I've had my Coop for a month or so now and am loving it but have a real newbie question so please don't flame me...

My car is a Feb 99 20V N/A with what I thought was a "old school" engine but after reading the forum I'm not sure. Looking through the mountain of bills etc I found out it was a Dutch import which from my Scooby days was a big thing around that time.

The rocker cover has 20 VIS on it but obviously any one could swap this with a later car, how can I tell whether I have the VIS engine or not? The car kicks nicely at around 4K and certainly feels like some variator magic is going on.

Externally it has old wheels etc but just wondered was this engine available on non UK cars before Aug 99? I have bills for everything bar an engine replacement so guess it hasn't been changed. Reading an old EVO with a Coop buyers guide it was mentioned imports had different (harder) suspension, any truth in this either?

Thanks for any info.

Have a look for an accelerator cable, the VIS engine doesn't have one as it has a fly by wire throttle.

Mine is a 99 vis and that has the old style wheels

the inlet plenum (cant spell) will be plastic if its vis, cast if its a standerd

A lot of the mainland Euro supplied imports were RHD cars supplied to British Forces serving in Europe. The cars although RHD were not always to FULL UK specification. Items that were standard fit on UK cars may not be fitted, as standard, to these imports.

For example the Fiat Coupé alarm system on UK Coupés was not a Fiat factory fit, it was fitted in the UK by the importer

As for stiffer suspension etc I am not aware of any differences.

Bob

Do you have colour-coded sills?

Thanks for all replies and info, I'm off to brave the rain now to have a look.
Unfortunately no colour coded sills just black, car was owned by a civvie from new so think it was a personal import.
Cheers again

Wal

So did my old 99 n/a - it also had black sills. IIRC the new style wheels, different grille, coloured coded sills came in later in 99, coinciding with V-registered UK cars.

the most direct method of checking is the inlet plenum, wheels, side skirts, sills, they can all be changed......the inlet plenum cant, well it can...but it wont be a vis any more

Well managed to dodge the rain and know what my car is now.

Inlet manifold/Plenum Plastic
Throttle cable Absent

Therefore I assume it must be a VIS which is a nice bonus, never going to turn down some extra power. I am 99.9% positive it hasn't had an engine change so foreign changeover must have been earlier than UK.

Of course the downside is that the Variator going belly up is something else to add to the (scarily long)list of things to go U/S...

Thanks for all your help.

Wal

welcome to the world of vis!

Hi Wal_s

think the ecu being in the engine bay is also
a bit of a clue.

cheers Kevin

Cheers guys for the welcome and thanks for all the pointers.
Got it on the ramp tonight after work changing the gearbox oil so will nose around it a bit more then.

Wal

Hiya Wal and welcome to VIS coupe ownership, this model coupe is the nicest sounding out of them all

Here's a little light reading that might interest you

http://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=751050&fpart=1

Joe

Thanks for the link and it sounds/looks great, just getting mine back up to scratch first!
Got the usual replacements coming up (rad, brakes etc) over the next few months but looking forward to some "mods" in the future.

Will pm you in the near future to check availability of some (hopefully) minor bits and pieces, thanks again.

Wal

VIS engine was introduced June/July 98