The A B C of tuning

X is for... XE

If you feel the need to install a powerplant that wasn’t conceived beneath the Blue Oval banner, you could do a lot worse than Vauxhall’s 2-litre, 16-valve XE. The C20XE, to quote its o cial codename, is an excellent engine in terms of component strength and high power-to-weight ratio.

In standard trim the 2-litre XE delivers 150 bhp, and your budget is really the only limit to tuning the XE. It was designed and developed by Cosworth to put General Motors in contention for the BTCC. Swindon Race Engines managed to extract 300 bhp, though attaining this kind of power is dearer than diamonds.

Upgrading the ECU with an aftermarket chip, isn’t likely to realise much more than 5 or 10 bhp. A more cost and power e ective solution is to fit an ignition management system in conjunction with carbs. High tensile rod bolts are the first thing you need to consider if you’re looking for 200 plus bhp, but the standard crank and head are still keeping up at this stage. Beyond this the financial stakes are considerably higher, but there’s a veritable banquet of cams, throttle bodies, machining techniques and all manner of hardcore hardware, if your credit card can stretch that far. Intended as a front-wheel-drive unit, mounting it longitudinally needs a bit of rethinking, as the distributor is driven o what will become the back of the inlet cam, and you don’t want it pinned against the bulkhead. Vauxhall/Ford bellhousing adaptors and hybrid engine mounts and sumps are easy enough to come by, so getting it in there and running is not such a mammoth task.