Increasing BHP

[Tiger13]

Hey all!, I am due to have a 1.6 gte engine fitted to my nova, I was wondering how can I increase the BHP and how high is it possible to take it?

Thanks!

[pikey1986]

the biggest gains will come from head work, im sure i read dans old engine was approx 140bhp but that was massively tuned and on carbs, ideally you'd need stand alone management to gain more than 15-20bhp

[Tiger13]

Ok thats cool could you eleborate a little on that like what parts are required? :-)

[C612DNM]

Start with a good cylinder head, a Blydenstein B or B+ (if you're lucky enough to find one as sadly Bill hasn't been with us for a few years now) - or speak to CNC Heads.
Then a cam - you have to make a decision here, do you want simple, reliable, or total power and a lifetime of tinkering/adjustment. For a road car, if you ever want to pass a MoT on emissions, you ain't going solid lifters!! So that leaves simple and reliable and I recommend a Kent NV062 and the associated valve springs/etc...
Now for the inlets - 40mm throttle bodies for road use, with Megasquirt or similar management. You could go to DTA management which is the dogs danglies.
Lift the compression to 10:1 - either by skimming and doing some calculations, or by getting some Cosworth Gp.A pistons (or copies of).
Balance the bottom end, lighten the flywheel, fit an uprated clutch.

Exhaust - BTB - tube manifold and system. Don't use the Ashley type, you will kiss goodbye to horsepower with one of those They haven't changed the design in years, and they were rubbbish 20 years ago - losing 8hp compared to a factory cast iron manifold. If you can't get Joe Ellis (BTB) to make one, then Simpson Exhausts are also canines marriage tackle!

And finally - fit steel rods (Arrow or similar). The standard ones make bids for freedom at over 150hp.

I reckon you should see 150-155hp with that setup.

If you want more. Prepare to $p£nd!! (if that lot above hasn't emptied your account).

I have a 1600 8V which showed 190hp on the dyno when it was mapped by Steve Greenauld. He was pleasantly surprised.

[mowgli]

and we are back in the realm of why not just fit an xe for the cost saving & insurance... which is a pity.

the e16se is a fine engine. you can play about with fitting other parts, like crank/rods/pistons from a z18xe to get an 1800 which will give you more grunt & decent high compression.

fit it & learn about it first and enjoy it for a while. the 1600 can surprise a lot of people with its stock performance, then start looking at playing with it later on

[thegingerwhinger]

the e16se is a fine engine. you can play about with fitting other parts, like crank/rods/pistons from a z18xe to get an 1800 which will give you more grunt & decent high compression.

can you explain more on this please?

[C612DNM]

I can agree 100% with those comments.

For a road car yes - stick a XE - even a Z18XE in there (nobody seems to want those - but they're better than a poke in the eye with a pointed stick!)

To get an engine like my race 1600 SE, expect to spend around £10K to get you there. That would either buy you a ready to go engine, or if you build your own, that would cover your development costs in building any amount of engines before you actually get there!!

[Stuart]

And then a big rebuild every few k miles of use

Dans old engine. Was a b+ head, 1650 rebore, Kent ast2 cam, 40's and 1.4 ignition and a btb exhaust and it was a nice bombproof 140-150 depending how happy the rollers were jim had a similar engine but with a piper bp300 cam which had approx the same net power but was a bit more of a fire cracker to drive compared to the lazy aceness of dans

[mowgli]

can you explain more on this please?

get a 1.6 block. rebore it to fit 1800 small block pistons, as in x18xe1 or z18xe, make sure you have no clearance issues with the rotating bits by doing a dummy build, and bob's your uncle...

you could even fit the top end off a 1600 ecotec & have a small block 1800 that would fit into a nova with no issues.


c612dnm, the reason people are scared of the z18xe is the need to convert the throttle, which can't be too difficult, and then make the std management work... with abs sensors etc..... more of a bind than an issue really. my reason for not getting one is that i'm poorer than greece

[Tiger13]

Thanks for all this guys and any more info is always welcome!