Best vauxhall engine for mpg

[fastcar1cars]

Hi all got a c20xe in my nova at the moment! But finding miles per £20 a little low! Lol! Although smiles per mile are good!
What other vaux engine would go in a nova and be good for mpg? Cant b smaller than a 1.4! Lol!
Cheers

[MK999]

1.5TD, 70 odd on a run, quicker than a gsi with the boost turned up.

[fastcar1cars]

Not sure a can be arsed to go diesel! Lol!

[Southie]

Surely if your turning the boost up the mpg will be on it's **** though lol

Also depends on how heavy that right foot of yours is.

[Mike]

Y17DT ~ 60mpg++

[Edd]

^^ surely that's not a easy fit to a nova tho? lol

[Mike]

^^ surely that's not a easy fit to a nova tho? lol

Dunno, but in answer to the title, its true lol

[turbojolt]

From what I have read when driving normally a xe nova should see 35+mpg, is this not the case??

[fastcar1cars]

Yeah right foot can be a little heavy! Lol! Gotta go in a nova! Get about 110 miles from my c20xe with a mix of fast and grandad driving!

[brainsnova]

Just add a Let and pay :d

[MK999]

Surely if your turning the boost up the mpg will be on it's **** though lol

Nope because unlike a petrol turbo it won't be running rich waiting for the boost to come on, and off boost it will be exactly the same running conditions/no throttle plate so no less from running less than WOT.

[turbojolt]

You only get 110 miles from a tank!!!!!

[MK999]

Try low revs and more throttle for a while, and see how that suits you.

[fastcar1cars]

110 miles from £20! Lol! Thats a mix of driving!

[Southie]

MK you were on about turning boost up though, so say compared to say a 1.6 or 1.4 I doubt they'd be much difference.

[MK999]

MK you were on about turning boost up though, so say compared to say a 1.6 or 1.4 I doubt they'd be much difference.

Are you aware how a turbo engine works? It won't be on boost constantly. Not unless you're russ swift and fancy fitting anti lag to a diesel.

[turbojolt]

110 miles from 20 quid don't.sound.bad at.all imo mate lol

[MK999]

110 miles from £20! Lol! Thats a mix of driving!

That's about 32mpg, you won't be doing much better without adjusting your driving to eco mode all the time, at least not in an aging petrol.

[fastcar1cars]

Ok ill put 20 in and drive like my nan! Lol!
What mpg do gte engines give?

[Southie]

Are you aware how a turbo engine works? It won't be on boost constantly. Not unless you're russ swift and fancy fitting anti lag to a diesel.

Surely if your turning boost up it's coming in constantly thus making the turbo run constantly though, this uses more petrol or diesel I suspect.
And no I know feck all.

[MK999]

Surely if your turning boost up it's coming in constantly thus making the turbo run constantly though, this uses more petrol or diesel I suspect.
And no I know feck all.

Won't come in unless it has something to spin it, I.E exhaust, so off of throttle is off of boost. In a TD you basically get a choice of either tickling along at 70mpg or whacking huge amounts of boost through it and having a giggle.

[Jack]

Southie, you ned to think of it similar to raising a rev limiter. If you go from 6k to 6.5k, the engine will be the same from 0-6k, its just you've allowed it to go that little bit higher - obviously you won't be on 6.5k all the time.

Ok, in terms of boost there's a little more too it than that (namely gain) but still.

For the record, I raised the boost on the GT4 from 0.9 to 1.1 and my fuel consumption went from 28mpg to 32mpg LMFAO

[Southie]

I want the giggle so thus reducing the MPG :p All I'm trying to do is prove the point that turning something up will obviously make some have less MPG than standard, if the TD engine had 70mpg it's not going to be the same when peeing about with it.

[MK999]

For the record, I raised the boost on the GT4 from 0.9 to 1.1 and my fuel consumption went from 28mpg to 32mpg LMFAO

Remapped? A lot of the better maps tend to improve the lower range, fiddle with the ign timing and fuel injector pulse times etc, more than 20% gain is impressive though :d

[Jack]

Nope, just an EBC with a few other mods which were fitted prior.

The stock ECU on a 205 does overfuel like mad though, so at least now its actually making use of the extra fuel lol

[MK999]

Overfuel by how much? Jap motors normally run lean for a turbo, but any turbo should be about 13.5:1 ish ideally, i.e on the lower end of safe/producing power. Just be careful nothing is going to start being melty.

[Stuart]

Z22SE.... in the vx got 40mpg with pure ease and would rock upto 45mpg if you nursed it (and frankly nursing it was still quick enough as it has the torque of a 200bhp TB'd 20XE lol)

[MK999]

I want the giggle so thus reducing the MPG :p All I'm trying to do is prove the point that turning something up will obviously make some have less MPG than standard, if the TD engine had 70mpg it's not going to be the same when peeing about with it.

Yes it will, it will do 70 mpg on a run at 3psi, whether the max boost is 5psi or 28 bar.

[Jack]

Overfuel by how much?
Generally tried and tested. And lots, well enough to throw fire out the exhaust and kill the cat lol

[edit] The cav happily gets 50mpg too. Dunno how that compares to standard though!

[MK999]

Generally tried and tested. And lots, well enough to throw fire out the exhaust and kill the cat lol

That happens on a lean burn, no oxygen in the exhaust from running rich = no flames :p Rally cars etc run lean on the overrun, not rich! No power there, so no point chucking fuel in. If it lives/runs at the right ratios and it's well tested then fair enough. Just because it works doesn't mean it's healthy though.

[Nobby]

remember the price of fuel though i used to put £5 in my xe about 4 years ago and that would last me a night out racing round £20 is only around 14-15 litres

[Stuart]

Miles per £££ is a rubbish gauge of fuel economy anyway lol as fuel has nearly tripled in price since I started driving so what was 100 miles to a tenner is now £30 lol


Running a cat rich is fine, its lean that kills them as the gas temps are mental when lean and burns the face off the cat :s

[turbojolt]

Do you have a f16 or f20 gearbox mate

[Southie]

So basically all Nova's now need derv engines for fun and MPG... balls to that IMO, still down to the way you drive.

[Nova_Tek]

You can get good MPG out of big block 8v's too as Lynz can point out, you can also get good mpg in a LET if you drive carefully. Like Southie said down to the way you drive and what youo consider 'fun'.

[MK999]

So basically all Nova's now need derv engines for fun and MPG... balls to that IMO, still down to the way you drive.

I didnt particularly want a diesel but after driving one for a while they make perfect daily drivers imo. My next car will be a diesel and unless I get huge whacks of expendable income to blow on a fun petrol daily, the one after that probably will be too.

[Stuart]

I didnt particularly want a diesel but after driving one for a while they make perfect daily drivers imo. My next car will be a diesel and unless I get huge whacks of expendable income to blow on a fun petrol daily, the one after that probably will be too.


I'm still not sold on dervs..... The passat wagon does do low 50's on a run BUT the drive to work gets about 42mpg, and the clio will do 40mpg, meaning the clio is cheaper to run for work lol

[Southie]

MK I want an arm wrestle, as your a mosh/rock guy we'll let Black Sabbath play in the background to make it more interesting lol

[fastcar1cars]

Ive got a f16 c/r in mine

[Jack]

That happens on a lean burn, no oxygen in the exhaust from running rich = no flames :p Rally cars etc run lean on the overrun, not rich! No power there, so no point chucking fuel in. If it lives/runs at the right ratios and it's well tested then fair enough. Just because it works doesn't mean it's healthy though.
As I understand it (i.e. told by people who know the engines better than I do lol) toyota made them run rich instead of lean - which makes sense if lean does more damage than rich. I know mine throws fuel down the exhaust, seen it dripping lol, and just assumed the odd pop and flame was that igniting.

I did accidentaly overboost when setting the EBC up and it didn't sound happy lol

[Edd]

Z22SE.... in the vx got 40mpg with pure ease and would rock upto 45mpg if you nursed it (and frankly nursing it was still quick enough as it has the torque of a 200bhp TB'd 20XE lol)

Off topic a bit but, how easy is it to fit a Z22SE in to a nova?

[Stuart]

Easiest would be a Z22SE from anything and then use the VX ecu as it can cope with nearly no other control units. Needs an ABS sensor to square pulse converter to give the ECU speed though.

[turbojolt]

Ive got a f16 c/r in mine

So instead of switching engines why don't you.try different boxes and see if it helps

[steviegsi]

I can't remember the last time I seen 100 miles to £20.

£20 of bp ultimate got me just under 14 ltrs and should get me around 60 miles .

The last time I filled a nova it was £25.

[fastcar1cars]

I can't remember the last time I seen 100 miles to £20.

£20 of bp ultimate got me just under 14 ltrs and should get me around 60 miles .

The last time I filled a nova it was £25.

What engine mate?

[steviegsi]

4.4 v8 lol . But in it's defence I only live 6 mile from work so it does a wee bit better on a longer run.

[Southie]

Stevie, please do a WIP i'm soooooo excited by this, do I need a Limo lol

[steviegsi]

V8 obviously ain't in a nova southie lol

[fastcar1cars]

4.4 in a nova??

[fastcar1cars]

Lol!

[Mieran]

nova xe with f20 best mpg 46.2
nova xe with f16cr best mpg 38

Calculated proper method, filling tank to full then working out by litres used etc.

So F20 is better for mpg, can put longer 5th from f18 in if you use motorways a lot.

[Mieran]

xe is SOO much more fun with a f16 though

[turbojolt]

But surely as a every day car a f20 would be best

[turbojolt]

How much would someone be looking at having the 5th from a f18 into a f20

[Peanut_119]

nova xe with f20 best mpg 46.2
nova xe with f16cr best mpg 38

Calculated proper method, filling tank to full then working out by litres used etc.

So F20 is better for mpg, can put longer 5th from f18 in if you use motorways a lot.

i have a cavalier with a XE with a F16 and i can get anything upto 130 miles to £20 (£1.31.9) which i don't think is all that bad considering the weight difference between a nova and a cavalier

[Jack]

20 / 1.319 = 15.16 litres
130 / 15.16 * 4.546 = 39mpg

[mowgli]

just join the AA, and when you think you've had enough, call them to collect you.... just like the vw bus crowd do

[Jon_nova1]

i've got the isuzu 1.7TD in my nova on an F28, its great fun and fuel lasts too lol

[w_wall_2001]

my let gte on an f20 is pretty reasonable as long as you drive it normally, i was surprised how well it is. It cost me £70 using super unleaded to get to pv last year, have 4 runs up the strip and drive home. hopefully when the f28 goes in it will be better on a run.

[General Baxter]

not a nova but my old 1.7td cav, tuned to 100bhp, with 250K miles on the clock did 77mpg whiles towing a ton of dolly and 1/2 ton of nova, up and down the hills on the a14 lol

i got 80ish iirc from a 110 pug 406 hdi

i can get 36mpg at a push from my 2.2 16v auto omega, book says 25mpg so beat that :thumb:

you need a c20xe on a F17 diesel WR box, thats epic, does 90mph in 2rd lol

[mowgli]

2nd = second
3rd = third

does that mean 2rd = turd???

[pie]

£20 in my cav does 120ish miles and thats a heavy cav being 4x4 lol

[Rich]

to gain mpg you sacrifice smg, its just not worth it.

[mowgli]

smiles per gallon?

[General Baxter]

smiles per gallon?

thats a lie, when i boot the omega, it drops to about 6-8mpg, and i still dont smile lol

[Dayle_]

Can i ask, what the capacity of the fuel tank is on a nova, I've been unable to find this anywhere?

[MK999]

42l

[Lee H]

Why do so many people think this? Balley's TD off here is well messed with apparently and does slower 1/4's than a standard Gsi!

[Adam]

XE's in novas are awesome for economy tbh! Ive seen around the 45-50 mpg from mine on the drive down south to pod/billing.


Baxter-To get 80mpg from a 10year old pug hdi, you must of been getting tow'd lol lol

[General Baxter]

Baxter-To get 80mpg from a 10year old pug hdi, you must of been getting tow'd lol lol

56mph all the way behind a lorry ;)

i have allways been good on the mpg front ;)

it only cost me £45 to do the rolling road run and back in the 2.8 6 cylinder bmw, that was something dumb like 350miles lol

[MK999]

Why do so many people think this? Balley's TD off here is well messed with apparently and does slower 1/4's than a standard Gsi!

Dunno how you figured that as mine ran a 17.2 at maybe 1 psi above standard boost, with a sickly turbo.

[Lee H]

Dunno how you figured that as mine ran a 17.2 at maybe 1 psi above standard boost, with a sickly turbo.

Balley ran a 16.4 with whatever spec he has but not standard. Standard GSi runs about 16.2 hence faster.

[General Baxter]

adam, heres a photo of the old pugs mpg, this was after a week of being a tard, so its average lol

67.3mpg
now think on a 56mph 300mile round trip ;)

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a191/baxters83/IMG_0125.jpg

[Benn]

A let, best mpg i've even got. (35 on a good long run)

[peester]

Non diesel options: If you want to swap engines, i say try an x18xe1 - theyre good on mpg in the cars theyre found in, so a nova should do even better.
Maybe keep way from close-ratio f13/f15 gearboxes though to improve mpg further still..?
Im guessing your existing engine could just be out of tune though- over fuelling slightly; a recondition would help/sort your issues maybe; or again switch to a long ratio gearbox perhpas..?

[Stuart]

Non diesel options: If you want to swap engines, i say try an x18xe1 - theyre good on mpg in the cars theyre found in, so a nova should do even better.
Maybe keep way from close-ratio f13/f15 gearboxes though to improve mpg further still..?
Im guessing your existing engine could just be out of tune though- over fuelling slightly; a recondition would help/sort your issues maybe; or again switch to a long ratio gearbox perhpas..?


The Z18 (I think, ETB one in the mk4 astra) is pretty much the worst consumption VS power/fun car I've ever driven lol.... saying that it was a riot of a car to drive if the fuel costs were ignored.

[mowgli]

The best thing to do on small block cars is to fit the wr 5th gear into the cr box. So you get the acceleration, but still have a motorway gear

[Jon_nova1]

Balley ran a 16.4 with whatever spec he has but not standard. Standard GSi runs about 16.2 hence faster.


thats why you need the isuzu 1.7TD, 10BHP less than the GSI with 1/3 more torque, worked it out today, nova guage says it cost £2 for 25 miles