Never seen a 97 sunbird, can you post a pic, my memory of the Sunbirds were an underpowered 4 cyl slug but could be a good base to build a SLR 5000 replica
whqqsh,
Feb 26, 4:32pm
years ago I had one of the last Sunbirds (SL/X, all the factory extras too) & it was one of the best handling cars Ive owned, (put the VB Commodore I bought a few years later to shame). & dont worry about those that grizzle about the 4cyl version, most have never owned one & forget that Fords Mk4 Cortina was the same size yet dont grizzle about the 1300,1600 or 2 litre versions of that. Id happily own another one today
patiki1,
Feb 26, 6:40pm
1997!I use Classic Cover Insurance for my vl commodore.
sw20,
Feb 26, 6:51pm
What did other vehicles have you owned! A horse and dray!
The Sunbird was painfully slow, and handling! Hahahaa.
My parents had one in the '80s. It was embarrassing.
mrfxit,
Feb 26, 7:56pm
I have had several 4cyl holdens All with the Starfire engine Have driven a few with the Opel engine & yep, those were only really any good as a boat anchor.
The Starfire engine IS simply a cut down 173 6 cyl & everything non specific to the 6cyl would fit the 4cyl engine. For their class & spec type, they were a pretty good engine
The 1978 Sunbird I had, I fitted with a mildly modded 186 & Toyota 5 speed & very minor suspension mods like nolathene bush's & heavy duty shocks & it was the best handling "basic" vehicle of it's era & class. In tight corners, . On an even throttle it would grip or slide evenly on all 4 corners Power on, it over steered according to how much power you put on Power off, it under steered according to how much power you took off
ALL 4 tyres wore flat across the tread (no shoulder wear) She was a bit thirsty but had a ton of grunt even on Cng.
mrfxit,
Feb 26, 8:01pm
Yep agree. The 4cyl Fords had revs & the Holdens had torque. That will be 1 main point were most teens didn't understand about the Starfire compared to the Cortina's The Holdens had a heavy body with a small but reasonabe torque engine that didn't like high revs The Fords had a light body with a low torque engine that liked high rev's. Most teens will go for something that screams rather then outright grunt
skiff1,
Feb 26, 8:14pm
My first car was a 79 sl bird. loved it. had the starfire and a four speed box, which was the same as my mothers commodore. the bird was a way better car. still miss that car, it was really wasted on me as 15 year old.
stevensalli,
Feb 26, 8:55pm
dumb ass me , state of it sori its a 1977
gmphil,
Feb 26, 11:56pm
nice cars any pics!
ceedoubleyou,
Feb 27, 2:13am
15 yrs old! that explains why you thought it was the bees knees, anything with 4 wheels at that age is great. In my time a Morry 8 was the bees knees LOL
bashfulbro,
Feb 27, 2:49am
I had one, had a 4cyl Opel engine, went like a rocket, handled like a race car.
whqqsh,
Feb 27, 2:50am
maybe your Dad drove like a girl & you never realised it
gsimpson,
Feb 27, 2:56am
Built like a tank. There was a head on near us with Sunbird vs Corolla. Sunbird had cracked radiator. The Corolla driver had to be extracted through rear window.
stevensalli,
Feb 27, 6:13pm
lol at the age of 14 when dear ol dad got his sunbird he drove in a most passive way and did I notice it
elect70,
Feb 28, 3:54am
Better than 1600 cortina !thosesunbirdsweretestament to GM crappybadly builtjunk ,& that starfire motorgeezwouldntpull the skin off a rice pudding.
mrfxit,
Feb 28, 3:55am
If you thought the Starfire was bad, then you clearly never drove the Opel 1900
whqqsh,
Feb 28, 4:42am
Funnily enough, checking a few websites a 2litre Ford motor is listed as anything from 74-76hp & 108-115ft/lb torque. The Starfire 1900 is about the same 76-78hp & (ranging wider here depending on the site) 101-118ft/lb. 5% less capacity but about the same figures. so where is all the bad news about no power! IMO it was just that Holden only ever had 6s until then, Cortina had slowly grown bigger & heavier. Sunbird/Commodore were comparable in size & weight. Someone on here some time ago tried to provide specs to show how much heavier early Commodores were but he forgot to add he'd taken the weight of the V8 Holden & compared it with the 4 cyl Cortina, from memory the weight difference for both 4 cylinder models was only about 30-40kgs
dvince,
Feb 28, 5:16am
Had a UC Sunbird years ago. We put a mild 202 in. Lots of fun with 4 speed and the stock 3.9:1 diff ratio.
franc123,
Feb 28, 5:47am
To set the record straight, the 2.0 OHC Ford engine used in Mk3-5 Cortinas was approx 75 kilowatts NOT hp, it was 102 hp, and 156nm torque, the 'blue' spec starfire usd in vc-vh commies was 58 kilowatts and 140nm, which was slightly more than that fitted to uc sunbirds.The 1.6L Ford engine was rated at 55kw and 120nm. Contemporary road tests at the time not only put the Ford engine well ahead in power but ahead in economy too.
whqqsh,
Feb 28, 6:02am
dunno about that, the 3or4 websites I looked at all confirm what Ive posted & I was careful not to mix hp & kw
franc123,
Feb 28, 8:06am
I do for certain, they were taken from the factory shop manual for the Mk4 Cortina and the Holden figures came from contemporary Wheels magazines. I'll correct myself here and say the mk4 was 98 bhp and the 5 was 102 bhp, the extra peak bhp being gained by the use of a visco cooling fan.
hallett76,
Feb 28, 8:09am
Awww I loved my Starfire 79 Torana.my first car. Happy memories.
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