Report Abuse

“The Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0 8v SRI is in my opinion a...”

written by oliver ryan on 06/10/2004

Good Points
The 8v vauxhall engine is very well engineered with little or no faults especially the 2.0l seh with bosch ignition sytem. Under the wing of the cosworth 16v version but in my opinion the 8v is the sronger more reliable car which is just itching to be modified for more bhp and there is plenty to be done to them.

Bad Points
The cavalier sri could have done with independant rear suspension like the gsi and the rear arches all suffer the same but then there would be nothing to moan about if the arches lasted

General Comments
The Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0 8v SRI is in my opinion a force to be reckoned with firstly if the cam belt snaps your engine will be ok due to the clearance between the valves and the piston and secondly its one of the few cars that can have the clutch replaced with the gear box still in place. Ok were not talking about the same league as mitsi evos or scoobys but for a strong torquey all round contender the cav is brilliant I am on my third sri cavalier pre cat model of course 130 bhp as standard although the engine is very simplistic by todays standards it shows up many cars on the road from hot hatches to turbo diesels. so far i have lowered my cav 40mm fitted 195 50 15s alloys smoked rear light clusters and thats it cosmeticaly because I dont think styling should be cooked - Subtle styling looks nicer. I am focusing most of my efforts on the engines performance starting from the beginning I have fitted a k&n indution kit, fse boost valve running at 3 bar and a full magnex stainless exhaust system including magnex 4 into 2 into 1 long branch manifold to free up the top end. With just these mods i have had the car off the clock and estimate a top speed of 150mph!! Which did not impress the 40 grand M5 next to me but thats not bad going for a car that cost £500, I currently have a fast road high lift cam on order due back this week and Ii have also had my cylinder head sent away which I should also receive back in the next couple of weeks. This has been ported, polished, gas flowed and the valves triple cut. Along with the cam and other bits I can only expect more grinning when my foot hits the pedal - I cant wait. Along with the plenty of upgrading to be done to these engines, these are one of the few cars that still go as strong after 200,000 miles as some cars half their milage, the secret is to change the oil and filter every 3 thousand miles and catch the rust the moment it starts to show, other than drivers seats fraying on the edge there is very little to worry about with the trusty sri cavalier, I could talk about vauxhalls all day long but I must go, but before I do just remember the old saying once driven for ever smitten if any one has any tips or bhp spec for sri cavs then e mail me at [email protected]