Anonymous

Brom, the handling depends on the car, as it as at the moment my nova handles better than my cossie does, the nova has poly pushes, decent shocks/springs, group a shafts and a ATB diff, it doesnt pull over the road at all, at the end of the day its a light car with a wheel at each corner, there is no reason for it not to handle reasonably well.

Agree its still a nova, but its peoples stereotyped views of novas that makes it so funny beating people, if you picture yourself in your shiney new subaru with your mrs sat next you and you race my cossie 3 door and lose by a bit you wont be too embarassed but if you race my snotty looking nova and lose by a lot you would be gutted

Agreed though at the end of the day you cant polish a turd and its just a crappy old car that i will be getting rid of shortly anyway, at which point ill stick to just the mid engined nova and my LET mini for fun stuff, and ive got the cossie as a comfy car thats still fairly quick.

Im certainly loving the whole cossie ownership thing, this forum knocks spots off other single make forums ive used (even miniowners.com the one i run) for techy advice and you are all a good laugh too.
I can see myself getting drawn in more and more to modifying the cossie over time once the mid engined nova and mini are finished to where i want them.
I certainly cant imagine that i will ever not own a cossie again now ive finally gone out and got one after so long wanting one, i accept it will never do 60-100mph very quickly like the mini will, but thats cool, as you say it will still beat most things on the road and comparing it to lightweight cars with big engines rammed into them isnt fair on a car that is still running its original engine.

dave cos4x4

iTrader: (5)

if you want to go faster down the strip get a 4x4.

I did a good few runs under 13 sec...best was a 12.72 iirc.

All in a 4x4, roughly 350, T34, greens, etc....

Enjoy the cossie.




Dave.

Anonymous

Nah i dont want the cossie as a strip car really, although i want it to at least manage a low 13 cause i think its a bit embarassing if it cant when its supposed to be a fairly quick car, but i want it mainly for stuff like being able to give people lifts and fit the shopping in and all that other stuff that you need a sensible car for.

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

To be fair here, given the fact you are used to high power front wheel drive and can still produce good times, id say your a well above average performance driver and may well buck the norm trend with cossies....

I have a customer who used to run 12s with not much more power than your planning on.... it was largely because he could drive properly.

Anonymous

aww shucks, love you too

So you are sure my quick times are something to do with building the car right and driving the car right and not just because the nova is such an absolutely awesome performance machine straight from vauxhall

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Damn sure..roflol
Seriously though, its plainly no traction machine so your doing something right.... do the same with a cossie and 4wd could prove to be a hinderance, as TIB showed many many times... lol

Ginge !

why thank you stu

Anonymous

Well, i guess so, hopefully i'll get the cossie up the strip soon and find out

Im just going to make sure im not lined up against any of my mates with fast novas, i dont want to be on the receiving end of the sort of humiliation that ive been dishing out to other people, by getting beaten by some shitty nova

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Porkie and i will be here with many of these at the ready:

Jim Galbally

as for the cossie "perfoamance car" thing, most of the "big power" cars dont really seem to get into their stride till over 100mph... which isn't shown up on the quarter mile...

different strokes for different folks etc.

does your nova pull 150+mph as easy as the 3door?

also stu's said it a million times but nobody else seems to on this thread...

your sierra is TWENTY YEARS OLD

in all likelyhood, the rear end bushes etc. are also 20 years old

after 20 years, things get a bit worn out and knackered... lol

i had an old 4x4 that wouldnt corner for sh*t... i mean this thing seriously couldnt do anything but straight lines... it was like a BOAT... i alwaysjust assumed that they were all supposed to be like that... lol

replaced a few worn out bushes and it transformed the car into something i never imagined possible

deffo worth looking at before you go off buying expensive bits that might not be necessary

Anonymous

I'll get a sticker made up for the back of the cossie that says:

My other car is a nova but today im not in a hurry

Anonymous

To be honest mate the novas are both quicker once rolling than the cossies that get similar times at the pod normally.

My red one (the 13.3 one) does 60-100 in 6.5 seconds, which i should think beats all but a very few 4wd cossies etc

I agree on the bushes etc, hence why when i was explaining that the nova handled ok i mentioned about replacing all those on it, i will of course do the same on my cossie when i get time to look at the suspension, in the same way that i just swapped leads/coil/plugs/rotor arm/dizzy cap/hall sensor/cam belt/water pump/tensioners etc before i went out and bought a set of green injectors, 3 bar map sensor t34 etc

No point bolting expensive new bits on when the basics arent right

You say 20 years old as if that is old, to me i still think of it as modern, bearing in mind that some of my other cars are from the 70s, lol

Jim Galbally

disagree with that one... your nova is fast becasue it doesn't weigh anything (and it has good grip)... the power it's producing is still low, <200bhp

the faster you go, the less difference your power/weight ratio makes, and the more it's about pure horsepower pulling you there

will your nova pull a genuine 160+ mph? (ignoring the limitations of gearing) well your stage3 cossie will do it without breaking a sweat

Anonymous

The RWD nova should pull to 160mph+ without a problem, as it is running in the region on 350bhp, the fwd one pulls hard to the 150mph limiter in 5th, but to be honest in the uk i dont really view anything over 130 as very relevant as its so rare i get over that.

Phil

iTrader: (1)

Is this a thread about getting low 13's in a RWD cossie or another thread about your Novas?

Anonymous

LOL @ Phil

Any easy way to tell is looking at the thread title, thats the good thing about threaded noticeboards such as this one

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

ROFLOL

Phil

iTrader: (1)

The thread title usually has no bearing on the thread content on here though

Martyn

I have to say, i was starting to wonder that too
Can u do a thread without a big up to your novas?

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Its starting..... the anti Nova feelings are rearing high young Chipwalker

Anonymous

Stu, are you my father?

(as well as following the starwars theme it should make the "nova owning bastard" jokes easier)

Thread wasnt intended to be about my novas, was merely about getting my cossie into the same ball park as them as thats the sort of performance i am now used to.

If one of you sold your cossie and bought something else you would probably want it to be able to match the performance you were used to as well??

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Im too hungry to continue this theme....

Im off to raid the fridge May the Food be with me...

Martyn

Well all u have to say is "i want my cossie to do X how can i" rather than every other sentence reading "my nova....." all the time, it wears abit thin!
You always seem to talk about the nova as if its fast as fuck standard where really its far from it and is no surprise it does such good times with the spec it has. Put an equivalent power gain in the cossie and THEN compare them

Anonymous

My quicker nova started life as 45bhp, and is now 350bhp ish.

To put the same gain into a cossie would need a 1500bhp cossie.

Thing is though, i dont give a toss wether the car is standard or not, its what im used to, so i would like the same performance from my cossie, i never leave any car i own standard anyway so i dont give a monkeys about standard performance.

The reason im comparing it to my slower nova is that i will be getting rid of that car shortly now i have the cossie, so i would like to get the cossie to the same level in order to replace it with something of the same speed.

I really cant see why its a problem that im comparing it to the car it is replacing, isnt that what everyone does when they get a new car?

Anonymous

By the way, even if this thread was titled
"novas are better than cossies"
"vauxhalls are great"
"i enjoy driving my nova"

It would hardly be out of place in a section of the forum with the following description

But it is NOT titled any of those things anyway, as im sure not many people on here have any interest in my car other than me, i simply want to get the performance im used to from my old car out of my new one, so started a thread about my ford on a ford forum to ask ford owners for advice!

WTF is the problem with that?

Plus no one is making you read it anyway, if you have some sort of deep seated hatred of novas then when you get to the mention of one just stop reading and go and read a thread thats titled "come live in my fantasy world where only fords can ever be quick and no crappy little hatchbacks will ever beat us"

MWF

Chip there aren't that many people on here particulary into the 1/4 mile thing in a big way, most people tend to want a fast road car or a good track car. As mentioned the design of the Sierra's back end doesn't lend itself well to launching, especially as the boost goes up gets more violent.

Try PM'ing Marco as I beleive he's been launching his 3dr on 215's at full bore with very little traction problems. There is also a guy on here who regulary runs his 2wd up the strip and can get proper drag tyres if you're interested.

Standard 2wd's just aren't great strip cars, why it bothers you so much that your nova is a bit quicker I am unsure. Maybe you should just stick with the Nova if that makes you happier and sell the 3dr on?

Anonymous

Nah, its not the b all and end all to me either, i have the rwd nova for the strip anyway, that should be well into the 12s this year without a problem, so im not really after the saphy for drag use.

Its far better for stuff like going shopping than the nova, and its great fun on roundabouts, as i said in this thread, i cant ever imagine myself not owning a cossie again now ive finally got one, but obviously only having had it a few weeks i havent yet got it to the shape i want it power and handling wise, so i thought that perhaps a ford forum might be a good place to ask for advice on how to do so.

Jim Galbally

i think youre all being a little harsh on chip with his constant nova talking...

yeah he does it all the time on every thread, but its something fresh and different for the BB and i personally welcome some new discussion topics

as for the cossie vs nova thing, i really dont think you'll be dissapointed with the performance once you get it over the 300bhp mark...

and if you are? well these engines are 600+ bhp capable

try not to compare a lightly tuned cossie to a massively tuned nova... you can get loads of cars that'll beat standard/stage1 etc. cossies nowadays... but not all that many will keep up with a 400+ car

MWF

Sorted then, get the camber issue sorted, get it up to stage-1 and you'll be in Nova terroritory with no engine swaps or tanks of nitrous in site

MWF

It could be worse, he could have an XR

Anh

If a Ford Sierra can be made to go fast (after a lot of pain sweat and tears, and g-boxes), so can a Vauxhall Nova!

Alot of double standards in this thread.

Anonymous

Jim, i need the car long term reliable ideally, and my experience of people with 400+bhp cossies is that they tend not to be, so if 350bhp is quick enough to get it into the sort of ball park im used to (from other unamed vehicles) then i'll stop at that sort of level and just enjoy the back swinging around on me, and fantasticly friendly community (well, sometimes, providing you talk about just the one subject that they want to and dont ever deviate slightly even in the off topic section) and all the other benefits that the cossie has which other cars dont.

Chip

Anonymous

Definately, its SO funny that there is another thread on here about guy in a standard evo getting beaten by a modified cossie and everyone thinks that is fair game and is giving it comments like
"he must be gutted at getting beaten by a cheaper car etc"

But when the shoe is on the other foot everyone spits their dummy out and starts accusing the other car of cheating for being modified.

Oh the hypocracy of it!

christianh3

so u have your answer, to beat ure nova in a cossie, a light bhp increase with a sorted back end.

a lightly modded cossie would be faster than your nova on anything but acceleration upto around 60mph, once grip stops being a problem a cossie would pull away....and thats assuming the nova driver doesn't have traction problems too.

cossie would handle better.

Jim Galbally

if done properly and looked after properly these engines will last all day long at reasonably high power figures.

you see a lot of failures becase people dont tune and look after them properly...

prices of cossies are now low enuf that your normal john doe barry boy racer can afford one... however they wont necessarily spend the money that needs spending on maintenance and generally looking after the car.

thats when things break.

remember, these engines are RACE engines fitted to road cars... theyre not in the same league as your 1.8Derv lump in your van... you cant just not service them for 5 years and expect them to run without a hickup

and ANH you can make anything fast mate, even a 3 wheeler van, as long as you give it enough power...

the difference is that the engines commonly fitted to novas etc. are all producing siginficantly less power than those fitted to sierras if we look at the average and the top of the range jobbies) the main reason the novas are "faster" is that they weigh less than a half empty packet of bensons, and a sierra weighs more than a small elephant.

i've seen <100bhp 1.3 engined cars show up 400+bhp escort cosworths on the drag strip... its not impossible

Anonymous

Christian,

Im not sure about "handle better", id happily bet on a decent nova against a decent cossie on a tight twisty track, but the cossie is certainly more entertaining, so handles in a way that is more fun if not actaully better.

60-100mph in my slower nova is 6.5 seconds, i think it will take more than a "light bhp increase" to match that with a cossie, based on the figures ive seen people posting on here, probably more like best part of double the standard bhp to be honest.

Anh

"60-100mph in my slower nova is 6.5 seconds"

What???! Are you running a Phase 3 C20LET with your Nova?

Anonymous

Yeah thats a fair point about maintaince, i dont get engine failures generally on any car i own cause i always maintain them properly, very common for people not to though with all makes of cars.

Anonymous

No mate, the slower one is just an XE with nitrous.

I used to an XE/LET hybrid in it that did exactly the same time 60-100 but wasnt as quick 0-60 due to lack of control.

My other nova has 100bhp more, and only 20-25% more weight, so im hoping that should break into the 5s from 60-100 but i havent finished it yet so cant verify that yet.

christianh3

Your comment about ford owners thinking only fords can be fast? Read the forum there's lots of appreciation of other cars ie evos skylines so ure wrong...not alot about novas cos dont they really interest many cossie owners etc....but if they interest u good on ya, just dont expect others to do so because uve made ures fast, alot more to a car than that.

chop it's YOU who is coming across not very well, as martyn has posted above, it's nova this and nova that....i don't think anyone has a "deep seated hatred of novas" lol why would they? a nova is a nova, so what? do u crave attention cos uve spent money time and effort on ure nova? if so :

WELL DONE OLD BOY JOLLY GOOD SHOW

Happy now?