shallow sump kit installed.

Are you going to fabricate a sump guard plate?

Yes i made a sump guard plate out if aluminium chequerplate, but the extra weight in front of the axle makes strange handling effects,also heat management becomes a nightmare with the bottom all closed off, its a big hot eengine in a tight space after all

Did some extensive road testing today,, wow, what an amazing difference having the engine set back further, the driveshafts are much straighter than before, and my cv joint knocking has stopped. The handling is so much nicer and i have a lot more confidence in it..

i have decided to add a forth engine mounting though, i havent 100% figured out how to do it yet, but i am thinking about welding a bracket onto the front cross member and attaching it to the front of the gearbox somehow, there are a few unused lugs and threaded holes on the gearbox i can use.

also i am going to add an electric water pump to assist in forcing circulation at idle speed, the belt driven pump can't cope on its own with the missmatched cooling system.

I've been following this closely. I'm sorted my my felicia out as its been sorn and garaged for 4 years, would you say this is something the average DIYer could do?

I've been following this closely. I'm sorted my my felicia out as its been sorn and garaged for 4 years, would you say this is something the average DIYer could do?

it depends largely on how you can deal with the niggling problems that creep up, 2 years on and i am still having to re-engineer certain bits and pieces, its also a massively impractical project, the power in unusable, and it cost me a small fortune, plus numerous custom made items.. turbocharged engines have a whole extra layer of complexity and masses more plumbing and pipework

keep your first time project simple or it will never get finished! I would quite like to see a 2.0 ford zetec engine go into one of these, you could but a mondeo or focus for a couple hundred quid and take the whole lot from one donor vehicle. Or even an old vectra could give up its 2.0 ecotec lump. There are numerous engine choices in fact, the reason i say ford or vauxhall is that the scrapyards are full of them so are easy to get stuff for, anything vag group ir 1.8T related comands premium rates with it's associated 'scene tax'

I can imagine getting custom parts made for it cost quite a bit. Personally I would like to keep it all vag group as I'll be able to use my vcds that cost me more than my felicia did! I have thought about the 1.8t, but it seems that that is the engine of choice for engine swaps. I've also thought about a PD from a Fabia vRS as my Fabia goes very well in standard form, and I can just imagine it would be better in a lighter car.

Plus that way I could keep the Fabia sensible and have the felicia as the weekend B road blast car.

I like the pd diesel idea, eventually when i find a suitable donor, i want to put one in my diesel felicia, i want one of the 1.4tdi 3 clyinder jobbies from a lupo or 6n2 polo

I was thinking about the PD as not everyone does it as a swap. I need to pull my finger out and get a downpipe and get it an MOT or I'll never get anything done to it. Keep up the good work on this and I hope to see it one day, would be brilliant to see it at the national meet.

I can imagine getting custom parts made for it cost quite a bit. Personally I would like to keep it all vag group as I'll be able to use my vcds that cost me more than my felicia did! I have thought about the 1.8t, but it seems that that is the engine of choice for engine swaps. I've also thought about a PD from a Fabia vRS as my Fabia goes very well in standard form, and I can just imagine it would be better in a lighter car.

Plus that way I could keep the Fabia sensible and have the felicia as the weekend B road blast car.

An early TDi90 with a throttle cable would be easier to install and make run, and isn't much less tuneable.

I was after some inspiration so I went and did some scrapyard surfing looking for a suitable engine mounting to use, I reckon the right hand side mounting from a peugeot 106 is ideal for what I am looking for, I have even taken the liberty of purchasing a new one from the local motor factor. More on this later. Just need to find a fe suitable bits of scrap metal to use to make some brackets from..

cooling system, I'm going to but an electric cooling pump in the top radiator hose and have a thermo switch mounted in the bottom hose to turn it on and off as necessary. my. Bottom hose is actually 2 silicon elbows and a length of aluminium tubing so I may just make a threaded boss on the lathe to take a raditor fan switch and weld that into the ally pipe, simple job.

Electric cooling pump from an e-class Mercedes 2.7cdi (w211) exactly what I'm looking for.. the impeller has no shaft attached to the motor, it's magnetically driven.

Nice to see the development and improvements on this.

Did you fit the hybrid turbo?

Yes that went on there when the engine was out, I just wish I had put a new clutch on it at the same time.. It's the first time it's been out in over 6 months, I had forgotten how quick it was, I beasted a focus rs in it yesterday much to his shock.

like I said before, it's all slightly under engineered... Constantly evolving. Always finding ways of improving it. I have decided the coilovers are coming off and some proper springs and shocks going on instead.

Oooo coil overs coming off.... Vulture looming.......

First time I've read the whole thread, amazing ! Did you ever fit the subaru seats?

ah so this is the thread i need to read. ,fancy putting a 1.8t in a fun?  ill supply the tea and cakes. 

Im not taking on any work like that at present sadly, sorry.

Im not taking on any work like that at present sadly, sorry.

Not sure whether you saw my earlier post, did you ever fit the subaru seats if you don't mind me asking?

Mini update on this...

Ok Tom needed to sell it and I wanted a new toy, so one roadtrip down south later and it's sat on my drive!!

At the moment health issues mean I won't be fettling much for a bit but it's good enough for now and immense fun to drive, there are a few bit's I want to do my own way but that's not saying anything about Toms workmanship which is absolutly spot on..

watch this space lol.

Im glad it's gone to you jim, top bloke, sadly it's was just not practical for me to keep it here.

i hear the brake pads have been on fire already.

When are you installing the cage and getting it logbooked? ;-)

haha no cage for this one, it would never work as a rally car the engine is too tall so ground clearance is a snag, and a 32mm restrictor would kill it lol...

but as a rapid Q car its great fun, I may need to invest in some better brake pads at some point tho lol.

Incredible thread

I want one!