just wondering, engine swap ideas?

[superjesus]

im just wondering what an engine swap would cost? 

suppose i buy a beat up mx-5 (miata) for quite cheap how much would i be looking at to have it done by a garage? are there guys that make engine swap parts like mounts? maybe a different engine would be cheaper? im just wondering what would be best for my project (mostly if i can afford it or not) 

[datzenmike]

Miata? that's Mazda? Seriously  Miata? there are lots of Nissan engines that can swap into a B-210. Almost any 4 cylinder will fit.

 

Pay for a garage swap? First it will cost an arm and a leg at mechanic's rate. An engine swap requires a certain amount of spill and ingenuity to get around small and large problems. How will you know if a short cut wasn't made???? What about just plain unsafe work? Bad welding? This is a custom job YOU would know as much about it as a mechanic you pay to do the job, better to do yourself. Learn, buy the tools. Start off with an easy carburetor engine like the L series.    

[superjesus]

the reason behind a miata over a nissan engine is cost. there plenty of miatas driving around here and parts for them are very cheap here, getting a nissan engine and gearbox is a lot more expensive since i'd have to import it and tax is a bitch. (i'm not counting fwd cars of course) 

 

 

this tread is more hypothetical than anything else, for a job this big i'd have to save up for quite some time. 

but yes you do raise good points with quality of job and i'd rather do it my self, but a job this big is just something i simply do not have the time for, 

perhaps one day in a few years i'll do a swap on it. but in the mean time i'll stick to this engine :) and modify that, a revvy engine with skinny tires is  lot more fun on the roads here than anything serious. 

[Lockleaf]

Miata is rear sump, which might affect your fitment. The only guy I know of running miata engines is Bob3 and he's also running full miata running gear in his truck and did a complete floor pan and firewall miata swap to his 411 wagon. But really sump is only huge question I can see arising.

[Lockleaf]

After re reading your post, if you plan to have a garage do it, it's a waste of time. Miatas are not the preferred swap for Datsun guys. No one makes parts and there isn't much info out there. You will be paying the shop to figure it out which will drive the price way up.

 

Whatever money you save in buying the miata will be lost 10x over having it custom installed.

 

Whereas an sr or ka has huge volumes of research behind them and parts to make it easier. A can/AM box from Icehouse (a member here on ratsun) will make the wiring a one day job.

 

Are there no rwd Nissan products from the 1990s available where you are? A 2wd pickup is even a solid starting point.

[bananahamuck]

In my wandering around the internet it seems that CA18Det swaps are the usual choice over there... Even if it seems cliche, to do what everyone else is doing,, using an engine set people are familiar with would probably be cheapest option,,,,,,,,,,,, well maybe less expensive would be a better term

[superjesus]

After re reading your post, if you plan to have a garage do it, it's a waste of time. Miatas are not the preferred swap for Datsun guys. No one makes parts and there isn't much info out there. You will be paying the shop to figure it out which will drive the price way up.

 

Whatever money you save in buying the miata will be lost 10x over having it custom installed.

 

Whereas an sr or ka has huge volumes of research behind them and parts to make it easier. A can/AM box from Icehouse (a member here on ratsun) will make the wiring a one day job.

 

Are there no rwd Nissan products from the 1990s available where you are? A 2wd pickup is even a solid starting point.

another reason why i bought up the mx-5 powerplant is i saw another dutch guy on the internet that had build a very nice datsun/miata 

so i thought that perhaps there was a kit of sorts available for swapping the engine to an miata powerplant. to me it seems like a fairly logical swap on the face of it, but considering that nissan engines are a lot more available everywhere else and there is a whole taboo around it of swapping another make's engine into a datsun chassis. i don't really have a problem with it as long as its in the spirit if the car type, so no v8s however glorious they may be. small cars like a datsun b210, mk1 escort etc etc should have fairly small revvy engines. 

 

long story short my reasoning for a miata swap is that over here there's plenty of them, they are cheap and in the spirit of the 120y (as in small fun cars). 

 

sadly finding a cheap rwd nissan here in the netherlands is rare, pickups are few and far between and only for a handful ive seen in the classifields ive never seen a nissan pickup of any kind 

 

 

side notes: 

we have a shit ton of k11 nissan marches/micras running about, and i've also seen a few datsun 100A's in the classifieds. considering that they are both FWD that would make an awesome project. upgrading the datsun 100a one liter to a 1,3 or 1,4 manuel with maybe a turbo conversion? :D 

 

 

 

again this is pretty much all hypothetical more like daydreaming aloud

 

in the mean time i want to slowly but surely build a sort of rally spec datsun (with pretty much a full interior) that i can do some trackdays. rallys in 

i live like 10kms from the ex formula one track zandvoort so track days are definitely coming, 

and its a bucket list item to go rallying in finland in a car i build myself, 

[superjesus]

i believe that guy was dutch, not sure anymore... 

[superjesus]

In my wandering around the internet it seems that CA18Det swaps are the usual choice over there... Even if it seems cliche, to do what everyone else is doing,, using an engine set people are familiar with would probably be cheapest option,,,,,,,,,,,, well maybe less expensive would be a better term

i dont think theres any thing wrong with  cliched build if it is tried and tested why not do what the other guy did? theres too much focus on being unique in the car culture, too many people obsessed with getting famous instead of enjoying the car  

[datzenmike]

Was hoping for a demonstration... like a big smoky burn out.

[superjesus]

Was hoping for a demonstration... like a big smoky burn out.

youre not the only one..... 

btw that gives me thought... before i bought my 120y i had never seen one in the flesh before (steel?) apart from maybe datsun coupe drag car a few years ago. but it could have been a toyota corolla, im not sure it was dark and didnt really know anything about 70's japanese cars. but in all likely hood it was a datsun since it was in botswana wich borders south africa where the 120/140 were quite common.

 

did anyone else see the b210 for the first time as they bought it?   

[datzenmike]

Bought a new '76 B-210 but I knew what they looked like.

[bananahamuck]

I have no problem mixing car makes,,, i am probably going to put a 4Age into either my new B210 ( should fit rather easy as they are front sump)  or my old 411 ( way harder to fit and get right on the cheap) ,,, haven't decided yet..  I just assumed 4Age toyotas are harder to find..  If they use miata engines quite a bit around you maybe that might be the way to go.. I'm not really swapping to get high horsepower numbers cuz i like wobbling around town like an old geezer,, i just want a more modern  powerplant .

 

Have you had a look over on Retro Rides those guys might know more about parts availability over there than us??  http://retrorides.proboards.com/

 

Now by posting that link,,  i didn't want you to leave ,,,,,, cuz we need more nice b210/120y pictures around here. Just more info for your build on here. :)

[datzenmike]

No sense going sideways on a swap unless the new engine is cheap and available and your old engine is crap. When possible it's preferable to upgrade to something newer, EFI, and with more power. Preferably Nisan but others will do.

[Lockleaf]

That makes sense then. I can totally see going that route with rwd Nissan being that hard to source. Carry-on good sir. Perhaps you should pioneer some parts and corner a market over there