'95 1.8 in a '99?
 

I have a friend with a fully built motor he's selling, and I need one since I spun a rod bearing last night. His motor is for a '95, and I have a '99. What would it take to make that work? Could I just swap the '99 head onto the '95 block or what?

Yes, you can swap you head over and slap it in, no issues.

Alright good deal. I know the '99's have different cam angle sensors and what not.

Have your '99 head checked by machine shop for warpage.

Okay, I talked to a friend that builds Miatas (Mark Perry, he's from Texas, forgot the name of company), and he said you could use the full '95 motor in the car, head and all? I need someone to verify this for me please.

Why would you use the inferior 95 head ANDD deal with all the sensor and wiring bs?
Sounds like fail on top of fail.

I know it's inferior. But this head has been ported and polished with a 3 angle valve job, so it flows a little better than the factory '95 head. The other main issue I'm having would be paying $2,700 for basically a short block if I use the '99 head. If it comes down to it, I will use it. But if it works with the '95 head, I'd do that too. All I was wanting to know is if it would work or not.

Also, if I was to rebuild my '99 bottom end, it would end up costing more because of shop labor and machine shop usage.

This site is all about gaining HP's, don't let any get away!

I have a 99 motor in my 95 and it a considerable change. Your main issue, if you want to use the earlier head, is going to be making all the connection correspondent to the 99 wiring. Also the 99 does not use a CAS as the 1.8 do. You would have to eliminate the CAS (which you can donate to me, I am in need of one) block cavity that it leaves and use the crank position sensor from the 99. Aside from that everything else is pretty much the same.

Okay thank you for clearing that up. If I end up buying this motor I will keep in mind that you need that. Are there any other issues I should know about?

You can simply drop in the 95 engine.
Then... speaking from memory here. I'm assuming you're using a stock ECU.

You will need to use the 94-97 intake manifold with 99 throttle body. It will bolt up, the throttle cable should fit too. Then, use the camshaft gears and valve cover from your 99 head. That will allow you to re-use the cas-on-valvecover sensor. All NBs have a crankshaft sensor. The 95 block SHOULD have a threaded hole for that sensor, so it will bolt up. The hole may be hard to see due to grime/dirt whatever. For the crankshaft sensor to work, you'll need to use the crankshaft pulley boss and timing plate from your 99 engine. Finally, use your old coil pack.

This will get the car running but it'll throw a ton of engine codes due to disconnected VICS and EGR. Also the EGR crossover pipe from 95 exhaust manifold will probably not bolt up to the 95 intake manifold. You could use a 99 exhaust manifold, but then you need pretty much the whole exhaust as well. And the 99 exhaust manifold sucks!


edit: the coolant temperature sensors on the back of the head might also be different, so check if connectors fit before you swap. If they don't fit you can swap the whole rear water neck.

edit edit: you WILL need to do something about the fuel rail. 99 fuel rail is returnless (one hose), 94-97 is a return system (2 hose). There's a good guide explaining what you need to do to change from returnless to return (http://www.mx5atlanta.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13121). You will need to do the opposite, I guess? Don't really know.

Wait are you buying a whole motor stock motor for $2700? Or is it a built one? You can check out Track Speed Engineering and get a fully built motor for somewhere in the $3000 ballpark I believe.

Also just to clarify, I have MS and no EGR so I did not have any issues with that.

Lars, he is supposedly buying a built motor from a friend.

It is built. Full forged bottom end, wiseco pistons and Eagle A-Beam rods (how are these compared to the H-Beams?), Fidanza adjustable cam gears, 3 angle valve job and port and polish, 0-mile motor.

And more than likely I will go ahead and do the MegaSquirt.

Megasquirt before you swap. It will be easier to diagnose issues, if any, after the swap. About the rods you could google some of that info.

That's what I figured. And I noticed the '95 MegaSquirt PNP kit is $595. Not too bad for a standalone.

Well, two years later and still no boost. :( just finished my BP4W head and am building a custom intake manifold. After everything checks out, I'll be going with an FMII with a 3071. Things were on hold for a while, and I've just been putting miles on it.

The NA 1.8 actually worked very well in the car, and was rather painless to swap, in case anyone was wondering. It was pretty slow though. Low compression pistons (and what turned out being a STOCK NA 1.8 head with a gasket match) definitely did not help. Would not recommend doing it lol.

So you paid $2700 for a stock NA 1.8 with a dremeled gasket?