i have recently acquired an 05 mazda miata with a rod knock. the engine has 90k miles or so. car is in decent condition for a car that has been sitting for years. i have pulled the motor and taken to a machine shop. but before i get them to do any work i wanted to ask. is there any other years of the 1.8 that would work with the MSM turbo setup and ecu? i have found an nb motor for 700 locally with only 100k miles i believe it is an 03. i have read when googling that the 99-00 engines would work but i was worried about weather or not they would be tapped for turbo oil lines.

i want to buy a cheap motor to see if this is a car i want to build or sell. i would keep the knocking MSM motor in garage and build it if i like the car.

i checked the search function but its possible i have missed something i also tried googling before asking a newb question. please be helpful. i am trying to get this done cheaply to see if i like driving the car or not. so no K or LS swaps.

 

Any other engine would not have the connections for oil/water lines.

 

94/early 95 block had the ports on the side and would work. 94 block+ 99/00 head would be a cheap mans MSM copy

That being said unless you have an MSM oil pan youd need a custom oil feed line. So you may as well just get some custom oil.coolant lines made up if you cant.

You will need the MSM water outlet/bypass line to run the turbo so you get to keep 1 coolant line.

BUT since you have the MSM engine. Just rebuild it using some ebay H-beam rods and call it a day. You wont need anything more internally maxing out that turbo

 

This is the correct answer.

 

would they be easy to add to a non turbo motor?

 

Look at a guide for any Miata turbo installation. Same steps.

 

Sounds hard. MSMs are only turbo Miatas.

 

THIS is what i was thinking of doing. thanks. would the stock pistons be ok @300 hp? if i ever went with another turbo that would be the goal.

when you say ebay rods are you talking about the cxracing ones? ( https://www.ebay.com/itm/CXRacing-H-...ZS3yTd&vxp=mtr ) do these require me replacing the hardware with arp?

i was considering Manley H beams @$400 and some wiseco pistons @around $500 the pistons being 9.0.1. but wasn't sure if the compression change would throw off the stock ecu. i want to rebuild it cheaply but right as i will probably enjoy driving the car.