few manufacturers provide well optimised intake headers.

Adding a X24XF larger valve kit, carrying out X24XF port enlargement and head flowing will also increase power, & importantly will afford you an improved power increase on other parts.

X24XF performance cam tips.

Each engine responds better to less aggressive camshaft durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The map and injectors and fuel pump also have an effect on the bhp gains you'll achieve.

Altering valve durations can alter the bhp 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.

Altering your X24XF cam will make a dramatic difference to the engine torque. Choosing a higher performance cam profile raises the torque accordingly.

NB: Fast road camshafts normally bump the bhp and torque throughout the rev band, you may lose a little low end bhp but the top end will improve.

Motorsport camshafts, bump the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Competition camshaft will just annoy you whilst driving in heavy traffic.

You should ideally match your power band to your preferences so for a car driven daily stick with a mild fast road X24XF camshaft

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the X24XF

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 X24XF parts:

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

Stage 2 X24XF parts:

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

Stage 3 X24XF parts:

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

ECU flashing allows a tuner to to establish the full potential of all the tuning parts you've done to your X24XF.

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 end result will differs on the tuning parts you've done and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the X24XF

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 X24XF.

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.

When your motor has a turbocharger parts are simpler to install and most turbo engines use many forged and stronger components.

However engines will need better parts at higher power limits

Discover these limits and upgrade to better quality crank and pistons to handle the power.

There are many guys spending a loads on turbo charger upgrades on the X24XF only to watch the car literally blow up on it's first outing after it's been finished.

Large turbo units often experience a bottom end lag, and low capacity turbo units spool up quickly but won't have the top end power band gains.

In recent times the selection of turbo chargers is always improving and we commonly find variable vane turbo chargers, where the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end power.

Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust flow into a couple of channels and flow these at differently profiled vanes in the turbocharger. 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 and torque gains, although more challenging to install. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the X24XF

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so must increase the fuelling when you start exceeding 20% of a power hike. Most tuners we speak with say to over specify your injectors flow rate.

As a rule of thumb add 15% to the flow rate when buying an injector, this accounts for injector deterioration and provides 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 X24XF performance exhaust upgrades

Only look to upgrade your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if your current exhaust is actually causing a restriction in flow.

On most factory exhausts you should find that the exhaust flow rate is still good 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.

Please dont run with the largest exhaust you can get you'll slow the exhaust rate - the best for power gains are usually between one and a half to two and half inches. Your exhaust design, the bend angles and construction are what have more effect on flow rates than your pipe width to a certain extent. So the exhaust design is a big factor.

Typically exhaust restrictions can be located the emissions filters installed, so adding a faster flowing race alternative will help avoid this restriction.

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

Faults issues and things to look out for on the X24XF

Like most engines an X24XF, 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 X24XF, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned X24XF 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 X24XF why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about X24XF tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their X24XF.

We need your help to complete and improve this page, so do give us your feedback in the comments box below.

We want to know your experiences with upgrades on your X24XF, it helps us improve our tips and keeps us current so please use the comments box to drop a tip.

This entry was posted under Makes and Models. Tags: engine, vauxhall
You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.

Check out TorqueCars new YouTube channel, and see their awesome new content...