I was looking at my engine today as it sat in its castored bread basket trolley on the garage floor and wondering if it would fit the car better if it were upright. Having pondered for a while the only thing I could conclude was that I would, at worst, have to cut 'n shut the sump so's it was flat and, in concert with this, re-align the oil pickup pipe. It would probably mean a bumpy bonnet as the Citroen 16 valve is a bit on the lofty side but it wouldn't half make fitting the steering column easier! Does anyone have any good reasons why a slanty engine can't be uprighted? As far as I can tell the only reason it was canted backwards in the original car (Citroen BX) was so's it'd fit under the standard bonnet. Does anything besides the sump & oil pickup (& probably the dipstick) get modified due to the slant? Am I likely to run a bearing due to oil starvation when I start the engine? Should I have just stuck with the Fiat twin cam I had? Answers on a postcard to....................

uif you are running carbs that could cause a problem if they are angled,otherwise i see no probs apart from oil pickup

Am i right in thinking that you may encounter problems mating the gearbox as well?

No carbs, one of the reasons I went for this engine is that it already has injection.
Gearbox will be a fun item to fit if the engine is slanted or upright as I've either got to mak an adaptor plate fo rtghe standard For T9 bellhousing or buthcer the Citroen fwd gearbox to make a bellhousing out of. Thanks for the replies tho chaps

heya browser a few years ago i took a slanty engine out of a golf and put it upright in a passat i've not encountered any problems other than having to modify the sump and make an inlet manifold so it didn't inhale the sound deadening!!
Still runs sweetly enough now with 285K on it

re gearbox adapter,i put a york 2.5 into my land rover,1/4 plate on back of engine and drilled holes in the right places for box to attach,jus need spigot bush,clutch and starter to sort out,no probs really

Now then, this spigot bush business. Is it just a car of removing the crank and getting it drilled to take an approrpiate sized one for the transmission being used? Would it be better to get a neddle roller bearing fitted in the interests of low friction? (although I do understand that, relative to the crank the gearbox input shaft should'nt rotate). I had intended to butcher the fwd gearbox to make a bellhousing out of but it might be a little too bulky for that so the adaptor plate route is looking favourable. I might end up butchering the fwd box i.e. cut the first inch or so of it off and fix it to the bellhousing, to save me having to try and fit the crank angle sensor into the adaptor plate. Watch this space (not too keenly though, work will be slow and steady )

A guy I competed against had a Citroen engine mounted upright. he modded sump and pickup.

Other mods, fitted twin 40's by cutting injection unit and grafting mountings on.

Cut pieces out of Ford bellhousing and welded in new tubular bushes for bolts to pass through matching engine side. Used a type 9 box.

Engine was a stormer, couldn't beat him!

there is normally a hole in the back of the crank,hopefully big enough,for a spigot bush i got a peice of phosfer bronze bar and turned it down,drilled the centre out to apropriate sizes and tapped it into said hole