Technical Fiat Punto mk1 1.1 to 1.6 engine swap

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Technical Fiat Punto mk1 1.1 to 1.6 engine swap

Javory

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Hello!

I've got Fiat Punto mk1 1.1 55hp (1997). This car is fun to drive. But as usual, it wants more power. I've got an idea that I would swap the current engine with 1.6l 88hp from Fiat Punto mk1 as well. I would swap the whole engine with a gearbox and ECU. My questions are:

1)Is the engine straight bolt in? Or do the engine mounts need some fabricating?

2)Apart from engine mounts, attaching the gearbox (I believe that the differential is a part of the gearbox (correct me if I'm wrong please)) to the half shaft is the same? Or would need some fabricating as well? Or would be easier to swap the whole front? (axles, wheel hub, ...) - if they are different.

3)Would be there any issue with doing the electric side of the swap?

4)What else would I need to change? Fuel pump? Battery? ...

If there is a problem that I forgot to ask or don't know about, I would be grateful if anyone fills in some info.

Thank you so much for any piece of information.

Best regards,
Tom
 
The mechanical side of such a swap will be straightforward but make it easy by swapping a complete engine gearbox unit, with all mechanical accessories like generator and starter motor. That leaves you with only rubber mounts, exhaust pipe connexion, gearchange lever, drive shafts, and a few fuel pipe and vacuum hoses to deal with.

The problems will come with getting the ECU to like the new engine sensors. Some may be compatible but don't expect it to run very well, even if it will run at all. The 1.1 has single point injection which will be quite incompatible with the multi-point you will have on your 1.6 unit.

An engine electrician may be able to help but I doubt the 1.1 ECU will be programmable in fact I feel it isn't. The correct ECU for the 1.6 engine may get it running better but will present a host of other problems to solve, one of these being the coding of your keys.

I would forget it and buy a 1.6 car.
 
The mechanical side of such a swap will be straightforward but make it easy by swapping a complete engine gearbox unit, with all mechanical accessories like generator and starter motor. That leaves you with only rubber mounts, exhaust pipe connexion, gearchange lever, drive shafts, and a few fuel pipe and vacuum hoses to deal with.

The problems will come with getting the ECU to like the new engine sensors. Some may be compatible but don't expect it to run very well, even if it will run at all. The 1.1 has single point injection which will be quite incompatible with the multi-point you will have on your 1.6 unit.

An engine electrician may be able to help but I doubt the 1.1 ECU will be programmable in fact I feel it isn't. The correct ECU for the 1.6 engine may get it running better but will present a host of other problems to solve, one of these being the coding of your keys.

I would forget it and buy a 1.6 car.
Reading that, buying the whole 1.6 car would be easier and more sensible.

Thank you rolandbrindley!

Take care,
Tom
 
the 1.6 gearbox as felt is the same as the 1.1 You will have more power but it reaches the limit quickly and nothing .... Use a gearbox with half shanks and hubs of 1.4 turbo. It is stronger and has longer gears and is up to 240 km / h provided ... the rest of the other puntos are up to 180
 
certainly doable but pretty involved i should imagine being a completely different engine family, different ecu in different place.. Its not something I'd say warrants the effort required...

Now a more modern fire engine, thats alot easier of a task.. 1368cc 16v superfire would be super easy. tjet would not be that hard but you'd not be able to easily use the engines ecu, they want all the canbus modules connected to work... but you could easily run a tjet off the original ecu and a piggyback like the DET3 for example
 
The Mk1 1.2 16v would be the easiest and has 85Bhp. However like you have said just buy a car with that engine in already.
 
Thank you PuntoBulgarian, blu73, Noddy so much for all of your responses.

I hoped it would be a "one-day" job. I don't really want to put a lot of time into this project.

I'm probably going to stick with 1.1l. Still fun to drive. :)

Take care,
Tom
 
A mk1 1242 16v head, injection etc on top of a 1368 SuperFire (Punto Grande) block should give nearly 100bhp without any change to wiring, ECU etc. That mk1 head/cams is best Fire IMO, incl responsive cable throttle instead of fly-by-wire.

The slightly different bore size and spacing of the 1368 vs 1242 block is OK - the Superfire 1368 head casting is near identical to the 1242. The pistons work because no part of the piston rises above the block's top face (deck) so can't hit the head face. But the valves would interfere with the pistons, but for the 1368 Superfire pistons having offset cutouts to clear the 'irregular' positions of the valves relative to the block.

That's about sideways clearance between valve head and piston. For lengthwise clearance, I'm not so sure. My attempt to do this conversion is mothballed because old Dave mis-timed the cams, so bent all the valves twice over - needs a bit of scientific measurement and/or Plastigage. That was with the thin 1368 head gasket, for best CR - the thick 1242 gasket would provide more end-clearance.
 
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