1994 mx-3 engine swap

[Meccio]

Hey,

I recently bought a mazda mx3, 1994, 4 cyl., automatic.. and my worse fear just occured .. the engine died .. my mecanic told me the crank shaft is finished, that i should consider changing the engine ..

i'm a college student, with a very tight budget since i work part time, i have maybe ~2000-2200$ to spend on the engine (including labour)

is there any engines out there that will at least quasi fit bolt-on, that isnt too much expensive?

so far, ppl suggested:

1.8 DOHC from a proteger or a festiva GT
or a miata DOHC ( i dont know if it fits )


Is anyone fond enough on the subject, and knows which engine i could get swapped for under 2200$? (i'm sorry for the vague question, but im a complete tyro to mecanics .. hehe)

Thanks in advance!

marcio


ps: im not looking for some powerful engine to race, but i'm interested in getting something faster than the precidia 4 cyl.

<small>[ October 24, 2004, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: mars ]</small>

[plusinfinit]

I don't want to descourage you but if you are not in a good financial situation or have a decent mechanical knowlege stay away from a swap. Its going to be easier if you buy another car. Swaps are not easy and you still have a used mazda engine,its not like you could swap your engine for some sort of long life high performance 4 cilinder and have not spent an arm and a leg.
Swaping if not bad but if you are fincially limited than save some money and buy another car.
How many miles does your engine have on it?

[Meccio]

my engine supposedly had 89,000 km when i bought it, i got it inspected and it seemed legit .. but no one can know for sure .. and by everything thats happening .. im guessing its way more than 89,000 Kms ..

i considered getting a new car .. but now im stuck with this one, i wont be able to sell it and i cant send it to a scrap yard for 35$ .. when i paid a fair amount of money for it ..

and plus, the body is in good condition, it had a new sunbeam silver paintjob, 1 year ago .. and it looks nice ..

if there's something i can do to keep it, then i will try.. at least :p

[plusinfinit]

If you do a good search you will find out what engine you can swap, my sugestion would be buying a rebuilt engine. There are a few companies i believe that sell all kind of rebuilt engines , one of them is Jasper, i am not sure if they have your engine but you can do a search. I want to say that it will be easier to just buy an already rebuitl engine that will bolt right in. It is cheaper and faster to swap the same engine. Visit all your local junkyards ALL and ask them if they have in stock an engine like yours, chances are they have it but you never know its condition. 84K kilometers is not much at all.
I have a 89 corolla with around 178k miles and i changed the cluster pannel, now the car has only 150K. I dit this change because the car has no resale value and the original cluster was in bad shape. Goood luck with your engine and don't worry, look around all junkyards in the area.

[Meccio]

alright, thanks alot man
i'll keep looking..

[Trevor]

There is a Place in Toronto called lucky Star Auto a friend of mine just got a 4 cyl for his mx-3 for like $600 with low km's check them out

[Meccio]

okai, i'll check it out thanks

i heard a B6T can go for 600$, its bolt-on but they are rare, and you need to punch a hole on the hood or make room, cuz the intake goes over the engine instead.. can anyone confirm?

<small>[ October 24, 2004, 10:19 PM: Message edited by: mars ]</small>

[papa roached]

and you need engine managment, and you need intake piping, if you wanna swap a BP 1.8L DOHC would be the best bet, to my knoledge everything plugs right in but you wont have VICS, but if you dont have a working knoledge of cars, get a replacement motor

[Franko]

Baah! Engine swaps arent that bad.. But it is true that if you are tight for money then I wouldent really suggest it.. It always comes down to this, Do you want to go faster or do you want to eat? Thats just how it goes. Engine swaps = an empty stomach
But seriously, I would say just to get the regular stock replacement engine to put in.. Youre not gonna be a hardcore racer and the body on your mx is perfect.. I would just fix her up.. then in the future when you get some more $$ get a bpt or something.. :p

[rukick]

I have an engine from a 95 mx3 with 70,000 miles on it. I will sell it to you for $100 plus shipping. The engine was out of a manual tranny car but it would be easy to put into your auto. You would just have to use a few parts from the old engine. The engine I have is missing the Throttle body but you would have to take the one off your auto anyway. Let me know if you are interested and I will give you some more details.
my email: putnamclan@msn.com

<small>[ October 25, 2004, 09:31 AM: Message edited by: rukick ]</small>

[projectmx]

because of the fact you have a 94 and are tight on money it would be much better to put in another 1.6L DOHC from an mx-3.. you said you aren't looking for speed and none of other engines easily goes into the 94 and new mx-3's the 1.6 is a good base for if you want speed later a anyway because b6t and miata aftermarket parts fit on it... so do yourself a favor and get a 1.6 in good shape to put in.. tons easier and cheaper to get your car up and running again using that method.. and heck you'd probably have enough if you buy the one just offered to you to change the transmission also to a manual trans... just a thought

[Meccio]

yeah i cant afford racing, but i'd like something faster than the 4cyl of mx-3 .. its so slow .. can anyone estimate how much a 1.8L DOHC swap would cost? approx ..

<small>[ October 25, 2004, 11:41 AM: Message edited by: mars ]</small>

[projectmx]

if you have an automatic then its definantly slow.. upgrade to manual when you do the swap... the 1.6L dohc has a lot of potential.. right now with just an intake i can beat early 90's mitsu mirag hatches with gutted interior / intake / slightly shaved head / and advanced timing.. i can also beat a newer (not sure year) focus with the same mods i have... so if you put in a new 1.6L engine or an older one that you have totally cleaned up you will have a very good base to add turbo to later on.. cause there will be a bolt on turbo kit for it within the next year or you can take the 323 / capri turbo mani with that turbo or a probe turbo bolt it on and be running 15's, that will cost you less than the bpt swap and give you less headache

[Meccio]

ok, well thanks for all the advice, I will look into the BP 1.8L DOHC .. see what I get ..