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I don't have much experience of hot XEs, but they're very easy to get tuning parts for and are popular conversions for small VXs, so I'd go for one of those, besides that I've seen XE'd Chevettes so they must be suitable for rear drive applications, which I can't say for the Ecotec, I haven't seen one of those.
Saying that, the Ecotec is in some ways similar, so it might work. Whatever you do, if you use an Ecotec, use a bigger one than a 1.6, they're very dour and gutless from my experience.
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"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
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If you want to keep it simple, try to find a facelift Mk1 (82-85ish) 1800 carlton with a carb motor in. Problem with some of the Vauxhall engines is the dizzy being on the end of cam housing, some just have a cap screwed straight on to the housing, rather than an actual distributor, so they're a bit shorter overall. If you need any info, dimensions or pictures, feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to help
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... the only injury I sustained was a bumped head when I let the seatbelt of without realizing the car was upside down and that's not really the car's fault.
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I think last months PPC had a feature on putting a red top motor in a manta. IIRC it was pretty straight forward and that would probably be the route I'd take. I think it even bolts up to the manta box fairly easily. As for diesels, I say do it. I work for mercedes specialist at the moment and before that I used to work on peugeots, all I can say to the doubters is the diesel engine has come a hell of a long way in the last few years and I've driven diesel cars that would wipe the floor with their petrol counterparts, and with 50+ mpg too. I know where my money would be.
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ImpManiac
Part of things
Imps... Imps... Imps...
Posts: 868
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Dunno if anyone has already suggested it, but what about a 3-litre V6 from an Omega, complete with autobox? Apparently, the autobox was also used in BMWs and is fairly bomb-proof (better be - I've got one! ), as well as being electronic and clever, responsive, economical, etc. Saw one (with a manual transmission) in a Chevette once. 200bhp+ and mucho torque equals one helluva rapid Chevette... or HA?? ;D Just a thought. I'm
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1966 Singer Chamois sprint/hillclimb car in white over blue two tone 1975 Triumph Stag long term project (over 20 years so far) in colour TBA 2003 Vauxhall Vectra GSi 3.2 in black sapphire
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richy
Posted a lot
Flatheads forever....
Posts: 1,764
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We like the sound of the 1800 Carlton. I'll start scouring papers for one this week!
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Try scrappies as well, you occasionally see Carltons in them still.
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"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
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Had a lookthrough local ads paper... plenty of no-mot or no-tax astras and cavs, a carlton too. few of the astras are double-digitprices.... also a senator for a couple of hundred quid but it's been three times round the world. i'd say anything from a carlton is good.... nice and torquey and they're rear-drive too. maybe not a lotus carlton though
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Never trust a man Who names himself Trevor. Or one day you might find He's not a real drug dealer.
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BigWig
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,101
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2.0 XE Ecotec. Where is it a tight fit on the HA thats already been converted to run an XE? If it was the head then the Ecotec uses a smaller cylinder head than the Red top but they are just as tuneable. worth a thought...
Or the c20let, Cally turbo engine. Then again, that will need even more room...
Regarding the V6 lumps, <apparently> the 2.5 is horse curse word. The 3.0 is the pupp to go for.
I'd do an XE personally. Get it to run it on Jenveys while your at it ;D
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Forgive my ignorance (not very clued up on Vauxhall engines) but won't a V6 be a little wide? Or are they pretty narrow angle V6s?
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"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
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There is a 2.3 slant-four from a Bedford CF in the classifieds of the new PPC... 65 notes.
Could be worth a look...?
*n
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Top grammar tips! Bought = purchased. Brought = relocated Lose = misplace/opposite of win. Loose = your mum
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Not a bad idea, since the Firenza and Magnum used a 2.3 slant four so it might well go into an HA, (didn't many Vivas use a smaller version of the slant four?) although the Bedford CF version is a low compression model if I remember right, so it'll need a little work before it's putting out big power outputs I think.
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"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
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If I recall correctly (not looked at one in about 5 years), it is simply a thicker gasket...easily solved *n
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Top grammar tips! Bought = purchased. Brought = relocated Lose = misplace/opposite of win. Loose = your mum
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you may have to change the dizzy too. i put a dizzy from a 2 litre cf into my manta 400 rep, enough torque to tow buck house but not much speed. swapped it for one out of an ascona and wahey speed again ;D ;D ;D
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If that's all that needs done it's alright I suppose.
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"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
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The Carlton/Manta 1800 carb motor looks like the best bet. You'll get about 90bhp out of it, which should make the little van fly. If you're wondering about brakes, any Viva/Magnum discs will fit (they've been doing that for years on Ford Pops when they fit an HA front end), as will Victors up to FD.Back axle -wise I'd be tempted to go for an Anglia 105E unit. They're about the right width and well up to the job. Of course, if you want merely to get up hills quicker (useful around these parts), you can always use a Chevette motor. It's a drop in swap and coupled with the original gearing, hills will be no problem. Speedy Spares had a job lot of new ex-MOD units still in their crates a while back. It might be worth giving them a bell. By the way, there's a nice '66 HA van running round Llanelli.
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1953 Minor (Long term project) PT Cruiser
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Well --- lawks a'mercy,that's given me something to think about. Don't forget,~ I'm only a girlie so my mechanical knowledge begins & ends with setting the points,but surely anything modern (& by that I mean out of something front wheel drive) is going to get complicated? Things such as having to mount the engine transversely,finding a gearbox prop that'll marry up & all that? I don't need it to go like a turd off a spade(though that'd be a riot! ;D ) ..but a bit more whizz would be grand. I've mentally washed NickB's mouth out with Carbolic for mentioning diseasels...shame on you boy!!! The poor van'd stand on its' nose! Sorry I think it might have been me mentioning oil burners In my defence though I've been really impressed by Turbo Diesels in the past (once i've got past the 'clackity' noise coming from beneath the bonnet) Certainly having owned a couple of diesel cars - one being tweeked to over 200bhp & 300nm, I would never buy a car with a big thirsty petrol engine. However you are right that a diesel engine would be a heavy lump in the nose of the HA van - as would any XE, V6 or straight six motor & would dominate the handling & put excessive stress on the shell if not suitably reinforced. As it seems in the posts, above the concluded engine of choice is the OHC engine from an Astra, Nova or Cavalier (SRi 130 would be nice) It would appear that all these engines could easily be mounted to a RWD gearbox as the same engines were used in the Manta - any of these engines I imagine would give a healthy performance increase over standard, especially since a HA van must be similar in weight to a fag packet. Hey Rev - the 1.4 & 1.6 Ecotecs are actually pretty strong motors (the bottom ends are the same as the earlier 8v engines) Unfortunately Vauxhall tend to fit them in Zafiras & Vectras which are really too heavy to do the engine justice - also they are attached with eco-friendly ECUs which make them feel like they have Mill Stone size flywheels. People like SBD have been known to get well over 100bhp per litre out of these engines.
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How about keeping it period and get yourself a Blydenstein tuned 2.3 twink slant 4.
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Hey Rev - the 1.4 & 1.6 Ecotecs are actually pretty strong motors (the bottom ends are the same as the earlier 8v engines) Unfortunately Vauxhall tend to fit them in Zafiras & Vectras which are really too heavy to do the engine justice - also they are attached with eco-friendly ECUs which make them feel like they have Mill Stone size flywheels. People like SBD have been known to get well over 100bhp per litre out of these engines. I see, well in fairness the last 1600 Ecotec'd motor I've driven has been a truly gutless Zafira, which as you say is a bit heavy and supposedly set up for economy (although the fuel consumption of this particular one is nothing to write home about, we've got a 2.3 Volvo 940 with better consumption and they're not the most frugal of motors!)
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"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
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Seeing as you're not anti-diesel, what about the 1.5TD unit from a Nova? the Nova TD was the 2nd quickest in the range (quicker than the SR), and the unit should mate OK to a Manta/Carlton box. If you want to lower the front end, Pop Browns do a reverse-eye HA spring which brings things down by about 1.5". It's worth noting that loads of rodders have used HA front suspension on Ford Pops with Rover V8's, so anyting lighter than that should be OK.
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1953 Minor (Long term project) PT Cruiser
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lots of differing opinions here, think id play safe though and grab a 2.0 ohc carlton (8v) from auction/ breakers / private ads an throw engine an gearbox at van, if u don't want to mess about with injection (although it may be easier than finding a carb!), get a carb off a early mk2 cav altho all 2.0i ohc engines have 130bhp (not just the ones in cav sri 130) or even find a 1.8 should have around 115 bhp ;D oh and the nova gte 1.6 has a shorter block than that of a 1.6 cavalier found that out after getting a head for a mate years ago! hope this helps a bit
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2006 Audi A3 2003 Fusion 2 looking for a project....
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