Hello there I'm kinda sorta new to nico club but not really. I just got my second miata and I'm contemplating whether to do an SR swap. But I want to know what u guys think and anything u can help with. I will be looking at lots of routs to go on for this swap. wish me luck.. Heres a pic of the car




We move on to a couple of weeks, I blew the motor on the miata due to really bad rod knock. So i decided on the SR Swap. On to the pictures.
First I start by taking the blown motor out and throw it in the trash. Great motor by the way.

Took the head out and here you can see the 4th piston's damage


Started getting the Engine bay prepped with Crash bar, got the front mount, mounted and some welding.


Did some mounting brackets and bolted on the front mount.

Any particular reason you'd want to swap an SR into a Miata?

cuz its different and were i work at can be done farely easy. plus i haven't seen an sr swapped in this type body miata plus it will put out alot more power with less mods than the stock bp motor

Well, definitely good luck and have fun with it. Unless you have an SR, harness, ECU, & transmission just laying around, I'd figure you could build your stock motor for less money, but it's your car.

We have a forum here devoted to cross-swaps (hybrids.html), so post up pics and a write-up of your build so others can admire your handiwork.

thank you. thank you.. will do

I know I've seen a few miatas with SRs in them in magazines. Since you're trying to save on the cost of purchasing a swap kit, you'll need to be comfortable with fabricating your own stuff. You'll need to cut and fab up engine mounts as well as any clearance issues. Looking at Thai Phoon's swap kit, they have a sump adapter, which makes me think the oil pan has clearance issues with the front crossmember once it's installed. A dry sump setup wouldn't be a bad idea at that point, but from the looks of it, they're expensive as all get out (at least by a quick google search).

Also, get comfortable with wiring. I can supply you with some decent wiring schematics for SRs, but you'll need to find ones for your chassis.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/misc/SR/ Will net you an FSM for an S14. most of the wiring is the same for the big stuff, the wires just go different places and the ECU pinout is different.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/240sx/180SX_SR20DET.pdf This is a mechanical manual supplement for 180 blacktops. The last few pages are the circuit diagrams as well as ECU pinout. Translations exist all over the place on the internet.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/240sx/91-94/EC.pdf Is the KA wiring diagrams for the EFI system. With a few exceptions (such as the coil packs), the KA and SR are surprisingly similar. So you can follow most of the big systems with the KA manual as well.

I saw go ls1 its like a mini viper then. And the engine doesn't weigh much more. The swap is relatively cheap and their are lots of kits to do it.

idahotuner wrote:I saw go ls1 its like a mini viper then. And the engine doesn't weigh much more. The swap is relatively cheap and their are lots of kits to do it.

I agree with this. It seems to be a very common swap from what I've seen on youtube videos, and they're sick in stock form.

(I'm not saying don't go with an SR. I'm just saying consider all of the options.)

yeah i have. The great thing about me doing this sr swap is that i work at mazworx so im pretty much set with the swap. I have made my decision on the motor and will be proceeding with that swap. Will be posting up pictures of the build soon.

Update!! Welded in some more plates in the front for a crash bar and got some goodies in the mail.



As it sits now



2feet of Fuel rail that i was going to originally use to make miata fuel rails but as the project changed i will be using it to make a vacuum port thing.

Quick update. motor mounts are made, tranny mounts are made, motors is fitted in perfectly with out no modification to the fire wall at all, actually there is space left over. Order black top sr20 should be here today. Will post pics up soon as for now this is what i have.

sweet deal

yes sir, just did the read diff mounts and ordered me some tomei 740 injectors and z32 maf wohoo

nice !!

what do you guys think about pulsar itbs on the sr rwd.

mx03tb wrote:what do you guys think about pulsar itbs on the sr rwd.

It's been done a few times... It really isn't that common, though.

Update!! Motor came in!!! I originally ordered a s13 redtop, but i received a blacktop instead!! hurray for me..

Took everything out of the motor that i do not need such as power steering, ac, and some other crap, will be using the stop intake mani for now till i get everything i need for the itbs.

Oil pan is out ready to get cut and re-made to rear sump.

Got some more stuff in the mail!!

Got turbo elbow, cut out the stupid 3 bolt flange and welded in a vband.


Picture of my for now made engine mounts they will be re designed later. These are just to get the car running.

i have seen alot of people starting it but not many finishing itbs

this is how its looking so far.

Since you're working at Mazworx, what all are you using from them? They have some quality stuff...

for now nothing really just running all stock parts aside from the pulsar intake mani. and mazworx downpipe

mx03tb wrote:for now nothing really just running all stock parts aside from the pulsar intake mani. and mazworx downpipe

Surprised you aren't at least upgrading to their over-sized head studs...

why would i im not making 600hp

mx03tb wrote:why would i im not making 600hp

I just remember thinking the same thing about going to ARPs. I'm like, I'm just going to leave it stock for a while. My motor's length of stock driving was less than 10 miles...

yeah but you don't have to go 1/2 mazworx head stud they are wayyyyy to big, but you can do our regular headstuds and be fine. don't have to go oversized thats overkill.

mx03tb wrote:yeah but you don't have to go 1/2 mazworx head stud they are wayyyyy to big, but you can do our regular headstuds and be fine. don't have to go oversized thats overkill.

Wasn't even aware they had normal sized headstuds... I just remember stumbling on the over-sized ones when my block's threads were stripped out.

Nice build man. I have the regular Max head studs. They are supposed to hold 600hp and are plenty. If you plan to go over that then get the bigger ones.

yeah we offer out maz regular headstuds which we get from arp and machine them down to sit perfectly on the head seeing as if you were to buy them from arp themselfs they would not clamp all the way down due to the extra nipple thing it had at the end of them. We also offer maz 1/2" headstuds which you would have to send us you block and head to get machines for 1/2" studs and these things are massive!!!

i wonder if my normal sized arps will keep my motor clamped together

idahotuner wrote:i wonder if my normal sized arps will keep my motor clamped together

I've never really seen complaints of them failing... Then again, most SR guys don't go over 600. The bigger reason I see for them to be used more commonly in the place of stripped threads...

yeah i wont be making over 600, well maybe at the flywheel.

so we will see the nice thing is now if the motor goes all it is rebuilding the block which you can only get better at every time.