I found the valvoline pretty good thrashing about but that was on my old bikecarbed 1.4 engine.
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I found the valvoline pretty good thrashing about but that was on my old bikecarbed 1.4 engine.
It's not a full straight cut box, just a standard F20 with Quaife 4.2 straight cut final drive. Been doing some number tweaking and with a F18WR fifth gear fitted I'd retain the same RPM for motorway cruising and get quicker 1-4 gearing.
Yep, my mate has a WR final in his Astra GTE. Just for motorway driving, at 70 its revving at 2.3k.... It's lovely. Wish i knew of it before fitting a F28.
Interesting, so an f18wr is wide ratio? is it an easily sourced part and easy to fit to an f20?
iirc you just need the 5th gear out of it and bang that in an f20 and you've got the best of both.
Sam detailed the 5th swap in his diesel astra wip
Update Part #1
So I bought a new gearbox as I've knackered the third synchro in my current one too lol Its still fine for road use but graunches on track giving it the beans.
Got myself an F20 with known history including a full rebuild/inspection 2000 miles ago, complete with Quaife straight cut 4.2 final drive on standard F20 helical gearing.
First off, I was a bit concerned with the higher FD and the maximum speed, so I've notched the chassis so I can change 5th gear without dropping the gearbox:
No access to 5th cover bolts here:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/919.JPG
Chop chop grind grind:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/920.JPG
Weld weld, grind grind:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/921.JPG
Paint paint, good as OE lol
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/922.JPG
Update Part #2
On with the box swap. Harvey brought me round some goodies and started unwrapping my pressies:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/923.JPG
Nice and clean so saved me a cleaning job there:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/924.JPG
Meanwhile I was whipping off the engine mounts to get the box off:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/925.JPG
Slight mishap with removal, the input shaft stayed in the clutch when we dragged the F20 off, wtf happened here lol Not investigated the old box yet.
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/926.JPG
Brokened lol
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/927.JPG
Swish new box doesn't look anything special here lol
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/928.JPG
Or here, standard gearing inside:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/929.JPG
Update Part #3
We swapped the selector turret, diff, diff bearing races etc over to to the new box so mine got stripped down:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/930.JPG
This is where the differences are, my 4.2 final drive vs old 3.55 one:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/931.JPG
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/932.JPG
Old pinion in old box:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/933.JPG
New pinion in new box:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/934.JPG
Harvey fitting up the crownwheel to the Quaife ATB:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/935.JPG
Many other Vauxhalls run a spigot bearing to stop flex on the input shaft within the end of the crank, so I figured why not fix one on the XE, can't do any harm. Remove the clutch to reveal the crank:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/936.JPG
INA bearing part number:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/937.JPG
Fitted with a tickle of the hammer in:
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/938.JPG
http://iainel.co.uk/images/forums/NovaWIP2a/939.JPG