Any idea's.

Sadly the engine on my 1.7 1998 Puma has died.

Shocking really as it's only done 60k miles and I purchased it with full service history!

However, that aside my dilemma is what to do now.

Given the amount of money spent on the car, both by myself and to a much greater extent, the previous owner, I will be keeping it. The previous owner put a cracking set of brakes on it along with a paddle clutch which I really like. I've had the arches done and treated, so no rust. I also put a great Alpine head unit in it. (Incl. Sat Nav and reversing camera).

I had intended on doing something to give the car a bit more "go" it's just I hadn't intended to do it just yet!

The car is currently with an engine tuning place who have basically said that to a certain extent I have a blank canvas. I can either put a standard 1.7 Puma engine in it and have that tuned/remapped etc, or I could just put a completely different engine in altogether. Options suggested are either a 2.0L Duratec or a 2.3L Duratec. (Obviously there's a lot more money involved in using the non standard engines).

Given the amount of experience on this forum I was wondering what you would do in my position, or if you have any recommendations of your own.

I'm anxious to get it back as it's been off the road for about 4 weeks now and as it's my daily driver it's inconvenient to say the least.

Look forward to hearing what you suggest.

How bigs the budget???

Ha, good question!

No more than £5k

Someone has suggested a MK1 Focus RS engine, with a stage 1 remap, which (I'm told), should return somewhere in the region of 265bhp ample for me.

In short, which of the following engines should I put into my Puma:

- Standard 1.7 Puma engine and have it remapped/tuned.
- Focus MK1 RS 2.0L engine with a stage 1 remap.
- Duratec 2.3L and have it remapped/tuned.

Grateful for any views, particularly from members who have replaced engines in their Pumas.

The 1.7 Puma engine is the cheapest option, but is that the best thing to do in the long run?

If you want more power then sticking with the 1.7 is probably the least favourable?

Both of the other suggestions have been fitted previously I believe. The MK1 FRS is probably harder from memory.

Thanks, I know the RS engine is turbo'd where as the other two are not.

As I am not mechanically minded, and having never driven a turbo'd petrol car, can anyone explain to me in layman's terms the difference this would make to me as a driver.

I'm only aiming for between 200-300bhp so regardless of which one I go for it would be tuned/remapped to this accordingly.

Hypothetically, if we assume they all had the same bhp what would be peoples preference?

Turbos just take time to spool up, they work off the exhaust gases coming out of the engine, basically those gases spin a turbine which is connected to another turbine which sucks more air into the engine (and the engine management adds more fuel to match the extra air).

So from that you can sort of tell that the power comes in once the engine is running at a high enough RPM to get the turbo going. So accelerating through the gears its fine, but if you are cruising along and drop a gear, you get a bit of a delay while the turbo wakes up (and if you don't drop a gear, it will take much longer). If you have a small turbo it takes less time, but a bigger one will take longer.

Another option is to turbo the 1.7. The good thing is you won't have to worry about the electrics/loom/speedo and engine mounting etc.

LMS do one which can apparently go to 300-350hp: http://www.lightningmotorsport.co.uk/tuning-kits/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How about a CVH engine from an Escort RS Turbo? It'll fit straight on your gearbox and you can adapt some Mk3 Fiesta CVH engine mounts to make it fit. It's a highly tuneable engine too