Randy Stocker, a well known miata autocrosser now located in Atlanta, put a Mk1 1.8 in a 1.6. Search on "Randy Stocker" in www.northernlight.com .

The work is considerable - not least because you need to fit a 1.8 ECU, and I suspect this will involve quite a few wiring headaches. Inserting a Mk 2 engine will be similar, but different. (And you'll need a Mk 2 ECU) But anything is possible!

By far the easiest solution is to get a secondhand 1.6 - from a scrapper or API import engines from Japan for about 800. Do you know what caused your crank problem? (4/00)

The engines in the manual and auto are not the same. They are either tuned differently or have different internals as they have different power curves. The manual has peak power of 116 bhp at 6500 rpm and the auto has 110 bhp at 6000 rpm. This is from memory so may be wrong. The auto cars power curve is such that it generates the power lower down the rev range taking advantage of the auto box, and therefore the manual would feel like it was running out of steam on the auto engine (assuming you want to red line it in each gear). The differences may be very small and easily rectified. The car will certainly feel better and faster with the manual box just because the auto box isn't as efficient in transferring power from flywheel to the wheels. Therefore you will have more bhp at the wheels by swapping to a manual gearbox, but it will still be slower than a manual car with the 116bhp engine.

I looked into this a bit as my auto car is in excellent condition with low mileage and it was just the gearbox I didn't like. Decided to sell it and import a manual car instead, although it would make a good project car for an engine a box swap like Bob C did - if only I had the time and money ! (5/00)