Normally when we showcase engine dyno videos here at BangShift, there’s big horsepower involved. Today the horsepower is more modest but the engine is really neat. This is not an engine that we got in the USA, instead it comes from the English Vauxhall line and it is a modified 2.0L dual overhead camshaft piece that makes 284hp during the pulls you are going to see here. This engine family had a long run in Vauxhall models.
Starting in the late 1980s and continuing until 2014, they are all over the place and widely available to make strong power with. This engine in a little sports car would not only look awesome, it would also plant you in the seat as well. Oh, and the sound. The sound is good.
This is an iron block, aluminum head setup and as best we can tell, this style of engine made about 200-240hp from the factory in its hottest turbocharged form. To see this one making 40 more than that with no help from boost or nitrous is really awesome and speaks to how tightly wound the build is. These engines have been used in Formula 3 cars for years and in many other racing series as well. Everything gets compared to the small block Chevy because its wide use in all forms of hot rodding and racing and we’re saying that in a modern sense, this family of engine falls into the same category for being used and beaten all over the performance map.
One last thing. There’s something awesome looking about a cross-flow four banger, right? From and Offenhauser to this thing, when you see the short stacks on one side and a flowing header on the other side it’s just pleasing to the eye and this one is pleasing to the ear as well.
