C20XE Conversion shopping list

[stevei]

Decided to put a c20xe in my '89 Nova GTE, just need a bit of help putting a shopping list together. I am still usure on the driveshafts and hubs if somebody could point me in the right direction please.

- a nice c20xe with loom and all acc.. ( ?300ish )
- engine mountings ( lad on mig does them for ?40 )
- antiroll bar mounting brackets ( ?? )
- Hockley Plate kit ( ?85 )
- F16cr Gearbox ( what engine are these off? how much? )
- Driveshafts!?!
- Hubs!?!

cheers

ste

[NickWalliams]

First of all cross the following off your list:

Anti-roll bar mountings
Hubs

Get yourself some cav 1600 inner cv joints and use your Gte shafts, as for the HH plate kit this may not be required, welding will do the job alone. I run mine wiv no antiroll bar and it drives fine, some ppl prefer them but im not bothered.

F16 i think is off the 2.0 8v engine. Best have a F20 id say.

[stevei]

I take it i can also use my standard GTE hubs? i will be using the anti-roll bar and the HH kit for definate, as its going to be a track car.

ste

[Glytch]

You want the F20 gearbox, F13 works as well but only up 170bhp or somethiing thereabouts.

You can only use your exisiting driveshafts if they are original GTE shafts with the 22 splines. The only way you can tell is to take off the inner CVs and count the splines on the shaft.

You'll need to upgrade the brakes to Cavalier SRI, or Astra GTE etc

You could get away without the engine mounts and just mod ur existing mounts.

if you use ur gte shafts and cavvy inners then u can use ur existing hubs, cav and astra brakes will bolt straight on as well.

[Aamir]

Track Car :o you're better off with a 1.6 16v then, will easily out handle a 2.0 nova

[Aragorn]

arb induces understeer on novas - not really ideal for track use

[Philsutton]

im sick of every one going on about how shit 2lt novas handle, they handle shit if you do a piss poor conversion

[Dar]

Yea. Thanks Phil. The whole 2l 16v handle rubbish thing really annoys me. Mine handles like a dream and nothing to date has caught me up through the bends.

Plus on all the track day events i've been on your not allowed to over take thorugh the bends anyway.

[stevei]

thanks for the advise people. Dar what front suspension set-up are you using mate? also what engine bay prep did you do?

cheers

ste

[Dar]

I was running :-

Rose jointed concentric ally top mounts
Bilstein sprintliine kit
Strutbrace
Nylon bushes in the TCA's
Poly bushes in the tie-rods
Front ARB
The engine bay has been fully seam welded

However as well as the car handled it did need lowering and it leaned in the bends(to be expected). So I have put on :-

AVO Coilovers
Rose Jointed ecentric ally tops mounts (Needed more negative camber)

I have also take the front ARB off now because it is said (by people who have tried it) that once you have the suspension(hard) and shell(stiff) sorted the front ARB actually makes the car understeer more.

I haven't driven the car with the new setup yet because im still waiting for some more bits to come to finish off the winter mods. So I can't comment on the improvement.

However because you want to use it as a trackday car my advice is to get a LSD as soon as funds allow. It improved the handling of the car like no other mod i've currently done. My lap times around Castle Combe improved by around 4.5 secs straight away. The car also became alot easier to drive because you can keep the power on and pull yourself around/out the bends.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask anoymore questions and if you have a broadband connection you can go to www.daxtek.co.uk and download some in-car footage of my car going around Castle Combe last year. It may give you an idea of what the handling is like. However most of the understeer you will see in the vid is due to my over enthusiastic driving :D There is also some footage from a MK1 Escort on there as well that was on the track at the same time. So you can see some outside footage of the Nova cornering.

wooo that was a bit of an essay :oops: