the point is, the car would get to a corner, and then carry straight on.
FWD with a massive chunk hanging out over th front of it with no weight to settle it at the back is just asking for trouble, basically you'll hit a corner, it won't turn in much, when it does, the back end will go straight out, so you floor it, too much power, and the whole car slips mainly ass first into the neartest lamppost/ditch/fence post/postman
not wise.
as dave says. the 1242 16v can be tuned to VERY good potential. you can add a supercharge to put some guts in it at the bottom end. and you can have a 8,000rpm top end with a lumpy cam, some head work and that standalone ecu you'll need to run the 'charger.
1242 16v lumps are VERY common. you can pick up a sub 50k engine with g'box (as th sporting ones ahve a longer 5th gear for better motorway work) and ecu etc for under £200
then you spend the rest of the money on a little supercharger and fitting.
no custom mounts.
no custom driveshafts
no custom wiring
no angle grinding
no one off exhausts required
no custom homebuilt/bodged plumbing and rewiring attepts.
just plug, and play.