vxr lump

[MyNovaSr]

i may have brought a vxr 240bhp engine. what needs to be done to the bay of a nova? if not ill flog it lol

[Lee]

lol. its not fitting the lump thats the problem. Theyre fly by wire engines with a mountain of electronics, so getting it running would require a lot of dedication lol

[General Baxter]

sell it and buy a LET or maybe 3 or 4 of them lol

[MyNovaSr]

flly by wire? didnt know that.

[Lee]

all new vauxes are, even ZLETS are fly by wire. Hense why we still are yet to see one in a Nova.

[Riggy]

lol i think you should give it me for free , will suit the astra lol

[MyNovaSr]

on the vxr side of things. i had a run in with a vxr zafira and omg I cried. my xe's about 200bhp and it still left me :cry:

[Stuart]

ohhh looks like my home made ETB driver might have a market lol

[turbojolt]

i think you should give it a try i think you will be the first person to do so

and who knows could be the next big thing to hit the nova seen mate
hope you give it alot of thourght mate

[Mike]

if your good with wiring and wiring diagrams, i see no reason why you couldnt get it to run.

However, if you do undertake it this would be fresh territory thus little in the way of information

[Lee]

It would involve cable shift gearboxes, electronic throttle pedals and hydraulic clutches. That makes me scared just typing it, and ive not even got to the wiring LOL

Edit: and remembering one of my conversations with Mark Watts, the brake system needs transfering as well, as it all works through the ECU

[Ash]

Or get hold of a VXR loom, dash, clocks etc and cut it all down to fit in a nova, then you just need to attach the battery :)

[Ash]

F28 would fit tho???

[Stuart]

you will need ABS hubs to talk to the ABS system that will talk to the ecu/dash etc etc etc lol.

In short rebody a VXR.

[Lee]

you will need ABS hubs to talk to the ABS system that will talk to the ecu/dash etc etc etc lol.

In short rebody a VXR.

Not just the ABS, the whole farking lot needs transfering apparently, theres sensors all over the place.

Scary sheeet!

[Mike]

Not just the ABS, the whole farking lot needs transfering apparently, theres sensors all over the place.

Scary sheeet!

Modern engines make me scared lol

V-Tec's are as far as ill go, anything more compicated then changing a Honda (1.5 to 1.8 is what we done) is as far as ill go lol

[turbojolt]

and what about the respect for carring it throught and being the first :eek:

[Mike]

and what about the respect for carring it thropught and being the first :eek:

personally, id rather put my financial position (or dis-position lol) further infront of the above. Stuff takes time and money tbh.

Then add all the factors like time, is it really worth it, and the whole CBA issue into it.

[turbojolt]

you would have thought Courtenay would have started plans for this really wouldn't you

[Ash]

tbf tho, you could make a C20LET 240bhp easily for probably 3rd the price. Just put a VXR sticker on it.

[Mike]

you would have thought Courtenay would have started plans for this really wouldn't you

Maybe they know something we dont :thumb:

I.E. Not financially viable.

[Dar]

Can't see the point in trying to use the standard ECU if its tied in to that many things. Get a proper management system. What you will need is alot of time, Patience and money.

[MyNovaSr]

what have i got to loose. ill give it a try :D . if all else fails ive still got my trusty xe :) .

if i aim for proformance vaux nxt year, that gives me the time anyhow.

[Stuart]

lmfao, I'd aim for something like PV 2010

seriously. The ecu probably requires the ABS unit, Dash unit, Vehicle Control unit and any other controller that is used hooked up and happy (ie all of those units wired in/setup correctly), oh and dont forget the pedal (but thats the easy bit).

I'd sell the vxr lump and buy a LET, refresh it and put some choice mods on and still have money left over for beer.

[MyNovaSr]

there might be a way of not useing the abs and stability control etc. cant see to much hastle of acually getting it to start. i reckon it would fit to the f28 box and would certainly be something no one else has. let's are good but seriously common place. that bores me...

[Stuart]

I guess it depends what the strategy is programmed to do if it dosent see can traffic of the right sort etc.

I know that we have the engines go into limp mode etc if there is no relevant can traffic within 5 seconds of start. Id stick with the F23 box as its good and the Cable shift is really nice (jsut mounting it might be hard, least of your issues)

[MyNovaSr]

id use a good old cable throttle body and throw away the fly by wire crud. F28 would work. maybe stand alone managment would solve the problem of the ecu.. but we'll see what happens

[Stuart]

not that easy.... take out the ETB and then the ecu will bitch like hell and drop into limp mode.
take away the vehicle speed signal and it will drop into limp mode.

Yes a stand alone ecu would solve the problem (needs a manual TB then), but for the cost of that you might aswell fit the C20LET and be done with it lol.

[MyNovaSr]

ill think about it :tumble:

[Stuart]

:)

Id have modded the hell out of my Vx engine by now if it werent poxy ETB controlled.... There are no known aftermarket ECU's that can run an ETB... although I hope to remedy that in about 12 months time as its one of my goals at work for the year.

[Lee]

id use a good old cable throttle body and throw away the fly by wire crud. F28 would work. maybe stand alone managment would solve the problem of the ecu.. but we'll see what happens

It seems you want to do this as a gimmik rather than creating a fast car, in which case fair enough. But IMHO its a complete waste of money, as 240bhp is easily viable on a LET, and after you've spent god knows what on getting the VXR to run, you could have a completely fresh LET pushing way more power.

Courtenay wont do it, as the point in spending 7K on a conversion in a 1K car is just pointless, as well as the complete lack of custom they'd have, especially when the same performance can be achieved for a fraction of the cost.

We'll all be behind you if you do it, but if you really want something different that will wow the crowds, why not attempt a 4x4 as there are STILL no working examples out there, and that will be a hell of a lot more interesting to look at than a VXR cam cover under the bonnet in a car no quicker than a LET.

[Mike]

^ agreed

Yes, id defiently be behind you if you were to start and/or suceed, however i really do think youve bitten off more then you can chew if you were to undertake something like this.

[krobinson]

Edit: everyone said what i said lol

Keith

[MyNovaSr]

all very valid points. ive been told that they are a better engine. i.e. updated version of the let and more reliable power is achievable. What annoyed me this year is I took my xe to PV and no one gave it a second look on the stand. Maybe if I kicking some ass on the strip with the first VXR nova they come for a second look. this is now my mission :) .

ill post pics and all the rest and i might just have a runner at the end of it to be proud of.

[Lee]

Ahhh, so your an Attention Whore lol lol

As for more reliable power, if Rick Draper can squeeze over 400 horses out of one, i still cant see an advantage myself.

Your desperately trying to talk yourself into spending a wad for an impressive cam cover lol

[Stuart]

lol no one cares about xe novas unless they are TB'b and or nitroused. it wasnt your fault

[MyNovaSr]

lol i see where i went wrong. im seriously keen to do it. I will work out the costs and if the budget climbs to high ill pimp my housemates lol .

or just do some overtime.

[alan b]

sell it and go let, youll get over the "coolness" of it eventually and realise youve spent thousands you'll never see back. 240 bhp is easily got from an let, youd be mad to waste your money. you only want to do it because a vxr engine is availble!

[big gra]

if you do it i think we will all be very proud and amazed because it will be one hell of an achievment, and i think i speak for everyone when i say your taking me out for a spin when its done, as long as there is an army of auto electricians standing by to fix it when the engine decides it dosent want to run anymor because of one tiny electrical fault, and the car is then useless!! lol

[Jack]

If, as Lee postulated, you're doing this for attention then IMO forget it. Yes, its different; yes, nobody has done it before; and yes, it will attract attention. BUT as you might have gathered from the replies in this thread, it won't be good attention - people wil be asking why did you go to all that effort and cost to do what would have been considerably cheaper and easier with a C20LET.

If you go ahead with it, good luck... by the sounds of it you've got a massive amount of work cut out! The finished product could be interesting, as if you need to install all the electrical gubbins (abs, pas, etc) you'd end up with a "modern spec" nova.

[MyNovaSr]

if i have to use PAS then ill forget it. ive been speaking to an electrician and it seems that i might be driving in limp mode alot. might be in my best interests to whack a space saver tyre on and blame the lack of speed on that ;) .

[Stuart]

lmfao im sure I said it would be running in limp if you didnt do X,Y,Z... oh well guess i dont knwo what im on about lol.

Can easily get round the PAS bit since the VXR220 dosent use pas..

[MyNovaSr]

is the vxr lump 2.2 or 2.0. isnt the 220 2.2?

[Stuart]

the non turbo vx is a 2.2 but the turbo versions are 2.0 turbos...

[MyNovaSr]

Oh. Well im looking into buying a 300+ Let. See how it goes