vauxhall nova weight

[turbojolt]

because I'm a child and forever will be, I'm in constant comption with my brother lol

his evo has the power to weight ratio of 176'ish hp per'ton

if in theory my xe has 150 hp (i know it wont anymore), to achieve the same power to weight ratio, my nova would need to weigh around 850kgs (the lighter the better)

is it achievable? fully striped out, 2 bucket seats etc.....

[Iain]

I'm sure mine's 830kg with no driver and that's with loads of rollcage, welding etc.

[Benn]

Iirc 900kg is a std Nova.

[boyd_1989]

My nova at one point weighed 740kg. That was stripped out rear, no door cards 2 buckets and the dash. But with my c16xe under the bonnet. And had 134bhp so 181bhp per tonne.
I raced my mates evo 4 last month and kept up with it.

[MK999]

Oli D's was around the 650kg mark iirc, and Colin is down to something like 550 now?

So there's your targets :d

[peester]

i think 850kg is easily acheiveable. Oli Hewits epic old trackday build thread had some precise weight loss comparisons. With stripping out sound deadening, trim and fibre glass panels and perspex glass - should easily see around that weight, maybe less.
However evo's have massive amounts of torque and 4wd, owners probably invest in good fuel and tyres to boot.

[Adam]

Mines is/was around the 830ish kg.
And that was without effort lol

Just strip out the usual, replace the seats etc.
6point SD cage too

[turbojolt]

fuel hahahaha, my brother is such a tart, it says in the owners manual to use 99 ron but he phoned me in a mid'panic saying he can only find 98 :( bless lol

[turbojolt]

mines going to have no cage, no extra welding, perspex windows, fiberglass front wings, lightened bonnet and maybe a lightweight battery in the boot (cost Dependant)

[8valve-craig]

Mine weighs in at 800kg with poly windows, light seats, FG boot, stripped, multi-point cage, 20xe.

Will hopefully be a lot lot lighter when it comes back out though.

[richz_nova]

Mine has got a xe, fully stripped, 6 point roll cage recaro seats had it weighed and was 840kg

[Benn]

mines going to have no cage, no extra welding, perspex windows, fiberglass front wings, lightened bonnet and maybe a lightweight battery in the boot (cost Dependant)

Thought it was a track car you where building?

[turbojolt]

it is going to be a trackday car, I'm just not throwing every last apparent performance enhancing part at it to begin with, I'm going to use and abuse it then adapt, change and modify bits as and when i fell the need to

that way i can form my own opinion on things, rather then follow the crowd

[bazil]

Weighbridge tickets or it's all lies lol

Tell you what I'd love to know, front axle weight on a C20XE/LET nova and small block too

[pottersrebel]

my old nova stock car with all steel work in weighed 890kgs so easily done in a striped out track day car, but id very seriously consider a roll cage mate. It only takes one wrong move and ur over.
skip to 2min 52
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1WWN-Igq8I

[8valve-craig]

Agreed, absolute lunacy to "use and abuse" a car on track without a very good cage, seats and harnesses.

Mine regularly goes on the weighbridge, but its quite frustrating as it only goes to the nearest 10kg.

[Stuart]

fuel hahahaha, my brother is such a tart, it says in the owners manual to use 99 ron but he phoned me in a mid'panic saying he can only find 98 :( bless lol

I'd run it on tescos value 95 Ron lol

[scottmasterton]

Oli D's was around the 650kg mark iirc, and Colin is down to something like 550 now?

So there's your targets :d

link to their builds ?

[bazzap8389]

link to their builds ?

http://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?132042-985cc-Turbocharged-Nova-Sprint-Car

[Johnny A]

I had the original SEF weighed on a weightbridge and it was 860kgs

Full interior, electric everything and a LET... but it was f*in' rusty lol

[scott.parker]

My old track car iirc was 830 with me and half tank of fuel, and was 185bhp and had a power to weight ratio of 223bhp per ton iirc.

[jimbob-mcgrew]

My old track car iirc was 830 with me and half tank of fuel, and was 185bhp and had a power to weight ratio of 223bhp per ton iirc.

^^ Daayyyaaammnn ! :thumb:

[corsafan.de]

Nova 1987 with C20LET and F28 = 885 kg with full GT/SR Interieur.

Pictures here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.507233789344692.1073741827.112703418797733

[scottmasterton]

will weigh my nova when it gets closer to finished, I should have 240bhp and about 750kg so thats 325 bhp per ton but I dont think it'll be quite as good as that without any major engine mods besides exhaust, intake and a remap.

[bazzap8389]

I'm hoping mine will be under 750kg no reason why it shouldn't and circa 550bhp so if my calculations are correct should be in the region of 733bhp per tonne :)

[Johnny A]

I'm hoping mine will be under 750kg no reason why it shouldn't and circa 550bhp so if my calculations are correct should be in the region of 733bhp per tonne :)

and if you could get grip it would beat a veyron to the low hundreds..... however it won't :(

[scott.parker]

Imo anything over 200-250 bhp fwd /turbo is wasted, as it cant optimise the power into usable traction.
If your going 500bhp+ you want rwd to put it down, hence why mr A above is building a rwd car..

[bazzap8389]

I can't say I agree with you Scott.. I've been in a few fwd cars with over 300bhp and could put the power down no problem, granted it wasn't a nova though. I'm building it for drag, it's not going to be on the road very often.

[corsafan.de]

Imo anything over 200-250 bhp fwd /turbo is wasted, as it cant optimise the power into usable traction.
If your going 500bhp+ you want rwd to put it down, hence why mr A above is building a rwd car..
315 bhp here without problems.

My solution was a reduced overboost. I just got 370 Nm torque - and not one of those 450+ Nm peaks like much chiptuners are programming.

And a quaife diff of course.

[Johnny A]

my carlton grips in 1st gear with an open diff and 205/45/17 budget tyres. 350bhp with a pretty much vertical power climb on boost:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/401623_10151546627540214_1034714128_n.jpg
This is why I am building a RWD Nova, boosted Novas are a total hoot (I used to own one back in 2001), I went onto RWD after that and instantly said I'd never go back. But a Carlton is heavy so it made sense to me to combine the the nimble lightness of the Nova with the handling and grip of RWD.

trouble is weight shifts backward when accelerating which means more weight over rear and less on front, by opting for FWD you put yourself at a disadvantage before you even start adding fancy diffs and progressive boost controls etc... I mean if you're building for competition - they have categories like FWD so it makes sense to build the best FWD drag car you can and a Nova is certainly one of the best platforms.

I don't agree at all with putting up a blind statement such as 'I have a 300bhp nova and it's fine' as there are younger less experienced car owners on here that would interpret that statement exactly how it sounds. In reality it's no where near ideal, with lots of money it can be made to work but even then still disadvantaged.

[corsafan.de]

Sorry, my english is not the best, but that's what I will call an awful power setting. The torque jumps like hell after 3700 U/min and such an power "explosion" isn't driveable with FWD. My first chip programming nearly looks the same and if the turbo begins to work, the torque rises up too massive - and the car wasn't steerable because of spinning wheels. And that's a risk of life, if you want to overtake some other cars, but can't give your car the right direction.

Here's my latest diagram:
http://www.corsafan.de/bilder/diagramm_315.jpg

Grey = torque
Red = bhp machine
Green = bhp at the wheel

[Johnny A]

that's what I will call an awful power setting. The torque jumps like hell after 3700 U/min and such an power "explosion" isn't driveable with FWD

Exactly my point, I know the power curve is very aggressive and not ideal but I was using it to prove how much better RWD is.

[scott.parker]

Ive made my statement for a reason, I'll stand by it, im not going to argue over it, but why did darcy use a kadett i wonder?

[bazzap8389]

Your entitled to your opinion mate :) but there's plenty of high powered fwd drag cars putting in some serious times which is also my goal.

[Mieran]

The least anyone can do with big powered FWD car is wide track, I would never be stupid again and run a Nova turbo with 195 section tyres!

[bazzap8389]

Where about sells the wide track kits nowadays?

[marc69]

because I'm a child and forever will be, I'm in constant comption with my brother lol

his evo has the power to weight ratio of 176'ish hp per'ton

if in theory my xe has 150 hp (i know it wont anymore), to achieve the same power to weight ratio, my nova would need to weigh around 850kgs (the lighter the better)

is it achievable? fully striped out, 2 bucket seats etc.....


I had my xe wieghed properly at knockhill. Rear seat and belts etc stripped out, I still have carpets and dashboard etc and an OMP half cage. It came out at 810kg, add a lot more for when I sit in it lol

But it will not realistically compete with an Evo

[Mieran]

Where about sells the wide track kits nowadays?

Chris (CM composites) can make them I think

[bazzap8389]

Ah, cheers think I'll drop him a txt imorn

[corsafan.de]

Your entitled to your opinion mate :) but there's plenty of high powered fwd drag cars putting in some serious times which is also my goal.
Drag racing is different...

But I didn't want to drive a drag car engine on ordinary streets :d

[scottmasterton]

I had my xe wieghed properly at knockhill. Rear seat and belts etc stripped out, I still have carpets and dashboard etc and an OMP half cage. It came out at 810kg, add a lot more for when I sit in it lol

But it will not realistically compete with an Evo

Thats not true it just depends on the spec of the Evo and the spec of the Nova, the Nova can be quite easily be built to wipe the floor with an Evo until the Evo gets to a certain spec which the Nova just cannot compete with.

[scottmasterton]

Where about sells the wide track kits nowadays?

Harry Hockly and I think protec sell kits