Hey whats going on fellas and ladys. I am thinking about doing a miata swap into my FC until i can afford a good 13BT rebuild for my T2. need some help this is a thinker. what do you think

 

im thinking your gonna spend more money getting that 4 banger into ur car than it will cost to get your 13bt rebuilt

 

yea unless you have the miata motor or can get it super duper cheap and have all the fabrication tools necessary it'll probably cost more. At least you would get great gas mileage although the car would be slow as ****. Also setting up efi would be bitchy, be easier to throw some carbs on it, and you would still need custom mounts and some way to use an rx7 transmission or adapt the miata trans and shifter to the rest of the 7. Sorry to hate on your idea, but come on, who does that? Miata motor in a rx7? maybe a 13b in a miata, now we're talking

 

A Miata engine in an FC is going to get worse mileage than it did in the miata due to having to move more car. He'd get better MPG with a V8 and a 6-speed because the engine has to do alot less work to get the car moving and keep it moving.

 

im just wanting something different. money and fabrication skills are not a factor and sorry but no 350 garbage going in my cars

 

Contradiction of the day.............

A miata engine in an FC would be painfully SLOW, as Miata's are light as hell and PAINFULLY SLOW and you'd be sticking that lump in a heavier car. You asked what we think, not if only people who support this bad idea to post, so I THINK IT'S A BAD IDEA AND WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.

~Mike........

 

If you want something different and you have tons of money why not put a 3 rotor in? Miata engine.... Lol! GTFO.

 

Wanna buy a Miata with a 13B instead?

 

With the others, hard to see how this would not be a waste of time and money - lots of obstacles to overcome, and a stock miata motor is pretty weak for a car that weighs 300-500lbs more than a Miata, unless its the most recent 2.0 one, and even then torque is a dead wash with an NA S4, so with that motor, you'd be about the same as stock na, assuming the motor doesn't weigh more than the 13B. With the older Miata motors, you'd be lame slow. Like grandmas pulling out to pass you at lights in their Corolla slow.

Now a turbo Miata motor could be an idea, lots of power to be made reliably up to 225-250, and lots of knowledge out there on making it work with a standalone. But that would be more something instead of a 13BT, not on the way to.

 

For the cost and time you could do something fast like a 1jz-GTE...or something cool like a 20b...or something fast AND cool like an early LS1...or just the smart thing and do a 13b.

 

its pretty simple, put the FC tailhousing on the miata trans. **** out the engine mounts and its basically in the car....

however going from a 180hp/180lbsft engine to a 116hp/90lbs of torque engine seems like a giant leap backwards....

the miata engine is IRON block, so its heavier, the exhaust is on the wrong side (right over the FC's fuel and brake lines, not so good).

i'm not sure about the EFI, but the 90-97 cars use the same ecu plug as the FC, so swapping it over wouldn't be TOO hard.

turboing the maita engine is $$$$$$$$$$ and it'll still only make the same HP as the t2 engine.

so this is a case of just because we can doesn't mean we should. going the other way, rotary into miata, has the potential to be a religious experience

 

...umm what?, this makes NO SENSE AT ALL...

If you are saying you want a cheap swap until you can do a FULL build on your 13bt then why not just swap in a N/A 6 port motor, i'll be cheaper, faster, and not as slow as a miata swap.

 

Hadn't thought of the exhaust on the Miata's engine being on the wrong side - not that I was particularly advocating for a turbo Miata setup, just that that at least could have a case made for it - comparable power to a mildly modded 13BT, and probably get mileage comparable to an NA, much better than a modded 13BT. That said - getting the 13BT done and back in still probably makes the most sense, time, money and effort-wise. I'm not an engine swap hater, but if you're going to do it, go to the effort for something interesting - LSx or the like, not lametacular.

 

I've got an idea for something different. Swap in the VW TDI motor and make and adapter for a 5 speed that fits.
You would have incredible torque and get about 40 MPG.

 

^THIS. different and a FC that gets great mileage.

 

This thread should be locked and thrown out.

 

I know of a particular L86/T56 FC that averages 31 when he's not "playing" lol

 

im pretty shur miata tranmission bolts up to fc motor. should go the other way to. rotory girl or somthing did the swap already

 

Yes. It'll be even slower than a Miata too.
No , that's the opposite of how cars work.

Fabrication is the kicker. If you have to fabricate mounts and so forth it's major time and $$$ and not worth the trouble for nothing but a slow temporary motor.

 

Ah, this reminds me of the guy asking about swapping a Celica engine into an FD in the new member section awhile ago. This is lots of work for less power, and it'll likely end up on craigslist half complete.

 

wtf? that guy must have been really high on crack to have an idea like tht

 

your gonna spend more money putting that in and getting it to run right, then to ditch it later for the rebuilt 13bt.

Not to mention building an oddball T2 with a NA 4banger..

 

I know someone that did the complete opposite, an S5 motor into a Miata, with a PERFET 50/50 weight ratio... A LOT of fab work.

Might tell you something about the Miata motor...

 

Don't get me wrong, the idea of it has lot of potential but only if it was going to be permanent and not temporary. The 1.8L BP motors are capable of making nice power since they were originally built as turbo motors in the 323GTX. They are fairly easy to find motors for also since they were used in the Miata, Protege`s, and Escort GT's. Finding all the turbo stuff for them isn't hard either and not terribly expensive. It would be unique and still make good power with reasonable gas mileage. But as I said, it would be a good idea if it was permanent. As a temp motor, horrible idea. Better off with a 6 port motor

 

And then you say that money isnt an issue for the miatta swap, but you first stated that the reason you were doing the miata swap is becasue you cant afford your tii rebuild...WTF