1.8cvh man...
i did it.
1.8 sierra lump, long throw on the crank and slightly taller block
fat helping of silicone on the xr sump to fit 1.8
xr head, ported/polished, standard cam, holes redrilled to fit 1.8 bolts, heavy skim for compression
reworked xr3 exhaust man
reworked xr3 inlet man
turbotechnics carb and mech pump, although not running forced induction
xr2 ignition advance with the dizzy
lightened resurfaced flywheel
i reworked my conrods and pistons myself removing about 2oz of metal on each one and improving piston lubrication. good digi scales are needed
rebored to 1.82
so its all lightened and balanced and bored out and gas flowed except the cams and sicko fuel setup and this only set me back a few hundred quid in total
quite confident i had 140hp maybe a bit more but it had lots more torque
the longer throw crank made it an under square design so its better at making torque than horses. also 8v is less drag than that of a zetec so makes good power even when its not being caned. good milage can be achieved this way too.
i used to launch in second gear like it was first gear and get squeaks out of third in the dry. 60 came up in one hit without a gear change. about 5 to 6secs and thats without a good cam. i was maxing out at 130mph
nobody believes me but i''l tell you anyway... i got 75miles to the gallon going to yorkshire.
im sure if i sorted th fuelling out properly i could have gotten 160hp all for the price of itb's on a standard engine.
or if a turbo and intercooler was fitted it not unreasonable to expect 200hp.
but - from reading quarter mile times the most effective was around 150hp. the high power turbos had traction issues to 60
go cvh all the way mate theyre a very simple and yet effective design and theres so much stuff available for them. remember theres less bits to go wrong on cvh.
a zetec has many of the attributes of a cossie engine but it just isnt as good so why bother with it. the standard stuff goes really well if its worked on