13sb

[abznovasport]

Can anyone tell me the difference between the 13sb engine and the 13s, finding all sorts of conflicting stories on the t'internet.

Cheers
Ian

[Novasport]

Nothing.

[abznovasport]

Haha brilliant, iv read on some sites the S was out of cavaliers and astras, the sb's were on early sr's and sports. Loads of different answers. I have a unknown running S and a known running SB so going to go with the SB.

[Novasport]

You have read correct, The Nova 1.3 SR, GL & Sport engines were all SB's but were identical to the S's

[jimbob-mcgrew]

according to Vauxhall engine codes, the letter B stands for : IBC(Inverted Brayton Cycle), which is something to do with gas re-circulation I think.
probably the oil breather hose or something ? which is practically the same on all the carb models.

ive always found those stamp codes confusing too, as the 2 engines seem practically identical

[garyc]

the main variations are on the carb and inlet side eg varijet, single and twin choke pierburgs and iirc a solex single choke. Also some of the earlier engines have heavier beefier conrods and in some of the MK1 astra there are heads with bigger ports and both are sought after by oval racers.

[mowgli]

really early 1300s could have an imperial oil filter, but the engine did appear in 1979 iirc!!!!!!

mostly its the carb/manifold.

[kent14sr]

The 13S block is said to be stronger. Certainly the one I had was easily identifiable by having a shorter ledge where the engine code is. In addition it appeared to have extra ribbing and a thicker flange where it meets the sump.

[mowgli]

probably just a different foundry supplying the blocks.

when i worked in parts, a lot of oe stuff changed part no.s because a different mfr was supplying them, the part fitted the same, but there were detail differences to make sure nobody got taken to court.

[abznovasport]

That's great guys, means I have a spare engine now :)

[meritlover]

early 1300s had an inferior camshaft + carrier oil feed design on the bearings.

[mowgli]

i never actually encountered one of the 'early enough to have the cam oil feed problem' engines, and i owned a really early kadett, 2 astras & an a reg nova, and was always rootling in scrap yards & getting early astra bits.. i'd love to know just how many were ever produced.

[meritlover]

The one i had was awful. had 'a slight top end rattle'. Distributor end journal was destroyed, as were no 3+4 inlet and exhaust followers were destroyed along with the lobes on the cam.

[grooge]

really early 1300s could have an imperial oil filter, but the engine did appear in 1979 iirc!!!!!!

mostly its the carb/manifold.

imperial oil filters up to mid 1985 i think although i could be wrong. my 85 sr was imperial oil filter and thats what i was told

[faker]

I was led to believe that the 'b' prefix was linked to the emission output af the vehicle application. Astra and cavaliers using the 1.3s engine ran the varijet carbs and were slightly more powerful engines as such (75 bhp compared to 70bhp in a nova with a pierberg and a 1.3sb) engines would be stamped as per application or fitment. S and sb engines both suffered from oil starvation on certain cam/follower lobes, and required extra holes to be drilled to create new oil ways to alleviate cam wear.