engine options for budget?

duckie8310duckie8310 Senior Wagonist
in Engine & Drivetrain
i mentioned to my dad about just selling the miata and using the money to change the wagon over the stick. he said i could do that too. so options are out there. i want to do this. i figure we can sell the miata for 2K, maybe a bit more. and since the wagon is gonna be off the road for a week or so for the tranny swap, might as well get another engine *crosses fingers* we'll see. i want to keep the wagon for sure. but even if i sold it, you guys are still like my family here. i'd still visit everyday and contribute to the posts n such.

i'll throw the idea out to my dad about a new engine. hell, if im lucky i'll be doing a engine swap in the next few months

Comments

  • curtcurt Wagonist
    sounds like a good plan
  • HaydzHaydz Moderator
    B18B + manual gearbox - leave room for a VTEC head swap or turbo later on.
  • duckie8310duckie8310 Senior Wagonist
    i was leaning more towards the b16. i found this killer deal online for one. $1800, and it includes a complete swap, plus new axels, motor mounts for the EF swap, and ITR headers. and added $300 for lsd. i wanted to find a b18b, since its so cheap, but that same site doesnt have a deal for it. i wanted to find a package with everything so i wouldnt have to deal with finding parts here and there.

    that b18b doesnt sounds bad at all. it's still a considerable bump in power, and i still have room for the vtec head. turbo is a no-go, i know that for sure. my dad will not agree to that. and plus, this is my daily driver. im not aiming to race anyone. if anything, i'll take the wagon to the track and put some times down for autox.

    im still debating with myself. i love this car to death and i dont want to sell. ahhh i still have to wait. it all comes down to my dad.....
  • kleancutkleancut Wagonist
    b20!
  • wagodizzlewagodizzle Council Member and EDM expert
    H22A 8)
  • duckie8310duckie8310 Senior Wagonist
    haha you guys crack me up. b20 would be nice too, along with a vtec head...thats at least 160whp i think. man that would be niceee.

    h22a?!?! haha if i wanted a wagon that would eat up all the other ricers, i would go that direction. maybe sometime in the far future. i'll buy a beater wagon and make a beast. i dont have the time right now. im in school, and im about to start working. a simple swap is all i need at the moment, that is, if my dad agrees with swapping another engine.

    just gotta keep grillin' my dad about this subject.
  • jpciiijpciii familEE
    At 115k, I'd say your engine has lots of life left. If you put in a dx trans and do a mpfi swap, you'll get better mileage and get better power. You'll also be all setup to do a performance oriented swap down the road.

    But, if you sell the car, I'm interested in the struts/springs. 8) 8) 8)
  • duckie8310duckie8310 Senior Wagonist
    my dad asid the same thing. the engine has a lot of life left. he'd rather just do a tranny swap. i was thinking, like you said, the mpfi too.

    nothing is set in stone yet. but if worse case comes....i'll let you know.
  • HaydzHaydz Moderator
    If the engine still has plenty of life i'd also opt for the manual conversion+mpfi swap.

    -New metal headgasket
    -thermal intake manifold gasket
    -mpfi swap
    -short shift
    -si box
    -skimmed flywheel and maybe an exedy organic clutch
  • Archangel007Archangel007 Band Wagon
    Hi Guys,

    Can I ask a really dumb question here.......

    Tranny swap - from what to what??

    B-series engines dont mate up to D-series engines and vice versa (or do they?) and if you do a trasnny swap, does that mean it wont be AWD?

    The reason I am asking, is that you guys in the US might have different boxes and engine combo's available to you than we have here in Oz.

    Can someone please explain??

    Cheers,
    Tricky
  • duckie8310duckie8310 Senior Wagonist
    if i were to do a tranny swap. it'd be from my DX auto to a standard Si tranny. or even a DX hatch/crx tranny with a Si final drive.

    the b-series do not mate to a d-series...they're two different engines. if you swap out the engine, the tranny goes with it. you will lose the 4wd, but shenrie has already found a way around that. that is if you want to keep it and have a 4wd b-series wagon. my wagon is 2wd, so the b-series would stay 2wd.

    i hope that helps
  • jpciiijpciii familEE
    **EDIT** Duckie and I where writing responses at the same time...


    hi tricky, welcome along.

    What he has now is an automatic trans (front wheel drive, not all wheel drive). He wants to go to a stick shift, so we are talking about doing a fairly common swap for 4th gen civic/crx... changing from the auto to a manual. If he wants to upgrade to a b-series engine, he will need a b-series trans, but for now we are talking about keeping his dpfi d-series engine (possibly upgrading it to mpfi).
  • duckie8310duckie8310 Senior Wagonist
    ohhh haha i forgot this topic was split. the other half is in the 'cars for sale' section
  • Archangel007Archangel007 Band Wagon
    Guys,

    Thanks for the replies......

    So, can anyone but shenrie key me in on this b-series to D-series engine/gearbox work around.

    I thought that this was virtually impossible, albeit a early Civic owners dream.

    BTW - I have a '88 Shuttle engine/trans/drivetrain going into a Classic Mini. Should be a hoot!

    Once again, thanks for the replies.
    Tricky
  • jpciiijpciii familEE
    lol... the "workaround" was installing Honda CRV all-wheel-drive components and ditching d-series all together!
  • duckie8310duckie8310 Senior Wagonist
    was the d-series ditched all together? i was under the impression he used components from both the rt4wd civic wagon and rt4wd cr-v. but dont quote me on anything.
  • HaydzHaydz Moderator
    b series motor, b series (CRV) gearbox, modded driveshaft and stock rt4wd rear end is my guess on shenrie's project.

    Archangel007, feel free to start a thread about this and we are happy to address those questions. You are the second aussie to ask about rt4wd swaps into minis, are you guys mates?
  • Archangel007Archangel007 Band Wagon
    Hi Pacifier,

    Yes we are mates, very good mates actually - except he lives in Wodonga (near Melbourne, which is the farthest capital south), and I live in Brisbane which is much further north - we are separted by about 1400km's.

    The whole thing was Simon's idea originally - I just provide the engineering know-how (I originally was going to do a Nissan GTI-R Pulsar AWD, but regs here would make road-registering that very difficult - Simon came up with the alternative).

    This is the 5th conversion that I have done in a Mini, and the first AWD. Previously I have done 3 x 4EFTE turbo Starlet engines (JDM only), and 1 x Suzuki G13B Swift.

    With the Mini weighing in at between 650-750kg, the cars go like rockets.

    If you guys dont mind, I would like to start a thread so we can discuss this and other topics related to the conversion.

    Thanks guys,
    Tricky.
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