190bhp from an XE on twin Webber 40's?

[dabsy]

I've come upon a bit of a gem at work today.....

The guy i've been working with for the last 6 months who used to work at Pilbeam assembling and testing their race cars just happens to have an XE in his garage that he said I can have for practically nothing :D he bought it off a guy who had it in his rally manta over 12 years ago. His intention was to race a monococ space framed car in hillclimbs and never got any further than a couple of shakedown runs in it before life (marriage and kids) caught up with him and he ended up breaking it , but he had these bits left over. The spec is roughly as follows, from bottom up:-

Dry sump kit with baffle and tank - make unknown
Lightened flywheel
race clutch - make unknown
rebalanced crank
Cosworth rod bolts
he thinks standard block internal but isn't sure
doesn't know what head is on it, but he knows nowt about GM vs. coscast
rally cams - make unknown, doesn't think it has aftermarket verniers either
unsure of valvetrain upgrades - but doesn't care either
twin 40 webbers fully set up including filters and distributer to run
shortened race starter motor
and some other bits he said he'd try and find

He admits that the engine has never been stored with keeping it in mint running order in mind, so will need a full strip down and check to find out if it's upto the standard required for heavy abuse, and then need refurbing as required and reassembling.

So other than feeling :D :cool: :thumb: :p is it possible that the twin 40's are likely to be the restriction to obtaining more that the proven 170 bhp i'm currently running from my standard other than group N ECU, BTB manifolded, 2 1/4 systemed and OEM injected XE?

As the title of the thread suggests, i'm after 190-200 bhp for use as a pure track weapon in me Nova life. And as twin webber 45's seem to be the norm. what are peoples experience or thoughts on the above.

Cheers all, Dave.

[Stuart]

40's wont let it breath to 200bhp..... 45's would though.

[Mike]

40's wont let it breath to 200bhp..... 45's would though.

bugger, got there before me! lol

[dabsy]

Stu,

Whats the bhp limit with an optimum setup pair of 40's?

Do you know if 45's can be bolted on in place of 40's, i.e. do they use the same bolt mounting battern or is it manifold specific?

Cheers, Dave.

[Stuart]

40;s limit at about 150-160bhp....

45's would need a new inlet manifold.

[Adam Moran]

Sounds like your getting not a lot for not alot of money imo.

just get youself an xe and build it up yourself

BUT have a plan and stick to it... other wise you can kiss goodbye to ????'s lol

[draper]

without knowing more about the cams it'll never make 200 !!

and ive never heard of a "shortened race starter motor" tbh

[dabsy]

Ok thanks for the comments, put a little perspective on things for me as I am going to offer him something for it, but not that much now that the 40's won't do anything for me. He asked me if I want to go and take a look to see if i'm interested in any of it as he want's it out of the way.

I was considering the idea of getting another XE to tinker with as my motor is upto about 150k on a GM head without ever having come apart in it's life sofar!! so if he's willing to practically give it to me i've lost nothing but space in my garage and i'll have another engine spare just in case.

The bolt on bits like cams, dry sump and lightened flywheel could be useful, but i'm running a tight as chuff budget on my Nova, so everything is likely to be 2nd hand anyway. If it has a Coscast head then all the better.

Cheers, Dave.

[draper]

how much is givint it away tho ?? XEs are about ?150 now days !!




edit - the 40s and manifold are worth a few ?? second hand tho ;)

[dabsy]

Well thats the million dollar question, he's an old guy, 53 today, has no intention of ever using it and left work for home today saying 'i don't know what market value for these bits are these days, you do, i'll leave it up to your conscience'.

Unfortunately I have one, so am not going to offer peanuts, but like wise i'm not prepared to buy a pile of scrap. If I can get the whole lot for ?150 quid I know that would cover me if I decided to split and sell. Any adive on that?

Dave.

[tom reid]

So why don't you take the engine, strip and have a good look, then make him an honest offer based on what you find?
Baffle?, is that the sump or tank?
You'll need to get some oil lines and fittings, not cheap when your on a budget, unless he has them as well.
Sounds like a road engine to me, with a dry sump system fitted.
If you want 200bhp, you'll need ARP's, 45's, crank, flywheel and clutch cover and front pulley balanced.
Also your on the limit for hyd cams, so might need to go for mechanical cam and valve train.Standard ign is not advisable at this level of performance, so mapped ign needed as well.
Hope this helps

[Stuart]

in which case, may aswell go for TB's for a more consistent fuelling and ign set etc... but it all depends on how you want to use it.

try and get some piccies up so we can see things like the sump etc.

[Adam]

If I can get the whole lot for ?150 quid I know that would cover me if I decided to split and sell. Any adive on that?

Dave.
The carb inlet alone is about ?150 to buy new! Lol
2nd hand 40s are about ?150+ too.

[Chris]

buy it, sell the dry sump kit as it isnt required in a nova, sell the carbs and buy my 45's ready to go, easy as that.

[Big_Chap]

i watch a dozen or so 230bhp XE's running 45's on standard bottom ends race every second saturday so its possible to achieve high figures, would struggle with 40's though!

[dabsy]

Have some picks but can't post them as my profile says I can't post attachments, what do I have to do to sort this out?

The block engine is very tidy, this guy is a meticulous engineer.

I'm sure the dry sump kit it has is the SBD one or very similar. It has an alloy tank with all of the braided lines withit.

The flywheel and clutch are both AP, with the flywheel being the pukka race slotted type, not just a lightened OEM one, and the clutch is a 3 piece item I think, but not too sure.

The starter motor is a 'high torque' but standard size... whatever that may give you.

The engine was bought by him at the turn of the 90's and has not been turned over since after it's shakedown runs in his 2 seater around that time, so it won't have done much mileage, but will need pulling apart to check it out. Again he says the cams were supposedly rally spec, but without checking i'll be unable to tell wha sort of power they will produce. I susspect he's right in that the rest of the engine is OEM save the Cosworth rod bolts and the lack of verniers may point to the cams being less that lairy... I couldn't see where the head type markings are for coscast or GM, where do I look?

The manifold is a formula vauxhall one and the 40's seem to be in perfect working order. Anyone know if 45's will fir this particular manifold?

I'm mulling over the offer, but for parts alone they would fetch a tidy sum!

Dave.

[Stuart]

you would need a 45's manifold..

just buy it for ?500 and sell off the 40's (that will get you ?250-300 back) then see what the rest of the engine is like...

[loggyboy]

40s usualy suit smaller lumps, like 1.3s n 1.6s. 45s are the norm for larger engines, however to get the most out of an XE TBs would be the best route, when you can use programable systems the reuslts are much more tubeable, carbs are very old technology, they do get results, but their are much more effiecient ways.

All boils down to budget. Allthough saying that, keep ur ear to the ground and u could find TBs cheap enough.