i picked up a free motor the other day, the po said it had a water leak but it ran. no telling what, if any, damage was done until i tear it down and look. its basically just the housings and the exhaust manifold. i was told it was from an 87 but is there a good way to tell from casting numbers or something?

also picked up a 5-speed transmission that i was going to either build or rob the bellhousing from for my miata transmission. where are the id marks on the transmission so i can tell what i have?

thanks in advance!

 

All engines from '86-'88 are basically the same, save for switching to high impedance injectors in 87.5. All '89+ are the same as well.

This goes for both turbo and non. So there is no real easy way to tell between an 86 (or 88) and an 87 other then looking at the injectors and that's not always an definitive.

Only the TII transmission has a removable bellhousing. If it's an NA, then it's one casting.