hi there i got hold off a slxi felicia as a donor fo my lovely felicia 1.3mpi as i need a bigger engine 1.6mpi is this going to be easy as the slxi has aircon or do i just leave that off

They are a totally different engine so you will need to change the engine mounts and the electrics/ecu.

It's easy enough to change the engine and ecu over, but you will struggle with the air con and abs systems, you have all the bits you need in the donor car for the swap

i fort it would be easy will prob leave abs out tho as it looks a mission to do Been Waiting To Do this conversion for ages got it for a good price too

Just be aware to get it running with your original key you will need to reset the learned values in channel 0 n the immobiliser module, it's simple enough to do, takes all of 20 seconds with vagcom.. You will need to make a couple of minor mods to the wiring loom in the engine bay

1. You need to extend the radiator fan switch wiring by Approx 30cm

2. you need to cut off the rad fan plug and use the 1.6 one.. Different plug!

3. You will need to use the oil pressure switch wire from the original bay loom rather than the one in the fuel injection loom

Plus probably something else too that I can't think of at the moment

Sounds a hell of a lot of work for 7 bhp more power.

Sounds a hell of a lot of work for 7 bhp more power.

.....not to mention a dodgy German engine!

Pfft, dodgy german engine indeed! Don't start me on that argument. It's worth doing it if nothing else just to gain a bit of experience

Dodgy German engine! No reason to fit one...the Skoda engine is one of the longest serving production engines ever made (1960s-2000s)....the VW thing is just a lowly old single OHC grunt engine that came and went. If youre going to bother with an engine conversion at least aim for something decent!

The thing is, with a bit of fettling here & there, you can easily get more than an extra 7 bhp out of the 1289cc lump, which is also much lighter than the 1.6.

the VW thing is just a lowly old single OHC grunt engine that came and went. If youre going to bother with an engine conversion at least aim for something decent!

The skoda thing is a nasty old side cam pushrod snotter with porous heads and horrible wet liners..

As a matter of idle interest what would you call a decent engine for a transplant?

The thing is, with a bit of fettling here & there, you can easily get more than an extra 7 bhp out of the 1289cc lump, which is also much lighter than the 1.6.

For less than 300 quid you can squeeze an extra 25bhp out of a 1.6

Its not a side cam....its an overhead valve. Very easy to maintain and set up and the heads are only a problem area if the engine isnt maintained properly. Wet liners are great - you can pop a new set in and increase engine capacity by 50cc without doing another thing. The engine survived in production for nearly 40 years because its a nice simple design, its light and it is very easy to do pretty much anything with.

A good engine for a swap would be a decent modernish DOHC engine thats light. A late k-series with the head gasket fix already fitted would do.

The VW is just a piece of crap bummed onto Skoda because VW were too lazy to give them something better.

Peter, it is a sidecam, K-Series are a pile of poo so replaceing one headgasket fail engine with another is just plain daft, agreed the 8v was a bit of a grunt but as with all thing vw it had a purpose. Why develop another engine for the felicia when a company already has one ?

They never fitted lively lumps such as the afh down to marketing, the felicia was never exactly meant to be a performance car

i happen to quite like the torque and low-end power deliverly from my 1.6 'grunt'

Mines feels like it's running at about 90bhp and would easily show a clean set of heels to a stanard 1.3 engine.

But i do agree with others here that to change from a 1.3 to a thirstier 1.6 for a small power increase when the 1.3 is nice and easy to tune with a few tuning bits being chucked around on the forum.

Go for the tried and tested 1.4 16v 100bhp conversion. similar fuel economy and more go than the 1.6 in standard form.

So they 1.6 engines are heavier than the 1.3??? i wonder how much heavier, i don't think it will be more than 8-12kgs which to probably down to the thicker and stronger parts used in the 1.6 engines.

They are approx 28kg heavier, the skoda engine is an all alloy unit, the vw one has a cast iron block with ally head

But i do agree with others here that to change from a 1.3 to a thirstier 1.6 for a small power increase when the 1.3 is nice and easy to tune with a few tuning bits being chucked around on the forum.

what exactly about the 1.3 is nice and easy to tune?

i am not looking for speed as my 1.3mpi is a good engine just looking to make it quite and the best bit is the air con and the power steering and my car has no rust on it got electric windows,mirrors and all on a L spec would up load photos but don't know how too

what exactly about the 1.3 is nice and easy to tune?

Well..its an easy DIY porting job on the cylinder head, loads of cam profiles availabe, exhaust manifold is easy to sort and improves breathing no end, big piston and liner sets from CZ for about £300, big valves also available new in the UK....the list goes on and its all stuff someone who builds lego can sort.

IMS...there is no such thing as a side cam engine...its called overhead valve and always had been...and the k-series is a fine engine with no head gasket issues providing its been treated to the late model gasket and sandwich plate - as I mentioned already!

been looking at slxi and the air con seams to be a easy swap as it only a heater box and the loom is in my L as i swapped the heater controls over and the air con switch works in engine bay is its own little fuse and relay box that just connects to the battery

more on this soon

Dodgy German engine! No reason to fit one...the Skoda engine is one of the longest serving production engines ever made (1960s-2000s)....the VW thing is just a lowly old single OHC grunt engine that came and went. If youre going to bother with an engine conversion at least aim for something decent!

I'm no particular fan of the Felicia "VW" engine but I think a smaller capacity verion started in 1970s in the first Polo and an updated version is still in production in 3 cylinder form..so its probably going to have a longer history than the Skoda OHV.

Edited 13 August, 201114 yr by juan27

I dont think you'll find the 3 cylinder engine is the same one......it was a brand new design.

The skoda thing is a nasty old side cam pushrod snotter with porous heads and horrible wet liners...

The old Skoda engines are indeed old fashioned now but they are definately not nasty, snotters or horrible, certainly the ones I've been using for the last 21 years haven't been! Granted they aren't the most refined, especially the later alloy head versions, but with proper maintenance they will go on for at least 200,000 miles with only the odd head gasket and timing chain replacement.

So there! :p

Get him told Dave! The rally spec Estelles weren't exactly slow Tom should re-name himself Torquesteer Tom once he gets that Audi powered Felicia completed

:)I don't consider the 1.6 VW engine to be nasty, snotters or horrible either....even though nearly every one I've seen burns oil! :p

The old Skoda engines are indeed old fashioned now but they are definately not nasty, snotters or horrible, certainly the ones I've been using for the last 21 years haven't been! Granted they aren't the most refined, especially the later alloy head versions, but with proper maintenance they will go on for at least 200,000 miles with only the odd head gasket and timing chain replacement.

So there! :p

That's me told then dave

I didn't want to get into this argument tbh, I must agree with you in all honesty dave, the little 135 and 136 engines are pretty robust mostly, but I do stnd by what I said about wet liners.. I just get slightly urked by people coming up and saying " oh don't bother with a vw engine it's ****" the op asked a question about if it can be done, and I always say to people yes give it a go to learn something.