I need help please... I have been researching different sites on the best options for doing this swap and have been getting conflicting information. Forgive the length of the request, but I want to get all the information out.
The vehicle is a 1995 MX-3 with the B6-DE 1.6 DOHC 4cyl engine. Vehicle has about 195K and is still running fine. The body and interior are in excellent shape. The vehicle has a 5 speed manual transmission.
What I want is to get some more HP. I am ready to try an engine swap and just want to know my options. I have seen some just go up to the 1.8 BP-ZE and some all the way up to a 2.5? Should a buy a rebuild kit for the one I have and get forged pistons etc. to perhaps introduce a turbo. (the parts seem hard to find and not very cost effective) or just swap to a larger engine. I see some that say this is a straight forward procedure, but others say that there are wiring harness issues galore.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

I have recently Swapped in a 1.8 on my 1995 DOHC, I retained the 1.6 tranny and it was about as close to a ‘bolt in’ as possible, 20 hp gain with some more tuning headroom.. To make it easy, remove distributor & all sensors from 1.6 & run 1.8 same way. Mx3 ECU will adjust

 

Oh ya, FWD 1.8 BP05 motor donors... 1.8 pre ‘98 Kia Sephia, Escort GT, 1.8 Protegé from same era. I used a Kia BP, $350, 27k miles on it. You will need the 1.8 passenger axle assembly, and bolt holes on half axle will need to be bored a little if you keep 1.6 trans. (If you swap tranny too you would need to fab motor mounts. The bolt hole thing will make sense when you put it together.) few days, cheap upgrade! Anything else will require more fabrication.

 

The Escort GT 1.8 engine was rated 127 hp. That's a big jump from the 106 hp rating of the DOHC I4 Mazda engine. I can't imagine how a difference of only 0.2 liters would make such a difference. Does anybody here know what made the Escort GT engine more powerful?

 

Easy, could be cams, pistons, compression, ECU tuning, emission regulations.

 

Do you still have the 1.6l? I’m looking for one.

 

Hi RT666Drift, Thanks for asking but my Mazda MX-3 with the 1.6 DOHC engine is long gone. It wasn't very powerful having only 105 hp, but it was bulletproof. I did track days and autocross with it. Tempest194

 

I'm looking to swap mine (1.6i) if you're still looking for one, it should be available from me in a few months

 

Hello JP99, Thank you for reaching out to me, but I no longer own a Mazda MX-3. An acquaintance of mine still has his, and he was planning on installing a 1.8 from an Escort GT or Mercury Tracer into his. Tempest194