E30 Zone

Its been a while since ive been on here, thought i post a few pictures of YHU, a lot f you will have already seen them, but im sure there are many new memebers that havent. I will get fresh pictures sometime soon










Heres my everyday car, low mileage 2litre redtop sri cavaler, very rare colour and very very quick!

Love your sport mate is sweet as

Being biased towards white

Is the cavalier really that quick?

Sport looks great although it is crying out for a new set of shoes!

looks really nice, same as my white sport but I think to really make your car stand out you need black 16" alpinas and that will make the car look

oakey wrote:Is the cavalier really that quick?

Sport looks great although it is crying out for a new set of shoes!

Yes she does need a set of new shoes! Borbets me thinks!

The cavalier is sharp. She does motorway speed in second gear and goes right of the clock with ease , she happily sits on the limiter in 5th

It literally took me a couple of years to find the right cavalier. Its very hard to find a saloon with a redtop engine. Most saloons have the ecotec engine, its a pile of balls as im sure most of you know.

Heres a quick pictures of the engine bay, i will soon be spraying the rocker cover burgundy.





It is some fun, only cost me 1300 quid taxed and tested, no rust on her at all, goes like link, turns heads and cavs are cult icons here in ireland. Making strong enough money now.

I got a redtop!:

I have to agree about white looking good,

Mucker_325i wrote:I got a redtop!:

Ive always been a fan of novas, unfortunatley the fact they are a chav mobile, stops me from owning one.

And Chavaliers aren't?!

Nice car anyway.

Would a 2.0 litre red top in a Chavalier not be about the same speed as a 318IS? I suppose it will only seem fast if you haven't driven anything faster

love your sport looks very nice

rossmc88 wrote:Would a 2.0 litre red top in a Chavalier not be about the same speed as a 318IS? I suppose it will only seem fast if you haven't driven anything faster

I had a redtop Astra GTE about 7 years ago - point to point it was probably the quickest car I've had - torque steered like a bitch and would wheelspin in 3rd gear - and would wipe the floor with an IS.

My 325i and E36 328i were ultimately probably slightly quicker cars but didn't feel it compared to the GTE.
I got rid because it had a Spax Suspension kit - which felt like there was no suspension at all - also the back arches were worse than most chromies

Even though the extra weight of the cavalier bodyshell will take the edge off slightly I bet its still quick

Is a redtop not only 150 BHP?

That looks stunning very pimp in white to

rossmc88 wrote:Would a 2.0 litre red top in a Chavalier not be about the same speed as a 318IS? I suppose it will only seem fast if you haven't driven anything faster

What makes you assume i havnt driven anything faster?

Ok, if you reckon a 318is would hit the same speed as a redtop cav, then do you reckon a 318is will do the same speed as a 325i sport. As you seem to think i havnt driven anything quicker, yet i have showed pictures of my 325i sport.

My cav is quicker than my sport and my sport is very sharp, the M20 doesnt even have 50k on it.

A 2001 330d, couldnt overtake me last week, he tried his best and couldnt pass me. Should have seen the look on his face.

Oh and rossmc88, the quickest i have ever driven, was a 360bhp supercharged aston martin, so trust me ive driven faster cars than a sport and a cav lol!

But the cav is a big heavy car with only 150 bhp to haul it along. I had this before when I had an escort, people used to go on about how amazingly fast escorts that had a 2.0 litre zetec conversion were, so I bought one and it wasn't even fast

Does this mean that corsa's with a red top engine are rocket ships? Think I might get one if that is this case I may have allowed my 2.0 ford zetec experience taint my views.

The reason I was going on about an IS is because I was thinking along the lines of how much power the engines put out and the weights of the cars. Is an IS not 142 ish and a red top 146ish, and the IS being atiny bit lighter to balance it out? Am I way off with those figures? Or is there anything I haven't considered?

Your white sport looks awesome btw

Lovely sport i wanted one in white..

Ive had plently of cavs gsi, and the 4x4 turbo, these are quick cars 150 mph no problem and bullet proof red tops.

rossmc88 wrote:But the cav is a big heavy car with only 150 bhp to haul it along. I had this before when I had an escort, people used to go on about how amazingly fast escorts that had a 2.0 litre zetec conversion were, so I bought one and it wasn't even fast

Does this mean that corsa's with a red top engine are rocket ships? Think I might get one if that is this case I may have allowed my 2.0 ford zetec experience taint my views.

The reason I was going on about an IS is because I was thinking along the lines of how much power the engines put out and the weights of the cars. Is an IS not 142 ish and a red top 146ish, and the IS being atiny bit lighter to balance it out? Am I way off with those figures? Or is there anything I haven't considered?

Your white sport looks awesome btw

My cav will hit near 150mph, but its how it gets there that matters. Not once does it hesitiate.

My mate has a lovley redtop cav, we have a video of it going from 0 to of the clock and it does so in just over 30 secs. Mine does about the same, imo thats quick for an old car that can by picked up these days for little money!

You cant even compare a zetec engine to a redtop, here is just a we bit of history on c20xe, and just what it has achieved in motorsport.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C20XE

Thanks for all the comments fellas, much appreciated.

Some people dont seem to realise just how good the old C20XE Red top lump really is yes its only 150 BHP but its one of the best NA 4 pot lumps ever made, with just a few hundred quid spent on tuning the Astra GTE red top can do 0-60 in under 7 seconds and a top speed of just over 150 mph

a good slighty tuned Astra GTE red top would slay a 325 sport and would give an M3 a run for its money

That's decent like, i thought it was just internet talk but I've been proved wrong. So a corsa redtop would be faster than a civic type R?

Problem with corsa red tops is that most of them are driven by muppets who have no clue plus most red top lumps are pretty shagged these days but with a good driver and a strong red top yes a corsa XE would beat a type R although the red tops do tend to run out of puff in higher gears.

The best platform for a red top imo is the mk1 or mk2 Astra

Would the corsa not be a good bit lighter than an astra?

only by a bit as the Mk1 & 2 astra are old cars infact i reckon the mk1 astra may even be lighter, my mates corsa red top was scary to be in at high speeds and my mate nova red top even more so where as the Astra is a nice place to be and handles the power well.

Plus the corsa shell cant handle the power very well and flex's alot you can see ripples in the bodywork after a while due to the engine having to much power

Aye the XE engine is a good lump, but the head is the wrong way round! As in, the exhaust is at the front and the inlet is at the bulkhead end. Not too bad until you want to pop some big throttle bodies on it and then you don't benefit from the ram air of front facing throttle bodies, whereas a mear 1.9 16v Peugeot engine that I know of faces the right way and produces 10 more HP out of the box.

I know people have tried to put the mi16 head on an XE bottom end to create a reliable tuneable bit of kit. Basically putting the best of the two engines together to make one really good one. Never really heard of anyone getting the most out of the combination. It is one for the rally boys as they spunk loads of monies on trivial things like that.

i know for a fact the the red top in a nova will give a e36 m3 a good race!

capri_rob wrote:I had a redtop Astra GTE about 7 years ago - point to point it was probably the quickest car I've had - torque steered like a bitch and would wheelspin in 3rd gear - and would wipe the floor with an IS.

My 325i and E36 328i were ultimately probably slightly quicker cars but didn't feel it compared to the GTE.

This is nonsense.

If a 318iS comfortably outperforms a 325i, which you say is the faster car than your GTE, then how can the GTE 'wipe the floor with an 318iS?'

Focus!

Get some up to date piccies mate, I remember that car when Jon first got it......weren't they taken by Jon even ? any up to date ones ?

I had a red top SRi cavalier, but I did not think it was all that great tbh, was a decent low mileage cared for one as well before you ask My current steed would pi$$ all over it tbh.

On_a_Roll wrote:

capri_rob wrote:I had a redtop Astra GTE about 7 years ago - point to point it was probably the quickest car I've had - torque steered like a bitch and would wheelspin in 3rd gear - and would wipe the floor with an IS.

My 325i and E36 328i were ultimately probably slightly quicker cars but didn't feel it compared to the GTE.

This is nonsense.

If a 318iS comfortably outperforms a 325i, which you say is the faster car than your GTE, then how can the GTE 'wipe the floor with an 318iS?'

Focus!

a 318is will not outperform a 325 what are you on about! a GTE would eat an IS for breakfast and a 325 for that matter unless it was an 8v GTE

Splondike wrote:Old piccies though mate....weren't they taken by Jon even ? any up to date ones ?

I had a red top SRi cavalier, but I did not think it was all that great tbh, was a decent low mileage cared for one as well before you ask My current steed would pi$$ all over it tbh.

The cav an calibra were the worst cars to have a Red Top in much to heavy and the shitty handling meant there was no fun to be had where as the C20LET turbo engine was made the cav and calibra in to some nice beastly machines

One thing I will say, all the GTEs I had ( 3 of them ) and the SRi all over-read like mad...

Splondike wrote:One thing I will say, all the GTEs I had ( 3 of them ) and the SRi all over-read like mad...

That Mk1 looks great, be worth a bob or two these days!

Was still around until a few years ago, I think it is long dead now Was the best of the bunch, although the white one was the fastest of the 3 !

white cars always are faster

Oh, back on topic.. here is another up to date piccy of your car at Gaydon in 2005 (at the front of these three sports), all of which are now with different owners... mine at the back, Simon's (now Billgates') in the middle and yours at the front !