Engine bay, containing standard HC-E 1300 EFI (with blown head gasket).
Out comes the old HC-E!
Swapping all brackets, manifolds, sensors, clutch and gearbox between engines.
The engines are almost identical,
and everything bolts straight on. I used the Applause inlet manifold, throttle
body, fuel rail and injectors. An Applause pressure plate and driven plate were
used on the Charade flywheel.
I'm the one on the right, Gary is on the left. We're greasing the clutch
throw-out bearing.
Next day - the assembled HD-E 1600 EFI goes in.
Connecting everything, below and above. Did I mention that I LABELLED
EVERYTHING so I knew where to connect it? I kept the Charade's ECU and wiring
loom.
Everything back in place. Looks just like the old one :-)
Bonnet back on, fluids replaced. The car had 216,135km on the odometer - the
engine came out of an 80,000km wreck.
While I had the engine bay empty, I noticed some pretty serious cracks
in the strut towers and chassis rails. Apparently, this is a known problem
on G102 Charades. So, I had them welded up before I went for roadworthy.
While I was running around getting the little bits and pieces fixed up for
roadworthy, a truck pulled out of a driveway in front of me. On a wet road.
I'm glad I had the chassis welded up, or else I may have had a HD-E Applause
engine in my lap. We got the crumpled wreck off the road with a forklift (I
crashed just over the road from DaiAuto wrecking yard, which was convenient).
Needing a new car urgently, I ran out and bought another G102 - a blue '89
model - with a working engine, this time.
Several months later, with messy legalities finished, I was the owner of a blue G102 (in good
working order), and a red G102 (written off, but with a nice HD-E in it), and a cheque
for the pre-crash value of the red one.
If I had the space to keep the red wreck as a parts car I would have (and done
the engine swap myself again)...but I didn't.
So I collected all of the best bits
into the one car - I got DaiAuto to swap the HD into the new Charade - their
labour in exchange for whatever was left after I drove away.
As of last page update, I'm still driving my 1.6L Charade. I thoroughly recommend
the upgrade.