323 engines

So I think I'm going to resurrect the old Terry C/ Nat Stow 323. It needs a new shell and cage. The car currently has the 1.6 SOHC and dual Weber side drafts. Anyone know if I can drop a dual cam head on it and keep the Webers or mebbe go to the 1.8 engine ?

Gene,

You aught to be able to put a B6ZE head on your SOHC b6 block. I think the bottom ends are the same. (maybe compression ratio differences????) The B6ZE is the head from the early miata 1.6's. You might even try a head from a b6t GTX engine, that would probably work out well too. I don't know if the intake you have will work though. Ports might be different between SOHC and DOHC. But get a second opinion first...I know more about the 1.8 BP & BPT engines (t= turbo) than I do the 1.6 stuff especially the SOHC stuff.

The 1.8 BP series engine stuff won't work on a 1.6L. The two aren't compatible because of the bore spacing differences.

Swapping over to the 1.8L BP series motor is a lot of work. Fab motor mounts, axles, shifter, and plenty more...But the swap is pretty common now.

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Michael LeCompte

heymagic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So I think I'm going to resurrect the old Terry C/
> Nat Stow 323. It needs a new shell and cage. The
> car currently has the 1.6 SOHC and dual Weber side
> drafts. Anyone know if I can drop a dual cam head
> on it and keep the Webers or mebbe go to the 1.8
> engine ?

How much power do you want? Lots of the NZ and AU 323 rally guys are swapping over to the 1.8 BPT engines and using Toyota MR2 SW20 transmissions for strength and good LSDs. The Toyota axles just happen to be the right length, have the same spline count, and bolt right into Mazda spindles. The clutch discs are interchangeable save for the spline count so you just use a Toyota one.

The adapter plate itself is really simple but there are lots of little things to sort. I'm doing the 4WD version of the swap on my new shell. A 1.8 Mazda engine and then all Celica All-Trac ST-205 drivetrain behind it. It's by far the cheapest way to get a good driveline into a 323.

Tim

The car runs well now, but I'd think another 20-30 hp would be nice. It has some sort of a limited slip, I need to research that more.

Interesting info on the Toy trans , that would be much easier to work with nowadays.