a, erm, 'friend' of mine is still building my car at the moment, and a fair bit off SVA, but its just occured to me that i've sent off my 1998 vauxhall engine to be rebuilt, and thats going to have stricter tests put on it that it i was to SVA the car with say, a 1980s pinto engine.

would there be much benefit in SVAing the car with a pinto engine, that is barely alive, then swapping for my 2.0 16v vx enigne after?

er, i mean, would there be any benefit for HIm, my friend, to do it


by the way, i am aware of a possible difference in propshaft lengths, exhaust manifolds, enigine mounts etc.
pintos seem cheap enough to get hold of and then sell on after its done its job. i've got a weber Dgas carb and pinto manifold (used on 3ltr fords, but apparently a popular upgrade for 2.0 pintos)

megajolt should be transferable enough...

[Edited on 7/5/08 by blakep82]

Seems like an awful lot of hastle to do that - making up additional parts etc that all cost money. Does it work out much cheaper to you to go to all the trouble of fitting one engine with its specific parts to then spend more money on the 2nd engine??

You are probably looking at manifolds (inlet and outlet), engine mounts, probably plugs, leads, oil and so on for the Pinto (plus the engine cost itself).

Personally i'd rather just fit a cat to the "proper" engine and get it running right to start with.

I did this for my car but I used an early 16V 4AGE then later swapped to a 20V 4AGE. So no cat required and the engines are very similar except for the water pipes mostly so was an easy upgrade mechanically.

Put it this way - my fury was registered and SVA`d with a crossflow , and got a 1978 plate - so 1978 emissions at MOT time .
It now has a 24 valve , quad cam V6 but still only has a 1978 emission test

I think your friend should get a decent early 90's redtop and sell the ecotec. Swapping a pinto will require new manifolds mounts etc etc and will be more expense than its worth.

If you get it registered as a Q reg it's just a 'visible smoke' test at MOT according to current regulations (muppet governments may spot this 'loophole' at some point and try to change it)

I believe, but don't have the manual in front of me right now, that using a pre 1975 engine at SVA gets you a visible smoke test there as well. Though that will probably limit you to V8's as the only sensible choice for your pickup.

the idea is sound but you, a erm, youir friend, need to weigh up the time/cost to go that route.

I would suggest finding a cheap old engine that has exhaust on same side and uses same gearbox, if such a thing exists.

If pinto exhaust is on wrong side, use crossflow - plenty of those on the bay.

All you need to do is get it to drive to the SVA and not burn huge amounts of oil.

When did Vauxhall introduce the 2L 8V motor as found in the Cav SRi 130? My understanding is that it's the same block so may help some of your issues (i.e. mounting.)

A errmm 'friend' of mine (don't know why we're bothering this - it's actualy nothing illegal we're talking about here ) is probably going to do the same thing but then he does have a complete crossflow install sat in the garage doing nothing. The only things that should need changing over when the crossflow has a sudden catastrophic failure on the trailer back from the sva test will be the exhaust headers, the engine mounts and a bit of water pipe. Worth the hassle to avoid messing about with catalytic converters in his opinion.

cheers guys!
my thoughts were i'd get the visible smoke test on SVA, and not need a cat.

as for things like engine mounts, not a mjor problem (8v cav engine should be handy, coz if the block is the same, then the mounts i've already got will do the job)
gearbox will be a type 9, so should work on pinto, ecotec, xe, and the old 8v. so with some careful planning the prop shaft shouldn't need any changing.

exhaust, its only reall the headers that need changing, and a case of connecting them to the main pipe. not like a whole new exhaust, but i was forgetting the pinto exhaust is on the wrong side

but if i go for a Q, its only visible smoke for MOT and only emissions for SVA? is that right? i could handle that i guess...

i've been thinking along the sva with old engine line, as most will know i'm using a 2004 viper engine, the only thing i'm worried about is getting put in the gas guzzler tax group, i want to have a Q plate, the question is, has the Q plate got different tax bands or is it just a fixed road tax, the only reason for me to use a different engine is to stay out the gas guzzler tax band seeing as a kit car isn't going to be used every day, don't want to pay silly tax just to use it odd days.

quote:

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Originally posted by bj928
i've been thinking along the sva with old engine line, as most will know i'm using a 2004 viper engine, the only thing i'm worried about is getting put in the gas guzzler tax group, i want to have a Q plate, the question is, has the Q plate got different tax bands or is it just a fixed road tax, the only reason for me to use a different engine is to stay out the gas guzzler tax band seeing as a kit car isn't going to be used every day, don't want to pay silly tax just to use it odd days.

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You won't get a visible smoke test at SVA unless running an early 70's engine.

There is a break at Aug 1995 after which you will need a cat to pass. 75-95 has emissions test but it's much easier and doesn't need a cat.

Need to check the manual for exact details.