Some of you may know that I've been building a VIS turbo conversion for a few months, well, I've finally finished, whooooooooooP


Here's the story:

The original plan was to use one of the 20vt in stock and install everything needed from a VIS, but after some thinking I decided it would be better to actually start with a whole VIS as the wiring loom is all there to begin with, so off I went on the look out for a n/a with a blown engine, but guess what, I couldn't find one because they are so bloody reliable! Anyway, in the end I did find one 4 months later up in Barrow in Furness but it was way too tidy for this project and when I say tidy I mean mint One owner, leather, a/c, 48k on the clock but it had a snapped cam belt because it had never been changed, and this was on a 99 plate. Real shame

So I got this coupe back home and parked it up next to Mrs CC's VIS and she said the same about the condition and insisted I swap her engine for the blown lump so that I could use her old VIS for the project, that way she could then keep the new one for herself to drive, "that's a good idea"

So now my project had turned into two projects and one of the engine changes had to be done over a weekend so that she could have the car back for the weekly school run and all that jazz. While I was at it I took advantage of an opportunity, seeing that the front end was stripped I added a few little extras, a set of oil cooler pipes and twin fans to keep the thing cooler during those hot summer months, (when we do have them that is ) and a Brembo conversion so she can suffer the brake squeal like the rest of us

Mind you, she must have the nicest VIS in the country, still has standard design wheels as I used some 16v rims with 40mm spacers all round, tastefully lowered on some 215/40/16 tyres, Original wine red paintwork without a blemish, very nice indeed, shame she doesn't know how to keep it clean

So I finally had the project car, I'd already built the engine, (how long ago was that Stan? ) and now all I'd got to do was spend the time putting it all together and really seeing with trial and error whether it will work or not, either way it could still be dismantled for spares, worst case of course.

Now it's built, well 99.999999999% there anyway, couple of issues to sort out but nothing major, if all goes well with the running in I've got future plans to spend some time on tidying the whole coupe up generally, some panels don't match and some twat hit the driver's door with a shopping trolley less then a week after it was resprayed

I've got either FK or Billies to lower and improve the handling, I'm unsure which way to go yet, it's either weekly visits to the chiropractor because of the FK's or get some decent dampers to go with the Billies, the wheels yes, I know everybody hates them, but you would know the car if you saw it which makes it even more unique

I've used a standard 20vt engine with a VIS rocker cover and inlet manifold, the crankcase breather had to be modified because the plenum sits lower across the back of the block, but other then that its a stock rebuilt turbo lump. For the brakes, steering and front suspension I've used most of the 6 speed I dismantled a couple of months ago, has to stop Control cables were changed so that I could have an extra gear and any other relevant pipe work was either added or changed to sort the slave.

The intake manifold and induction pipework had me scratching my head for a morning, I wanted to use as many standard parts as I could, all the piping is nicely fitted as it was designed and changing any main routes would just mean changing everything, but one 90 degree Samco hose later and everything has fitted nicely back into place.

The ECU and loom are stock VIS, as is the fly by wire throttle control system, which is probably the main reason for why I built this conversion in the first place. 20vt injectors have been modified to fit the VIS fuel rail and the MAF sensor wiring had be extended so that it reach its new position. I've yet to plumb the dump valve vacuum hose into the plenum but I'm still working on that one with a spare I have on the bench, it's all moulded plastic and so far I haven't found an appropriate place to take the line from.

Overall it hasn't been too testing, because all the components are fiat coupe designed only a handful of problems have needed sorted or adapting, it's been a big boys Mechano job really, pick and mix if you will but fun and interesting with it.

Pictures, everyone loves a photo

VIS without an engine.



Stock parts.



Built and waiting for a shell.



Finally fitted.



Some general pics.



And so the road test It ticks over nicely and drives smooth but as I'm running the engine in it's a little difficult to really judge the cars performance yet. I can feel the turbo start to pull at around 2.5k, this is lower then most standard 20vt and I feel the VIS system has had the desired effect I was hoping for. Future plans are to get the fuelling check as soon as possible and invest in a wide band lambda sensor, an adjustable PRV will be needed as will a boost gauge.

So there you have it, I'll update the thread with any new developments and modifications as they come along, it'll be set up on a RR once I've got all the basics sorted so I hope to have some torque graphs before the year is out.

To be continued...

That is some amount of work Joe, congrats!

I can *just about* remember when you first mentioned this project, I think Project Jigsaw was just about to hit the road at the time!

You do realise that you'll now get a load of orders for hybrids don't you?

quality! nice one joe!!! welldone!

congrats Joe. Great job. Keep it up.

Joe, I need to come and see you in the kit, about dropping a 16v in there (with a turbo gearbox, I think...)

150bhp, 800kg?

well done joe nice 1

Not afraid to get your hands Dirty Joe! good job that man

seen this project first hand and it looks promising

i would be genuinely interested in looking at the RR numbers.

good work joe!

looking good but whats a VIS

It's a 20v (normally aspirated) VIS engine, this uses a fly-by-wire throttle i.e. no physical cable to control the butterfly.

on the later n/a coupes and 155 fiat bravo, the VIS stands for variable inlet system.
basicly at low rpm the inlet manifold is restricted to increase power at low rmp

the of the project was to reduce spool up rmp for the turbo and reduce turbo lag that the traditonal 20vt suffers with

i believe that's the aim any how

Thanks for your comments guys, it was good to post a thread about something interesting and little different from the normal, certainly beats my usual one liner "pm me, I've got that part"

Yes Neil, we'll have to meet up about your 16v conversion idea, go the whole hog and lets look at the 16vt always better to have more power the needed

Awesome project. I bet you are really chuffed with the outcome! The Coupe looks like a minter from the pictures and you've given it the power it deserves

Glad to see you've got the engine back into the car Joe, have to come and have a look at it some time.

Makes me think I should do a bit of a write up about my build when I get 5 minutes.

Great work there, Joe. I always thought Fiat should have done that to the VT engine, but I suppose the accountants said no, the Coupé was near the end of production at the time and the N/A VIS were going into the Bravo's for few more years.

Next time I'm over, I'll call in for a look.

Sounds like a great project Do you know how your going to control the on boost fueling yet?

Joe, what a superb job you've done there - hats off to you.

Supernice
Finally someone has tested VIS & turbo. Can´t wait to see the RR result.

should sound nice aswell

This sounds great!

Have I got this right though....you start with a VIS engine, add a few 20vt parts and off you fly??

The block, head and internals are all 20vt, the inlet manifold, rocker cover and plenum are VIS as is the loom and ECU.

I've now changed the fuel rail to 20vt as it has the FPR built in, so that's another problem off the list, work still needing to be done, Vacuum feed from the plenuum to connect up the FPR and the dump valve, PRV to control the boost and a wide band lamda sensor to monitor fuelling.

Other then the odds and sods and the mapping, it's done

I seem to recall that the VIS head has bigger valves - is this correct?

Joe i love your optimism :), Just odds and sods and the mapping to do then, should be done buy this afternoon!!!

Well maybe not finished by this afternoon but the end of December hopefully, spoken with RedDot this afternoon and Orgi is keen to have a look and tackle this project, so it's booked in for the beginning on next month and if all goes well I'll have a BHP graph by the new year

Nigel, SShhhhhh

Hey Joe, just got your PM, Cheers.

I thought RedDot might have a crack at it, they do love all things Italian, exotic and a bit different.

Looking forward to seeing the results like everyone else.

When is VIS activated?

who is reddot

The VIS system comes into play at around 2k revs.