I was on E-bay the other day and i kept seeing these new small turbo engines. 1.4l turbo Holden Cruze., VW and i think Nissan.

Then i thought one of those would go nicely in my ke35. So i looked into it and it turns out the Cruze engine bolts up to a Isuzu rodeo gearbox.

https://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16446&start=60

There wold be plenty more to figure out but question is has anyone driven a cruise, and how would the engine go in a car 300-400 kg lighter?

Go ok.  Some issues with oil coolers, thermostats and water leaks. Shitty exhaust manifold design, manifold is part of the turbo housing.

I had thought simliar back in the day when all these mini turbo engines started to appear, i think there is potential, be a torquy little motor for a small corolla. 

The turbo combined into the manifold is not a deal breaker to get started, but it does make it harder to put a different turbo on. A custom turbo manifold is not out of the realms of someone who might be tackling this conversion though, certainly not the simplest conversion.

 

Yep, great idea!

Ever since I drove my son's Fiesta ST I've been keen on the lightweight high performance small capacity motors coming out as a reliable, quiet stock unit.

Not for a race car but as a great daily driver, I wouldn't look to change the turbo for a bigger unit or modify it for performance

They can jump us 35years of engine technology in one hit.