best engine??

[mark_GSi]

which would be the best bet for my nova

thanks

1)XE
2)LET
3)2.0ltr 8v (Cav SRI)

[Chris LR]

Depends on your way of thinking..

The 1.7 Diesel is a great engine, in my opinion their best from the early 90's era.

Is that what you wanted to hear?

[Gobby]

XE is a good engine, powerful an good for tuning, but for bullet proof reliability I'd go for the C20 NE (8v).

I've got one in me astra and it is so reliable, it is unreal, blew the head gasket on it, stripped it, put a new one on, and away it went, purrs like a kitten, even with 135000 miles on it.

[Chip_RB]

For an every day road car, id say the 20XE, its cheap, ultra reliable and very economical

For a trackday car i would say the C16XE

For quarter miles then either an XE on TBs with nitrous or a LET with nitrous


Chip

[craig green]

how about a 1.6 or 1.4 turbo. Its not all about revving the tits out of an engine. My 1.6 turbo can waste my mates XE engined Nova to 100mph and climbs hills loads better, oh and did I mention the 1.6 will accelerate or coast when the valver is hard on the brakes. If I were on a budget use 2.0 8v, get an early cav/astra inlet manifold and then use a twin choke weber (like 32/34 DMTL Sr's use). That'd be cheap n quick!! If itr blew up U could buy another lump on ebay for 50p !!

[benji]

what power would a 2l 8v be making with a 32/34 weber carb?

[geordie_racer]

sorry i think if ur runnin a 2 litre it has 2 twin 40's not a 32/34. the idea of a 1.6 turbo 2 me is the way to go as you keep the handling of the nova which is amazin if u spend a little cash on it. also i reckon u could fit the turbo and get a 1.6 engine for the cost of a valver conversion

chris

[craig green]

Sorry wasnt referring entirely to the 32/34 but meant a twin choke as opposed to twin carbs (34/36?). Yeah the 40/45s will go best but they will drink fuel and start/run poorly when cold. Sure thing the small block turbo is great, a conversion from Courtenay is ?3k! But if I were on a budget I would hav2 consider the 2l 8v job. Get a cam & 4 branch as & when monies allow. That has to be approaching valver performance for pennies without the weight or the noisy tappetts. XEs R great but someone do something diiferent!!!!!!!

[geordie_racer]

turbo conversions aren't that expensive if u are any good at welding as you can make your own manifold and piping is cheap the only expensive part is the turbo but theres enuff different turbo engines lynig rund in scrapyards to pick one up cheapish

[craig green]

Problem is though, how you gonna fuel it? Spend ?1000 on a pukka management system? Need an intercooler also. Ive seen a T3 turbo on a 1.3 SR using an MG Metro carb Wicked. The issue is there is so much to think about if doing it ureself. I took one look under the bonnet of a Courtenay prepared one and thought 'Fuck that I want one of these'. Oil feed, oil return, breathers, fuelling, actuators, manifold, exhaust etc. etc. If home made though it makes the conversion very trick. See Davs turbo in turbo gallery, also ex Spankee Nova also!!
Craig

[geordie_racer]

we've just finished doin this on a 1.6 crx we fuelled it usin a 5tyh injector and got a blank ecu for ?400 and programmed it with the standard mapping and a few extra bits for the turbo. the oil cooler n stuff we made made from aluminium using an aluminium welding kit

chris

[Chip_RB]

The courtenay 5th injector control on the ones i have seen is crap, cant understand why they dont just use something like an ERL MF2, you can get one with a map sensor for about 350inc vat and dont need any fancy equipment to map it, its done with potentiometers.
Im sorry but you need your head reading if you are stupid enough to pay 3500 quid for a conversion which is fundamentally full of bodges, you could do a MUCH better job for a grand DIY

If anyone is interested in doing a turbo conversion i have brand new
ERL MF2
GM Map Sensor to work with
Loom
and a recon 16v injector to go with it

you can have the lot for 240

That lot is good for fuelling an extra 50bhp no problem at all, and it works fine in confjunction with the normal nova GTE ecu.



Chip

[geordie_racer]

exactly my point chip and one of the fundamental issues behind why i started my company u pay courtenay ?5000 for a conversion and it's got loads of mistakes in it. for ?5000 id expect gold plated engine mounts and full rewirin and tidying up. and don't get me started on wot id expect 4 a ?3500 turbo conversion

chris

[Chip_RB]

The courtenay conversion uses standard pistons still doesnt it, with extra width between the head and block to lower the compression despite the fact it totally ruins the squish which means less power and worse economy?
The ones i have seen did anyway.

Along with the standard ecu and a 5th injector that is simply linked to the others and so either adds 0% or 25% more fuel depending on the value of a pressure switch.

Correct me on the details if any of that is incorrect.

I cant remember how they dealt with the ignition advance though, in fact im not even sure they did?


To me thats just a host of bodges.


Correct way to do it is:
lower cr pistons with proper squish banding
stand alone engine management for fuelling AND ignition



If you cant be arsed with spending that sort of cash then do the spacer plate still and standard ecu like courtenay but at least use an ERL (or similar) so you can get the fuelling more or less spot on, not a total mismatch in places in the range like the courtenay method.


The courtenay method works okay for minimal power increases, but i cant see the point in spending that much money on a turbo setup when you could (asusming you dont like DIY) pay someone to fit a mildy tuned 16xe and gust as much power, better economy, and a load of change in your pocket (or spend the same money and have more power).


Chip

[jkhilton]

for ?3500 you could easily source and fit a 2.0 16v Turbo. It's just judging by all the hassle so many of the turbos have on this site, I would question wether it is worth it!!! breeny??? Rick???? lol!

[geordie_racer]

look back throught the thread. the conversation was about turboing a 1.6 16v as then u don't get wait and handling issues like u will with a c20let and an amazing power increase. also we agreed ?3500 grand is way to expensive but thats wot u get 4 goin 2 courtenay

chris

[Ste_Nova]

turbos aint hassle.... unless u don't like hard work

[geordie_racer]

spot on ste my centiments exactly

[Chip_RB]

Not fair to compare big block and small block motors IMHO, as they are very different beasts, a LET/XE nova wins hands down in terms of pounds spent per bhp, but thats obvious due to the extra cc, there is no replacement for displacement in terms of extracting power, but the small block have other benefits like originality and weight savings.



Chip

[Ste_Nova]

originality

Chip

the 1.6 16v in novas has been done to death now....

[Chip_RB]

LOL!
You took that one totally the wrong way round, i dont mean being different, i mean originality in terms of sticking with the size of engine already in there, ie maintain the orginal block (not literally the same one, but the 16v is externally identical pretty much)