Ben_S Posted April 4, 2000 Share Posted April 4, 2000 Has anyone spent some money getting the 1600 8V Vauxhall going quicker? I'm thinking of having some head work done and perhaps a fast road cam, thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Wong1697456877 Posted April 4, 2000 Share Posted April 4, 2000 How much would that cost? Maybe an engine change would be an option. The Vauxhall 1600 Ecotec can be screwed up to huge amounts of power (I've heard of 230BHP) and even in standard trim, should be pretty quick. I should think it could run on the same carbs (twin 40's I assume) but would need a new inlet manifold and probably exhaust. All you need is a rear ended Astra or friendly scrapyard to get the engine from...... Alex Wong alex.wong@lotus7club.co.uk http://www.alexwong.net Home : 44-(0)121-440 6972 Fax : 44-(0)121-440 4601 Edited by - Alex Wong on 4 Apr 2000 19:03:33 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Checkley Posted April 5, 2000 Share Posted April 5, 2000 Benj, Before my current 7 I had an 8v 1600 vx, which I had upgraded by Caterham to 1800 soon after they announced the upgrade in the spring last year. It cost about £1,300. It took power from 100bhp to 125bhp. The redline increased to about 6800rpm, and the car seemed to retain good levels of torque which was a feature of the 1600 unit. As this is a standard Caterham upgrade you may find it a benefit when you sell the car. I can't give you any figures re the 0-60 performance increase, but I suspect it would be simarlar to the 1700 supersprint. I done a few trackdays in it and found it more than adequate. I hope this helps. If you are considering the Caterham 1800 option, I would be more than happy for you to email me with any specific questions. I can't guarantee to be able to answer them all though. Regards, Andy Checkley andy.checkley@alphalan.demon.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben_S Posted April 5, 2000 Author Share Posted April 5, 2000 Thanks, for the info. I did know of the Caterham upgrade, but thought it expensive. I had heard of people talking of 20% power increases with head work on these engines, as the manufacturing of them was of a much lower quality than the later 16V engines. This was mentioned from an article on Blydenstein. Didn't know if anyone had previous experience of cost and success of this route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Checkley Posted April 5, 2000 Share Posted April 5, 2000 Benj, One other thought. Although the Caterham upgrade is expensive it does include forged pistons. You may want to ask around about the suitability of the standard pistons for your planned approach. Regards, Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHRIS CLARK Posted April 6, 2000 Share Posted April 6, 2000 A collegue has the 8v and was considering the mod's. When I checked with Caterham at Dartford (about the lack of thermostats on these engines etc) & which Haynes manual would be best I was informed that the engine was of foreign extraction.Intrigued I asked where from. It appears they come from Australia. Their spec. varies from 'our' native units so be careful if you try the straight swop of bits route! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Sture Posted April 7, 2000 Share Posted April 7, 2000 It is my understanding that this engine is something of a hybrid, built up from bits from Vauxhall's parts bin - eg, I think the head is from a 2l engine. As a result, I don't think it is that close to any particular production engine (I guess that this is not the official line). Not sure how this would affect any plans to modify it - my mechanical knowledge is fairly negligible! Tim Sture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderate Clam Posted April 28, 2000 Share Posted April 28, 2000 I too would like to increase the power from my 1.6 8v Vx, but only to about 130/140 BHP. So I too would be very keen to know if anyone has modified this engine. The Ecotec engine does sound like a good idea, but I'm a bit worried about cost/work involved. I'm also looking at doing some sprints and hill climbs in the future, so wouldn't the Ecotec push me up a class or 2? The upgrade to the 1.8 would do too. Does anyone have a rough idea of the cost of a 2nd hand Ecotec? Also, what else will I need to change to fit it? I.e. will I need to change the bell housing or would the existing one do the job? As Andy said the torque is very good in the std engine, I'd quite like to keep that too. Although I guess "hotting up" the std engine will reduce some of the torque. Oh well, ho hum, hey dip sugar, it's all just fun and games, isn't it? It's not like I don't have the time of my life driving with such small amounts of power. teeth.gif I guess most other car drivers would be happy with 180/190 BHP/ton. Oh well, time to sit at the bottom of the sea and think about the next time I'll get to drive it. Edited by - moderate clam on 28 Apr 2000 17:17:23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Morris Posted April 29, 2000 Share Posted April 29, 2000 How close are the dimensions of the engine blck with those of the 2L HPC? Having viewed the 8V only once I felt that it could prove to be a cheap transplant! (150+ BHP for the price of a second hand engine) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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