Very much a shower thought (not the soapy, alone time kind), but any thoughts on doing a 1.0 ecoboost swap into NA/NB?
They seem to produce around 125bhp standard, seen chatter about a remap to round the 160bhp mark with others saying up to 200+, and being a 3 cylinder must save a bit of weight.
The amount of Fiestas I see on the road these days and based on the Found On Road Dead mantra of Ford, can’t be too long before they’ll be in scrapyards for parts with reasonable prices for a scrapper.
Know it’ll be a lot more than engine out engine in job, but just a thought.
It is an interesting idea. The jigsaw pieces might need quite a lot of nibbling!
Last year we were in the market for another daily driver, probably our last, so looking at several new or nearly new short-listed cars every day for the best part of two weeks. We test drove a lot, including Golf, Focus and Astra, both turbo and last of the non-turbo, all petrol. I was impressed by how little flat spot or lag there was in the modern turbos, having previously sworn off ever owning a turbo when the massive lag on a brand new Peugeot estate pool car at work nearly killed me because it could not get out of the way of a sideways sliding artic on the A3. The best turbo Focus showed a steady 95mpg during two minutes cruising at 70 on the M4!
However, we ended up with the non-turbo Mazda3 2l. Less powerful, less economical, more likely to rust, than either Astra or Focus; but so much quieter and more comfortable, and so much more flexible in any gear- no need to keep stirring the box. And for fewer than 5,000 miles per annum, fuel economy is less important for us.
A year back, I bought a year old Fiesta 1.25 Zetec for our son’s first car.
I wanted a 1litre turbo, for all the well documented reasons.
However I was informed by both a couple of owners & the local Ford service manager that due to the complexities of the cooling systems (not confirmed by me) with their multiplicity of thermostats & complex plumbing systems that after around 30/40k miles they may start to cause expensive issues including head gaskets.
Shades of Renault 5 Turbo began to swim around!
Equally, there are high milers seemingly soldiering on. Seems it’s a lottery.
Studious Oil & coolant changes seem to be vital.
Of course, extracting 2 litre BHP figures from a 1 litre will invite issues if the mill has not been looked after and caned.
I think…the 1.4 litre turbo Fiat (Mx5 sister) uses the same mill as the Fiat 500…which in turn is a version of the Ford 1000cc eco, but I’m not entirely certain.
TBH, a breathed on Mk2.5 VVT mill from AK Automotive would be my choice, then turbo that.
Having converted my other fun car, also RWD, to use a front wheel drive engine (with a supercharger setup of my own design), I can say that one of the most difficult things to overcome is the engine mounting points. Also, three cylinder engines tend to be quite tall for their size. It would need research if cutting a big hole in the bonnet is to be avoided.
The Ford Zetec or Duratec would suit the MX5 better imho (but second to the Jaguar 3.0 V6).
Yeah, seen quite a few interesting conversions, Jag V6, LS, etc, going bigger, but thought the going smaller with similar bhp figures would be a bit of a change (and if you can get the engine registered, probs cheaper road tax)
Personally I cant see the point, It’s not as if the original Mazda engine is a stinker, it’s a fantastic unit. With Mk1 prices on the up it could only devalue the car, make it less desirable and increase insurance cost. It won’t get you cheaper tax as the DVLA do not entertain old cars with modern engines where emissions are concerned. ( so I’ve been told). Other than being mildly interesting It seems like a shed full of work for no particular reason.
Scottishfiver is right, this is not an engine you would want for a transplant, or at all really. They commonly go bang, allegedly. Google ‘1.0 ecoboost degas pipe’.
Cheers. Was literally just a “this looks like it could potentially work” and in a few years when they’ve all rotted through and they end up in scrapyards may have been an idea.
Hadn’t looked in to too much more than seeing a couple of “locost” pages suggesting it and the sort of figures people were banding round for remaps.
Yeah if I had a nice Mk1, wouldn’t entertain doing anything of extremes that would devalue, but my £500 rough and ready MK2 isn’t exactly going to devalue by much.
I’ve seen them up Tax bands where swaps have been done to bigger engines so just thought it may work the other way.
Take your point on the engine in the Mazda and agree, mines a good engine, but had seen swaps for bigger lumps/turbo/SC conversions and just made me think would it be possible. Given they are using the engine in the Focus and B-max as well as the Fez, should have no issue moving an MX5
I’d be more inclined to wait until the price and technology are right for an electric drivetrain swap. The instant torque would be hilarious in a 5. The problem with this, as well as any modern engine swap is to get all the computer controlled ancillaries to work. There’s a nice little industry emerging that will do this, but currently the price and weight are still too high. Not having ABS, airbags or traction control are a big help though, so early mk1s will ultimately make great electric fun cars. Batteries where the fuel tank is and in the spare space under the bonnet. Looking forward to it.
