is it possible? Ive got an engine from a 13B GSL-SE (bad body) trying to put it in an 83' 12a (great body).
I need help and I need it quick. I have one week off in august and I've got people comming over every day to do little bits with me. what will I need? engine mounts? exhaust? trans?
I did a search and it's hard to wead out all the crap I don't need

 

im thinking off the top of my head u will need crossmember, mounts, trans(possibly) harness, ecu....think thats about it. Oh and all the wiring and ****

 

If you are keeping fuel injection you will need the computer but i think its easier to slap on a Holly and intake

 

yeah a carb or a standalone ecu would probably be easier than trying to wire up the SE's computer.

 

so it would be easier to put on a carb and get rid of the fuel injection? never thought about that. what way could i create the most power you think? do you know anyone else that's done this???

 

with the right carb setup, you will not be at a horsepower disadvantage, but the fuel injection will give you an advantage in driveability.

people seem to be liking the 48mm webers for the 13b.

you'll need the mounts and crossbar from the gsl-se. if you go EFI, you'll need a high pressure fuel pump and lines. if you go carb, you'll probably need a higher volume fuel pump and pressure regulator. you will probably also need to customize your exhaust system.

if you have moneyhats, splurge on a racing beat exhaust system. if you call them and let them know what sort of setup you're going with, they'll tell you what you should buy.

good luck with whatever you choose.

 

^^^^^I agree with cpt. Me hoewver am very partial to FI. I feel that automotive manufactures have gone this way for a reason. Carb fans please refrain from flaming me. There are mojor advantages with going carb however I feel as if there are many more advantages with FI.

Good luck and do a search, there are tons of posts on this. I think there is even one in the FAQ!

Good luck,
~Z

 

I've decided I'm getting the 3 engine mounts (2 sides 1 front), I'm sticking with the fuel injection. now what is this stand alone ecu that you speak of?

 

3 engine mounts? all 1st gens are mounted by two engine mounts in front, and the trans mount in the rear. the engine and trans are mated and become the structure between the mounts.

just stick with the GSL-SE crossbar and stock mounting points. it works fine, no worries.

standalones are easier to wire up than transferring the stock ecu and wiring over. HOWEVER if you want to tune it right, you're going to need some dyno runs or ***** of steel and someone who can ride shotty with a laptop to datalog while you gun WOT from each stop.

to be honest, i think putting a carb in a previously carb'd rx-7 would be your best bet if you're on a budget. i'm using EFI in mine because it was already wired for it and it was just a matter of plugging the sensors back in.

if i could afford some dyno tuning i would probably put a microtech in, but as it stands i think the stock efi will do the trick. i would have gone carb if i didn't have an SE as a starting point.

 

Crossbar?

The engine mount plate/bracket (what might be interpreted as a "crossbar", it's the thing that the engine mounts bolt to and bolts to the front cover) is the same for GSL-SE and 12A.

The difference is in the crossmember (the piece that the engine mounts and lower control arms bolt to).

Swapping in the GSL-SE crossmember would be a pain, but can be done. The mount plate/bracket can be bent, or cut and welded, or ground out and large washers used, in order to move the front of the engine 20mm forward. The crossmember holes for the motor mounts can also be ovalled.



None of this is anything new. Has Felix Miata's website gone away?

 

are you serious? i was under the impression that the chassis of the cars were identical, the only difference was the mount bracket in the 12a was a little "deeper" i guess you could say than the 13b's.

/confused

your postcount and forum cred seem to indicate i've been misinformed.

 

The chassis *are* identical.

The crossmember is different. It's not part of the bodyshell...

 

Peejay's right. I opted to slot the holes on the bracket and crossmember. It's best to take 10mm out of each instead of just grinding 20mm out of one or the other.

 

Use your 12A Tranny. Then you dont need to swap anything transmission wise.

Engine will bolt right in. You will need to stretch the engine mounts 20mm forward with a crow bar to fit it in. They sit on rubber to its OK to do it this way and stretch the mounts.

When using the stock SE computer, you only need to hook up a Power wire, ground and negative side of the trailing coil to the ECU to operate the EFI. The engine harness plugs in and the remaining harness connector thats not there, alls you need to do is fill in those 3 wires. Thats what I was told. I've never verified this, but numerous people have told me thats the way to do it.


I ran a 1987 S4 Street Port in my 1980 for awhile. We used a 12A front cover and SE pan and cross member. Fit like a glove. Intake was solved with a Holley manifold and edelbrock carb.

 

You've gotta be kidding right?

 

I was looking in mazdatrix and they have a front engine mount that said that it was really good for placing a 13b where a 12a used to be. so do I really need to buy new mounts? I believe the ones sitting with the 13b are still good. transmission wise, I think I'll use the 12a for now, and prolly mess with it a little after I get back froms school. I just want this engine in and running before I leave.

 

Mazdatrix sells a pre-modified mount plate that is 20mm more forwards than stock, expressly for fitting a 13B where a 12A used to go.

Has nothin' to do with the engine mounts themselves.

 

but it's something I prolly should get correct? right now I'm just trying to find a way to toss it in the car. I'm borrowing my friends engine lift so I don't want to keep it for more than 3 days or so max.

 

you could buy mazdatrix's part, or you could mod yours. you just have to straighten out the bends to make it mount 20mm shallower. if you have a vice and the means to heat the metal it should't be that difficult.

 

The engine should just drop in, and you should be able to use the 12A Tranny...I did this same swap on my GS and it just fell in. I switched to Carbs though didn't want to bother with wiring up the SE ECU. It shouldn't take you a week to do this the swap it took me and my brother like 3 1/2 hours from start to finish but I already had all the parts that I needed!

 

so what parts did you need? I've got 2 complete cars sitting in my driveway. I've got both ecu's both tranny's but the 13b hasn't blown an apex seal, is there sort of advice that you can give me for this? It's my first engine swap but I'm having some friends come over that have done some other swaps.

 

I've been considering this swap but, I'm wondering, is there any problem with the signals being sent, some engines use different types of wiring to where the sensors cables and all will be hooked up but something like the speedometer won't reciever the signal. Please don't let me scare you out of the swap, I'm no expert. If you do the swap post the story and lots of pics.

 

here's the thing, I'm doing the swap b/c I got a good engine bad car (84 gslse) and a bad engine good car (83 12a) that's the only way this car will get going again short of an engine rebuild. I think my dad said that an apex seal went on it. no compression in the rear rotor.

I've started removing the engine from the 83 12a today and it's going pretty good. I've run into a little problem with the 3 bolts holding some cover over the exhaust comming from the engine, I can't really get a hacksaw down there. any suggestions?

 

day 2: I got the 12a out and it looks great. however the trans. is really dirty so I'm looking for some sort of cleaner any ideas? the exhaust shield was left on and I cut the exhaust at the downpipe, I figure I'll find a way to weld the other one back on.

tomarrow (day 3) the 13b should be out and start attaching stuff like hoses and maybe the wires. I pulled the ecu through the firewall so I can keep all the wiring on the engine and not worry about where stuff gets hooked up with what. I really don't think it will be that hard.

 

yeah its true. and the tranny will bolt up. you just need the flywheel from the 13b