General Uno Engine Swaps

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General Uno Engine Swaps

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Ok guys and girls, I'm new here and it's good to find other fans of the Uno who like fiddling with them!

I'm interested to know if anyone has done engine swaps to upgrade the performance. I'll discount the turbo engine, as though it is a fine unit it would be a bit of a nightmare to swap into a standard car! I'm looking more at the older carburetor models or single point injection units, that with the right tools and facilities can be swapped in a day.

Obviously if one had a FIRE engine, then the 1100 FIRE should swap in place of the 1000 (mk2 60S models had 1100 as standard), and the Punto 1250 engine should also swap over. Some of the Cinquecento boys have already gone down this route.

What about the 16V engine from the Punto Sporting? Is it based on the FIRE engine?

In the UK at least, the biggest engine was the 1400. Europeans got a 1500 version, which I think I am right in saying is the old Strada/ X19/ Lancia Delta engine.

If one had the 1100 (non FIRE), 1300 or 1400 engine, then the 1500 should be a direct swap.

I've also been looking at the 1600 Tipo engine and it looks like an update of the old 1100/ 1300/ 1400 engine. Has anyone swapped a Tipo 1600 into a Uno? The Tipo 1600 pushes out 85 bhp and nearly 100 ft lbs of torque. That's not too far behind the 1300 turbo engine but without the complexity!

Don't get me wrong, nothing can substitute the kick in the back that the awesome turbo can give, but with the weight (or lack of) of the Uno 85 hp will be a LOT of fun. Especially in a very standard looking car!

Anyone who's done engine swaps with their Uno's please share the info, and also was the performance gain worthwhile?
 
I'm lineing up to have a go at wacking a 1600 tipo engine in my uno 60, but I'm slightly lacking in funds at the moment, I'm putting 40mm lowered springs in it at the moment, and I need a new Warrent Of Fitness next month, and I think it may need some work, but if you do attempt this, I'm keen to know how you get on.

Cheers
 
Slinkylinks, I haven't tried swapping a 1600 Tipo engine into a Uno, and I am also not 100% if the engine would fit or not.

I'm assuming the 1600 engine was an update on the 1500, of which the 1500 was available to some European market Unos but not the UK. They updated the 1300 to a 1400, and it looks similar though the distributor has been moved to the end of the camshaft rather than at the lower front of the engine.

However, maybe some of the Fiat gurus can confirm whether the 1600 engine is an update on the 1500? If it is, then it should drop straight in place of an 1100 (not FIRE), 1300 or 1400.

It won't be as quick as a Turbo, but will sure give some modern cars a fright! 85 horsepower in a car so light would give a substantial performance gain. I reckon you'd have close to Citroen AX GT performance.

Am tempted to try myself, though as my car is a FIRE engined version the wiring and mountings might be different. If I had a non FIRE 1100 version I would be sorely tempted to do the swap, as old 1600 Tipos can be bought off Ebay for less than a new suspension kit!
 
frosty me old mate from turbocollective yeah? ;)

Dunc

uno%20sig%20pic.JPG
Standing 1/4 mile at Santa Pod - 14.63 @ 94.57mph
 
yeah it is. need to get more of the T.C. boys on here cos it the only place i got a pic of my car on de net [:p]

Dunc

uno%20sig%20pic.JPG
Standing 1/4 mile at Santa Pod - 14.63 @ 94.57mph
 
Frosty,

There's a number of people on this forum that have enquired about dropping the Uno Turbo engine into lesser models, so maybe you can give some pointers and advice as to what's involved?

Physically, we all know the engine will drop straight in with the correct mounts. However, the Turbo has many additional parts that weren't fitted to the rest of the range.

Did you have a donor car to transplant everything over? Or did you just drop in the engine?

How about the wiring? Did you swap over the turbo wiring harness? How did you incorporate the the ECU and control units? Did you use the turbo fuse box as it has a lot of extra relays attached?

Also of note is that the turbo had brake disks at the back and vented at the front. Did you upgrade your brakes to Turbo specification?

How about the suspension? The Uno 45 has a much lighter engine, so the front springs at least would need to be upgraded to cope not just with the extra weight but also the extra performance!

And which driveshafts did you use? The standard Uno items or the Turbo shafts which are a 'split' type design on the drivers side?

Did you fit the turbo anti-roll bar? Is this a straight swap onto the standard Uno crossmember? Or did you swap the entire turbo crossmember into the 45 shell?

I've done engine swaps in the past (2.8 Granada V6 into a Mk3 Cortina for instance!), and know how awkward a job like that can be at the best of times. If one had, say, a rusted but mechanically sound and complete donor turbo, then I would suspect it is a simple case of swapping everything over, including all the suspension, brakes and wiring looms. The basic Uno shell is the same as the turbo, so then again I'm assuming that all the mounting points for addition items such as fuel pumps, intercoolers and oil coolers are already incorporated into the shell.

Perhaps you could share with the forum how you did it, and whether you had to source the additional parts or started off with a complete donor vehicle. Did you do all the conversion yourself?

If it's as easy as you say it is, then I'm sure there will be a few people on this board on the lookout for a donor turbo after finding out what exactly is involved!

Lastly, I would say to anyone considering doing this that they should upgrade EVERYTHING to suit the turbo engine. Just dropping in a turbo engine into a base model would be a lethal combination. Suspension and brakes must be upgraded or else you'll have a car that won't handle or stop safely. Back in the days when I was involved in 'hot rodding' (yes, I'm that old!) it was pretty much a golden rule to make a car stop and handle better BEFORE increasing the performance. There isn't much point in making a fast car if it can't put the power down on the road properly or stop safely from higher speeds.

Lastly, do you have any pictures of your turbo conversion Frosty? If you do, is there any chance you post them up here so we can see what the end result looks like? I'd love to see them so I can see what I can convert my 45S into one day!
 
Hey 1986Uno45S (sorry dont know ur real name) Yeh i started off with a Donor vehicle, it was a 1992 written off mark 2 uno turbo which i spotted by chance, Had full service history on it so i took a chance and bought the entire car off the bloke for a measly £200. Your right in assuming that brakes and suspension need to be upgraded. Like you say you cant just drop in an engine without changing everything else, that would be deadly as you say!! I swapped the rear axels of my 1.0 litre uno to that of the UT which as u say has rear brakes, Also changed the front brakes, Changed all the suspension, wiring loom, Ecu the lot. I dont actually have an Anti Roll bar on my uno but i'm planning to have one fitted to it soon. I didnt actually do the work myself but i've been told that cos the basic uno shell is exactly the same as the Turbo it makes life easy to mount everything back in place, its a matter of stripping out the whole of the car and then replacing everything else back in again. The most difficult part of the whole job was probably feeding all the wires from the loom into the engine bay cos if u see the size of the hole in which they must be fed into you'd be like WTF??? lol
I have got pictures on my site if you wana take a look, Its at www.geocities.com/ukoutlaws and theres also more of my car on the www.turbocollective.co.uk website
If you're not a member of Turbocollective u should sign up cos it is one of the best uno sites on the net. So check it out,
PEACE [8D] F R O $ T Y


DONT MESS WID DA T.K.K!!
 
Just to elaborate how straight forward it was the guy who worked on my car managed to do it in exactly 5 days! although he couldnt get it to start until a few days later due to a burnt out ignition coil! If you are gona do a conversion the best way is to get a donor vehicle cos least that way it dont cost a fortune on parts, Otherwise its probably better to just buy urself a decent Uno Turbo although they are very hard to come by these days. The Tipo 1.6 engines another good conversion, i was even considering it at one point, i've heard they are a straight swap for the 1.0 litre engine but not sure how true that is.

[8D] F R O $ T Y


DONT MESS WID DA T.K.K!!
 
Hey Frosty,

I checked your site - nice car! And you have some good ideas in action there! Good luck with the forthcoming mods.

Black would be a great colour if you get it resprayed, it looks mean but in a kind of stealth like way. A pig to keep clean though, just ask ChrisUnoman! Red is good too (my Uno is red) but a lot more visual! However, red would be better as you wouldn't have to worry about doing the engine bay/ door shuts/ inner panels as well. Unless you're going to strip the whole car down again, I'd go for red, though black would look really good.

The way you did your conversion was the way I would recommend anyone else considering undertaking a turbo project. Start off with a complete donor car and transplant everything over.

There's a lot of people who think that just dropping in a turbo engine is all that is required. They forget or don't realise just how many other parts need to be changed as well to make it all run correctly. And as the turbo has some serious performance it is crucial that suspension and brakes are upgraded to at least turbo spec.

I don't see why any competent mechanic couldn't do the transplant themselves with the appropriate tools. Maybe it will take a bit longer than the five days yours took, and that was done by professional mechanics. Like you said, strip everything out of the new shell and swap everything over from the donor turbo car.

A base model 45/ 60/ 70 three door shell is the same as a turbo, and as far as I can tell all the mounting points for the extra turbo parts are already in place. However, as the turbo came out in 1985, I wonder if maybe early cars didn't have these extra mountings. Then again, I doubt if there are many (if any!) pre 1985 Uno's left! And the ones that are could well be too rotten to even consider a turbo conversion!

It seems that I have the oldest Uno on this board as no-one in a previous posting had one older. Mine was first registered in May 1986 on a 'C' registration and is surprisingly in good shape for it's age. The doors were rusty, but apart from the odd spot or two the shell is remarkably rust free. If I had access to a donor turbo car like you I'd seriously think of doing a turbo conversion. Unfortunately with my finances in the dire straights they are in it's not looking very likely, and I kind of like the miserly fuel economy that the 1.0 FIRE engine gives me for the moment!

Then again, you were incredibly lucky to find a complete donor car for £200! Looking on Ebay I've seen knackered and non running turbo's go for more than that.

As for the 1600 Tipo engine, I'm pretty sure it is simply a larger capacity version of the 1.4/ 1.3/ 1.1 (non FIRE) engine. No-one has confirmed this yet though. I also think that the same 1600 engine was fitted to Lancia Delta's and also the Fiat Tempra (a Tipo with a boot really). There was also a twin cam version of the 1600 engine fitted to these cars though that could well not be suitable for a transplant. I don't know if they are based on the single cam engine.

If the 1600 is just a bigger version of the 1.4, the conversion should turn out to be VERY simple in comparison to a turbo conversion. Starting out with say, a 1.4, it is simply a matter of pulling out the old engine and then dropping a Tipo 1600 in it's place. All the mounts should be the same, and all the wiring should hook up on the bigger engine along with the fuel lines, throttle cable, exhaust etc. The existing Uno gearbox should also bolt straight up too, and I suspect that the Tipo box could well be the same as the Uno but with a different final drive. Saying that, a Uno 'box would probably have a lower final drive which would really help with the standing start acceleration!

In short, I reckon the swap could be done in an afternoon, it should be that simple. It would also work out as a very cheap way of upping the performance without too much work.

On top of that I wouldn't have thought it too necessary to upgrade brakes and suspension, though it would be adviseable. Going by the Tipo 1600 performance figures and bearing in mind that the Uno is quite a bit lighter, I reckon on achieving a top speed of around 110 mph (maybe a bit more) and a 0 - 60 time in the 9 second bracket. What really would improve would be the engine midrange performance due to the extra torque of the 1600. The 40 - 70 mph time should drop quite dramatically, and there should be loads of grunt in most of the gears without having to rev the engine to the upper end of the rev range.

It's a very healthy performance gain, though as it is quite a bit less than the turbo the standard brakes and suspension should cope reasonably well. The turbo really does have so much extra performance that it would be essential to upgrade suspension and brakes to suit.

However, the swap would NOT be quite so straight forward if the Uno used for the conversion had either the OHV 900 cc engine or the 1000 or 1100 FIRE engines. The OHV and FIRE engines are totally different engines to the 1600. Silly little things like the throttle cable, distributor, and engine electrics being in different places would make it just that little bit more awkward. That's not to say it couldn't be done though, just that it would require more work and transplanting of additional parts. Alternatively, swapping over the engine bay wiring loom and engine brackets for that of a 1.3/ 1.4 engined Uno would solve this problem.

FIRE engined Uno's can take advantage of the Punto engines though. The 1250 engine is a straight swap (for a fuel injected Uno 1.0/ 1.1), and with a bit of extra work the 16 valve 1250 Sporting engine should fit also. Some of the Cinquecento owners have already done these conversions. What is worth bearing in mind is that some of the Punto's use Multi Point Injection systems whereas the Uno only used Single Point Injection. That would mean extra work in incorporating the MPI system into the Uno's wiring loom.

A shame there doesn't seem to be anyone on this board who has actually carried out either the 1600 or 1250 FIRE conversions. They could give everyone else pointers and advice. Maybe I'll have to give it a go myself once I get out of debt!

Oh, you mention that you don't have the anti roll bar fitted? It was a standard fitment on the Turbo, and some later 1.4 i.e.'s. All Uno's have the mounting holes on the track control arms, though it's not clear if the roll bar brackets will fit on the front crossmember/ body mounting points. There seems to be an extra bolt hole required, but I haven't been able to find a roll bar with brackets to try this out. Maybe some of the other non turbo owners have fitted a turbo roll bar to their Uno's?

Lastly, you are right in saying that getting all the wiring from the fuse box to the engine bay looks impossible! There's just that smallish hole with a rubber grommet to put everything through. It's like as you say - WTF?!!!!!

So good luck with your turbo Frosty, it's nice to see someone down south doing a serious Uno turbo project. By the way, is there anywhere in London that the Uno fans hang out?

Anyway, I've written enough here. Oh, I wasn't christened 1986Uno45S! I'm known as 'Chas'.

Chas 'the impoversions 45 owner'!
 
Hey Chas thanks for the comments, about the colour i've decided to go with Ferrari Red, i saw it on an mr2 and fell in love with the colour and like u say it also cuts down the cost of a respray as i wont be spraying all the interior door panels etc. I've also managed to get hold of a full hormann widearch bodykit for £200 second hand which i i'm having fitted to the beast! Bargain of the century!! that kit costs £1400 brand new from avanti motorsport so i'm well chuffed about that!!:) Although this will hinder performance due to added weight it looks the absolute dogs b*ll*cks mate! Keep checkin my site, i'll post some pics when its complete. I was originally going to go for Black but was advised against it as Turbo'd cars need alot of cool air and black attracts far too much heat and like u say they are a an absolute nightmare to keep clean!! Surprisingly the 1.4 turbo engine is very good on petrol!! £10 for example would give me half a tank which can last up to a week depending on the way i drive. But if i put the bleed valve up that although it increases the performance a lot it also increases the fuel consumption, so i only use it when its needed! Like you say a full turbo conversion can be quite expensive, It would've been more sensible for me to sell my car and buy an uno turbo but to hell with that...theres no fun in that is there?? lol the way i see it lifes too short so might as well enjoy it!! I dont know if theres anywhere the uno boys hang out in London but we are all organising a meet down WestonWheels on the 29th of august through our club www.turbocollective.co.uk. Its for all owners of the uno even non turbos so if you can u should try and make it down with us. Can u imagine how kool it would look with loadsa unos rolling down together on the motorway?? Also we're all planning to go southend together although no dates been confirmed as of yet!
Well i think i've typed enough as well now!! lol

Take it easy mate
[8D] F R O $ T Y


DONT MESS WID DA T.K.K!!
 
Hey Fro$ty,

Yes, I didn't think of that regarding heat and the colour of a car. Black is the worst colour as it absorbs it all and is not very good at dissipating it! And a turbo engine generates a LOT of heat. Best go for red then!

Not sure what the Hormann body kit looks like. Must admit that I'm not a fan of bodykits, but that's because I grew up in the 80's when there were some AWFUL kits available for cars like the mk3/4 Escort. They made a hideous car look even more hideous! And they even came up with kits for the Capri that made a nice sleek design look disgusting. It really was the decade of no taste! However, there are some good kits out there, but they were always very expensive. Sounds like you've got a bargain on your hands from one of the better body kit manufacturers.

Me, I've always been a fan of Street Sleepers. That's why I shoe horned a 2.8 litre V6 into a totally standard looking mk3 Cortina many years ago. From the outside you couldn't tell, apart from the fact that it was lowered a bit with wider alloys and tyres. But if you listened carefully, you could hear that it was no four pot engine under the bonnet! Most people thought it was a nice conditioned Cortina on first glance, so boy racers didn't try very hard at the traffic lights. Then I put my foot down and by the time they realised that it was a non standard Cortina I was well away - great fun!

I still have the car but it's not on the road. 150bhp and 170 ft/lbs of torque is no big deal these days, though the Cortina is quite a light car so perfomance is no slouch. However, the 2.9 litre quad cam 24 valve Cosworth V6 (from last of the mk 3 Granadas and also the Scorpio) is a straight swap. That gives 220bhp without any modifications! But the fact that I have to run a 1.0 litre Fiat now gives you an idea of what state my finances are in, so a project like that is out of the equation.........

I must admit that I would have done all the turbo conversion on your car but left the outside looking like a standard Uno 45. Can you imagine how many people you could shock like that?!!!!!! GREAT fun!

Oh, you mentioned that it could have been wiser to buy an original turbo rather than doing all the work on your car. I disagree! The newest Uno turbos you can buy are going to be 10 years old or more, and will certainly need work. By doing your car as a turbo project you've done all the work as necessary while doing the conversion. I reckon that unless you can find an immaculate turbo that's been looked after you'd still have to spend a lot of money on it to bring it up to scratch, and the end result would probably cost the same as yours anyway.

Plus, doing your own project gives you the satisfaction of creating a car to your own specifications and to have it how YOU want it. That makes the car that much more special.

By the way, what/ where is WestonWheels on the 29th August? Sounds like fun, but would my 1.0 be able to keep up with the turbo boys?!!!!!!!!!!!

And fancy Southend still being a meeting ground for cars! Last time I went was many years ago, when it was populated by XR2 and XR3's, Astra GTE's, Opel Manta's and Ford Capris. I'm probably revealing my age now..... lol!

Anyway, gotta get to bed now.
G'night!

Chas
 
I´m trying to get a 1250 16v punto engine into my Panda but it seems to be a very tight fit. I have the complete drivetrain parts for the conversion, now i just need the time and pacience for it. I also turbocharge a 999cc fire and got some very impressive rsults, but it should never be street driven because it is so light it looses steering response at high speeds.

_____________________________________________________________
If you have any questions don´t be afraid, ask away. I´ll be glad to help.
If i´m online you can try my site, it´s mostly storage http://www.smokeme.ipupdater.com/everything
 
Hey Chas yeh i totally agree with you about how hard it is to find an uno turbo in immaculate condition these days, I did search for one for quite some time before i did my conversion but couldnt find any that were in decent condition. However like you say it is much more satisfying when building a car to your own specification and the way you want it. Especially when you see how its developing. I keep pictures in an album of my project cars as a reminder of how the car was in previous stages and how it is now in its present form. Regarding Capris i absolutely love those cars!!! I was brought up on them, when i was a kid my uncle had one of them. v6 and an absolute monster it was!! his mates all had capris too!! Absolutely love those cars!! And about creating a street sleeper thats something i would like to do for my next project. Like you say its more fun when the car is totally standard to look at but modded to the max under the bonnet because people dont expect it to be fast but get the shock of their lives when the car flies at the lights!! i know a couple of guys with Uno 45s with turbo engines under the bonnet but standard on the outside! I'm not too much of a fan of bodykits either, especially some of the new ones, far toooo plasticy and ugly in my opinion. The Hormann kit however is quite nice and i thought as it was going so cheap it would be stupid not to buy it. If i wanted to i could have sold it on for a lot more money but quite like the wide arches. Weston wheels is a car show which is taking place at weston super mare this summer on the 29th of august. I will be going with the Turbo Collective which is our car club basically, there will be loads of other car clubs there too such as the renault 5s and ford escorts etc should be right laugh. Will be camping out with the rest of the lads too. There will be a few other non turbos going too so you wouldnt be the only one without a turbo there mate!
I went to see my car at the bodyshop the other day, its almost ready and my god the color is absolutely amazing!! :D I'll post up a few pics on my site soon so have a look on there if you get the chance to.
[8D] F R O $ T Y

DONT MESS WID DA T.K.K!!
 
Hey Frosty,

I really like the sound of a standard looking Uno 45 with a turbo engine under the bonnet! Imagine just how many people you could shock with that! :D

Looking forward to seeing pictures of your Uno after the visit to the paintshop. And I take it this will be with the body kit fitted too? It should look mint after all this work. Does your aunty or whoever used to have it still recognise it?!!!!!!

I remember the Capri's very well too, as they were the cars a lot of friends had when I first started driving. Oooer, I'm probably showing how old I am :I

Also popular were Opel Manta's, mk2 Escorts, Cortinas and Chevettes. I ended up with a mk1 Cavalier with the insurance friendly 1300 engine. Talk about sloooooooow! Didn't stop me taking it up to 120000 miles though.

I always wanted a 2.8i Capri, but ended up buying a mk 3 Cortina instead and fitted it with a 2.8 V6 engine! I loved the 70's styling of the Cortina, guess I can still remember that decade of wild style from my childhood.

Talking about street sleepers, there was a road legal mk 3 Cortina in matt black that was featured in Classic Ford and also I think Street Machine magazines a few years back. It looked awful from the outside, but had a Cosworth 2.0 litre turbo engine under the bonnet running extra boost! It used to frequent drag strips up and down the country embarassing many other cars. It was street legal too! The sort of car that appeals to my warped mind;)

The Weston Wheels event sounds like fun, and I could be well up for going.

How about publicising it nearer the time on this board and see if we can get more Uno's to come along? It would be a great laugh to have a load of Uno's running in convoy along the M4!

Perhaps schedule some meeting points and times along the way to pick up more Uno drivers? I'm in SW Herts, so I guess a good first meeting place for London would be Heston services on the M4. I think I'm right in saying the Turbo Collective are west London based?

Oh, and is there a website with info on the Weston Wheels event? How much does it cost to get in?

Could be an absolute scream with loads of Uno's turning up en mass!

Respect to the Uno!

Chas
 
Many years ago when Max Power was pretty good, one of the writers called Hans had a mk2 5 door Uno.

He said he put a Bugatti EB110 engine in, and when people doubted him he always seemed to have the answers to shut them up. Im just wondering if anyone on here knows the whereabouts of this Uno now (if it wasnt just a load of rubbish)


How easy would it be to put the 16v 1250 punto engine into the Uno?
Although it sounds fairly easy, its the fact that this engine has multipoint injection and my Uno only has single point thats causing me to think that the swap might be a nightmare!


 
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