Project Turbo
Turning Up The Horsepower
Hi, and welcome to my Turbo Conversion page, here i will showcase the addition of a turbo to the Niva's
1.6L inline four cylinder engine. You can follow my project as I go along, I will try to document everything I do,
and I will update these pages as often as possible.
If there is one thing about Nivas that I would like to change, it is the amount of available power. Ever since I started
driving a Niva, i was craving a little more, just to be able to pass faster, or maybe pull just a bit more.
I also just like tooling around with things, and thought this would be a really great project.
A popular conversion
for Nivas is the complete replacement of the engine, usually to a Fiat 1.8-2.0L engine, mainly because they
are as close as you can get to a bolt-in conversion with a Niva. These engines also perform better than the stock Niva
engine, and often weigh less, all good things. However, in Canada, it is hard to find Fiat parts, let alone complete
engines. This was one reason for my decision to keep the Niva's original engine. Other reasons are; the Niva engine is
extremely solid, and (i hope to prove) will withstand good amounts of boost, installing a turbo should be an (relatively) easy
project, also, the gain in output from a turbo is very particular, because it is like increasing the displacement of an engine
without having much extra heft, and allows the use of the stock block and heads etc., so engine bay space is not a limiting factor, and
drivetrain compatibility is also less of an issue.
Preparation Steps
E1 : November 2001
E1 : December 2001
E1 : January 2002
Engine Number Two
E2 Exhaust: Getting it to the turbine
E2 Exhaust: Down and out
