Hi all, could anyone please help me... im after rough dimensions of the seicento engine bay, from engine bay front to back, and the measurements between inner wings both top and bottom, and finally the height of the bay...

Thinking along the routes of a 2.0 16v seicento... never been done ever (maybe a reason for it)

Was looking at the stats for power to weight ratio...

Curb weight of a normal sei is 750kg, and could easily be dropped to around the 600 if the majority of not needed stuff was removed....

Engine being 156bhp standard (THE SAME THATS IN MY NOVA)

That gives me a Power to Weight Ratio (BHP Per Ton) : 264.17

And with a little work to the engine (cams - chip and exhaust) hopefully getting 200bhp out of the engine i could be returning a Power to Weight Ratio (BHP Per Ton) : 338.68


Tasty......

I know it would be an awkward fit, and am currently working around the idea of how to get the engine in as i would want it front mounted, not RWD.

I was thinking of going down the hot-rod type route by removing the front end, welding up the front panels, bonnet, wings to create a flip front.. then removing everything else, building a frame up to mount the engine... then i can have the inner wings binned and get around the small bay idea... Obviously fitting back safety features and bracing from the front of the frame, over the engine to the bulkhead....

Other than that i need somewhere to do it, as a lot of welding would need to be done for this one......

Just an idea at the min.......

Ive just finished building a 2.0 vauxhall nova, and have experience in engine swaps, as before my nova i had a 220bhp rs turbo ford ka.... so not a dreamer haha...

I just love fiats, and want to get back down that route...

Thing to consider is whether it wouldn't become very nose heavy with an engine/setup like that...

I'll do a measure this weekend, if I remember. I'd advise rear engined, though, for all the usual reasons. 338.68bhp/tonne? I'm working on 400 - 800..............

I'd love to see you do it however I feel this is a step to far. iirc the fiat 2.0 16v engine only just fitted in the punto engine bay which has a fair bit more room than a 'cento. Also how much does your target engine & box weigh, it'll have to be damn light or you'll end up with an extremely quick but nose heavy car that's no fun to drive.

As the other guys have said

it will not be straight forward by anymeans there are one or two Polish ones out there with bigger engines but they have silly modded bonnets and most of the front structure cut away to get them to fit plus they have a rediculous front track width.
Have look under the bonnet of a Brava HGT or coupe and that will probably answer your question better than anything

i will have a dig around and see what i can come up with. I was thinking of removing most of the front, and having a mini style flip front.. then under that a steel frame to house the engine... i realise finding room for some of the things like brake servo, pipes, battery and coolant tanks may cause a problem and may need to be re-homed elsewhere.

I would be intending to use the c20xe engine, which is a vauxhall 2.0 16v usually known as the redtop as i have worked on a few of these and they are pretty simple to work on.

At the moment i have an extremly light nova running the 2.0 16v engine and its apparently nose heavy, but the car has been stitch welded, anti-roll bars have been fitted, along with strut braces and decent brake ans suspension set up... it handles like any other car... all be it without power steering lol.

The only issue i can see at the moment is the width being a problem (gearbox) as it is a bit on the long side...

Hence my trying to measure up if it will or wont fit....

This is the engine im intending to use, as pictured in my nova... Its not heavy as its an alloy block (made by cosworth).. its just an awkward shape...

fingers99 said:

I'll do a measure this weekend, if I remember. I'd advise rear engined, though, for all the usual reasons. 338.68bhp/tonne? I'm working on 400 - 800..............

Click to expand...

Would appreciate if you could get the tape measure out matey .... 400-800..... Madness!!!

bear in mind the red top is a breeze to fit into a nova vs what you propose

cov69 said:

Would appreciate if you could get the tape measure out matey .... 400-800..... Madness!!!

Click to expand...

But that's rear engined.............

custard said:

bear in mind the red top is a breeze to fit into a nova vs what you propose

Click to expand...

Lol this i know... although fitting a 220bhp turbo engine in a P plate ford ka engine bay wasnt easy lol.... plus its half the fun!!

Few pics of the shoehorn aided ka conversion lol...





I know if there is a chance on the 2.0 16v fitting then it will be a hard project... but not impossible

You can do as you said, a flip front with a subframe. But thats assuming one thing, thats if you need to make room infront of the axle. What you need to do is measure up the engine, and see how much room BEHIND the axle you need to make. Then shorten your legs by the same amount

i remember seing a mini estate with a valver in it at singleton car show a while back. u'll need to spaceframe the front and a flip frot like u suggested, but u may need to add some extra weight over the rear axle to try and ballance it up a bit.....

all ideas like this are a waste of time and money... you need to make a whole new car for it to be and good...

do its kitcar (z-car) style... RWD space frame chassis then just drop the cento shell on top.

Do it mate, just so the rest of us can see if it can be done. Stuff practical or common sense, push the boat out. Good Luck!

lol going to whip the front off my nova today to see if i can get some decent measurments of the engine, then im left with just needing to get the measurements of the sei in its standard state to see if there is any point in going further (which i damn hope there is) as i dont want some wide arch, big bonnet type mutated seicento lol.

To be honest it shouldnt cost that much to do... i need to source a cheap sei, pref with a blown headgasket or engine problem, then the engine, which usually are around the £400-500 mark with all its stand alone ecu, loom etc. Then get busy welding. As i will be doing all the work myself it should keep costs down a fair bit... The only other thing i would need to budget for is custom drive shafts.

The way i see it i need to...

Make a flip front,
Build a front frame chassis,
Mount the engine,
Seam/Stitch weld the car,
Strip the engine loom out the sei's loom and then fit the 2.0 loom in (about 6 wires),
Fit 8mm fuel lines with 2.0 fuel pump/filter,
Fit coilovers/better suspension
Distribute the weight around a fair bit,
Take loads of picks, drink ton's of coffee, and swear a lot....

I know its really off the subject, but do the fuel tanks on the seicento's have the swirl pot thing in them? As thats the only other thing i might need to swap, as i wouldnt like to be turning round a bend and having the engine being starved of fuel..

No swirl pot, at least on the SPI ones: I've forced a SPI Cinq to die (momentarily) by extremely over exuberant cornering with the fuel on the first marker.

But never managed to do this on an MPI car.

Difficult to fit a swirl in a pump in tank set up. Baffles?

I'd be more worried about what's going on in the sump...............

Ah if its like the vauxhall fuel tanks then the spi (vaux carb models) they have a standard tank with a fuel drag type pump, and then the mpi have a swirl thingy in to prevent the fuel starvation on harsh cornering....

Il have to look into the mpi sporting tank...

The MPI Sei pump holds a lot of fuel so it can keep the fuel pressure up I duno if it has a swirl pot inside or not.

I'm running a Sei with around the sort of output you're talking and fuel starvation isn't a problem even with a fuel pump without a swirl pot, though the fuel pump its self seems to hold a high volume of fuel, until I get to less than 5l of fuel, which is around about the level where you start dragging any solid contaminants into the fuel system anyway.