1.4L Teardown/Modification

[Preloader]

The chain guides show no sign of wear. The tensioner is oil pressurized. The top chain guide, between the cam gears has an oil port that oils the chain as it travels.

The valve build up is on the intake valves. It's not cooked on, it wipes off by hand easily. I'd say a catch can isn't a bad idea. It's odd, when I removed my charge tube it was bone dry, no sign of oil. But I still have a catch can on my to do list.

On more interesting discovery. The turbo bearing is oil and water cooled. The oil supply to the bearing literally is the first passage from the oil filter assembly. In other words it was engineered to supply the cleanest oil in the entire engine to the turbo bearing. This should help suggest how critical regular oil changes should be done on a hard driven 1.4T. I do mine every 3k, even though the recommended changes are much longer than that.

 

[rabbs88]

Awesome ideas for the motor, i'm enjoying watching every step of the process. But what are you going to do transmission wise? Im not sure our bone stock ones will hold 300whp

 

[Preloader]

The Vauxhall guys have put 450hp through the same M32 trans will little modification or issues.

The hard part will be making 300 with only 1364cc. I've been crunching numbers for turbo selection and it seems that 300 horsepower would require 30-ish psi boost and revs up to 7k. I'm more worried about the bottom-end holding up to 30psi, than the trans holding up to 300hp.

Plus the trans is an easy replacement.......... well relatively.

 

[SPOTWORK]

Cylinder head:

12 head bolts. Cams and rockers can stay on during removal.

Here's the chamber and the valves:

Cylinder Block:
Each cylinder has the displacement of about 2/3 of a 12oz soda can.

It looks like 2 pistons move in unicine

 

[Preloader]

Yes. The 1 and 4 hit TDC and 2 and 4 hit BDC all at the same time.

Firing order appears to be 1,3,4,2.

 

[SPOTWORK]

TORQUE... Cummins diesels have the same setup and it works well for them.

 

[$ub$onic]

I love our 8.3 cummins. So much power

 

[mitdr774]

TORQUE... Cummins diesels have the same setup and it works well for them.

As far as I know every I4 is set up like this. Hard to have an even firing separation if the rod journals are not 180* apart. Obviously more cylinders requires fewer degrees of separation to keep everything even. All cylinders fire in 720* of crankshaft rotation regardless of number of cylinders.


Very nice to see the tear down of a 1.4. One of these months I may pick a 1.8 and make a post.

 

[ecohauler]

One of these months I may pick a 1.8 and make a post.

If you do, you should take measurements and compare notes. I know the 1.8 is Family 1 and the 1.4 is Family 0, but there may be some parts that are swappable anyway. If the heads interchange, for instance, that could open up a lot of possibilities.

 

[mitdr774]

With the timing chain vs. timing belt issue I dont see the heads swapping. It will be interesting to see what is close though.

 

[ecohauler]

Didn't realize the 1.8 had a belt. Still, if the cams fit, there could be a chance. The 1.4 is so tiny externally, though, I'm sure the head bolt holes won't even line up. I've never looked at the two side-by-side, but this thing is microscopic compared to the 1.9 in my Saturn.

 

[$ub$onic]

1.8 being a belt is not really a big deal. If your looking at cam swaps you have to look at the 1.4. If its stroke is the same as the 1.8, they might work. But what would the advantages be? Nothing really. Still a stock cam. Adapting it to go to chain is going to be fun because then you have I figure out how to oil the chain. At the end of it all you will have so much money wrapped up in a chain conversion that you can replace the belt a couple times.


If you want to adapt anything, look at the Rods and pistons. If they fit then you will have forged internals that can handle boost

 

[ecohauler]

Bore x stroke on these engines are
1.8: 3.2 x 3.5;
1.4: 2.9 x 3.3.
If external dimensions were similar between the two engines, I would think maybe we'd have a shot at the crank from the 1.8 fitting the 1.4, likely with custom connecting rods to make a 1.5L stroker, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

[Stew]

Probably the most critical spec when talking crank swapping is bore spacing. If that's off then fuggetaboutit. I wonder if the 1.6L motor is the same engine family as the 1.4, if you could use it's crank for some additional stroke that would be just swell.

Edit: looking at some pictures of the 1.6 it looks like a totally different engine although I guess that doesn't necessarily mean the crank would fit.

 

[SPOTWORK]

I know you can't beat cubic inchs bud damn. Isn't there other easier ways to make significant power gains like increasing cylinder head flow before getting that dirty and swapping out the crank for a magical alternative?

 

[Preloader]

I don't have any serious plans (doesn't mean we can't entertain the discussion) of boring and definitely not stroking. I do intend to hone if the cylinders aren't true round. Even if there was a reasonable crank swap to increase stroke, you'd have to get very involved in returning the compression ratio close to the stock 9.5:1.

As far as increasing head flow for power gains...... That's the plan. I plan to put the intake manifold gasket up to the intake port side of the head and take some pics so you can see how much potential there is for increasing air flow by porting.

HOWEVER, any gains will virtually negated by the turbine housing of the stock turbo. The wastegate is almost bigger than the turbine exit. Flowing more air into the head/cylinders can't happen without a way to get the spent air out.

 

[ecohauler]

The 1.6 is family 1. Apparently the 1.4 and 1.8 are the largest engines in their respective families, so no hope for a stroker from stock parts if they don't swap between families. That also probably means that they both have pretty much the longest stroke possible for their respective blocks, so it looks like a stroker kit is off the table for us in general.

 

[Preloader]

I'm highly considering the GT25 or the GT2860R.

Either will kill my low-mid range power, but should pull me nicely down the track and allow me close to 300hp between 4,500-7,000RPM.

Thoughts?

 

[River_Rat]

I think that would be a worthy sacrifice in the name of all-out horsepower. Sure, it will hurt overall driveability to some degree, but with all of that power only a downshift away, I think you can live with it.

Looking forward to your future updates.

 

[sx sonic]

I'm highly considering the GT25 or the GT2860R.

Either will kill my low-mid range power, but should pull me nicely down the track and allow me close to 300hp between 4,500-7,000RPM.

Thoughts?

Doo eeet.

The MZO will finally be beneficial. That low 1st will help you off the line as while the turbo's still building heat and trying to spool

What have you been using to choose which turbo/frame will work? I'm thinking that since you have a spare head you can flow bench it or port it then flow bench it and use those numbers to plot on a compressor map for maximum win.

Also since it doesn't look like cams are going to happen would it be possible to increase lift, like a custom rocker or relocating the pivot pins? Probably not feasible but something to thing about.

@ SPOTWORK- there is a replacement for displacement, It's called Boost!