Engine upgrade fiesta (model 1997)...

[alastair87]

Hi,

I want to change my current ford fiesta(1997 model) 1.8 diesel engine to a 2ltr petrol or bigger what engines could I put in it. My car currently has 69hp which is crap I struggle keeping up with pritty much anything it tops out at 98mph . Is there any engines that will fit in without cutting the car to bits. I am planning to mod this car out but first thing I want to sort is the engine. I tried taking all the seats out and pritty much anything I could, but made little difference to its performance. The only thing it changed was my fuel consumption but I could not really give a **** about that.....

Any Ideas ......

[HDi fun]

Flog it onthe open market as an economical runabout and buy another car. Stick with diesel, and get something that can be remapped. Pretty much all post 2000 European diesels will have lots of room for extra performance. Most are OK in stock tune, some are exceptional.

[waynne]

HDI's suggestion may sound harsh but conversion from a diesel to a petrol is a nightmare to do. There are though some good diesel engines around so what about a swap to a Turbo Diesel which would be easier than a swap to a petrol and you will enjoy a nice flat Torque Curve from low down!

[Izo Azlion]

Failing that, if you're more focused on a Petrol car, get an old Civic (1990's, 1998 is particularly win.) with a Vtec in it, they're not expensive cars (Read: Insurance may be) but you can get good strong 1.6 VTEC engines that'll rev and rev and rev.

I take no responsibility for you killing yourself

But converting an old Fiesta from Diesel to Petrol strikes me as a waste of time, you'd be better doing as HDi mentioned

Ta!

[HDi fun]

The Honda petrols are indestructible - keep the servicing up to date (especially timing belt if it's not a chain driver effort) - ignore the red line and drive to the limiter!!!

Torque shy at the low end but who cares when you can spool it up to 8500rpm?

Cheers,

Rgds,

Paul.

[alastair87]

Cheers for all your answers!, I see the most best thing to do would be change the car and start with something better. But I'm not going to do that I want to upgrade the engine I like my car

....So putting a petrol engine is a nightmare . What diesel engines could I get from which cars? any suggestions (for a ford fiesta 1997).

I can see the engine would take a while to sort out so I did some stuff in the mean time.

:- Just put black leather seats(real not seat covers) in, tinted the back windows (5% black) put 2 subs(10") 6 mid 4 high range speakers in there. Alloys coming tomorrow with lowering springs. only a 30mm drop but I live in the country, dont need the car snowploughing cow turd its so low...

My insurance b4 I did this was really cheap but now it is more than the cars value, and its only going to get worse as I change more stuff.

I went to New Zealand last summer and there was no overpriced insurance because it was not a legal requirement. I can see the point in car insurance. But not when you dont want to claime if you have a problem because you'll be saving up for the rest of your life trying to afford insurance again. >>>Quote me happy car insurance ......I ain't happy

Once the shocks and alloys are sorted I'm gonna respray the car black (car currently very scratched and some of the paint work looks like someone took a dump on it). Haven't manged to find a quote below a grand for resparay . Anyone any suggestions? I am going to go all out on this car and if in the next year it still looks and is crud I'm gonna get a MR2 but I wanna try and get the old fiesta looking like it does in my head.

Cheers for you ideas..

[Izo Azlion]

You sound like a man with a plan, and thats always good.

Remember that, and I say this because it looks like you care about image, a diesel will always sound like a tank when you turn that ignition key. Does in my 08 Golf, does in our 3.5l ML. Thats the one thing I'd love to change about my car. The fact it'll climb anything at pace, doesnt need alot of revs to get going, and is a ****load of almost uncrashable fun (That ESP programme really helps... alot.)

If I was you, I'd go for a CRX, but then, I'm not, and you've got your heart set on this. So, and HDi correct me on this if I'm wrong;

You could do with finding a decent 2litre Turbo Diesel Ford engine, from something like a Focus. Anything without a Turbo will be severely underpowered, and you wont feel that surge of power. Also, Diesel engines remap really really well. For instance, if I chip my Golf it'll go from 140bhp to 180bhp, and the Torque will increase about 90nm.

Dont know how much this will set you back, though.

Hey, get some pictures up when you're happy with how it looks.

Good luck man,

Izo/Rob

[HDi fun]

I think that's a sound plan Izo. The problem with the 97 Fiesta is that there we never a decent diesel engine fitment - the best I think was the 1.8 TD Escort/Mondeo unit. It's an old school one so it's going to shove the car about in the way yours and mine do with the silly high pressure injection systems.

Whether you could jam in the TDCi unit from a Focus is debateable, although Ford is known for its economy with parts and sharing of platforms.

The problem is going to be getting hold of an engine in the first place.

What you might consider is salvaging a 1.8TD for all the turbo specific components (turbo, intercooler, plumbing etc.) although you'll also probably find that the conrods are different length and valve gear is different.

as a project though -- go for it.