Tuning 1368cc 16V FIRE Turbo (T-Jet) Uno conversion

[Louie Bee]

...to have a nose, maybe a ride out?

:rumour: You sound brave

I remember wondering why there was smoke coming off Lewey's brakes when I first met him ay Oultern Park

 

[lewey]

Hi lewey,

just popped on here to see how your conversion is going. I see your have a few teething problems with mating up the clocks etc. I guess this is just part of it all retro fitting a new engine in an old car!

it looks very factory under the bonnet though, which i always like to see. Nothing worse than an engine that has literally been "thrown" in!!

So whats actually left on your "to sort/to do" list?

Have you driven it much? I may sort out having 22nd Aug off and popping up to donnington to have a nose, maybe a ride out? Not promising anything as im pretty busy at work, but its only down the road for me

Keep up the cracking work

Dunc

Well, I have friends coming over on Saturday afternoon and we're all off the Shelsley Walsh hill climb for my birthday on Sunday, so I only have tonight and tomorrow to sort the Uno for Monday.

Theoretically all I need to do is
- mount the new plastic header tank
- get some 19mm pipe to connect it to the main system
- bodge the chargecooler radiator inputs/outputs to allow fitment of pipes as the threads are knackered unfortunately and I don't have money to invest in something new at the moment. Hoping silicon sealant and good hose clip will do it for the trackday
- Check over the car and test drive!

You are welcome to have a ride, although the organisers may charge you a little bit to do it for insurance purposes. Bring a helmet and a long-sleeved top. I think someone else I met at Mitcar is going to try and come too.

 

[lewey]

Donnington yesterday was very good. My best day in the Uno yet. Handling is now very good and neutral with its proper wheels and suspension settings. It really grips and many some of the medium speed corners could be taken at full throttle through the last 80% of them. Turn-in is really good and fun because you can steer the car on the throttle making corners like Red Gate a real adventure as you experiment with more speed and correct slides.

Just about got everything sorted under the bonnet. Was still working on it on Sunday night though! Quite a few little leaks and poor hose clips were main problems, which continued for the first 90mins of the trackday with blown inlet hoses until better clips were found for key joins.

My friend and I went out all day until 5pm and used a huge amount of fuel. Engine was good and reliable of course, but does still have a couple of things that need improving. I am going to hold off putting the larger hybrid turbo on until I have sorted the other issues of the car and it is reliable and capable of taking the extra power.

Observations and developments required

• Engine temps are fine. Original Uno radiator and the well designed T-Jet cooling jacket are great at this power level. With a cool down period on track, there was no fan on when stopped.
• Charge cooler system was getting far too hot. Header tank too hot to touch. It seems to be working and water is moving, it just isn't enough. Will need a better radiator I think and possibly a position for it away from everything else. Because of the heat, I was only getting 0.5bar boost after the first lap.
• Handling is best with all dampers set to maximum hard. Although good on these settings, it does suggest I need to experiment with some harder springs which I have a couple of sets of. More roll could be eliminated at the expense of compliance.
• Better hose clips and possibly boost hoses
• BETTER BRAKES! Probably going to have to go to proper 4 pot 284mm things to get the braking power, progression and choice of pad I need at reasonable prices. Had boiling brake fluid which removed some paint from my inner wing quite nicely.
• The weird throttle issue was back and it got quite silly towards the end of the day. It does seem the hotter the engine is, the worse it is. It will have a serious impact on the brakes of course, so it is difficult to condemn them until this one is sorted.

And finally, some pics!

 

[johorridoh]

Remember that only about 30 % of the gasoline is transferred into
motion energy . As power rises , heat rises even more.
The Bugatti Veyron has 10 coolers for some reason.

 

[lewey]

A couple of shots of the engine bay as it is now. Obviously a few things are a bit last minute and untidy as they were done for the trackday. Going to have to factor in a much larger radiator for the charge cooler. This will impact other things. Air filter will be placed down low in the wheel arch perhaps, which will make room for the main coolant header on the drivers wing perhaps.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Loving the conversion Lewey

 

[lewey]

Cheers Jon. The conversion was a smooth experience really, the hard part is making it perform consistantly as a race/track car. Getting there though.

 

[firstcar-Y10]

Neat install, engine bay was one of the most interesting things at Gaydon yesterday.. and proper, proper quick!! Cheers Lewey.

 

[randomizered]

Just wanted to add that I went over to see Lewey last weekend to pick up a part. Saw both, and went in both projects, the 1368cc 16 n/a Panda and obviously this Uno.

What a great conversion, very well done, very tidy, and oh so quick and well handling.

Kristian

 

[a73uk]

Nearly 6 months since we had an update, whats the news on this Lewey?

 

[lewey]

It sits in the garage with it's fuel tank removed, waiting for fairer weather and the location of an SPI injection fuel tank. I have a new chargecooler radiator to fit in the N/S wing. I intend to purchase some 4 pot calipers for the front. I need to have an intermediate shaft made of modified at some point as the splines are on borrowed time due to not entering the gearbox as far as I would like.

I have no intention of driving it until spring. I have had a largely car-free winter as I am now an old man, frightened of chaffing my under worked hands. Other than the listed mods, I don't intend to make any others this year. I am more interested in making it totally reliable and able to cope with track days in terms of charge heat. I still need to find a solution to the electronic glitches that mean the throttle stays open whilst I am on the brakes sometimes which basically kills them as you can imagine! The larger turbo can wait a little longer.

I have spent some time collecting parts for my Uno sleeper/everyday car project, the car for which I am hopefully going to buy tomorrow.

 

[a73uk]

I can empathise with that, working in minus temperatures isnt pleasant.. but, at least she`s escaped another winter of salt.

I`ll probably be going to that scrappy soon for a screen as my grey Uno`s one is getting too scratched (has got worse since I put a Bosch `Aerowiper` on BTW), I`ll see if he`s got any SPI`s in if I do go if you want.

 

[lewey]

I wasn't happy with the old UT fuel tank setup, so I sold the tank and I have just made my own setup that fits into a standard SPI uno tank. I've used an old Lancia Thema fuel pump with some copper pipe from the same to provide a little swirling. It all fits into the impossibly small gap in the tank and allows fitment of the level device sensor still. It will sit in the 4 prongs that come from the bottom of the tank just like the original unit did and is elevated off the floor using some rubber pipe with two cuts in it. The SPI tank has the same little bowl baffling in the bottom as the UT tank. I don't know if it will all work or not.

Hoping for some half-decent weather so I can get this thing back on the road.

 

[Chispaschico]

Great job!

what car belonging to those archer wheels??

 

[lewey]

VW Golf mk2

 

[Chispaschico]

Thanks you

 

[calvins_tipo]

I wasn't happy with the old UT fuel tank setup, so I sold the tank and I have just made my own setup that fits into a standard SPI uno tank. I've used an old Lancia Thema fuel pump with some copper pipe from the same to provide a little swirling. It all fits into the impossibly small gap in the tank and allows fitment of the level device sensor still. It will sit in the 4 prongs that come from the bottom of the tank just like the original unit did and is elevated off the floor using some rubber pipe with two cuts in it. The SPI tank has the same little bowl baffling in the bottom as the UT tank. I don't know if it will all work or not.

Hoping for some half-decent weather so I can get this thing back on the road.

Hey mate. I'm just starting the process of fitting a fiat 595 abarth engine into my mk2. Can you remember what you did writing wise? I am struggling to find a wiring diagram for the abarth loom. What exactly did you do for the gearbox mount and engine side mount. I read through the thread but it got a bit complicated at one point. Is there some way I can contact you for some questions bud? Both me and a mate is doing the same conversion and your knowledge here is vital cheers

 

[calvins_tipo]

Did you ever get past the intemediate shaft being 10mm too short? I've tried reading back a few times and get lost

 

[Francescouno45]

Electrics are still up in the air a bit as I can't seem to remove the electronic fuel cut off caused by the accident that made this engine available. You are supposed to use the "indicator stalk" to make the indicators go right, left, right, left and then switch off the ignition. When I do this, the cut-off warning remains. Not going anywhere until this is sorted. Not a crisis yet as I have a few things left to try.

Have been able to get my laptop to communicate with the engine ECU via the body ECU's OBD port. Hooked up the GP dashboard too for my early testing, particularly useful for the indication of this fuel cut off thing that it writes across the screen on power up and the immobiliser operation in general.

Overall my initial wiring seems correct to me and it all has a decent chance of working if I can turn this fuel cut-off off. Always good to see the ECUs powered up, immobiliser off and it telling me there are 20 fault codes! Considering there is nothing connected to the engine ECU other than power and network, you might have thought there would be more.

hi lewey . I want to compliment you on the work done. I did the same swap as you on the uno 45 mk2, your information was very valuable in fact I didn't have many difficulties in finding the parts. the engine I installed comes from a mito quadrifoglio verde 155cv to which the injectors and turbo were changed. I mounted everything, adapted the half shafts and modified the spindles to adapt larger bearings and hub, installed a gear lever with ropes from the fiat panda 141, the mechanical part is complete, electronics too, the engine runs I only need the decoding of the control unit (its original bosch) but here I can't find anyone capable of doing it. if I send you the file could you do the decoding of immo off? thank you in advance