18se engine

[Dave]

does anyone know any tuning info on this engine?
it's the one out of the mk2 astra sri,
am thinking about doin the conversion an need any info anyones got on them!
cheers
dave

[david dixon]

I wouldn't bother mate, They only about 15bhp more than a gte/gsi engine and then you've got the extra engine weight over the nova engine!
I woud go for a 2.0 8v seh engine out of the cav sri 130 (130 bhp) that would be worth your while if you coud find one! :)

[Dave]

Think the book on them is 112-115 hp
was wondering what the advantages would be over using a 1.6gte lump as there is another 200cc to play with also would possibly be more insurance friendly that the 2.0

would be re-building it with lots of mods anyway so the hp would come with that

[m.d.]

the old style 1.8 had a better inlet manifold set up as it ran a twin choke kind of arrangement so apparently you can get better power increases from this engine than the later manifold. but if you want decent power you will want to be getting rid of the injection and manifold in favour of carbs of tbs anyway.
there is a lad on here with quite a bit of power from the 1.8 so id see what he has to say.

also on www.tomstrickland.co.uk there is a good tuning guide for the 2.0 8v which is the same motor just with a larger bore

[Snowface]

if your going to get a big block 8v engine, you may aswell look for the 20SEH. 130bhp is a nice figure to start of tuning from as apposed to around 110 the 1.8 will have.