Tuning mid engined uno

[Lance Lacoste]

Hie all lately ive been having this crazy idea of relocating the uno engine to create a mid engined beast similar to the x 1/9 setup but i have a few questions
1 has anyone done this before
2 is this a waste of time
3 will it handle well without weight of the engine in front

Another issue was what will the best fiat engine be the lancia twin cam, punto gt, e.t.c

My plan is to use this car for drifting and spinning, really these two are the only motoring sports you can find apart from drag racing
Please help Ive already purchased a two door uno shell for the project what im worried about is the power plant

 

[punto-paul]

I take my hat off to you!! it's sounds like an ambitious project but I'm sure it's something that could be done


I've seen mid engine Nova's etc.. before, just depends on weather Turbo or normally aspirated power is going to be best for what you end up using the car for!!


If you can adapt an existing rwd vehicles running gear/ floor pan or whatever to suit the Uno, then your already half way there!!


So probably X/19 running gear, with as you said with Uno Turbo or Fiat Twin cam engine. Maybe even a Fiat Coupe 2.0 Turbo engine? if you want something with a bit of go!


If your doing it for yourself and you want to do it, then it's not a waste of time!! It'll be different, I doubt anyone else is doing it in the UK

 

[fingers99]

It's pretty much all been done. For something as narrow as a Uno you may need one off drive shafts. So far we've seen MR2 turbo engine 126s, Cosworth engined Cinqs. There's rumoured to be a T5 engined Cinq in the works (from someone who did a bike engined, RWD one).

You could do a lot worse that use the suspension set up from the donor car (assuming mid engined).

It'll be crap for drifting because mid engined cars are -- it takes a lot (power and angle) to get them going, and once they go, they tend to spin if you lift off, stop drifting if you use lock.

Of FIAT engines, Coupe 20v turbo comes to mind.

Don't underestimate the engineering required: these things are not for anyone new to welding and fabricating.

 

[Lance Lacoste]

Ok thank you guys I am a steel structural engineer and Ive already come up a design frame for the setup, will cut the rear section off then fabricate the frame and body to match, this frame will be housing the control arms and engine/gearbox assembly, engine wise I havent come up with a solution but Im thinking of an alfa romeo alfasud 1.7l engine stock it brings up 118bhp and with a bit of tunning I should be able to get about 130bhp which is quite alot for a light frame body, thanks guys for your response but what do you think of the alfa setup?

 

[fingers99]

It's a lovely engine, but it'll be very long (when combined with the gearbox). And underpowered, I'd think. Still, the further forward you can shift the weight, the better it'll be for drifting!

Transverse will make it shorter, longitudinal will make it better balanced (but longer). Subaru (either flat 4 or flat 6) would make a lot of sense, or there's the Lexus V6 which people are popping (transversely) into MR2s.

Apropos chassis -- Andy Burton's Ferrari V8 engined Alfa Sud or Lancia's 037 did a good job. Indeed, if using metal, I doubt you'd better the Lancia.

 

[Lance Lacoste]

Lol thanx finger99 let me do some research on engines locally available when i single out a suitable one I will let you guys know, thank you so much for your feed back guys

 

[Lance Lacoste]

Hie guys I managed to a suitable engine and tranny, I managed to buy a mazda 626 cronos 98 model with a V6 2.5lt engine manual rated at 199hp standard so this is going to be the donor car for the engine and attachments but first im going to rebuild the motor then from there I am goin to start with the fabrication and cutting on the uno so I will keep you posted

 

[fingers99]

Good stuff. I think it's basically the n/a version of the engine they put twin turbos on and pop into the Noble.

 

[Liquid Knight]

I'm thinking of doing something similar to Fiorio van.

 

[Lance Lacoste]

Wow thats a very nice conversion