My 20XE Nova was the first 2.0 nova i had been in, not knowing what to expect i was very pleased with the power, but I always wanted to race another 2.0 nova or corsa to make sure my car was running like it should be. I met a local lad at a race track with a 2.0 nova, we had a race (straight line)& i lost BIG TIME
1st gear I got the better take off & got about 3ft in front, 2nd gear I completely passed his car, 3rd gear he caught up & passed me about 2 cars, 4th gear he gained another 3 car lengths on me, I kept it nailed but couldn't catch him
I was expecting him to beat me, but maybe by a car length if that because his car is lighter, but now I'm thinking I made have made a mistake in my choice of modifications. I'll list the differences between the cars.
My Nova:
C20XE Dizzy type / GSi Bodyshell / 2.25 Straight Through Exhaust / 16" Speedline Alessio's
His Nova:
C20XE Dispack type / 1.3 Bodyshell / F20 Gearbox / 2" Magnex system / 15" Astra GSi rims
The obvious thing is the weight difference, but surely that would of affected the whole race. I'm thinking maybe i'm loosing torque by not having any silencers?
How much fuel did you have in? Did you have a burger to many for lunch? Did you have your windows rolled up for maximum aerodynamics??
All this you have to consider if you want 2 cars to be excatly the same. I wouldnt worry about it too much if the rolling road gives you a good standard xe figure. Maybe his engine is a little losser.
Maybe you were "granny shifting, not double clutching like yer should" woohoo fast n furious rocks,lol.
whats the ratio of the diesel crown wheel/pinion ?
i didnt thnk there was a specific diesel gearbox, most were fitted with F18 wide ratio, which have big final drives like 3.94 or similar. that wouldve given you a distinct advantage from a standing start to 100 ish, and a bit detrimental after that.
Thats probably your main problem then. Youve gotta remember an xe isnt gonna pull hard past 120mph if it hasnt got the power. Sound like youve shot yourself in the foot with that box mod. How much of a difference is there? What is the speed/rpm in 5th at say 50mph or 70mph compared to the standard f20.
I 'think' it runs around 2300rpm at 60mph in 5th, never raced in 5th, was creeping to redline in 4th at 135mph so didn't bother changing (on a private track of course)
Come to think of it, I noticed the other day it had a 3bar fpr fitted even though it's an early Xe, could it be overfuelling ? it passed the emissions test on MOT
Come to think about it that sounds real bad to me. Double it and you'll get 4600rpm in 5th@120mph. An f28 does roughly 25mph per 1000rpm so at 5k will be doing 125mph,which is fine as most people have an let'd motor to pull you up there but an more or less standand xe will never get there.
You'll probably find when you flat out in 4th you'll change into 5th and not be able to accelerate any more as the engine will be out of its power/torque band.
5 car lengths from stand still to somewhere in 4th isn't much. Sounds like the longer gear ratio's aren't helping, to get quicker acceleration you should use shorter gears, not longer ones.
Depends if you really care about losing by 5 lengths, or want to have a quieter/more fuel economic car whilst cruising.
But as said, condition/performance of engines when they are that old can be fairly different.
5 car lengths from stand still to somewhere in 4th isn't much. Sounds like the longer gear ratio's aren't helping, to get quicker acceleration you should use shorter gears, not longer ones - Gears are standard F20 ones, just designed to run for longer
Depends if you really care about losing by 5 lengths, or want to have a quieter/more fuel economic car whilst cruising - Winning is more important !
But as said, condition/performance of engines when they are that old can be fairly different - That's what my mechanic said.
If winning is more important then stick a standard F20 on...
My mate has a 1.6 nova gsi and blew his box up, he then put a 1.3 SR gearset in it and it was noticeably faster being shorter ratios, when he blew that one up (about 3 weeks ago now lmao) we put the proper GSi F13CR box back in and hes moaning now its not as fast as it was, but the car has a higher top end again.
It will be the modd'ed F20 thats killing the edge on your acceleration, and were only talking the edge!
Not sure, I was just told that it was the crown & pinion from a vaux diesel gearbox & it would push out more mph per gear (which it does) with very slight effect on acceleration. I had no reason to doubt him (he's been in the transmission trade for about 7 years)
Sounds like you've got a long final drive then. For best acceleration you want the opposite; the minimum mph per rpm. Typical F20 requires about 3800rpm at 80mph. You say something abour 2000rpm at 70mph.
Also your engine might be down on power due to things like distributer, rotor arm, plugs, leads, fuel pressure etc.
leave the gear change a bit later.
change just before you hit the limiter
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