Confused about my SRI

[vinny1684]

OK i brought this up ages ago, but never got an answer,

Basically ive done the RAC check and my car was manufactured on 31st December 1993, and its a NOVA SRI.

I spoke to the original owner who was told its a limited edition, basically this seems to fit in because my car is all standard and kicks the arse outa other sri's, also kicks vtrs and not far off keeping up with a vts.

Ive got the standard Manifold / cat pipe bit and a few months ago i needed a new front pipe, well no garage could find anything to fit it, eventually my local mechanic decieded to weld it up because its a weird fit apparantly.

Other thing is, its really really fucking low off the ground, other than the original owner, (who was a old guy) this car has always been in our family. Its got rock hard suspension and just about clears speedbumps.

Brakes are vented disks, erm, i cant think of what else but the whole kit is standard, there nothing at all modded or anything so why does it go like shit off a stick?

I want more info, im desperate to get a decat pipe. see what happens.

Anyone heard anything? last i heard from a rumor was that the last novas were imported from spain (opel) and tinkered with down south somewhere before being sold as the last batch before the corsa became popular.

Is there anything i can look for under the bonnet etc? i need advise! im not car literate!

[Aragorn]

theres no fancy lotus novas or anything floating around so dispel any thaughts of a special car

the SRi had vented brakes etc as standard as it was a GSi spec shell

the downpipe is a standard part and is the same on the GTE, GSi and SRi motors so assuming its got a cast manifold your garage workers are just idiots and were probably ordering a SR part rather than SRi part

check the engine number which is on a flat below the number 4 spark plug and tell us what it says

should be summat like C14SE thena string of numbers

if its dizzy driven then remove the dizzy and see if anythings stamped on the end of the cam, once uve gained this info return here and we'll be able to tell u what (if any) fancy bits you have

tbh a healthy SRi should be able to keep up with an early (pre 99) VTR as the VTR is 100kgs heavier and has 90bhp, the nova has 85bhp as standard and 100kgs less weight so the power to weight ratio is about the same, the later 100bhp VTR's would be more of a challenge as they're upto 100bhp and a VTS is in another league tbh, 1600 16v nova might just about keep up or a properly tuned 1600 8v, but u'd have to do a shitload of work to a 1400 8v nova to keep up with a VTS imo

another factor to remember is that a lot of "young" drivers fill their car with stupid amounts of heavy sounds which will slow it down a lot, so if u came across a VTS with a massive ice install with 6 subs and a 18 stone driver and you were driving along with half a litre of fuel and you only weigh 8 stone then the power to weight ratio starts coming into effect. Also remember driver skill varies greatly and the people u "beat" might have simply been shite drivers or werent really trying that hard

[Snowface]

got any pics of the engine bay? or of the car for that matter.

[vinny1684]

got any pics of the engine bay? or of the car for that matter.

will take some pics with my phone later

[Paul]

I've heard rumours of a very rare c14sei engine.....

which is suppose to be 5-10bhp up on a standard c14se engine....

[Aragorn]

theres a C16SEi which is a irmscher version of the C16SE which has bosch motronic management instead of GM Multec however there doesnt seem to be any other mechanical differences and it still puts out 100bhp

[vinny1684]

theres a C16SEi which is a irmscher version of the C16SE which has bosch motronic management instead of GM Multec however there doesnt seem to be any other mechanical differences and it still puts out 100bhp

How do i find out if its a C16SEi as aposed to the C16SE???

[broony]

The C16SE and C16SEi are both 1.6 engines, yours is a 1.4.

Your engine, as said before should be stamped C14SE. Have a look and see.

[Jack]

Basically ive done the RAC check and my car was manufactured on 31st December 1993, and its a NOVA SRI.

Manufactured? Or first registered?

If the suspension was rock solid and standard, I'd think something was knackered... :? Even GTE/GSi stuff isn't exactly stiff

[vinny1684]

Manufacturer VAUXHALL
Model NOVA SRI
Body type 3 DOOR HATCHBACK
Colour WHITE
Fuel type PETROL
Date manufactured 31 December 1993
Number of previous owners 4
Last owner change 12 February 1999



RAC Says date manufactured