Hey people.

This might be a question for the experts on engine swaps, but I think that all info gathered could result in an amazing project.

I haven't found any thread about it, neither a project already done with this engine, and I have two Fiat freaks friends over here just waiting for something crazy to do.

With fuel prices theses days, diesel engines are more and more common. Technology wise, Fiat has one of the best small diesel engines in the world in terms of performance, economy, durability... it would be a blast to fit one of this under a Cento's bonnet.

My idea is simple. I'm about to buy a "dead" Cinquecento Sporting that needs most mechanical parts. I'm not really sure if it's going to become a daily driven car or something to use just for fun once in a while so I could go a bit radical on this one.

Basic engine would be the 1.251cm3 engine (90hp, 4 cilinders multijet) with an hybrid Turbo and repro done to it (hp and torque wise I'm not sure what will be achieved yet or what the goal would be).

Starting on the basic questions:
Will it fit? I've looked at some and I think it will.
Transmission, gearbox, clutch, exchaust... original Fiat parts could be modded to fit or is the aftermarket the answer?
Suspensions, rollbar, chassis... is pretty much solved.

I know it will be hard to make, expensive, if even possible, but it would be one hell of a Cento :slayer:

Dont know anything about this but its a great idea only thing i would look out for is that the diesel engine is not too heavy with which you could get handling issues like the unoT centos
Zak

I actually have a 90hp 1.3 multijet almost complete in my garage for this very project. I've not started besides trial fitting into the engine bay of a cinq.

The real struggle will be getting all of the extras to fit in the engine bay;
The cooling system needs to be redesigned because there will be an engine mount/header tank collision & also the stock turbo will want to be near or in the radiator.
Secondly you'll need a custom intake manifold, as the stock one will hit the heater shroud & you'll need be careful about routing of the inlet piping.

You need to use the multijet gearbox and will need custom drive shafts to be made up, as for the engine mounts, the gearbox ones are fine but the engine mount will need to be a custom item as the stock mount puts the engine in an odd position. The ECU looks to be a problem too with loom swapping not being simple at all due to the extras the ECU seems to want.

I'd imagine torque reaction will be high so you'll probablly end up needing to consider the rear gearbox mount as a service item or redesign the mount again.

Slosei, the engine isn't much heaver than the 1.2 16v petrol so weight isn't a real problem.

This is not an engine conversion job its a complete re-engineering job.

Normal fuel injected petrol cars run roughly 3BAR of fuel pressure, the Cinq runs 1BAR, modern turbo diesels run upto 2000BAR

Therefore after making it fit by commissioning custom drive shafts engine mounts and whatever else is needed, getting an ECU to run it all you would need to get probably a new or at least modified petrol tank, pump and all fuel lines made to suit a diesel application.

Personally I see absolutely no advantage of running this engine in a Cinq.

You want 1.3MJ car go and buy one it'll be cheaper & much easier in long run, though I know from speaking to a former owner of a GP 1.3 and reading what he has said about it on this very forum that it was an awful engine that was horrendously laggy with a painfully short power band, and the fuel economy was nothing to write home about when using the power available to keep up with other traffic.

Though as always I will applaud anyone with the guile & tenacity to keep going at it and making it work

Custom drive shafts aren't needed for it.

It is quite some task and wish you will succeed. You will need endurance.

Whether this project makes sense or not? I don't know. But if you don't try you will never know. This aloneshould be reason to try.

J333EVO said:

though I know from speaking to a former owner of a GP 1.3 and reading what he has said about it on this very forum that it was an awful engine that was horrendously laggy with a painfully short power band, and the fuel economy was nothing to write home about when using the power available to keep up with other traffic.

Click to expand...

Aaron, to be fair the 1.3 MJ had proved to be a better engine in the smaller Fiat range with the Panda and the 500 owners all being plesantly supprised with it's results.

My boss bought a 500 1.3 MJ a couple of months back (1 more person backing the Fiat fight in my office ) and he cant rate it enough. It pulls very well in every gear and happily returns 70+MPG on runs out - This is still on run-in mileage as well

Although I completely see you point with regards to cost and reasoning to fit it into a Cento. For the cost of the build you could easily pick up an early model Panda 1.3 MJ and do the same job.

I guess it all depends on if you're after something to save fuel costs ( If you're considering it as a weekend toy then you'll feel no benefit of the diesel consumption over the cost of the fuel itself) or if you just want to do something bonkers (In which case go for it mate and good luck )

Personally I think Cento's are ideal for petrol conversions (16v and Turbo conversion FTW :slayer: )

Thanks for all the point of views. Fuel saving is an issue, especially when you have an high performance car.

I usted to have a loaded A3 1.8T +200hp and it kicked a**... but since I got my S60 D5, loaded too, I have to say the torque or brute force in a diesel engine is just imense.

I also usted to have a Doblo 1.3 Multijet at work, 75hp, and always thougth it drove really nice even at max load. I've driven a Panda with the same engine and it was fast for it's specs.

This project could go two ways... either to have a Cento for daily drive, a bit more forgiving in terms of brute force, or it could just be a big gun for weekend fun... and still be fairly cheap to run when compared to a loaded petrol engine.

I already searched for crashed Fiats with the 1.3 Multijet and they're really not expensive (300/400 euros). The idea is to buy one and scrap what I don't need (eventually sell some parts like interiors if decent).

Keep those ideas flowing

There are two flavours of the 1.3MJ (75 and 90BHP) the 75 is actually the more drivable of the two suffering less turbo lag (but the 90 is a fantastic engine once it is on boost) the 75 also uses a conventional turbo (where as the 90 is a VGT) so would be a bit easier to work with.

To be honest though if you want a small diesel car that is cheap and economical go and buy a 106 diesel 70mpg and will run on cooking oil