1.4 sri Turbo?

[JD2010]

Just wondering if this is possible, i have been offered a 1.4 sri engine and wanting to turbo it, my mate has said there is no point and to just get a bigger engine but i want to stay carbed as i have a bit of a thing against ECU`s, also what kind of BHP could i get out of this ?

Thanks all :)

[vauxluva]

Look in the articles section.

[Rickyb]

theres a fella who has a black 1400 sri turbo i cant remember his name tho.
also i think you use a gsi head to alter the compresion.
in my opinion if you built a good enuf engine it would be better than a std rs turbo.
just look at renault 5 gt turbo's thay were only 1400s and they were rockets i say give it a go.

[phazer]

Turboing the 1.4 on mappable management will net you more power and driveability that you'll ever see with carbs.

No reason to be anti-ecu these days. Most of the stories you may have heard are just that. They aren't mysterious - if you can use a computer then you'll be fine with 90% of them.

[JD2010]

well i currently have a mk1 1989 2door merit and she only has 30,000 miles from new, but only a 1.2 and wanting more power, already fitted a set of 256mm brakes and so on, but planning on taking it off the road to tidy it up as its starting to look rough as its my daily drive :(

[JD2010]

Turboing the 1.4 on mappable management will net you more power and driveability that you'll ever see with carbs.

No reason to be anti-ecu these days. Most of the stories you may have heard are just that. They aren't mysterious - if you can use a computer then you'll be fine with 90% of them.

I just prefer carbs, i had a corsa which was ecu and had nothing but problems with it plus 5 of my mates had=ve all had ecu problems on different cars, golf, corsa c, vw polo, mondeo and a mate with a mk2 nova, not sure what enging hes running but i know its ecu.

[phazer]

Makes sense, they're hard enough to keep clean with summer use only let alone as a daily!

If it were me starting again, I think I'd look at the 1.6 16v and turbo it using the Corsa VXR set-up or even use the 1.8 small block and turbo that.

[mowgli]

the ecu only flashes up faults..... as in sensors that are out... the ecu is actually a very reliable item... but garages love to tell people its the ecu, cos they make more money on selling them......

[JD2010]

theres a fella who has a black 1400 sri turbo i cant remember his name tho.
also i think you use a gsi head to alter the compresion.
in my opinion if you built a good enuf engine it would be better than a std rs turbo.
just look at renault 5 gt turbo's thay were only 1400s and they were rockets i say give it a go.

I just seen that your from blackpool which is were im moving to !!! which is also why the car is coming off the road as i cant afford insurance due to going from full time work to apprentiship haha, will have to meet up some time when i move over :)

[phazer]

I just prefer carbs, i had a corsa which was ecu and had nothing but problems with it plus 5 of my mates had=ve all had ecu problems on different cars, golf, corsa c, vw polo, mondeo and a mate with a mk2 nova, not sure what enging hes running but i know its ecu.

I'll be honest, most people who had major ecu problems, either are generally not good at problem solving (ruling things out to find the problem), have no idea so blame it on the computer or just believe everything they've been told.

If engine management systems were so terribly bad the major manufacturers wouldn't be using them wholesale for the better part of 25 years. It's not just about emissions either. You can map an ECU to drive differently at differing loads/throttle and atmosphere - something you can't do with carbs.

Your choice at the end of the day but make it for the right reasons :thumb:

[JD2010]

i can see what everyone is saying but like i say , for some reason i prefer carbs :) another thing is that i dont really know a great deal about engines and i guess your right in saying evernone blames it on the computer haha :)

[db_1.2]

I've had 3 carbed cars I can think of. All of which were thirsty, annoying to start with manual choke, and just generally high maintenance. The 8 ECU controlled cars I've had, I have had not 1 ECU controlled fault.

Also, without being rude. If you haven't got a great idea on engines, you better give up now.

Have you thought of what system it will be? Pre turbo? After turbo? What turbo you will use at all? Overcoming pre detination while maintaining enough fuel not to damage the internals will probably be your biggest problem using forced induction with a carb.

But on the more helpful side. I learnt most of what I know (which is little) about FI with carb, on vw beetles.

[JD2010]

Thank you everyone for all the advise and yeahh i know its not gunna be easy and i intend on a few mates helping me 3 of which are mechanics :) after what everyone has said might just stick the 1.4 carbed engine in as it is and build a turbo engine into a different project car some time in the future haha :)

[Pistol Pete]

Or just stick with the standard C14SE engine. Mine was a rocket ship. If i had known what i do now with regards to modding, engines etc, i woudnt have bothered with an XE and played with my 1400 lump.

[phazer]

Good engines for sure, better in many ways to the 1.6 16v especially low down but they run out of breath too quickly which is why I swapped.

[JD2010]

all sounds good :) i guess i could just stick it in and then start playing with it, i was going to build it into a fast engine before fitting it but might stick it in as it is :)