Civic engine in miata?
 

Would it be very difficult to put a civic engine from a '92-'95 civic into a miata? What kind of changes would be needed to be made in order to make this work?

It would likely be far easier to get a smaller Mazda B series motor and put that in it, the 1.3 motor in Aspires was one of those.

The biggest problem will be fabricating EVERYTHING.

The Miata is rwd... you want to put a fwd engine in it?

Good luck........ I'm glad I'm not you.

At first I thought this would be an issue but considering that they're both Inline 4 cylinder engines, I don't see why this wouldn't work (not considering other factors).

I believe honda motors spin the opposite way of most all other manufactures, u might want to look into that before you get to crazy.

here's some random vw info.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_swap

From that wiki:
Honda B engine
Commonly swapped into: Honda Civic, Austin Mini (1959-2001), mid engined kit cars
Not suitable for inline RWD layouts, because engine turns counter clockwise (Chevy Corvair flat six turns the same way).

Chevrolet Corvair engine
Commonly swapped into: VW Type 1, VW Type 2, Karmann Ghia, light aircraft, dune buggies
Turn in opposite directions to most engines, bar those made by Honda.

https://smiliesftw.com/x/lol_1.gif

An adapter plate to connect the aspire engine to the miata bell housing sounds like the best solution (I am assuming that the two engines have different bell housings).

If the front suspension allows room/space/ a "tunnel" for CV axles, maybe you could convert it over to front wheel drive by swapping in some FWD spindles and then just use a civic engine/trans combination (if the engine bay is wide enough). This would be a big job and would likely be cheaper to just buy a civic even if you owned the miata to start with.

RWD vehicles with a crankshaft parallel to the side of the car have higher friction losses due to turning the rotational forces at a 90 degree angle to get the power to the wheels.

What would work would be the 2 liter RWD drive train from the s2000. it would take lots of $$$$ and time. fabrication city, electronics wizardry required.


here is a super high MPG miata at work!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0kH_...eature=related

I didn't think the s2000 was very fuel efficient. relatively speaking of course.

2008 S2000 EPA rating: 18/25 (combined 21).

************* - Why go crazy with custom fabrication? 99.9% of the time it's not worth the effort, nor the cost of materials.If you want a high mpg car - get a VX. For looks - just drive the Miata as is.

Tell me, do you already have expertise and tooling/capabilities in machining, sheet metal fabrication, welding, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, automotive technology, if you do, eventually you might get it done - it will not be cost effective and likely fall short of fuel economy and performance, but you'd have it.

Otherwise, it will sit in your garage bay for a few years, and after spending a couple vocations and too many weekends working on it, you'll gladly call a scrapper take it away.

Ross

LS1 Miata!

Gear that sucker down like the vette is and you'll have one hell of a car! Probably fast idle that thing down the freeway.

Couldn't the honda engine be rebuilt so that it spins the other way?

The cam profile determines the direction of spin, but then the oil pump would also have to be reworked and the distributor reworked and the timing belt would have to be rerouted because the water pump runs off it and running it backwards would put the water pump and tensioner on the loaded side of the timing belt. It doesn't seem worth it to me.

Maybe a little triumph or MG motor could work.

It could. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ &
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just out of curiosity.. do you think the cam would need a regrind entirely? the sequence of intake and exhaust would need to change,.. I think. Anyway, it's an expensive idea.

In addition to the 2.0 and 2.2 liter S2000 motors, newer Honda motors spin the 'right' way. Take a look at the L, R and K series motors. I would like to see a K23A1 in a Miata... A J35A3 might be interesting too. ^_^

Yes- you could probably get away with leaving all the intake or exhaust lobes alone and then grind off the other set and build up new lobes in the right spot. I say "you", but building up and grinding new lobes on a cam would definitely not be a job for a shadetree mechanic.

I like the gear idea. it is rear wheel drive so it has to have a differential. I changed out the gears in my truck (for power) I went from 3.55s to 4.10s I wonder why not go the other way. make sure you don't go too far but still you could get more out of it with different gears.

that seems to be the most cost effective way to do it. I mean we talk a big game but who here is really going to rebuild a motor to rotate a different way or even do a motor swap at all. I know there are a few but personally, I would be more apt to do a gear swap and call it a day. I just got my garage back (sold the truck) and I wouldn't want to give it up to a project that may take years.

a miata with a later larger displacement recent vtec-e motor (whatever they call them now) would be wonderful. lots of torque, and great gas milage. interesting idea.... you could only do it in some swap friendly states, i think. a 50-60 mpg miata would be sweet.

What about swapping in a VW TDI engine.
Acme Adapters makes an adapter to attach the TDI to a Toyota 5-sp manual trans.
https://www.acmeadapters.com

Or a 30HP kubota, and a gearbox with wide spaced gears and an overdrive, so you've basically got 8 or 10 ratios to play with.

I bought a Miata last weekend, and I've noticed that the gearing is very low (as in high rpms). At 40mph in 4th gear you're already spinning at 2500+. I think the best gas mileage bonus would come from a 6th gear or a regeared differential (which may or may not be possible)

I know a guy that put an S2000 engine in his Miata. Besides custom engine mounts, swapping over all the wiring, defeating the Immobilizer, and swapping over the cluster, he had to have a custom driveshaft made. Then he had to ship it to the east coast to have this place balance it for him. But the answer is that if you have to ask this question; you can't do it.

I don't think it would be more efficient than the Miata engine.

The basic answer I have found to "Can X engine go in Y car?" is yes. The only factors are time, money, and mad skills dealing with fabrication. I've seen (not in person but magazines, forums, etc) a Viper powered Pt cruiser, 351 Winsor Focus, VTEC original Mini, Twin engine 1st gen CRX, V6-mid-engined 3rd Gen Civic Hatch, S2000 powered 318i BMW, even a rocket powered 2nd Gen CRX to name a few. The possibility is always there, the rest is up to you and your resource limits. Mak

I see no reason why the Civic engine spinning the way it does creating an issue if you used the Civic transmission. Why would something like that matter?

Civics are front wheel drive, using a transverse mounted engine and transaxle. Miatas are rear wheel drive using a longitudinally mounted engine mated to a typical transmission, drive shaft and rear differential. A Civic transmission cannot be easily used to drive the rear wheels (well, unless you put the engine and transmission in the trunk), so an adapter plate must be used to allow the Civic engine to mate up to a rear wheel drive transmission.