What else can be done to this 1400?

[NovaloadedAgain]

I have spent thousands since I took ownership of this Nova, It was always a good car in terms of bodywork & styling, But I have spent over a thousand on the engine as it was only 90bhp when I bought it. Im also planning on adding a GSi front bumper, Allessio's or Compomotives in black, Im trying to get hold of a full lenghth irmscher sunroof, & then I think Id be pretty happy. Lol.

So far Ive added:

Twin 40's,
285 Cam,
4 branch,

which has added around 25bhp. Ive stripped the back seat & all seatbelts, Ive now got harnesses.
Im wondering if a lightened flywheel may be worth doing I could have mine machined or buy a sports one. Would it make Any difference?

[Nick]

rightio... suprised that you've made it to 115bhp with those mods...anyways...

I'd avise getting some Headwork Done, you could use the 1.4 SRi head, as it ditches the crappy square ported SR head for the nicer round ports. however this will mean changing your inlet. the SRi head gave benji 9bhp i think. it has larger valves and it'd be worth getting some gas flowing/porting polished done.

as for bottom end

you could go for a rebore with oversize pistons, this has a direct link to increaseing torque,
to allow it to go through the revs quicker you could get the flywheel lightened and balanced, the black balanced and skimmed, have the con-rods balanced shotpeened and deseamed and lash on some ARP bolts...

that should see you a bit more BHP

but really, it's not going to be Massivly high.

Why not consider using the parts you allready have on a C/E16SE lump, as this will give you a fair increase in power.

[NovaloadedAgain]

Its got a 1200 head on it already, I was just mentionning what Ive added thats why the complete spec wasnt listed mate. But I think the 1.4 SRi head I have collecting dust could be re-worked. Gas flowed etc. Might make a difference.

[polly]

are arp bolts a must i am building an engine of that spec has anyone ever had problems with standard bolts breaking

[NovaloadedAgain]

All depends, How do you plan on using the car...?

If your doing alot of ragging it around, or track usage then the bolts are a must!
I havent had mine changed & Ive been ok, Ive done alot of mileage too in that time.

I do push my car but not too hard or hard revving it etc, Just a nice power surge when I need too.

[Dan]

Anything to do with the bottom end will give minor gains, you dont get sheds loads of power or torque just a fresh strong unit that would rev a tad freer. I only did mine back in the day as i had owned it from 40k until 110k which with my driving it deserved a freshener lol.

The old rule applies here, if it aint broke dont fix it.

[johnny27]

I think between the two, being : lightened and balanced bottom end and over bore etc : or putting all your parts on a 1600 GSi engine, it would prob be to use the parts you have on the 1600 block, it would be alot less hassle than building a perfromance 1400 bottom end and the 1600 would have better power and be a stronger block. Altough if you do choose to go ahead with the 1400 option, a steel lightened crankshaft would be great power gain.

[Aragorn]

can u explain exactly how a "steel" version of the original steel crank would make any difference?

i assume u mean a forged one? as opposed to the standard cast one?

how thats going to increase power AT ALL ive no idea however

[johnny27]

you can lighten a standard iron crankshaft a little before it looses it tensile and snaps. A steel one on the other hand is alot lighter to start with compared to the std vaux iron one, plus you can lighten it alot more as it dose'nt loose its tensile. A light crank spins up alot quicker and the engine has less to turn because of the light weight, leaving quicker higher revs and more power to the wheels where it would have spent before turning a heavy iron crank, gaining some more ponies.

[Stuart]

why not fit helium filled valves while you at it to reduce the load on the cam, which will reduce the laod on the bottom end, thus freeing up power ;)



lightening stuff up only allows an incresed RATE of change or power, NOT and increased power over all.

[Aragorn]

yer as camb says

lightening a flywheel for instance makes engine rev happier, doesnt actually provide any more power, just less rotational mass to get moving

[benji]

i don't have arp rod bolts and mine get's revved off the clock regularly.

if you want to stick with the 1400 i would advise a B++ head, around ?600 but it is definatly the next thing you need to dospeak to snowface, he has a 1300 one and i'm pretty sure it might be forsale soon. he's building a 1600. it might be worth getting the botom end done while you are at it simply you then know it will last a bit longer, but thats all down to how long you intend keeping it.

the other thing is your gearbox, what are you running? idealy you want a cr box with a 4.18 final drive amd maybe a LSD.

your other option would be(as said) fit the cam and carbs on a 1600 all you will need is a new inlet manifold and the carbs settng up to suit, i don't think the 4 branch will fit but i might be wrong

[Snowface]

My 1.2 blydenstein head is for sale in about 2-3 weeks time after the 1.6 is in, along with my rally-spec bottom end.

Bill has semi-retired now and has stopped doing cylinder heads. (tried to get him to work on my 1.6 head).

He has told me of a company that carries out the work to his specification in Soham, Cambs, but i decided to get Andrew at Cylinder head developments to do a similar job.

[NovaloadedAgain]

I think from all your advice I will opt for the 1600 when this one gives me any trouble, Ive decided Id prefer a 1600 over a valver anyway. Power to weight.
Im running a standard 1400 gearbox, No probs so far. Its pretty quick to be truthful Ive never taken it upto the limiter, But If yours can take it Benji-& Ive seen your track day vids-Very impressive by the way mate, Then im Sure my engine can hold up for a while.

[Snowface]

i wouldn't try to take it to the limiter.

They done have them lol. The only limit you will get to is *BANG!*

[NovaloadedAgain]

Lol, Yeah think I might try to avoid that at the mo. Although Id like to see the digi dash go up to the red. Id only do it once though! bang!

[Aragorn]

tbh the gte and sri limit at 6800rpm which is yellow on the digidash

the 1.4 sr engine could go up there just as happily however it IS reaching a danger zone even for the standard GTE and SRI engines mainly for the rodbolts

7k (red zone on digi) would be doable short term but u would be playing russian roulette with the internals, u could do what benjis doing and rev it there all the time and not have a problem or u could do it once and it snaps a rodbolt

[Snowface]

its only worth reving it their if thats where the cam pushes your power to.

my max power is at 6.5k.

i think standard 1.4sr max power is at 5600rpm so revving past 6-6.5k is fairly pointless when you can change gear and go back to some torque lower down.

[johnny27]

revs went well off the gauge on my digidash once, did'nt realize i was pushing that hard. Invested in a rev limiter now with full throttle change (its well quick) gearshift lights and launch control, with that peice of kit you can keep the revs high for my cam's power band all of the time if u want, and the full throttle change means i have enough power to spin the wheels going into 3rd gear

[Jim]

My 1.2 blydenstein head is for sale in about 2-3 weeks time after the 1.6 is in, along with my rally-spec bottom end.


Out of curiousity, whats the specification of a "rally-spec" bottom end?

Jim

[Aragorn]

i seem to recall it had fancy hi-comp pocketed pistons and possibly shot-peened and deseamed rods

[CP]

I personally don't think you need to go to the trouble and expense of lightening and balancing what is already a pretty well designed block and internals unless you are using it for competition. I hear this trotted out all the time as though its some kind of magical way to increase power. I'm putting out pretty big power out of my 1.4 SR block and its all std apart from de-seamed rods and ARP bolts and corsa 1.4 crowns(to fit the 16V head). The rods and ARP bolts are for engines revving 8k or more. However you are more likley to see a valve drop first at above those revs.
If i were looking for more power assuming you got a well worked head I would look to raise the CR... and then bin the 285 cam and use at least a 300 cam.... :wink:

[benji]

its only worth reving it their if thats where the cam pushes your power to.

my max power is at 6.5k.

i think standard 1.4sr max power is at 5600rpm so revving past 6-6.5k is fairly pointless when you can change gear and go back to some torque lower down.

it helps to be able to rev it that bit more when you are on a track, it save's changing up a gear, only to change down again 2 seconds later, good example of this is at donington coming out of (can't remember the names but i think it's) mcleans and going up the hill into the blind right hander,

[johnny27]

if what ur saying that complete bottom end lightening is'nt a power gain then your very wrong, you might'nt add bhp as such, but the engine goes ALOT quicker when done. Had a drive in my friends 2.1 pinto powered escort b4 and after the bottom end was l&b and it was a amazing difference, the pickup in the accerlation and revs was like driving a motorbike, there is downforce on you the second you floor the throttle. Its best for competiiton use, but if your looking to go for more power than you have it is one of the things that will really make a difference. Plus if you add a 300deg cam, your powerband is going to be alot higher in the revs, l&b will help get you there, and so will the 4.18fd and CR box. Proper tuning does'nt come cheap or easy.

[Aragorn]

tbh when i fit my throttle bodies i'd sooner have ARP bolts and deseemed/shot peened rods than any lightening and balancing

i might get the lightening and balancing done too cost dependant but the rods and bolts would be my main area of focus for a high revving engine

418cr box is all fine but thats also down to driving style - i'd rather have slightly wider gearing so as not having to be constantly fishing for gears and make do with the slight performance defecit (im actually looking for a 418WR for mine as the ratios seem about perfect for me)

[Ste_Nova]

why not fit helium filled valves while you at it to reduce the load on the cam, which will reduce the laod on the bottom end, thus freeing up power ;)


how would that work?? you are pushing them down... to make them easier to push them down make them out of lead... :lol:

[Snowface]

Out of curiousity, whats the specification of a "rally-spec" bottom end?

Jim


1.3sr block
Rebored/ Honed Block
Uprated Oversized Pocketed Pistons (allows wild cam timings)
Ground Crank
New Main & Big end Bearings
Turfide Crank (??)
Full Dynamic Engine Balance
Lightened Flywheel
Flywheel Faced
Block Face Skimmed (higher compression)

a lot of money spent.

I never said a fully worked bottom end would give 'More Power'.

There are obviously other advantages, otherwise why have it done.

(every-day cars obviously don't need as extensive mods as this cause they arn't rev'd up and down or as hard as you would in racing.)

one interesting thing i would of liked to of tried is to make a hybrid out of my spare 1.2 engine.

if i used my 1.2 block & pistons with the 1.3 crank and fly etc it would give me 1432cc to play with. (would i use 1.3 or 1.2 rods?)

[Dod]

Shot peened Cranks? Can my local sand blaster do this or is it a specialised thing. Also, where would you start to see about getting the bottom ends lightened and balanced?

[NovaloadedAgain]

I must say you've all been very helpful with this, My 1.4 bottom end is very strong as too is the headwork, Im getting very confused what to do now! Snowface-Can you let me know when your selling your 1300 head & giz a price.
Also think I might have some work done to the bottom end If I do keep this engine. Would really like to see how it fairs up against some other same ish spec Novas-Benjis or Snowfaces. I know your probably much better drivers on a track, But I wonder the difference in straight line speed etc. I will have to come out to a few shows once Ive got some cash! Thanks for all the help & info so far! :)

[ANDYRACER]

For a 1.4 engine seeing as they get tated in a straight line by valvers i would seriously look into a 50 bhp shot of nos. But its amazing how far u can go with such a small engine.

Well done vauxhall for building such a shit hot engine. :lol:

[NovaloadedAgain]

Come on mate, There is 600cc difference! but a 1400 should be better round a corner. Benji's is impressive. NOS is another thing im considering actually mate, But probably a 25bhp shot.

[Aragorn]

i recon the 1400 block could handle 140-150bhp in pretty much standard trim as the components are the same as the 1600 which will also handle 150bhp in standard trim

110bhp 1.4 plus 50shot of nos on a progressive controller would see you alright

[benji]

Would really like to see how it fairs up against some other same ish spec Novas-Benjis or Snowfaces. I know your probably much better drivers on a track, But I wonder the difference in straight line speed etc. I will have to come out to a few shows once Ive got some cash! Thanks for all the help & info so far! :)

get your self down to santa pod, i did a 15.9 us that as somthing to aim at. although i am hoping to be a bit quicker this year.

as for gas, 50bhp in one shot should be ok, don't bother with a controller, as long as you wait untill 2ng gear it should all be good :)

[NovaloadedAgain]

Yeah that would be cool Benji :wink:
Always liked your car, & know its pretty fast.
Im definately gonna look to invest in a 50 shot of NOS. Thanks guys.

Summer is gonna be a good season for my Nova.