Engine conversion from 1.6 to 2ltr

[Andy roe]

Hello to us pug owners ..I've recently bought a 2002 cabriolet with a blown head gasket on the 1.6 engine ..I bought the steel seal to fix it and ran it 1hr as said on the bottle ...was amazed it really does work..ran the car for 2 days ...then bang the engine made a loud clattering noise sounds like snapped broken tappets or valve..so engine is kaput. ..I would like to know if it's possible to put a engine from a 2ltr cabriolet straight into my 1.6 model...I have both cars how hard is it 2 do ..I know the exaust is different but surely can u drop the 2 ltr engine in and the wiring loom will be the same ...can anyone help plz

[Capncol]

Hello to us pug owners ..I've recently bought a 2002 cabriolet with a blown head gasket on the 1.6 engine ..I bought the steel seal to fix it and ran it 1hr as said on the bottle ...was amazed it really does work..ran the car for 2 days ...then bang the engine made a loud clattering noise sounds like snapped broken tappets or valve..so engine is kaput. ..I would like to know if it's possible to put a engine from a 2ltr cabriolet straight into my 1.6 model...I have both cars how hard is it 2 do ..I know the exaust is different but surely can u drop the 2 ltr engine in and the wiring loom will be the same You would like to think ...can anyone help plz

The 2 engines are completely different, you would need to change your wiring loom, exhaust and ECU/immobiliser (and probably other things such as throttle pedal) to get it to run. Then there is the gearbox, you should use a 2.0 gearbox so the ratios make the most of the bigger engine. Then you have different gearboxes pre and post 2002, (cable clutch V hydraulic & different speedo drives)

The following is just so you are fuly informed of possible pitfalls, what you choose to do is up to you. I personally don't think it's worth it for such a conversion. If you were putting a V6 or something unusual in, it would be a different case.

Legality wise you are obliged to notifty your insurance, and as this is a mod, they may decline to quote or require an engineers report. Worth a phone call before you start. Insurers link to the DVLA so if you haven't notified DVLA of the swap, it will still come up as a 1.6 and you may have insurance refused.
If you don't declare it as 2.0 to insurance, you are effectivly uninsured, same as if you were driving while banned.
The premium is going to be higher than if you just insured a factory 2.0 'cc.

You also have to notify DVLA and they will require an invoice from the garage that fitted it or a receipt for the engine if the car is classed as historic (it's not!) and it will go into the next VED bracket.

You may also have MOT problems as the emissions are based on the engine fitted, and if the tester isn't happy seeing a 2.0 engine fitted in a 1.6 car when it's still registered as a 1.6, he may refuse to test or fail it.

You would be better off replacing it with another 1.6 and the buying a 2.0 if that's the size you want. See here:-

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-ins ... nce-prices

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-in ... fied-cars/

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1009043

https://www.gov.uk/change-vehicle-detai ... -to-update

See page 159 of PDF section 7.3
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... hicles.pdf

Also read the 3rd post here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1004372