Can anyone tell me the good and bad points on these engines. I am thinking of repowering a chevette with 1 of these. Before anyone says use a V6 or Rover V8, the car is driven by my 16 year old son.
kingfisher21,
Apr 28, 9:51pm
Not as bad as most make out, they are basically a Holden 173 six with two cylinders missing. Tried to kill one once and had a hell of a job trying.
bwg11,
Apr 28, 10:11pm
If you have one lying around, why not. Probably a bit heavier than the original, but shouldn't matter too much. A nose heavy understeerer would be safer for your son anyway.
mugenb20b,
Apr 28, 10:14pm
Fixed.
rob_man,
Apr 28, 10:20pm
Staying inside the house wrapped in cotton wool would be safest for your son. Even more fixed.
bwg11,
Apr 28, 10:21pm
bwg11 - Did not write, "A later model car with SRS, ABS, and traction control be safer for your son anyway." but does agree.
rob_man,
Apr 28, 10:23pm
Actually, what was it about those motors! they should have been a world beater but they never really cracked it did they. Maybe if they had cut the end off a 186 instead of a 173.
bwg11,
Apr 28, 10:24pm
They just had too much car to push.
andy61,
Apr 28, 10:31pm
A Gemini motor(1600) was always a popular transplant for the Chevette,from memory it was a straight forward swap. Some people used the 2 litre Rodeo engine.(Eerly Rodeo),but they are probably getting difficult to find.
donz01,
Apr 28, 11:00pm
We are only considering it as an option to get an extra gear, The way it is now it seems to need an extra gear once you get to around 90kph.
ladatrouble,
Apr 28, 11:06pm
Biggest problem with the Starfire was the stupid carb. A Weber from a 2.0 litre Cortina was a near bolt on and transformed it into a nearly good car.
nightboss,
Apr 28, 11:07pm
Can you fix that by changing diff ratio!
robotnik,
Apr 29, 12:00am
What about considering 'time exposed to danger' when over taking and such for your son! With a V8 he will be able to overtake much more rapidly - less time on the wrong side of the road will be safer surely.
gunna-1,
Apr 29, 12:14am
We owned an automatic one once that allso had a slighty tired motor and it was guttless as, but i drove on oncè with a 5spd manual box, witch is all i brought the car for (it was a wreck) and it actualy didnt drive to bad i was quite suprised, i drove it on the open road and we towed it the wrest of the way once we got into town.
mantagsi,
Apr 29, 2:30am
Have you considered going a little bit mad and trying something more modern, like a Toyota 4A-GE with a pair of side draught carbies! That would get the old chevette going reasonably well, and HEAPS of bolt on goodies if you want to go down that track :)
thejazzpianoma,
Apr 29, 4:12pm
I had a Torana with one. Gutless and unbelievably thirsty (Seriously it used more fuel than any mainstream modern V8 I can think of). It would be the last engine I would put into anything for whatever purpose.
mram,
Apr 29, 4:19pm
CF Bedford 2.3 engine
ceebee2,
Apr 29, 6:09pm
They are thirsty and problematic old engines! You will also have a compliance issue at WOF time if the inspector notices the difference.
gunna-1,
Apr 29, 9:42pm
Apparenty the auto ones are more thirsty than the manual ones for some reason.
mram,
Apr 29, 9:50pm
I was told if you sorted the oil pickup tube with a non return valve, they were all good, used to rattle away with no oil until they picked it up after a cold start, used to be a popular conversion into the shovettes, went like a shower of s@#t
floscey,
Apr 29, 10:01pm
You used to be able to geta set of 4 holden 186 pistons for these and you could bore them out and get a bit more grunt. Mind it was 20 years ago.
nzfatie,
Apr 29, 10:03pm
Have to be careful putting a bigger motor into a Chevette as the gearboxes and diffs are weak. They were designed for a 1057cc Viva motor that grew to 1256cc later on, without any major upgrades of the running gear. The best conversion is to bolt in the 1600cc motor/5 speed g/box and diff from a RWD Holden Gemini. You'll have a great car then, will go well on the motorway and the Chevette looks much nicer than those ugly duckling Gemini's!
thejazzpianoma,
Apr 30, 1:15am
Well. yes. as would be true with every automatic car of the era. Especially heavy under-powered ones.
rob_man,
Apr 30, 1:30am
They are the same floorpan no!
gunna-1,
Apr 30, 4:32am
That can allso mean a worn crankshaft, or main berings, my 202 kingswood use to do that real bad, so i reconditioned the oil pump and nothing changed, until i put another motor in it, and the crankshaft and berrings from the old motor were stuffed bigtime.
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