1992 Fiat Uno i.e. Turbo 1.4 turbo petrol
Summary:
Extremely quick, good fun all round!
Faults:
Small leak from the slave cylinder on the hydraulic clutch - easily repairable.
Apart from that, sound as can be.
General Comments:
After several heavy mods (ie: gas flowed head, hybrid turbo, etc) I now have 170+bhp coming from this excellent little car.
Fuel economy is good, unless at full throttle, when the turbo seems to drink like a fish, and ride is comfy, albeit a bit stiff.
Overall, performance that puts other bigger cars to shame. Superb!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 22nd January, 2001
16th May 2002, 14:58
Buy a Haynes Uno manual (or find one in a library and make use of the photocopier). It doesn't cover the diesel versions, but it's close enough for a gearbox swap. Other than being a diesel, it'll be almost identical to petrol models.
If you can do it without undoing the bottom ball joints of the suspension, do so, they are very hard to separate without wrecking them, and they aren't easy to replace cheaply, usually needing a whole bottom arm. I can't remember exactly what the Uno suspension looks like, but I did a Panda gearbox change without undoing those joints, which isn't supposed to be possible according to Mr Haynes. You can probably get away with just undoing the nearside ball joint if undoing none isn't an option, then juggling out the offside drive shaft while moving the box sideways. This blurb will make much more sense after reading Haynes guide to gearbox removal!
If you can't get the recommended gearbox oil, use engine oil.