hear me out then yell
 

I have read and read on engine swaps.I can't find an answer to this question
I have a 96 miata,this was the first year of the OBDII. In 97 they made changes to the OBDII system so a 97 Ecm will not work correctly in a 96 been ther done that
I have found a 99 1.8 that is low mileage and cheap
What would I have to do in order for it to work in the 96
Could I put the engine in minus the fuel rail and head and make it work or can I drop the complete engine in the 96 and hook it up
I am not wanting to do a bunch of modifying and swapping this and rerouteing that
I can find all sorts of info for other years like tking the 99 head and putting it on a older 1.8 but not much on a complete swap or change into a 96 itself
any help appreciated

trololol

All 1.8l engines can be swapped in, but electronics from the 96' need to be swapped over.

Pen ,
the car I am going into is a 96 are you saying I would have to take the 96 electronics out and put 99 electronics in ?
If that is the case then it would not work
there are 4 o2 sensors in 97 and latter only two in a 96
ok I am wrong knew that did not sound correct when I I said it have made a correction in th next post
my apology

If the car is a 96, put the 96 electronics on the 99 motor.



O2 is considered electrical... is it not? If this means keeping the old exhaust, then yes. Saves time.

To add to this, when swapping a 1.8L for a later 1.8L motor, you need to use the sensors and wiring harness off the 96 motor in order to make the 1.8L swap work. You do not need to wire in the 99 ECU (it can be done but is more work than it's worth), use the 96 ECU.....


Bill S.

ok, now I do understand appreciate you not slapping me with a piston or something similiar

1.8l exhaust for the 96' will bolt right up to the 99' head. Dont need to tear apart the engine. Like it has been said, just bolt on all of the sensors from the 96' engine onto the 99' and use the 96' ECU and wiring harness. Same goes for exhaust and fuel.

Hrmm I guess my 97' was missing an o2 sensor or two.

I too, found more that 2 o2 sensors a bit silly.

Guys you are correct my apology after you both made the statement ,I found my notes and there are two sensors as you say .
What you get is a PO 141 oxygen heater malfunction
I just know that when you put a 97 or latter ecm in a 96 it will give you a cel light and the code will be PO141
O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Malfunction
Now I did not write this down I am not sure which sensor it is but one of the two o2 sensors do not have the heater circuit in the 96 where the 97 and latter ones do have it I should have looked before saying there were three or four sensors
Wish I had written more down but didn't,I did find a very good miata mech down in georgia that verified this was the problem says people do it all the time and then start getting the error after a few minutes and could not fiqure out what was going on
Hope this clears up the misunderstanding and will go back and edit my post
thanks both of you