Getting Power Out Of An 1800

[davo]

A bit of sideways thinking.

Is there much power to be gained by adding a set of bike carbs and a cam to an 1800.

Obviously there is the upgrade of just changing the 1800 to a redtop.

But i just wondered if with a small investment and not a lot of work if you could significantly close the gap to redtop power.

[Ems]

On mine I've got a Blydenstein B+ 1.8E head and mk1 Astra GTE fuel injection, 4-1 exhaust manifold and K&N filter. It feels a big improvement on the previous spec which was standard apart from the exhaust manifold/system and Weber 32/36 carb this had been on the rollers showing 110bhp at the flywheel

Hasn't been on rolling road but paperwork that came with the head claims around 145bhp (flywheel) if I remember correctly with the injection system,etc.

Some improvement is probably due to the diff which is a 3.89

Edited December 30, 2012 by Ems

[rutts]

you need a 1.8 astra gte head and cam, bike or twin 40s with 34mm chokes and a good exhaust, go very well but not quite red top power still go like hell. mine was a good engine and had a healthy 113bhp at wheels not bullshit bhp genuine and was good on fuel on a run steady away. very tourquy also both dynamitedan and i had a similar set up.

[davo]

Thanks for the replies.

That's the answer I was looking for. A healthy return for a relatively small investment,compared to 16v costs.

What about a 2.0 8v head would that work/ help?

Edited December 31, 2012 by davo

[dynamytedan]

those were the days . It was a good setup . the astra gte head cam ,weber 32/36 k+n was a vast improvement over standard .it pulls through the gears so much easier and the gte cam lets it rev up with no signs of fading at the red line . a very satisfying drive .

i never did do a rolling road run , but as a guesstimate ,probably a 30% increase . very noticeable .

if you just want a little bit more do that /

beyond that if you are going to want more later on maybe.... just get the 2 liter 8 or 16 v right now and fore go all the preliminaries . cheaper in the long run and better sooner

bike carbs will help it rev even more freely if you can get them to work properly , and something called nodiz http://www.nodiz.co.uk/ will help more again .

a 2 liter 8v (injection) head would bolt on the 18s block but lower the compression ratio a little bit , not good for power...also the inlet stud pattern is different so the standard carb manifold wont fit , an injection manifold would but then you would need all that gubbins too . probably not the best thing to do .

Edited December 31, 2012 by dynamytedan

[Joe]

Or you could just go for this:

Which is a 20SEH Cavalier SRi130 engine with 1998 4LO R1 carbs on a Bogg Brothers manifold, R1 fuel pump, an Ashley 4-2-1 system modified so it actually fits (they're a mile out from new), Blydenstein B+ head, Courtenay cam, 1.8 cam carrier (so it still looks like a 1.8, although it's registered and insured as a 2.0) and the distributor with the advance/retard removed and altered by H&H of Brierley Hill to suit a fast road engine.

On Bogg's rolling road, which isn't calibrated I should add, it briefly saw "somewhat more" than 90 bhp at the wheels a few years back.

I'll probably be selling this car in a month or so (it's a 1985 Hatch) if you want to save yourself the expense of buying all the bits for the engine, the rear disc conversion, bigger front brakes, complete Superflex/Polybush set up, AVO adjustable shocks and springs, etc, etc, individually.

Edited December 31, 2012 by Joe

[davo]

Very nice set up. Looks good

[mantadoc]

CAV SRI or SRI 130 would be the least work and money for best improvement per £ which you could assemble with a factory appearance.

Don't forget that in stadard trim the 8V engines provide better driveability and torque as they don't have to be revved to get the air speed up through the ports.

Don't dismiss an 1.8 or 2.0 Ecotec as they are cheap as chips