Tuning the Vauxhall F16D3

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Vauxhall F16D3 engine!"

We are regularly getting posts about the best F16D3 mods that work. So let us look into Vauxhall F16D3 parts and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some frequent tuning mistakes along the way.

The Vauxhall F16D3 provide a fun base for your project and with a few sensible motorsport mods like a remap, turbo kits and camshafts you will noticeably enhance your driving opportunities.

We shall examine F16D3 tuning and highlight the optimum upgrades.

The top F16D3 upgrades on an engine are typically the ones that give the best value for money.

We won't be swayed by popular F16D3 upgrades, they need to be cost effective.

Significant gains on the F16D3 can be made from camshaft upgrades. Altering the camshaft profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the bhp and power output.

NB: Fast road cams commonly raise the bhp across the rev range, you might lose a little bottom end torque but your higher rpm power will be higher.

Motorsport cams, raise the higher rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

On a typical daily driver must carefully try to optimize your engines power to your preferences.

I'd never have ever thought a F16D3 Race cam is a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas.

Different F16D3 engines respond better to more or less aggressive cam durations than others.

The engine timing and injectors and fuel pump also have an effect on the power gains you'll achieve.

Extending exhaust or intake durations can alter the power 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.

F16D3 Tuning Stages

Stage 1 F16D3 modifications: Remaps/piggy back ECU, Fast road camshaft, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Sports exhaust manifold, Intake headers, Panel air filters.

Stage 2 F16D3 modifications: high flow fuel injectors, induction kit, Fast road cam, fuel pump upgrades, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Ported and polished head.

Stage 3 F16D3 modifications: Competition cam, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Twin charging conversions, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).

Carefully think through your options and then acquire your tuning mods and set yourself a power target to avoid costly mistakes.

A remap allows a tuner to to establish the full potential of all the parts you've done to your F16D3.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but figures achieved will depend much on the parts you've applied and the condition of your engine.

It is vital to any tuning project to shove more air into your F16D3

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

Design and flow rate of the Intake can make a big difference to to fuel delivery on the F16D3.

Most air intake manifolds are begging for an upgrade, although some makers provide reasonably good air intake manifolds.

Big valve conversions on the F16D3, getting 3 or 5 angle valve jobs and porting and head flowing will also raise performance, & importantly will make space for a greater performance increase on other upgrades.

Turbo upgrades for the F16D3

NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your F16D3

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

When the engine is fitted with a turbocharger tuning mods are relatively easy and you will discover turbo engines are built with strengthened components.

There are tuning limits for every engine, with some being very over engineered and some only able to handle stock power

We recommend you find these limitations and install better quality crank and pistons to handle the power.

We see many people spending a loads on turbo charger upgrades on the F16D3 only to suffer the indignity of watching the F16D3 throw a rod on it's first outing after it's been completed.

Larger turbo units will usually experience a bottom end lag, and little turbo units spool up quickly but don't have the peak rpm engines power gains.

Thankfully the choice of turbos is always improving and we now see variable vane turbos, where the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust gases into 2 channels and direct these at differently angled vanes in the turbo. They also boost the scavenging effect of the engine.

You'll commonly see there is a limit in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the F16D3 when considerably more air is being fed into the engine.

You'll see that 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor sapped torque at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large torque gains, although more complex to setup. We have this article on twincharging if you want to read more.

Uprating F16D3 fuel injectors

Don't forget to boost the fuel system when you are increasing the performance - it makes the car more thirsty. We would recommend you to over specify your injector capacity.

The rule of thumb is to add 20% capacity when buying an injector, helps cope with injector deterioration and allows you some spare capacity should the engine need more fuel.

We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.

Best F16D3 performance exhausts

You should look to uprate your exhaust if the current exhaust is actually causing a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you'll see the exhaust flow rate is ok even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Sports exhausts can usually air flow from the engine but do not go too wide or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.

Usual exhaust restrictions come around the filters installed, so adding a freer flowing high performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the F16D3

The F16D3 engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

Regular oil changes are vital on the F16D3, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your F16D3 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our F16D3 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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We really like hearing from our readers, and hearing about which parts were the most effective for them, it helps us improve our recommendations and articles to reflect current trends in modifications and ensures that our F16D3 guides and tips are kept up to date.

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