MX-3.com

After finding out that I can do a head swap on my sohc 1.6L, I am pretty sure I will end up doing it.

A few things I wanted to find out before I start looking for a head is if there's a place other than gude.com that I can buy performance cams, and even valve springs.

I know corksport sells 1.6L DOHC 323 and miata cams, does anyone know if those would fit an mx3 head?

Thanks,
Boris

if i remember right, miata cams work, only you have to put the intake in the exhaust and the exhaust in the intake.

Bochek

cool, is this a pretty common swap?

Bochek,
I see that you're in Burlington. I'm in Oakville, what highschool do you/did you go to?

Well I've found a dohc head, all I need is some confirmation that miata cams or 323 cams will work. mx3 dohc cams would be the best if anyone knows where I could get em.

Yes they do fit..i am running stage 2 miata cams from intergral cams right now!!!

Awesome! That's really good to hear...

Does it matter what year I get? Like would 1990-98 cams be different from 1999-2005?

Also, pretty much all the internal stuff (pistons, for example) will be stock...would buying a set of corksport cams be ok? Is there anything else that I should swap?

Thanks a lot for the help...maybe my mazda won't be so slow soon

why is it that invert miata cams in our cars? Is it about the duration and/or the lift or the physical design?

Boris wrote:
Bochek,
I see that you're in Burlington. I'm in Oakville, what highschool do you/did you go to?

I go to school @ MM Robinson. Cant wait to be done school lol.

why is it that invert miata cams in our cars? Is it about the duration and/or the lift or the physical design?

im not exactly really sure, but i think it has to do with the direction the gears are cut...

But dont quote me on that. It could be just about anything.

But if you get a miata head, then i assume you would leave them where they are.

Bochek

you have to invert them because they are opositer in the miata being it is a rear wheel drive car!!

sweeeet!! Can't wait to start buying parts and putting this head together...

Since when can you put a DOHC head on a SOHC block??

http://www.mx-3.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=50988

Supposedly it's possible... I'm gonna go to the mazda dealership and order both head gaskets I think. That way I'll be able to compare them, just to make sure everything lines up before I blow too much money on a dohc head buildup. I'll buy one of the two head gaskets and probably pay some sort of handling fee for the other one. It'll be worth the extra $20 or so for the piece of mind that the swap will work.

Boris wrote:http://www.mx-3.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=50988

Supposedly it's possible... I'm gonna go to the mazda dealership and order both head gaskets I think. That way I'll be able to compare them, just to make sure everything lines up before I blow too much money on a dohc head buildup. I'll buy one of the two head gaskets and probably pay some sort of handling fee for the other one. It'll be worth the extra $20 or so for the piece of mind that the swap will work.

No no no...its NOT possible. If you read...they say you can POSSIBLY swap out a 16 valve head for your 8 valve head. the DOHC head is wider, oil and water ports are different, distributor is different, just to name a few. Sorry!

hmm. Well that sucks... I guess I could try getting a full dohc engine then. I'm assuming a sohc centerforce clutch will work on the dohc 1.6L...

I'd still like to find out for sure whether the head swap is possible though...according to josh the only difference is some oil ports which wouldn't be hard to solve at all. If anyone knows of any places in Ontario that actually have mx3 gaskets IN STOCK let me know...