Ello all, wondering if anyone could give me some advice on this one.
Just to clear up a couple of things - I am fairly new to the idea of building an engine, I've done basic things like cylinder head gasket replacements, replaced the odd valve and cleaned up the tappets. I've even stripped an engine bare before - but I have never built one from the block up - so this is going to be a project within another project really.
I currently have 2 spare engines, sat about doing nothing other than taking up space (for various reasons). Now, I've been wondering what to do with them for a while, if it would be worth doing anything or just weighing them in. Engines in question are 18SE's from a MK2 Cavalier.
So - plan A was to rebuild 1 good engine out of the 2, with completely stock internals and electrics, but then I got a decent 60k lump for not much wedge and knocked that on the head.
Then, I thought, maybe I could upgrade the engine somewhat, running the 18Se on 20NE or 20SEH electronics to get rid of the horrid Bosch setup and get the wiring a bit more inkeeping with the MK3 Cav, allows for newer features such as cruise control to be tied in a bit better, and a fuel computer to be installed again. Though, I can't really find much information about that anymore - if anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be appreciated.
Then I thought about the above and figured - why not take it a step further - get the 1.8 block bored out, drop in some 2 litre pistons and build up a 2 litre lump instead - reasoning for this is purely down to any engine you buy that is 20 years old is likely going to require some work - so why not start with something you know?
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?
I have considered other engines, with more power - but for some reason, I just like these engines and want to see what can be done to make them better / more refined.