Rant Over Engines

[Lee-170]

im 17 and have a 1.2spi nova and know of other people on here who have them and 1.0L when we ask "will this make our car faster?" We always get the answer followed by/or "Just put a bigger engine in" Or "theres no point tuning your 1.2" yes i understand a 1.2 will never be the fastest thing ever but my insurance on a standard 1.2 is ?2000 your veiws please not trying to be unfreindy or argumentative just what other peoples views Thanks

[vaughanmc]

They can't be expected to be quick as there only a 1.2 - Modding a 1.2 will only really make it more responsive

So by making your Nova faster the idea is to put in a bigger engine

[Mike]

Dude, if your insurance on a 1200 is nearly two fcuking grand, your insured with the wrong company!

I had fully comp on an SR at 17 for ?1400!

[Lee-170]

my point is the cost and then the cost of insurance we all wish we could have xe's or let's but being young it cant be done and most 17yo cant afford the insurance on a 1.2

[Lee-170]

i will get it down 2 a grand i recon

[vaughanmc]

Kick s*it out the 1.2 and make it feel quicker, there not fast engines and at a young age it will do the trick

My wee 1.2 will do me for years to come :) I'm not a speed-freak mind you

[Ricky G]

to be honest if you dont want to change your engine then your going to have to wait untill you can afford both a bigger engine and the insurance. start with the handling 1st and little thing like that, then when you have experience move onto bigger and better things.
answering your question there isnt much, maybe an aftermarket air filter and exhaust could make a slight difference but it wont be much. and being a 1.2 if you tune it too much you will break it very quickly.

[M17BLH]

Well in that case you have a few options:

Buy a 1.4 bottom end and exhaust and have the 1.2 head gas flowed etc, maybe keep the 1.2 cam aswell as I did on my old car. Then have it set up properly, all for under 500 easily!

Or you could buy some T40's! Or add them to the above! and then u should have a fast lil nova! Thats my old engine!

And if you dont wanna do that! save some pennies til ur a few years older and get a nice XE :thumb:

[Lee-170]

yh i was just getting a bit fed up of askin for advice and getting the reply "put a bigger lump in" i understand peoples views and rickys got it spot on tbh

[Welsh Dan]

Declaring modifications to your 1.2 could bump up the insurance as much as/more than an engine transplant, or a faster model.

I'm 22, I pay about ?400 insuring my 1.2, and I fully understand that its not worth forking out to tune it, and am plotting another eventual engine swap (my shell has an identical, but younger engine). A year ago when I had no ncb i was paying about ?550ish, and was quoted ?800ish if i fitted a 1.4 sr engine, so lets say your quote went up to ?3k to do the same thing, costing you an extra grand.

A 1.4 engine has about 82bhp over the 1.2's 55, and bagloads more torque, and more responsiveness. The only things worth doing to either are to fit a decent exhaust manifold (?100), Weber 32/24 carb (?200 inc setup?), aftermarket cam (?100?), and to replace the 1.4 head with a 1.2/1.3 one or have it ported (?20-100?).

Even with those mods, a 1.2 is likely to still be slower than a standard 1.4, but you've just spend ?500 tuning it, and you've still got to pay the additional insurance premium. Tuning the 1.2 just doesn't make any economical sense.

In any case, fitting and declaring a 1.6mpi 8v, 16v, or bigger, is by far the best option for power, torque, cold starting and fuel consumption.

[brucer]

as said by "last of the nova sr's" i had an sr an mine was 1400 at 17. look at ecar insurance.there cheap.and then you can get some money for your mods.

[Novasport]

Nowt wrong with a 1.2, they have a similar bore size to a 1.4 and they are shorter stroke(Well early ones do, not sure about SPi ones) which makes them a rev happy engine and pretty indestructable.
No point spending money tuning it if you are going to replace the engine in the near future.
Just run it as is for a year or so to build up your NCB, dont try to run before you can walk as they say!

[Dan]

End of the day, what ever you do tuning wise, once its declared on the insurance your going to get your **** handed back to you anyway.

As has been mentioned just accept the fact you are still young and abit wet behind the ears, learn to drive abit more (as in properly now you have passed your test), then as your no claims starts to roll in you will be able to look at other avenues of tuning. The replies you have been getting are generally the best, and they are trying to reflect on previous experiences having been there themselves at the same point, and realising all those that said the same to them were right after they had spent alot of money on almost nothing.

We've all been there and most of us have accepted it and taken the route mentioned, myself included (yes i can remember that far back before the mofo's come on :p ) All my mates were older and had fast cars and nicely tuned items but i had to just tag along in my little thing.

just my view on it :thumb:

[Steve]

I had my 1.0 for a year before wanting something faster, so i bought a 1.6 astra, sold that after a year and ive been with novas ever since.

Best bet would be an air filter and a decent exhaust, (not a 6" fartbox) that should keep you happy till you can afford an engine change or buy one thats already been done.

And shop around for your insurance, I payed ?1000 for my 1.0 at 17, and make sure you declare any modifications as it may well invalidate your insurance otherwise. :thumb:

[mowgli]

i ran a standard 1.2 carb for several years. I would agree with the its not worth tuning it argument, but I would say buy some better(bigger) rubber, get the brakes uprated, sort the suspension, these mods will make the car quicker, & be relevant for a future upgrade. we don't advise lying to the insurance companies on this forum

[Paul]

Nova Sport are insurance Group 5, so if you get a set of 40s off of one of them, theres a loop hole that way,

ie: they cant go much past group 5 insurance. Group 5 is F all really...

SR is 7, 1.2 is 3, so that gives you an idea...

[Philsutton]

just wait until you can get a better engine, the money you save not insuring your only going to "try" an make the 1.2 quicker. Even if you get 80bhp out of it you wont be happy, ask anyone else that has tuned the 1200 they only end up putting a better engine in the long run anyway.

[Stuart]

grin and bear it chap. I had a std 1.2 for 5 years! it served its purpose to get me a stack of no claims and a lot of milage under my belt.

The 1.2 can be nudged about with parts off other novas but the 1.0 is a TOTALLY different engine and there are simply no tuning goodies out there for it bar maybe a K&N (which is a waste of time anyway)

[M17BLH]

I pay 650 tpf+t on my valver, im 21 with 4 years no claims mind, Bear that in mind, Its not a great deal of money and im in a high crime risk area! only a couple more years bud :thumb:

[craig green]

Carrying max speed through corners & having a banzai attitude to overtaking is what owning a 1200 is all about. I look back fondly on the 2 years of 1.2 carb ownership tbh. Going to a std GSi wasnt leaps & bounds quicker IMO.

A std poverty spec Nova on some 14inch wheels is an utter blast in my experience.

[ANDYRACER]

I run a 1.3 sr nova, not the fastest thing in a straight line, but with money spent in clever places like decent suspension, set of vaux 15" rims with good grippy tyres and a decent set of brakes (16v items), round the twisties it keeps up with far quicker machinery.:cool:

Power is nothing without control. ;)

[Iain]

Carrying max speed through corners & having a banzai attitude to overtaking is what owning a 1200 is all about.

lol @ banzai attitude. Agreed with the rest, I also had a 1.2carb for 2-3 years after passing my test. Suspension and tyres and it's still plenty of fun.

[dhdev (Oli)]

I started off in a 1.2, stick an air filter and backbox on it, probably make naff all difference in the real world but it'll sound faster and put a smile on your face when you're thrashing down a B-road (or high street if that's ur thing lol ). I'd also recommend a set of lowering springs (dampers as well if you're feeling flush) and upgrade the front brakes, this should give you a nippy fun car that you can chuck round roundabouts and B-roads and learn to drive properly.
Then move up through the ranks, get a 1.3SR and tweak that. Or build up a 1.3SR engine in your garage and drop it in when you have a year's NCB. A weber carb, Four branch, full sysytem and lumpy cam should give you a healthy bit of go and shouldn't affect the insurance too much. :)
Then when that lumps in place you can further hone the chassis with poly bushes, decent dampers and a strut brace. Also fitting a close ratio 5speed box (Nova GTE I believe F13.5CR) will help with acceleration.
Then install the engine of champions C16XE :cool:

Also if you want to go faster but can't afford more power, LESS WEIGHT is the key. Strip it out and it'll accelerate faster, decelerate (brake) faster, handle better and as a brucey bonus use less fuel!!!

[craig green]

Power is nothing without control. ;)

See my sig. :D

[ANDYRACER]

See my sig. :D

Rofl lol

[Jack]

Agreed with most of the comments in this thread. And remember, there's no replacement for displacement.

I put up with 1.2s until I was 22, which allowed me to buy and insure the GT4 for a reasonable sum of money. Plus what fcukups I did make whilst learning the ropes of driving in the early years meant that it happened to a relatively inexpensive car. If I'd spent ?????'s upgrading the car then promptly parked it at speed into a hedge, I'd have been a bit naffed off. Likewise, the 5 years experience allowed me to look after the Celica and handle it.


I had fully comp on an SR at 17 for ?1400!
He's from birmingham though, which isn't a great area for postcode ratings. Plus insurance premiums get more expensive every year - when I was 18 I insured a 1.2 for ?600 fully comp with only 1 years NCB, try doing that now!


Declaring modifications to your 1.2 could bump up the insurance as much as/more than an engine transplant, or a faster model.
Exactly, which is why people recommend engine transplants, or upgrading the whole car. Whats better, paying ?1000 to insure a 1.3SR, or ?1500 to insure a 1.2 with 65bhp worth of mods, or probably even more again with a std 1.3 engine dropped in?

[boffer8]

i'm 19 and i have been modding my 1.2 for a few years now, i have put twin webers on (ebay special @ ?150 baragain!), 1.3 cam (?20), manifold (?50), duplex springs (?65) and the head is getting gas flowed soon (hopefully dependant on uni funds!) i took to a rollin road an its puttin out 90.6bhp @ 8100rpm @ the fly! these engines just love to rev and so i have spent not a lot of money on it and it goes like stink! these simple mods plus decent suspension, ARB's and a set of decent brakes means that on the tight and twisty stuff (all the roads round me lol) mean that i can keep up with clio 182's and most hot hatches (if i push hard lol) acceleration with a CR box means that out of the corner it flies and braking means it can stop on a dime! A set of 15'' vauxhall rims with decent tyres too, makes a world of difference.

I think its a load of bo**ocks about stickin a bigger engine in when your young, i love to experiment with my nova a little engine that can fly when drivin rite makes my day everyday! specially with the webers growlin at you every time you press the loud pedal!

swoppin to a bigger engine is an easy way of getting power, putting time and effort in to making a smaller engine go quicker is satisfying, and teaches you one hell of a lot about engines and what works and does'nt!

(p.s dont use a lary cam in a 1.2 use a 1.3 or 1.4 cam as you get better driveability right through the rev range)

[dannyb]

lol @ banzai attitude. Agreed with the rest, I also had a 1.2carb for 2-3 years after passing my test. Suspension and tyres and it's still plenty of fun.

I totally agree. I had a 1.2 carb with GSi brakes, a -40mm suspension kit 185 55 14 tyres on some cavalier steels. This car was FUN, which is something not to be confused with FAST. You can still have fun in a underpowered car, seeing how much speed you can carry through corners. A well sorted chassis will help you in this. For the meantime, leave the engine alone - it is a reliable, economical unit which will hopefully serve you well, spend your cash on petrol actually getting out and about driving/exploring the car. You'll be surprised at how much more you get out of the car once you become attuned to it.
I owned a 3.0 BMW at 19 - I could barely afford to fill it up so never really got to explore it as you do with a daily driver which you put 12k + miles on a year.

[moffat]

i agree with most of the comments
theres no point in tuning a 1.2

i will probally have my 1.2 for a while so i can bulid up my NCB and drop a bigger engine in but what i will do is put on better breakes and suspension
:thumb: :thumb: