20v turbo coupe in my bravo

[riclemus]

hi all,

i have found a coupe 20v turbo engine and 6 speed gearbox for about £1400. includes keys, wiring loom, ECU, etc. should i try it? if i do i will have a HGT engine and gear box for sale.

i would need a garage with an engine hoist to do the work in (preferable the north of england). i would probably do work on cams and other internals of the engine before fitting it. should have a final power output of between 230 and 300 bhp. anyone want to help?!

riclemus

 

[Rob D]

Yes Rick of chourse you should!!! Its about time some one on the forum did it!

 

[riclemus]

insurance

just been on the phone to the insurance types and they want an extra £600 a year for the new engine. that will bring my insurnace a year up to £2000! not sure about it because of that, but **** it. i dont have a girlfreind sapping all my money any more and i can sacrifice this years holiday! will see how moeny is going and report back.

riclemus

 

[Anonymous]

Re: insurance

stop it Ric, you bringing a tear to my eye
sniff
N

 

[alan wheeldon]

Re: Re: insurance

go for it if u want to rick but ive gone off the idea of doing it now.
to start with, its still gona be front wheel drive so ur not gona be able to get all the power down but saying that, if ur still gona do it ill give u a hand. ive done a few engine changes so i know a bit about doing it.
im just gona sell my bravo at the end of the year and buy a fast car to start with, i want an MR2 turbo next.

 

[minirob]

help is at hand

not exactly a pro mechanic but would definately like to watch that being done, and give you a hand where poss if you need it ;o]

 

[riclemus]

coupe

the scrapper who has the bits also hasa complete coupe so i might be able to buy it and transfer more bits to bravo like the brembo calipers and more engine bits. i have a tow bar so could collect the entire car and transfer whatever i like over the summer, and i have the space to store the dead coupe. scrapper is calling me tommorow with details about teh dead car (mileage, red key, etc.).

other option (easier) if it'll work is take the turbo off the dead one and try to connect it up to my current 20v engine (if it'll work - any suggestions welcome).

riclemus

 

[Si]

Re: coupe

Don't talk stupid man, of course you can do it!! It'll be a UK first.

 

[Si]

Re: Re: coupe

There is one perhaps easier option.
You can get a specific turbo conversion for the HGT,
I think it's done by Novitec?
You must have seen the picture before but i'll post it again. No idea if it uses a similar turbo to the coupe though?

 

[Spyder]

Suggestion

First of all the above pic is the conversion done by Mariani Tuning of Italy, apparently one of Italy's biggest tuners when I last did the money conversion it worked out at £2500 'ish all in, this is a specific conversion for the HGT as I have a Marea wasn't sure if it would go on mine.
Now you said something about simply bolting on a turbo, this won't work as turbo engines run lower compression ratios than normally aspirated engines. This is mainly achieved by using different piston and sometimes con rods.
If I had the funds and was in your position I'd book a holiday to Italy and book the car in for the conversion.

 

[Spyder]

Forgot

Oh yeah and performance cams for the 20v engines cost around £600 a pair, just think how much the other bits are gonna cost.
Also the Coupe also has a viscous drive unit, Fiat attempts at a traction control unit and its all mechanical.
Need any advice drop us a line, as one day I hope to build a seriously modded Marea...
convert to 2 door, one piece fibreglass front end and stripped out for more speed....Dream.....Dream....Dream

 

[Rob D]

Re: Suggestion

Sorry Spyder but bolting the Turbo on 'would' work. How ever the engine wouldnt last very long!! hehe

Asyou said the engine needs to be running at a lower compression ratio. Achieving that would be the greatest expense in the conversion.

Ricky I'll speak to Gaz (God like mechanical genius)tomorrow night and see what the score would be.

I'm guessing here abit but it maybe possible to swop the top end of the engine and the turbo without swoping the entire engine if you know what I mean.

Infact I'll phone him later on tonight!

Rob D

 

[Nigel]

.

As you have got most of the crap out of the way to swap the head, surely you might as well swap the lot over? It is a dmn site easier to whip and engine out and swap it than it is to take a head off in situ and replace it.

You dont need a hoist either, two of you can do it with a scaffold pole - I know I did a 3.0 Capri with a friend in an afternoon using just that. Actaully the best thing would have been to have taken the scaffold pole TO the Capri!

Wish I was a bit further north (dont lie!) as I would love to help.

N

 

[Henry]

Coupe Engine

ahhh mate putting the coupe engine in your Bravo sounds like an excellent idea. I dont know much about the mechanical side but if it didnt work for any reason...would u be able to just put the original HGT engine block back in again. Are u going to have to do any major mods to the body work in oder to get the coupe engine to fit?? I read somewhere once that Fiat only just managed to squeeze the 5 pot HGT engine in the Bravo engine bay?

I i didnt live so far away i would love to come and at least watch.....can learn a lot just by watching!!

where do u live riclemas?? just wondering when u were going to do it.

Henry

 

[riclemus]

north

i live in a place called Garrigill, near a twon called alston in cumbria. alston is about 30mins from penrith off the M6.

the coupe is the same block, but different internals so i would probably buy a low mileage job and transfer all the engine and running gear over as mine has done 89,000 miles and is a bit tired. at teh cost of cams i wont bother because i would have to get a re-mapped ECU.

finally does anyone have a pic of a coupe turbo engine in the original car i can look at? also mechanical diagrams of parts would be handy.

cheers,

riclemus

 

[Chris]

Re: north

Ric,

There is a pic of a coupe's engine bay on the bravo guide with the christmas meet pics.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Re: north

They sell Turbocharged Mareas from the factory, so it should be fairly simple to implant the turbo engine. Have you got the oil cooler, the turbo cars need that and the limited slip diff. If would be cheaper and easier if you sold your car and bought a coupe. And more saleable after (for a fiat).
Check out the fiat coupe problem for other nutters that have already done the work you are considering.

 

[Rob D]

Re: Re: Re: north

Buy a coupe?!? that not really the point is it?

Rik is trying to do some thing different and more power to him. Once he's done the transplant he will have a very personlised unique car which would be as, if not faster than a coupe.

 

[Rob D]

Re: north

Rik I spoke to Gaz last night and he said you'd be best of swoping the whole lot. You could do a top end and turbo swop and keep the bottom end but it wouldn't last very long.

Hope that helps bud.

I am really behind you on this! If you do it you'll have the fastest Bravo in Britan and I would imagine you'll pull some pretty top quater mile times too!!!

 

[riclemus]

thanks rob

thaks all and especially rob for investigating with mechanics.

the swap probably wont be as simple as putting the new engine in place of mine. the ecu will have to transplant, which could also mean the wiring loom and half of the electics would need re-doing. this could mean a very complex and involved job, and once started could also mean no going back. the entire dash would have to come out, all the contents of the engine bay, suspension and quite a lot else. i really need to know details about driveshafts, suspension setups and a whole lot else before seriously embarking. i can buy from my scrap yard freind a 1997 coupe (or at least the front half of) complete so that would make a good starting block. i would want to transfer the gear box as well. the diff someone mentioned was a limited slip jobbie so that would obviously need to move into the bravo and things like brakes would need sorting (coupe donor has brembo 4 pots so they will go over). i really need to talk with someone who has done this conversion or one very similar (tipo16v?).

Rob D is right, its all about the individuality of the thing rather than the practicalities and costs. it would set some pretty impressive 1/4miles (providing traction was avaliable).

the freindly scrapper has a few coupe's in but none have any keys (not even red one), but he said he was collecting some tonight so may have in amongst them a 20v turbo with at least the blue keys. i suspect my HGT ecu wont run the turbo at all and will just cause problems trying to use it with the coupe engine.

space wise i dont think it will be a problem and i imagine the engine mounts will be the same in both cars. probably worth doing the cambelt before fitting the new engine.

does anyone have a pic of the coupe's instrument dials on the interior, does it have a boost gague, other odd features which might not go into a bravo (apart from A/C). the intercooler would fit in front and at the bottom of the radiator in the bravo so that isnt a problem. pipes/hosing may be a bother though.

any more thoughts greatly welcome.

riclemus