Hi Everyone,
I'm looking to swap the engine in my fiat 126 and I have decided to go down the Fiat FIRE route as there is a lot of info and parts. But more importantly there is a gearbox adaption plate available for the fire conversions.

I am currently looking for a donor engine and I found a little fiat twin air turbo 0.9. Does anyone know if this has the same lower end as the other FIRE engines? So I can still use the adaption plate designed for the FIRE engine conversion?

Thanks in Advance for the help.

The twin air is completely different to the FIRE engines. It shares literally nothing.

Eklipze3k said:

The twin air is completely different to the FIRE engines. It shares literally nothing.

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Thanks for the reply. It's a shame though, I really do like the 0.9 Twin air turbo engine. It would have been perfect in my 126. I love the fact that its a 2 cylinder but I guess I'll have to settle for a little 1.2 or the 1.4.

Has anyone out there done some work with the 0.9 twin air? Just curious

There's a been a lot of discussion in the Cinq/Sei section about putting one in a Cento, but it was decided that it was too difficult and that there were easier ways to get the same kind of power. That being said, it wouldn't surprise me if someone in Poland had done it, the Polski are crazy!

I'm still in the process of buying the donor engine. Being in Australia doesn't give me much options. The only 2 FIRE engines that I can get easily are the 1.2 and 1.4 from the latest model Fiat 500.

I know in both cases I will need to modify rear bumper panel to create more room. I was wondering if the 1.4 was too big for the car? Will the boot lid close? or would they both be the same in terms of size and length?

The reason I'm asking is the 1.4 FIRE engine is more common and cheaper to buy. Still It's going to cost around $1300- $1500 AUD just for the engine.

Ok, I'm still buying parts for this project and I'm on to the wheels. I am looking at getting some mags for a MINI and having the stud holes re-drilled.



minisport(dot)com(dot)au/13-rims-tyres

Will 175/50/R13 fit the fiat 126?
Offset is 95mm inside, 100mm outside.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

I think that you will find that the 1.2 and the 1.4 engines have the same external dimensions. However, I would not go more than a tuned 1.2 engine, especially if you want to use it for road use--you will find that you will still have plenty of performance! There are quite a number of u-tube films showing the Poles doing this conversion--they then go rallying with them! If you contact Lucasz Reszczynski on :- www.ipgarage.co.uk he can help you with all the parts you need for the conversion, including the new rear mount that you will require. Lucasz is based in Sudbury in England, speaks good English and is in the process of converting his own 126 at the moment (he breaks 126s and sell the parts). I have dealt with this guy on a number of occasions (126 parts for my converted 1971 fiat 500) and have never had a problem with him.

Its been a while since my last post and a lot has happened. Been having trouble finding a suitable engine and also getting the engine swap done legally here in Australia. Long story short, got scared off by the difficulty finding parts here in Oz but mainly the cost of getting the swap done legally. I have now decided to just rebuild the current engine and put in a big bore kit for some extra power. My Fiat 126 is currently getting body work done and should be finished soon.

Planning to get the engine rebuilt in January but also looking to run E85 in the new engine.
Anyone out there using E85 in their 650cc engine???

What's an E85?

gadge said:

What's an E85?

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https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=E85&oq=E85&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.863j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Hi, I fitted a 650 engine to my wifes 500 many years ago, I enlarged and gas-flowed all the inlet, and fitted a carb from a Fiat 850 sport.
then rebuilt the exhaust as per ARBARTH spec.
She was very pleased, was able to outrun most cars whilst commuting and always won traffic light grand-prixs.
Personally I would not use ethanol as it shortens engine life and It seemed a waste to have to do it all again so soon.
Barry

Soft! Im doing ****loads to mine and its all legal in Australia.
What is it that they wont pass you on? Cause im chopping up half my car and putting a twin turbo motor in it and there hasn't been one thing the engineer has knocked me back on yet.
I find it hard to believe that you wouldnt get passed on putting a fire motor in your car...?!

Fat 650 said:

Soft! Im doing ****loads to mine and its all legal in Australia.
What is it that they wont pass you on? Cause im chopping up half my car and putting a twin turbo motor in it and there hasn't been one thing the engineer has knocked me back on yet.
I find it hard to believe that you wouldnt get passed on putting a fire motor in your car...?!

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Chopping up half the car was one of the main reasons I stopped. I wanted the conversion but I wanted to keep it as original as possible. You got to be careful as well these days the road safety inspectors can be quite strict from state to state. Having a mod plate won't always save you when you have been changing structural parts of the car. It's bit of a gray area.

Also you don't see many of these Fiats around here in Oz and I personally just decided I didn't want to destroy it for the extra power. I'm not using it as a track car, just a fun car to buzz around town and I been told the rebuilt engine with the big bore kit will have plenty of power for my purpose.

What engine are you planning to swap in yours?

My car will look completely stock on the outside when im done.

My build is here:

https://www.facebook.com/FSM-NIKI-Project-1210331735674477/

check it out

Wow. Your really going to town on that little niki.
I'm definitely going to keep an eye on your project it's going to be mental.

Bonezoo said:

Wow. Your really going to town on that little niki.
I'm definitely going to keep an eye on your project it's going to be mental.

Click to expand...

That's the aim

Hi. I can't get the Lucasz Reszczynski link to work.Has it been written wrong
or has he quit trading

Thanks Bryan