Corsa-B.uk - Vauxhall, Opel and Holden Corsa B Owners Club

hi all!!, im new to the forums and have been thinking long and hard about a corsa redtop conversion. i just want to know if its as hard as some people make it out to be? im no mechanic but i have some knowledge of engines. i just wanted to know if this would be abit more of just a dream than actually doing it my self, if someone could send me in a pm or comment, maybe a detailed guide? or maybe all the parts i need to purchase to do the conversion? also im wondering what is the best model corsa to work with? i was thinking a 1.4 8v?? im new so go easy lads lol, please feel free to comment! thanks alot guys!!

urm well its tedious and will cost you a bomb, in the region of say £600 to do the conversion including buying the engine obv

i dont mean to sound at all snobby in anyway but money isnt really a worry as i have no bills to pay at the moment lol, so all my wages will be going into this! thanks for the reply

id like to know if its easy to buy a 2.0 cav and strip it and use the parts? or just buy everything i need seperatly? all infomation is more than welcome thanks alot

but it separate as you wont be able to use the shafts from the car anyway, google it, theirs LOADS AND LOADS of write up threads on 2.0 conversions.

ok pricer thanks alot, i just need a guide on what needs to be bought and how to do it basically lol, thanks for the info, as i said in the first post one of the main things are what model of corsa to buy??

the redtop conversion is fairly easy to do if u have a little bit of knowledge with cars. best thing to do if its ur first time is read up like pricer has said.
fuel lines are the most awkard part i think as they are never in the right place.
cost wise varies depending how u wanna do it, properly or budget way. 22 spline drive shafts or the motorsport 25spline driveshafts.
wiring is 7 wires to get the car running. but needs to be done correctly, sometimes u can be lucky and have a easy install sometimes it can be a pain.

thanks jayybull, i really want to do this conversion but my dad keeps putting me off saying " ygh you will just f**k it up" lmao talk about killing my confidence! haha, well just to prove the old git wrong im going to do the conversion just need to fins a list of EVERYTHING i need so i can buy it all then go from there.. i just dont know what model corsa to buy??

FUEL:-

get a multi valve type they already have the correct fuel connectors on them, but any corsa will do, they're all exactly the same body wise. but for electrics dont get a 1.0 12v or a 1.2 16v tho as i believe the ecu is in the scuttle panel, and you might have to replace the whole dash loom, so either the 1.2 8v, 1.4 8v, 1.4 16v, 1.6 16v, but with the 8v engines they have male fuel connectors not female which you need female to fit the XE fuel rail, plus with the 8v's you'l need to replace the in tank fuel pump to a 16v pump aswell, so basically try and get 1.4 16v or a 1.6 16v shell as you wont have to swap fuel lines OR swap the in tank fuel pump. but you will need to shorten the return pipe to the tank from the XE as the standard corsa plastic pipe is to long, as the corsa fuel lines are both on the right hand side of the engine on the 1.4 16v and 1.6 16v engines, but on the XE the inlet is on the right hand side of the bay, and the outlet and fuel regulator (outlet side) is on the left, so you need to take about 1foot of pipe out of the outlet for it to fit up correctly.

ENGINE MOUNTS / SPACERS:-

you can keep the standard corsa front gearbox mount if your using the F20 gearbox, and iv even used the standard rear gearbox mount aswell as using an 8v linkage system as that seemed to fit and work more than a 16v linkage system as i havent had to use any rear gearbox spacers, but on some cars you have to, apparently its all about vauxhalls tolerances when they first made them so thats all down to if your car needs it, if it does then you'l need to cut and extend both your gear linkage and replace your plastic linkage rod with a metal rod the same length as the plastic but extended the same amount as your gear linkage bit, which will be the same extended amount as how much you have put in as spacers if your thats if your extending an 8v linkage system, if its a multi valve linkage your extending it will have to be even more.

SHAFTS:-

corsa hubs and the F20 gearbox have different amounts of splines and different size cv joints, and due to having different size cv joints they have a different amount of splines on the shafts. although you can use corsa 1.6 16v shafts as these have the same amount of splines on the shafts as what the 2.0 inner cv joints are that you require to fit the F20 gearbox, and with this you can keep your standard corsa hubs. all the other corsa models have less splines on the shafts therefore you cannot fit the F20 inner cv joint that you require to fit the gearbox. YOU CAN buy motorsport shafts and hubs that you can make up yourself by using 2.0 inner and outer CV joints these are specially made larger shafts with correct amount of splines for 2.0 inner and outer, but with using 2.0 outer cv joints you need to get LARGER hubs which you can aquire off ebay along with everything else, these use standard corsa bearings, and press into the corsa outer hub. you can get these 2.0 hubs as they're called in either a 4 stud or a 5 stud if you wish to use vauxhall turbo wheels etc. but doing this you will then need to replace your rear hubs with cavalier 5 stud hubs which dont use brake drums but use brake discs which is therefore a rear 5 stud disc conversion, but you can use the calibra equal shaft setup as for some reason these fit and then you just have to replace the equal shaft outer cv joint from a larger 2.0 outer cv joint to 1.6 16v outer cv joint as these fit standard corsa hubs but have the correct 2.0 splines, this setup can only work on the one side, i still think you need either a 1.6 16v short shaft or motorsport short shaft.

BRAKES:-

you can use ANY of the old school vauxhall 256mm 2.0 16v brakes the calipers and carriers and discs are all a direct replacement for ANY corsa brake system, this is require due to the increased power you will be running. you can get the V6 brakes these are also a direct replacement bolt on for any corsa front brakes but i believe these came only in a 5 stud so require drilling to 4x100pcd only thing with 2.0 brakes is you cant use a standard steel wheel for a spare as they wont fit over the calipers, and you cant use the v6 brakes with 15inch wheels that much only a few designs allow enough clearance between caliper and inner wheel 16inch alloy wheels are required really if your using 16inch alloys.

wireing:-

just cut the plugs on the XE loom and connect colour to colour with the corsa small plug, think theirs only 9 wires as its only a 1inch x 1inch electrical plug that you need to worry about (all this is in the footwell of the car) then theirs one wire thats in your engine bay that can be found coming out the end of your fuel rail loom which is a single black wire, this needs feeding back through into the footwell and connecting up to the black wire on the corsa loom which is a switched live that turns the power on and off to the ECU which in turn starts and stops your engine. thats about it their isnt alot more to worry about with wireing.

XE ENGINE ITSELF:-

you WILL need to put a new cambelt KIT on it, and yes it might be expensive but it'l be worth it in the future as least you know its got a new cambelt on it, and you might aswell change the water pump while your at it, you WILL need to change your auxhillary belt to a single v system not a multi v as i found out its alot of trouble, you can use a 1.2 8v single belt alternator they bolt straight onto an XE alternator mount but you'l need to fabricate your own alternator top tensioner, and then source a 2.0 single v bottom pulley if you dont have power steering, if you have power steering tho you need to get hold of a 2.0 redtop power steering pump with single v, and then purchace a power steering conversion pump bracket of ebay etc then you'l need to purchace a standard 2.0 bottom single v belt double pulley, as the alternator and power steering pump now run of seperate belts compared to how they both run of the same ones when they were a multi v belt system.
ALSO you will need to use a power cap as you can not use a standard redtop inlet box as its to large, and you WILL need to cut a section out of the bulkhead to make it fit, orr i think you can get a 2.0 ecotec throttle body adaptor which allows you to fit a 2.0 inlet tube instead of the power cap which i think will allow you to not cut the bulk head, im not sure but its something like that,

i cant think of much else, my fingers are hurting but hope you enjoy the read, and it will stop you pestering everyone. lol

Y don't u buy a corsa already with redtop in be alot easier

well yea or do that lol but sometimes is nice to know you'v built it yourself as there are a fair few bodge monkeys out there.

Well yer true

pricer thankyou so much :L much appreciated!! will be posting pics of my car on soon! look out for the new thread!