Engine swap

I have given up on newish cars since my disastrous ownership of a 2006 Peugeot 307 hard-top convertible, which suffered numerous faults. The final last straw was a collapsed clutch thrust bearing at 60,000 miles. It seems accountants are now designing cars, judging by the ‘barely up to the job’ parts being used on them!

I’ve gone back to running two old bangers. The first is a 2001 Peugeot 306 cabriolet with 62,000 genuine miles and full service history. This cost £1000 and is a splendid car apart from the usual dodgy electrics.

My other banger is a 1994 Peugeot 106 1.5 diesel, for which I paid scrap value and did some work to make it usable again. Although the engine starts on the first turn of the key even on the frostiest morning, it has covered 166,000 miles and I suspect it is a little tired. Can I directly replace the engine from one of the later 106 Mk2 diesels without too much fettling? Tony Graham According to the data I have, the 1.5 VJZ engine in your 106 was used in the Peugeot 106 until 2003. The only variation I can find is that some units were fitted with a Bosch injector pump and others were fitted with a Lucas unit. Neither appears to have a coded injection pump, thus while ensuring the replacement engine had the same injection pump would simplify the transplant, this should not be a problem. With your present engine still starting well, I would imagine that the compressions are still good, so with regular oil changes you should hopefully keep the unit running for a few miles yet.