Monday, March 14, 2011

1993 Miata engine swap modifications

Here is a picture of my friend's 1993 Mazda Miata 1.6, he picked it up this past fall to be the recipient of a much worked over 1.8 Protege LX engine. The idea seem simple enough at first but now, well... we'll see if this is more than your average in and out job.
The donor car is a 1992 MX3 with a worked over Protege LX engine.  Bored 2mm over at 85mm X 85mm;  the stock pistons have been changed out to Wiseco 11:1 slugs.  I also believe  that its been decked and milled to bring the compression up to 12:1. Guess that might rule a turbo out of the question. But its been said that its probably around 180Hp -  which maybe it won't need any induction help...nah.
Today's job was to rip the lump out and then get into removing the standalone engine management.  Its running a Megasquirt -II ECU.










The rip was basic and straight forward, pull the exhaust, remove all electrical connections, take out the drive shafts and then proceed to the engine mounts.  rather than drop the engine on the floor or use a cherry picker I dropped it on a roller cart.  At that point the cart was rolled under the list arm and the engine was chained to it;  using the list as the picker.
Mounting the engine was, well not what I was expecting but it all worked out.  Was able to use the transmission/engine mount bolts onto the engine stand and the other two bolts are from the power steering mount. Did trim the round tubes on the engine stand, but I can always re-weld those back on.

It looks so barren from underneath.






tomorrow will be the Megasquirt's turn to be removed.

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