is it normal to only pull about 5 car lenghts on one from 20 to 120 in a 200+bhp RWD sierra?

 

They are dam quick.

My old 165bhp XR2 Turbo was given a right run for its money by a SR with just a set of weber carbs

 

Jim: "Damn that nova's pretty quick, what you recon, 2.0 16v?"

Switch: "Well as we passed it i noticed it had a 1.4 SR Badge on the back"

Jim: "Erm...."

 

VERY slow.

Only 75bhp.


I suspect that the one you raced was probably an astra GTE engine, very common conversion into novas, and gives it a similar turn of speed then to a standard cossie.

 

They are only 1.3 litre 8 valve.
Think later ones were 1.4 litre.

God help you if you ever come across a Nova GTE

Probably wasn't a standard SR then.

steve

 

surely even GTEs aint that quick... mate's got a tuned 1.6 8v GTE lump in his corsa and that's only about standard ERST pace... and a nova aint that much lighter

 

Loads of the nova boys leave their cars looking standard.

My current nova (see my sig) looks like a standard nova GTE at a glance, and it runs a 13.3 quarter, my old nova valver used to have a 2.0 16v on throttle bodies, and hotter cams, and that was badged as a 1.3 SR

"Sleeper" is the main thing with nova owners (i mean proper nova owners not the local chav with a 1.2 and a 27" diameter exhaust trim)

 

Just cause it says 1.4sr it doesnt mean its got one in it!
The 1.3sr is faster than the 1.4 too....

 

Standard nova GTE = 17 seconds up the quarter

Thats the fastest nova they ever made as standard, well except the 1.3 sport, but those are visually very different and still only ran in the 16s.


Chip

 

Jim,

Chances are it was a tuned 2 litre

When I had my Paul Bailey 400 BHP Saph (T34/light blues), I once got followed around Weston-Super-Mare town centre be a "tatty" looking red Nova.......As we went out of town into the dual carriagway I put me foot down and thought "bye bye Nova"......but he stayed on my bumper all the way up to 120 MPH ......I had to max out in fifth (3.9 gearing. so about 144 MPH) just to pull 10 - 12 car lenghts on him

When we got back the the McD car park the young(ish) driver said to me "thats the only Cossie that I could'nt get past on the dual carriageway"

 

Nova with a red top with standard stickers

Sleeper

 

Doug, the driver didnt look like this did they?
(but without the motocross gear)




If so it was probably me, as i used to terrorise western in my nova when it was a turbo (its actually faster now without the turbo)

 

PS

would have been about 2 years ago if it was me.

 

Cant be sure, as it was about 3 years ago..........The driver did say it was a 2 litre on throttle bodies.........BTW he had 3 passengers in the Nova

Edited to say: It could have been TWO years ago actually

 

Don't knock those GTE's, I knew a guy who bought an ex rally GTE with a properlly tuned lump and it was blisteringly fast!

 

Nah, it wasnt me then, as mine was a 2.1 turbo at the time.

Mine is faster than any of the TB's novas in the uk, so if you raced mine you probably would have lost anyway, lol. (joking)

What does your sierra quarter in?

 

Only took it to the Pod once - when it was on standard gearing (3.6 final drive) 13.2 .......pussy launch as I did'nt want to break the then standard g/box

Smokestone Blue Saph (4x4) on 17" Raceline RL7.s (anthracite).

 

Hard to tell how it would compare then with you not launching it properly, but i can beat a 13.2 cossie from 20-120, as the only reason they are quicker up the quarter is the better 60 foot times due to 4wd (or even rwd which will still beat me off the line) but if you werent trying at the time then your car is probably quicker than that time implies.

Be fun to have a try sometime and see, but im afraid mine isnt on the road again till summer probably.

Do you go to weston a lot then?

Used to be excellent there on a sunday night but the police have ruined it now

 

1.3 sport quicker than GTE?

any more info on these, i didnt think there was any nova quicker than the GTE / GSi?

also what is the diff between the GTE and GSi? just the trim? or are the engines different.

thinking about it, it had to be at least a 2 litre, as it wasnt stripped out or anything...

also we did have a blast up a sliproad which is quite a steep incline, and i normally pull away from most things on hills etc. as the v6 loves that kinda thing... but he seemed to stick with me well... wasnt till about 70ish that i actually started pulling on him! once the speeds got into 3 figures tho it was a different story, but then sine he was in a nova he probably backed off coz the fookin thing tried to shake itself to death

ps this same nova managed to EASILY get past ginge's 350+bhp Cossie but then thats not saying much

 

chip, doug's got a new car now, its probably enough to blow away a nova with a jet engine let alone a 2.0 16v

 

To be honest if it was a good condition standard 2 litre it would beat you from a rolling start it jim Galbally, if your car only does a 14.6 quarter, unless yours is now quicker than it was then?

The sport was a 1.3 SR but stripped out, and it came with a different cam, and a set of 40 carbs, but was a "homologation special" like the rs500 so very rare.
The carbs actually came in the boot, and you had to pay extra to have them fitted!

They were 100bhp or so (hard to get an exact figure as no official figure was quoted with the parts fitted), but they were quicker than the GTE due to being able to rev higher and being lighter.


The gte and the gsi are basically the same, only very minor differences between them which are nearly all cosmetic anyway, the performance is identical.



Chip

 

I think it was something silly like different engine management wasn't it???

 

I sold the Saph last year.

Yes Chip, I am down at Weston at least once a week, usually Sundays........but sometimes Fri/Sat evenings too......dont race anymore - to risky. Was told (by a local cruiser) that on some Saturdays & most Sundays they have TWO unmarked traffic cars with onboard cameras patroling ALL evening

 

Yeah the old bill are a nightmare in weston now.

What do you drive now then Doug?

 

my bro was doing up a nova with a 2.0 16v lump with tb's but after 2 years of getting nowhere he sold all the bits

Chip - u may know of him on migweb as XX5idXX or xstyle, etc.

actually he still has the throttle bodies in the garage

 

I've got an Escort Cossie with Harvey Gibb 511 BHP engine....."old skool spec": T4 with 8 greens, 7.2: 1 comp......Quaife g/box and ATB diffs.

 

Doug, that sounds awesome, will have to have a look at that sometime.

R4N, i know Sid very well, used to go out for a meal with him once a week in fact.

Havent seen him for a long time now though, he must be married by now i guess?


Tell him i said Hi.


Chip

 

I had a 2.0 16V Nova give me a good run against my stage 3 Saph a few weeks back, but when i got going (grip) i left him miles behind

a pic of a Nova sport

 

Chip - yep he is married now so is a bit busy Altho still driving a Vauxhall - got the old dears Astra Cesaro and threw out the std 1.6 and chucked in a 2.0 XE lump but i dont think it is running all that well and with the mods it should be quicker than what is is now.

Will tell him you said hi - small world eh

 

what sorta power are the std 2.0 16v jobbies then? i thought they were only about 130ish bhp?

 

2.0 XE.-150BHP

 

Yep 150bhp-156bhp quoted as standard, depending on the year.
(the early ones with heads made by cosworth and mahle pistons were quicker than the later ones)

 

R4N, I'll have to get him to email me some pictures, he got his outfit free in exchange for doing some modelling or something didnt he?

Glad to hear he has put an XE in the cesaro now

 

PS

Its an even smaller world than you would think, when i first started chatting to him through the vauxhall site i discovered that he used to work with my Ex girlfriend at yellow pages!

 

My old SR was a rapid lil thing! wqas my 1st legal car! beat everythin me m8s had!

was quicker than a gte/gsi!

beat lots of things with it! handled well! not well rnough though cause i wrapped it up on a round a bout! racin a astra gte 16v! I was in front!

 

Must have had different suspension then mate, cause a standard SR handles more or less the same as a narrow boat, they are AWFUL hateful nasty little things in standard trim!

Although still an ace little first car if all your mates have 1.3 fiestas and stuff

 

it was m8!

me m8 Gar who built my engine had a custom rear beam & shit on his! & used to sit on the ass of his bro's 200hp rst

 

Fair play, excellent little basis for a project, its SO easy to fit a big engine to a nova and they only weight about 800kgs.
So my car has a better power to weight ratio than a 400bhp 4*4 cossie.

 

yea!

a load of my m8s have put 2.016v in em & 1 has turbo'd it aswell! the car looks awesome has custom wide arches on it!

 

Generally i prefer sleepers, but sometimes its just rude not to advertise your car is quick i guess.

Here is my other nova, not quite back on the road yet (should be very shortly)

Its a 2.1 turbo with nitrous, engine is mid mounted and is driving the rear wheels through a 6 speed box and quaiffe diff.