OK there seems to be 2 diff. debates running here.
1st, with imagination almost any engine can be fitted to any car, I know of someone who is building a Lancia Y (roughly same size as Cinq) with full 4 wheel drive 16V Integrale running gear and hopes to have it ready for next years London 2 Brighton run, it's been penned as the Yintegrale!
I've also seen a Renault 5 GT Turbo with full Sierra Cosworth engine and 4 wheel drive running gear, as well as MK2 Escorts and a Golf MK1 Cabriolet.
But as always, it's normally easier to stay with the same manufacturer as come to wiring up the loom it has less problems, I'm therefore a little surprised that I have not read about any Uno Turbo engines being trans plated over to Cinq/Sei's as this surely would be easier than bigger/dif manufacturer engines in there.
2nd. As for Nova's, my mate back in Glasgow (i'm from there originally) built the first ever in the UK 6 speed Calibra turbo'd Nova, this was about 8 years ago and it took him, with the help of the guy who Regal sub-contract their work out to 14months to build to a running stage, then a further year to get it perfect to iron out all the teething problems. He had bespoke ECU, exhaust , manifold, inter-cooler and specially valved Bilstein suspension as he found that the extra weight over the front had a dramatic effect on the under-steer characteristics of the car, this car eventually ran over 300bhp which had the effect of pulling the chassis apart so much that he had to get a whole host of triangular welds put in the struts at the front (rally car style) to hold the front on the car together. He eventually got feed up with it as my Renault 5 GT Turbo with about 160bhp at that time could easily get away from him on the twisty stuff. So he bought a MK3 Astra GSI and transplanted everything from the Nova to the stronger Astra shell, it was a much much better car, the Nova's an old design, and as such the shell flex's way to much to handle the power out of bends, ok in a straight line, but then so's a 7 litre yank tank
I would say that, if you really want your car to corner well, spend the money on a proper days professional driving tuition at the many circuits there are in the UK, by the end of it you will be lapping at least 20secs faster and will have found ways of controlling your car at speeds you never believed where possible before. I've witnessed at Knockhill in Scotland a MK1 Golf with the original 1600cc engine with some mods being driven faster than a heavily modded Imprezza because the driver knew intricately where and when to brake, and how to feed power in as you corner. I've been lucky enough to have done it, and will no doubt do it again, as it's amazing what you learn. You could train a monkey to do a 1/4 mile run, but not corner fast
