1.6 gsi engine tuning recommendations?

[mikeyboy]

:roll:
evening all nova lovers!merry christmas 2!!

i have a 1.6 gsi lump in my garage, in need of rebuild, but i thought that i mite as well tune the bad boy. i bin thinking turbo conversion, but costs are too much, so my alternative is weber twin 40s? ported and polished head, uprated kent cams, and thats about as far as i have got. so any help? if i ditch the injection for carburettors i realise i mite be drinking petrol, so what about throttle bodies?

[Dan]

Twin forties even on a decent spec 1.6 8v will return an avergae of 30-35mpg, the fuelling issue is down to if you drive like an idiot 99% of the time or it isnt tuned properly on a r/r.

[mikeyboy]

i realise this mate but wat other potential is there in this engine?
im looking to have a rapid nova, without modifying engine mounts etc, as you would for engine conversions. what do you recommend? :lol:

[nova_kev]

high comp pistons, lightened flywheel, billet knife edge crank, rods, nos etc

as far as im aware, your imagination and wallet are your limit! i am in a similar position chap and have been looking down this alley. there is plenty of power to be had as im sure some of the lads and lasses on here will tell you. but as i say it seem to come down to how much your willin to spend and how far your willing to go 8)

[mikeyboy]

i know i know but this is gonna be a two year process, so money will come through out the year. all i need is an engine spec that will get me some good power and then il find the funds. hopefully il try get majority of parts through work or my paps who is in the trade!

[nova_kev]

this what i would like to do to mine (money permitting):

C16SE
Billet crank
Forged Rods
High Comp Pistons
Compition big ends
Lightened Flywheel
High comp head gasket (metal)
Bill Blydenstein big valve head
Kent Cam
Vernier Pulley
Twin 40 carbs
4 branch manifold
full system
direct port noz (approx 50 bhp shot with progressive controller)

thing is chap, i would hate to think how much that loty would cost :?

[mikeyboy]

[quote="nova_kev"]this what i would like to do to mine (money permitting):

Billet crank
Forged Rods
High Comp Pistons
Compition big ends

ok i understand everything else but the above is where im lost. can u explain? :roll: :cry:

[nova_kev]

its the block chap......the bottom end!

those bits will be need for the noz

[mikeyboy]

its the block chap......the bottom end!

those bits will be need for the noz

um yeah i knew that?? :roll:

where do you get them bits from? prices?

my mate at uni does automotive engineering and he gave mre an engine spec for a turbo conversion in general, but prices for that can escalate. he reckons i can get the bits for 1500, which is a bit much really. how much does port and polish cost do you know?

[burgo]

if your not willing to pay ?1500 for the rite bits then it will go bang rather quick, which of course means forking out for a new engine. i recon ?1500 is cheap

[nova_kev]

for 1500 you will lucky to get any change from it if you only purchased the head, cam kit, manifold and system and twin 40's!

it will be tight at that!

that whats i meant by it costing some big bucks chap

[Gunzi]

If you want to see a top spec 1.6 see Dans link under his reply (the 1st reply) then you will see what a 1.6 can do (without a turbo)

A Bill Byldenstein big valve head is around ?400 + the new head set (not inc the metal head gasket if u r going down that route!)

Twin 40's are around ?300-?500 depending on how much 2nd hand stuff u can find (inlet manifold is ?129 new)

gunzi

[Nick]

its the block chap......the bottom end!

those bits will be need for the noz

i'm building my 1.6 T40 to run on nitrous injection (though the inlet manifold), i've been advised to run a 2 stage progressive system, which isn't as cheap as you'd think (the controller is about ?500 - unless you run a very high spec engine + or don't mind replacing parts) but , it all depends on how much HP your runing through the lines.

throttle bodies are ?1k plus, the ultimate 1.6 addition tho.. that's an alternative now, after i've found how much the nitrous realistically costs !#

Jim has got 160bhp out of his 1.6 t40 (fly or wheels ?) which by the sounds of it has had a reasonably extensive rebuild.

so there's good power to be achieved !

[Aragorn]

afaik the rally spec bowyer engines run about 160-170ish bhp and iirc this is just about the limit for the 1.6 8v without nos or turbo

the 1.6 16v seems to be a lot more tunable with 200+bhp possible

its my opinion that for a road car a decent spec 140ish bhp 1.6 8v like dan or mike oxfords with a 50-100shot of nos would awesome

to run big nos i'd thing you'd need steel rods although u MAY get away with shot peened and deseamed 16v rods and most definately a progressive controller

[CP]

Umm well if you are talkin adding nitrous why bother with all the other mods as well? Isnt the point of nitrous that you are in effect injecting under pressure cooled O2 and fuel in addition to what the car supplies by normal means? larger air intake mods and porting and flowing should to a large degree irrelevant to this? This means that really you shud be able to get away with maybe a plug, a zorst and a cam change? AFAIK the internal components of the std engine should be ok to withstand quite a lot of extra power added like this. It maybe wise to use forged pistons because of their greater resistance to detonation damage and the xtra heat and compressive forces. It would be likely that the weak point would be the lands in between the rings or the head gasket blowing regularly. I reckon extensive bottom end re-builds are probably not necessary most of the time. How often do you hear of these engines throwing a rod or having the crank break even after quite a lot of power added? If you are using progressive controllers to add xtra nos and fuel wisely the power is fed in safely anyway.

In any event anyone tried a knife edged crank in a nova engine and tell us exactly what its done? I know of std cranks good for 9K revs without problems - only upgrade needed is the main bearing and seal. Valves drop before that

[Nick]

Umm well if you are talkin adding nitrous why bother with all the other mods as well? Isnt the point of nitrous that you are in effect injecting under pressure cooled O2 and fuel in addition to what the car supplies by normal means? larger air intake mods and porting and flowing should to a large degree irrelevant to this? This means that really you shud be able to get away with maybe a plug, a zorst and a cam change? AFAIK the internal components of the std engine should be ok to withstand quite a lot of extra power added like this. It maybe wise to use forged pistons because of their greater resistance to detonation damage and the xtra heat and compressive forces. It would be likely that the weak point would be the lands in between the rings or the head gasket blowing regularly. I reckon extensive bottom end re-builds are probably not necessary most of the time. How often do you hear of these engines throwing a rod or having the crank break even after quite a lot of power added? If you are using progressive controllers to add xtra nos and fuel wisely the power is fed in safely anyway.

In any event anyone tried a knife edged crank in a nova engine and tell us exactly what its done? I know of std cranks good for 9K revs without problems - only upgrade needed is the main bearing and seal. Valves drop before that

For my engine, the nitrous would only be used rarely, it's just something i thought of to make it different from the "norm"

so for 98% of the time it's driven i'd like to have some pretty reasonable power 130bhp prehaps, which means i'm going to have to rebuild it to a reasonable desgree anyway.

Also, it all depends on what HP you use... with an extensivley rebuilt engine you could go for anything upto 50hp+.... but with a standard engine you could run 15hp easily without any progressive controller or on a single stage system with a standard engine (as long as you have quite a strict system that regulats the mixture compared to bottle pressures e.t.c - which most of the mid range kits are coming with now)

[Nick]

it all depends on if your willing to fork out some ???? to get it installed and set up properly , by a professional.

Otherwise you'l start breaking things.

[benji]

as cp said, tuning and running gas is a waste of cash. forged piston's are a good idea(or have standard piston's ceramic topped) no need to mod the inlet port's and valve's, but a good exhaust manifold is a must, bigger exhaust valves are also a good idea. you could also speak to someone about a cam designed for nitrous. best people to speak to are highpower systems