Have you considered putting in a rotary?

A twin or triple rotary with twin turbo would give you plenty of power, low weight and will fit nicely in an 1800. The only problem with this setup is everything would be custom and you wouldn't have as much torque as other options.

Sticking a Psrsche 911 Turbo power pack into the back of an 1800 would be and engineering nightmare. There is no structure back there to hold the weight and torque of an engine, never mind a hot one from Prosche. Your best bet is probably to stick with the front engine/rear drive arrangement.

I remember seeing on the web someplace that someone stuffed a V8 under the hood an 1800. The pictures showed clearly that it was a tight fit, but it worked. I have also heard of stuffing a B230FT under the hood. This is a interesting challenge since the OHC head of the B23/230 engines are taller than the older B20 pushrod engines. Also with the wheel wells being closer together (as compared to 240s and 740s) would make fitting an exhaust system and turbo an interesting engineering challenge. Of course this problem also exists with V8 engines. I suppose one could raise the engine a bit, but this would mean cutting into the hood. But then again, having an air scoop coming out of the hood like the hod rods of days gone by is an interesting thought. But way out of character for an 1800.

Bottom line, as an engineer/scientist I have concluded that most anything is possible if you have enough time and money. But since we engineers and scientist are generally lazy, we try to look for the easier and most straight forward solution to a problem. And that would be to stick with a front engine/read drive arrangement. Then take a B20 engine, bore it to 2.3 liters, push the compression as much as we can, put in a programmable fuel injection system up to the task, electronic ignition, a hot cam, etc. In other words, spend my time and money with the fun of hopping a B20 engine to a real fire breather.

I've read somewhere about a small-block Ford V-8 in an 1800, but I don't remember where. There would be some big heat problems.

What I want to know is, could you cram a B230FT into an 1800? With some work, you could get the car down to just over 2000 pounds - and with a Saab APC and some tender love, you could squeeze over 200 horses out of the engine. That's one fast little Swede, if you can find a transmission that will take it.

I believe that Chevy small block V-6's will fit, at least that's how the rumor goes. I have yet to talk to anyone who's actually made the switch, so I'm afraid I can't offer much insight except to say that it can be done.