Bigs 300 bhp xe project

[BIGS]

Well might aswell do a thread and show you what im up to. It started off when it was a 1.4 sr looking like this






And i blow up far to many engine's up so decided to go big block. First step was stripping the car and putting it into the garage ready for the work to comence







Then i took every bit of paint off the front as you would get better welds and can see if any rust was there that shouldnt be. but luckly enough it was quite mint



And by this time ive taken most of the sound deading out and all of the underseal. And the first thing i wanted to do was sort out the box section for the alternator

[BIGS]

Then started to seam weld the front end.



And in this pic you can see the strengthing plates have started to be welded in place





Then found out that weld through primer is very good and helps with welds so sprayed the front with a few cans. and in this pic you can see ive taken out the firewall, as ive decided i wanted to go down the thottlebody route so it would be better for cooling plus abit more weight has been taken out:D



And you can see where the firewall was it has been grinded right down to a smooth finish. after welding right along the whole seem inside and out to give it the strength it needed and gave me metal to make it all look like it was from factory. Then i started adding more strengthing plates

[General Baxter]

very nice but.........



sorry

[Ste L]

how do you plan on getting 300 bhp from a xe?

gonna be hard without nitrous or a turbo

[General Baxter]

i know someon who can get just over 250bhp for you but your looking about ?16k

[BIGS]

Then i looked into what power i wanted to go for which was a very hard decision for me. But after abit more info was looked at and relised the 300 bhp has been done i decided on that. Then i started buying the bits that would help me on my way

Starting with the thottlebodys which are a 52 mm bore to a 47 butterfly and a 42 taper which is almost the same as the sbd 300 bhp kit apart from the butterfly and bore are bigger.





And then i bought a astra mk2 gte which had the coscast head that i wanted so got it back and took the engine out

[General Baxter]

i hope it looks like this 250bhp xe



alltho fitting a dry sump is going to be tight fit

[BIGS]

Then i seen this for sale and would be perfect to help get the power i wanted. Its a whole system off a 1993 cavalier touring car driven by John clealand which being and earlyer model the didnt have the swindon reverse head so now this exhaust could help with the head in the normal place.

[vaughanmc]

One slammed Nova in the background

[BIGS]

i know someon who can get just over 250bhp for you but your looking about ?16k

Well not that much ive priced it up and it comes to 12.5 k