saab engine swaps for novas?

[turbojolt]

Anyone know is someone or a company is doing these now days for a fixed price?

If so how much is it costing?



Cheers

[Johnny A]

Doubt it, you loose most of the O/S chassis rail to make room for the engine - not exactly a safe thing to do

[Scottcooper85]

Seen 2 or 3 done and working now so there must be a way of doing it, but as above it seems frightening how much of the leg has been removed. I don't think anyone sells conversion parts for them, probably not much of a market for it.

[Jack]

Plus with Novas being mostly old and rotten, the engine will no doubt fall out after a few months lol

Be tough to find somewhere that will just quote a full price without having the car to look at.

[turbojolt]

Just want a rough idea. As if its 2k odd i would do it
..but if its 10 then i would rather spend the money on a deposit for a house :)

[Johnny A]

billy bob joe from round the corner with his £200 welder might do it for 2K lol

[meritlover]

ye, £200 welders are great.

[nova_stee]

I took the xe out of my corsa b and put a b204 in it was the worst thing av ever done

[turbojolt]

I took the xe out of my corsa b and put a b204 in it was the worst thing av ever done

How come mate?

[nova_stee]

How come mate?
There not the engine some people make them put to be. There miles to heavy and make the car handle crap. If you have 2k to spend buy a c20let

[Southie]

TJ just get an Xe in yours it will still be fun and is tried and tested and will save you a few quid... Or even an let ;)

[turbojolt]

TJ just get an Xe in yours it will still be fun and is tried and tested and will save you a few quid... Or even an let ;)


Dont see myself ever having time to do something like it myself. Would have to be given to someone to complete and that puts the ****ters up me after last time!

[Alex J]

There not the engine some people make them put to be. There miles to heavy and make the car handle crap. If you have 2k to spend buy a c20letat last! Someone else who says they are crap, all i keep hearing is how great , fast , best engine ever made, but im yet to see more than one!

[turbojolt]

at last! Someone else who says they are crap, all i keep hearing is how great , fast , best engine ever made, but im yet to see more than one!


Must just be the pure tunable'ness of the engines then ive seen the figures they make with not alot of money put onto them its very impressive

[nova_stee]

Must just be the pure tunable'ness of the engines then ive seen the figures they make with not alot of money put onto them its very impressive
Its all pub figures a dont think theres is one over or near 500 bhp in this country. Head gaskets are **** on them just leak oil on nearly everyone av seen. They suffer from oil starvation aswell. People like them so much because they have fairly strong pistons and rods standard but not a good head and the chains are crap

[Southie]

Dont see myself ever having time to do something like it myself. Would have to be given to someone to complete and that puts the ****ters up me after last time!
Well if you've got the money for a conversion then why not go and buy maybe an XE Nova that's already done to save you the hassle.

[Johnny A]

My views on B204:
Pros:
Super cheap - £300 for a whole setup
Super strong - During testing these engines were subjected to 650bhp ish so in real terms 600bhp is achievable on the factory bottom end

Cons:
By beefing the **** out of everything (and being chain driven) they are very heavy... like V6 engine heavy
By beefing the **** out of everything (and being chain driven) they are thicker and longer than the 4-pot VX engine (C20XE etc...)

So that's it really, to summerise for me for the £££/bhp you cannot beat them but you sacrifice weight saving and space for power. With that in mind you can make an easy decision on their application. So for example putting one in a FF (front engine front wheel drive) Nova is very bad - it's too big and will handle like a pig, but larger cars like Cavs, Vectras and even Carltons they are a good choice as there is plenty of room for them and the extra weight doesn't have as much influence.

Were I to build another RWD Carlton I would 110% definately use a B204 but you will never see me putting on in a FWD Nova.

[Alex J]

Id put them all in the iron! Ratjer have 24v gsi lump! Theydo the biggist smoke outs!

[nova_stee]

After building and owning clet, xe, xe on tb, 1.6 16v, seh the xe nova is great fun a clet is a bit to much for fwd but alot of fun on the straights

[Nobby]

Everyone goes on about how much BHP these runs but there is a fair few that actually make the road, all Pub banter.

[mowgli]

has anyone tried to stick an audi 1.8t engine & box in a nova?? they have been fitted to everything else

[Johnny A]

Id put them all in the iron! Ratjer have 24v gsi lump! Theydo the biggist smoke outs!

Tis true the C30SE does awesome burnouts and drifts but useless for tuning, expensive to rebuild and not very powerful. Sounds epic though.

[Scottcooper85]

has anyone tried to stick an audi 1.8t engine & box in a nova?? they have been fitted to everything else

Theres a build thread for one somewhere possibly by corsakid?

[turbojolt]

Yer as above mowgli. Corsakid has a near finished one

Wish that was a common swap as i have a 20v turbo golf sat on the drive lol