Vauxhall Firenza HC 1972 complete restoration

[jimfytakis]

Are gasket sets from chevettes suitable for vivas Ohv engines?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... TQ:GB:1123

[viva les vegas]

Yes. It says Viva on the sticker on the packaging too, I zoomed in

[jimfytakis]

Yes. It says Viva on the sticker on the packaging too, I zoomed in

Thanks!I ve already bidded on it!

I found a few details concerning engine oversizing.
According to autodata bore is 3.188in stroke 2.40in
If I use +020 pistons my engine will be
http://www.bgsoflex.com/cgi-bin/displac ... ode=Inches
More than 150cc...Not bad!However I want to know which is the max value of oversizing in this engine..I ve seen somewhere (i think ebay) +030 pistons...In case I use these will the block be repairable again?

Now we come to the head.Mine must be LC as the car was imported to Holland so CR must be 7.3:1..
To increase the CR to 9-9.5:1 will I need something else apart High compression hepolite pistons?

[jimfytakis]

Hi! I want to know the original colour codes of the engine blocks for my firenza.Now the engine is a light red but i dont think its the original

[midlands_nick]

i was led to believe that original motors are black, 90's are red and recons are pale blue (but dont know if it applied to HC's as well)

[pbottomley]

Gosh where to start...

Assuming you have a 1256cc engine then the gasket set will be fine, if you are using a 1159cc engine then the gasket set apart from the head-gasket will be fine.

Secondly + 0.020" pistons will not increase the displacement of the engine by 150cc more like 15cc .. The error you made was to input the piston oversize as 0.200" when in fact it should of been 0.020" (20 thou).

I have redone the cc calculator you used and it now reads 1271.6cc.


You can get pistons up to + 0.060" but one has to be very careful at that size as they are likely to make the block walls to thin and possibly break into the water jacket. The largest one tends to see for sale however is + 0.040" (in metric +1mm)... using these your engine displacement is around 1287cc.

In order to convert from Low Compression (7.3:1) to Normal compression (8.7:1) one needs to change the pistons (as you are doing) to change to High compression (9.5:1) one needs to skim the cylinder head (most Haynes books will give the head thickness) unless of course your a paid up members and all the head thickness sizes are in the private members area under "Anorak Corner".

OHV cylinder head depths


Nick is right about paint colours, recon units are generally blue or grey... ready to be painted as required... DO NOT believe the paint colour one needs to check engine numbers and possible internals to confirm it is what the could suggests.

[jimfytakis]

Gosh where to start...

Assuming you have a 1256cc engine then the gasket set will be fine, if you are using a 1159cc engine then the gasket set apart from the head-gasket will be fine.

Secondly + 0.020" pistons will not increase the displacement of the engine by 150cc more like 15cc .. The error you made was to input the piston oversize as 0.200" when in fact it should of been 0.020" (20 thou).

I have never opened this engine so I didnt know the block thickness...However 150cc seemed to me impossible as in larger engines this oversizing is achived with the largest available pistons,not with +20

I have redone the cc calculator you used and it now reads 1271.6cc.

This seems ok...


You can get pistons up to + 0.060" but one has to be very careful at that size as they are likely to make the block walls to thin and possibly break into the water jacket. The largest one tends to see for sale however is + 0.040" (in metric +1mm)... using these your engine displacement is around 1287cc.

In order to convert from Low Compression (7.3:1) to Normal compression (8.7:1) one needs to change the pistons (as you are doing) to change to High compression (9.5:1) one needs to skim the cylinder head (most Haynes books will give the head thickness) unless of course your a paid up members and all the head thickness sizes are in the private members area under "Anorak Corner".

I had a few words with a seller on ebay and told me that only cars exported to countrles with low octane numbers used LC.Apparently Holland didnt need LC...

OHV cylinder head depths


Nick is right about paint colours, recon units are generally blue or grey... ready to be painted as required... DO NOT believe the paint colour one needs to check engine numbers and possible internals to confirm it is what the could suggests.

Propably I ll have the engine painted black,although I dislike it since an oil leak isnt as visible as it would be on dark blue..However I want the car to be as close to original as possible..I even keep the front drum brake...

The engine number is 8822902 and head no 2683420

[jimfytakis]

Hi! I bought a lot of things recently!

One of them are the rear trailing arm bushes...I bought them from vivagt (ebay seller)
In the item description said that they are remanufactured..i can tell they are harder than the original but much softer than polyourethane bushes.. I dont know how he remanufactures them, but since their quality seems better than original I am happy!
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12 ... ure006.jpg

By now, two small boxes full of NOS parts
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12 ... ure008.jpg

I also started polishing a few aluminium parts (water pump,dynamo,in. manifold)...Unfortunatelly in some parts alluminium is slightly oxidized (these dark stains)
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12 ... ure009.jpg
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12 ... ure004.jpg

I was hoping that this summer I would rebuild the engine...Propably I will only prepare the rear axle only,as priority no1 is my manta's engine!
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12 ... ure007.jpg

I also want to buy a viva for spares...I was about to buy this one
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12 ... 009011.jpg
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12 ... 009009.jpg
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12 ... 009010.jpg

however the car disappeared before I contact the owner and her place took a two doors ford mk2.

Luckily I spotted two more vivas...One in western Macedonia and one in Thessaloniki..
I took some pics of the latter
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12 ... =viva1.jpg
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12 ... =viva2.jpg
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd12 ... =viva3.jpg

Hope this time,I ll find the owner before he scraps it!

[hbpeter]

Well spotted on the 2 Vivas. Can I use the pictures in Forum Register?

Peter

[jimfytakis]

Well spotted on the 2 Vivas. Can I use the pictures in Forum Register?

Peter

What do you mean in forum register?Uploaded not as links but directly as pictures?