You're right... They're 9.5:1. I retract the previous statement. :brain:

The other differences still apply.

Point being....its NOT just a 99-00 motor.

so i have decided to swap in a 1.8 with a new clutch and a ms. As for the dash, Ibought a 96 for $900, and parted it out. my dash had a huge crack all the way down the middle and looked like crap. why not put in a mint one i have sitting in my garage? it looks much better. im not to concerend with the weight added, il take twenty more pounds for a clean interior.

True - but, the other point being that it's still NOT worth the 2k they fetch for them, and you are better off going with a 99-00 motor for cheap and building it.

I'd keep my cracked 90 dash over putting the fugly 94-97 one in. However if you like it, i'd agree the weight isn't a huge deal. Just remove the passenger airbag before you put it in.

To the OP.
If you are prepared to spend 3K or so just buy a bad 1.8 and build it to your liking, makes more sense than a MSM motor any day of the week.
Otherwise, find a decent used 1.8 and boost as is.

We don like your kind round 'ere.

Your spelling...
http://bolttalk.com/attachments/turr...rles-jpg.3095/

Now that's funny cause it true. Funny none the less.

1.8 and MS and you can't go wrong, period.

I wish I had the capital to buy lots of MSX, 1.8s, and Torsen swaps. I could sell package deals at low low prices, $$$$$ and Profit?

I actually did what the OP did with the dash. I swapped in the 94-97 Dash. Honestly I think it looks much nicer and much more modern. Everyone has their preferences and we're not all so worried about 20 pounds. I honestly hate the 1.6 dash. It look and feels cheap to me. But again, that's my opinion. Which I'm entitled to. Just like the OP :)

I just noticed that everyone on MT.net is an English teacher.

No, just the majority of the "valuable" posters here respect the place enough to use proper grammar, spelling, formatting and punctuation, at least to the best of their ability. (run-on sentence?) Those same posters love to ridicule those who do not.

I am personally building a 1.6 lnc. For a few reasons, 1) I already had bought my hotside 2) I just want to see how much power this thing will make 3) it's what the car came with, so I decided to stick with that.

I see a few possibilities in my future if I am not happy with the power output. Do a LS swap and build the motor for NA, lots a compression, cam, head work blah blah blah or do a single turbo LS. I am leaning towards the second option. Boost is just so much fun.

Personally I wouldn't spend any money on a 1.8. If anything other than a 1.6 is getting swapped into my car it will be a LS series engine. I know it takes away from the character of the car ("it's not a Miata," "it has a chevy," "it's has a v8") but I don't really care anymore.

Heretic! Burn him!

You can find a Mazdaspeed miata motor for around $2000. You can have a mazdaspeed miata motor running 210whp with just simple upgrades so it will be a huge step up in power, and probably cheaper than a turbo kit. That is if you are happy with the OEM turbo charger.

You can get a 99-00 motor for less than $1000 easy and buy an artech mani and ebay or used garrett turbo with the additional 1k. Then you can buy all the other parts you were gonna have to buy anyway to get the MSM engine to 210whp and you would be at 250-260hp only limited by the stock bottom end.

I disagree Ryan. All you need to get a mazdaspeed motor to 210whp is and intake, full exhaust, boost controller and o2 mod. There are quite a few motors available too. They will naturally be more expensive than a regular block. However you also have the Mazda oil lines built into the block from the factory. Now they even have flashes for the msm ecu which they haven't had in the beginning.

still stuck with ihi. until it blows i guess

Yes but now you're buying and engine and an ecu. And I dont believe the msm ecu is pnp with the 1990 harness. So either a patch harness, significant rewire, or harness swap would be required and now we're talking about a serious time and money commitment to just get a really really turrable ecu.

Yea I suppose you are right with the wiring. The ecu won't cost you a dime however. And the flashes definitely make it more practical. However I know there have been a few guys on the Mazda-speed forums that have done the swap in a na without any hang ups

The reason the MSM ECU won't cost you a dime is because any of us would be happy to give you one. They are horrible pieces of shit and the only people running them on purpose are stuck with OBDII and don't feel like changing injectors out every year. To swap it into an NA, you would need to put the entire engine harness in and believe me, the ONLY reason to do that is if you simply want a project.

There are plenty of unique things about an MSM but the engine itself isn't one of them. Despite the cool valve cover that say 'Turbo' (+3whp) and a shiny oil cap that says 'Mazdaspeed' (+2whp to offset the weight of the cap), it's a '99 motor with VTCS (fail) instead of VICS (win).

The turbo on my track car has the upgraded wheel and has seen more track time than any IHI I know of. It's cracking pretty badly and I just hope it lasts the season because I don't have the budget for an upgrade this year. I have a stock spare but I'd be giving up 30whp and a bunch of top end. It's not a long term turbo for the track at >250whp. Do the 1.8 but don't bother with MSM parts unless you get them for the same price as the other stuff and skip the IHI turbo altogether.