Enhance My 1.2 Merit lol

[NovaLad]

http://www.novaload.net/forum/images/icons/icon10.gifHow would i go about grabbing a couple more BHP from my 1.2 J reg merit which is totally standard atm lol ... any ideas are welcome cheers!http://www.novaload.net/forum/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Jack]

Take the engine out and put a new one in? lol

You'd be better spending money on handling, braking and weight reduction tbh.

[NovaLad]

So would lowering it help .. and putting better disk brakes on the front be ok ?? plus would a performance air filter and diff exhaust work?

[Dave.]

how about going down a hill lolo

try a k&n and lowering it, might improve it a teeny tiny bit

[NovaLad]

Oki.. well i allready bought a filter off someone NL but apparently it wont go on without modding something ... how about going downhill with 3 fat friends in the car and some concrete in the boot ? lmao oh yh and i have a GMAX lowering springs but don't have a clue what size they are ...
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[Nova-Dan]

twin 40s mate,kent cam,

[Stanley]

Go the usual 1200 route...

Decent rubber, shiffened shocks/springs, decent brake setup, lose some interior wieght, K&N panel filter, SR manifold and downpipe and complete exhaust system, SR cam too. 5 speed box also if not already fitted.

Makes things a bit more driveable but really not buch point spending money on it IN MY OPINION.

[Jack]

twin 40s mate,kent cam,
^ would be more productive on a 1.3 engine.

Springs and brakes would be a good start, bear in mind if you want best handling you'd be advised to get some uprated dampers as well.

Don't forget mods = higher insurance as well...

[NovaLad]

Errr... how much are dampers goign to set me back .. and can you tell from my pictures what size springs they are ?

[Stanley]

Try Demon-Tweeks or similar. Or check for sale section.

Id say that those springs are 40mm lowered.

[Timmy]

can you match my 65BHP ?LOL

[NovaLad]

wuhoo 40mm lol ... so they gunna see me rolling they hating patroling they gunna catch me riding dirty lol sorry....i don't know what came over me ... haha

[NovaLad]

can you match my 65BHP ?LOL
Is your car the same as mine ... 1.2 merit .. manual choke ?

[Nova-Dan]

^ would be more productive on a 1.3 engine.

Springs and brakes would be a good start, bear in mind if you want best handling you'd be advised to get some uprated dampers as well.

Don't forget mods = higher insurance as well...
nobody else is perfect as you rj

[Adam]

1.3 inlet and carb would help.
As would a SR exhaust manifold,downpipe and full exhaust system.

[Mike.]

as said mate, engine work, but the cheapist solution would be too loose all unwanted weight....






but theres not really any point in it tbh, as i found out so i binned the 1.2 and chucked a 1.4 in it instead

[NovaLad]

Yerrr ... slight problem ... i turn 17 next tuesday lol !!!

[Jack]

Forget performance mods then, you'll find it hard/expensive to get insured.

[rdanny]

twin 40s mate,kent cam,
find some info on a twin webber and a nice air filter.
lose the spare wheel and all your fat friends too,

not much u can do really apart from the above and if u want get decent spark plugs and leads and clean mr dizzy (distributer cap) small wheels help too

[Stuart]

what are you overall plans for the car? also id forget any mods appart fomr "styling" for a year.... this would assume that you pass the first year without writing the car off (as so many new drivers do, its a statisctic so deal with it)

once your through the first year you then need to be honest with yourself. Are you keeping the car forever, im guessing a 2.0 16v engine will wind up in there as its most nova owners wet dream, so tuning the 1.2 engine is a complete waste of money and time.

[therealnovaboy]

if its a carburated 1.2 what you want to do is take the head off and polish the inlets and outlets, port match the inlet and outlet manifolds, you can do this for the price of a gasket set and bolts ie 30 pound. if you want to spend more money skim it you can easily skim a mm off it for 40 quid then put it back together after re grinding all the valves. if you want to spend more money put a 1.3 sr cam in it. advance the timing and use optimax or the likes. make sure the carb is clean. get new leads, nothing special just new ones. this should make a good bit of differance and will easily keep up with any other 1.2 on the road. get a goood set of shocks and springs, and a good set of tyres. lighten the car as much as you want. if you want to go that bit further weld up the diff. take the 10 or so bolts off the bottom and fill it with weld it sounds harsh but at the end of the day its only a gearbox. i think 4 speeds are better for the 1.2 carbd engine but thats my opinion its better suited for the rev range and you dont need 5 gears if your only going to be flying about back roads and twistys. the beuty of tuning a 1.2 engine is thers millions of them and if you **** up get another one. there so common people use them as door stops.

[Stuart]

WTF?!?!! You are honeslty suggesting to weld the diff of a FWD car up thats used on the road?!?!?! have you lost your mind?

Giving BAD advice out like that is just plain stupid!

[therealnovaboy]

i dissagree with stuart its not totaly pointless tuning a 1.2. if you do the work your self you learn alot about cars and how they work and its better to experiment with a 1.2 than a 1.6 or 2 litre. you could just spend all your money on spoilers and bumpers or you could save your money on insurance and sily-con and try and see if you can make it so fast it breaks.

[therealnovaboy]

its not the best idea but you can do it and it does enhanse it.

[Stuart]

I know its not pointless to tune a 1.2, BUT if hes just planning to dump an XE in there in a year then there is genuinely no point spending money (even if it is ?100) on the 1200 engine. xe's are cheap and even easier to mess with then the 1.2 imho.


how is not being able to turn the car an enhancement by the way?

[Jack]

use optimax or the likes.
L M F A O lol lol lol

Seriously, when talking about "tuning" the 1.2, don't argue with Stuart, he's been there and done that lol

[Jon_nova1]

why weld the diff??

and optimax?? that will have no effect on a 1.2 lol

in my opinion, leave all the engine mods, you wont be using them soon, although like therealnovaboy says, it may be a good idea to port polish the head and get it skimmed, but this is only if you plan on putting a 1.3/1.4 engine in at a later date, then you can use the 1.2 head on them, otherwise dont bother with any engine work

[therealnovaboy]

why weld the diff??

and optimax?? that will have no effect on a 1.2 lol

in my opinion, leave all the engine mods, you wont be using them soon, although like therealnovaboy says, it may be a good idea to port polish the head and get it skimmed, but this is only if you plan on putting a 1.3/1.4 engine in at a later date, then you can use the 1.2 head on them, otherwise dont bother with any engine work

it will have an effect itll stop it pinking when you advance the timing and skim the head.

you could turbo it for like ?300

[Jon_nova1]

my heads been skimmed so much the pistons hit the spark plugs, and that does't pink

[loggyboy]

PMSL at some of the 'advice' on 'tuning' a 1.2 lol

welded diff on FWD lol lol lol :cry:

Theres only one way to tune a 1.2 and thats through throwing lots of money at head work, twin carbs, exhausts etcetc and unless you wanna spend thousands ul still only end up with as much power as a 1.6i would give u.

You need to think in advance what you want from the car and where you wanna use it.

ie nippy road runner, fast road, stupidly fast road, fun track, fast track, 1/4 mile sprinter.. etc etc.

If you want the most amount of power for the least amount of expense then redtop XE is the obvious way.

[Stuart]

exactly. my 1.2 that has been scrapped incidently, would have had about 110bhp give ot take a bit, and that had, had lots done/spent on it such as a BVH, huge porting work, T40's, uber lairy cam, silly spec bottom end etc etc and it would have been a PITA to drive as the pwoer would have all be at the top end of the 8K rev range lol.

[therealnovaboy]

i dont think the boy wants to go all out spending loads of money on it any way and wanting to make decent power. doing small things like port matching/polishing skimming, balancing and grinding in valves ect can make a huge differance to a car thats done 100000 miles and built in the late 80s. you wont make big bhp figures but for people who want a car that runs well. these are the things you can do.

ok maby not things like welding difs but i suppose my point was that its a 1.2 nova at the end of the day and you can do stupid things to them, break them then get another engine out the srapper for a fiver. so dont be scared to save money not gettin it profesionaly port polished and trying it yourself.

i also said when you advance the timing and skim the head it causes pinking that can be helped by using high octaine fuel

[Stuart]

or just advance the timeing the correct ammount to prevent pinking in the first place......rather than whacking it all the way round and hoping expensive waste of money fuel will fix a technical incompetancy lol

[loggyboy]

But for all the effort you go to you get a few more horses than it left the factory with. I understand your point about learning how to work on engines etc, but if your gonna spend a weekend doing it, might as well make it worth while.
If you want to learn about engines your better off getting a 1.6 engine, stripping it in the garage, playing around with it. bolt it all 2getha and try that. At least then youl have a car with some grunt and your effort will have led you to a car with useable power.

[Jack]

ok maby not things like welding difs but i suppose my point was that its a 1.2 nova at the end of the day and you can do stupid things to them, break them then get another engine out the srapper for a fiver.
They might break on the road though, at speed, and you can't buy another life from the scrappy for any amount.

[NovaLad]

lol thanks for the pages of comments...

TBH i wanted it to keep up with my mates 1.4 seat but i really doubt that will happen... I'm just sick of him having just a bit more speed than me at everything (mummys boy .. gets everything bought for him)lol

It would be soooo brilliant for him to think my car is a standard 1.2 and for for him to see my rear end for once...

I'll try them small things just to make the car run better at 1st such as springs/dampers, diff filter, more air intake, diff exhaust etc.. just to see how much it improves.

After a bit i mite spend more on it ... Ideally i'm growing very fond of Novas and i would keep it as a 1.2 for 1-3years then maby swop the engine, or buy a new Nova.

Thanks alot stu you obviously know what your talking about.

[Welsh Dan]

Strip the interior out and see what someone like Flux would charge you for uprated shocks (no height change = cheaper), valver brakes + suitable wheels and a CR box.

[Jon_nova1]

a seat is quite alot heavier, so you could probably make a 1.2 beat it

[Timmy]

ok what i hae done to my 1.2 is simple easy to do and if you keep your eyes on here and eaby cheap. 1.3sr inlet and 32/34 carb. 1.6 marifold and magnex zorst.(?80 system form ebay) 16v brakes, lowerd on stanrd SR springs and 15in wheels. i replaced plug oil HT lead and so on thats it 65BHP on RR as well. if i wanted to get more i coul strip it out as people say that will make a big difference. then for futer keep the inlet and head drop in a 1.4sr with box you'll be more than happy with the power out of that untill you want an xe or LET