Miata engine replacement

So it looks like there is a distinct possibility that my motor has rod knock. Need to do something about that.

The car is a 1995 Miata and my budget cap is about $1500 (total, less is much better)

I am trying to weigh my options. This car is my daily driver, I am a college student (who is graduating in may) and the car sees frequent autocross use (possible HPDE in its future).

Here are the options I am seeing.

1.) Rebuild it myself. Havent stacked up the cost yet, not sounding good because my time is limited.

2.) Junkyard motor, I have seen a 50k mile motor for $900 and 100k motors for $600. Leaning heavily to lower milage (sources, Car-part.com)

3.) Rebuilt motor, Looking to be out of the budget ($2500+?!?!?!?!?!) Have a few quotes out, but am looking for more places to try.

4.) Pull engine and have local machine shop rebuild it (price pending quote)

car is well worth the effort of keeping alive

What options and sources/deals am I overlooking?

Words of pity also appreciated (I just bought the thing in October and have only gotten to drive it 7k miles!)

It's hard to compete with junkyard motors on price. You'll hear stories about low-mileage motors for ridiculously low prices, but those tend to be just stories.

One option would be to get a 1.8 out of a lesser vehicle, such as an Escort GT or Kia. You'll have to swap over a few things such as intake manifolds and oil pan, but it may save you a couple of hundred bucks. Check the cost of any seals/gaskets you'll need to do that, it may NOT save you a couple of hundred bucks.

I've got an '02 engine with harness/ecu etc that I'm not going to use in my MG. It has 102k. I'm in Arlington VA if you're interested.

how bad is the rod knock? I drove a fiat for 10,000 miles with a mild knock that was only audible at idle.. the engine was still running strong when I parted the car out

Teh E36 M3 wrote: I've got an '02 engine with harness/ecu etc that I'm not going to use in my MG. It has 102k. I'm in Arlington VA if you're interested.

About how much are you looking to get for it?

Opens a debate to me, on the one hand I like being STS legal, on the other...

A 2002 is going to give you a world of pain due to the immobilizer - for some reason, people doing swaps into LBCs always seem to grab one of these. I'd recommend ditching the stock computer and running with an aftermarket one that can control the VVT.

I picked up a 1.8L BP out a FWD car for my beater '93 project. Got a fellow GRM-er's rebuilt 1.8L with some goodies from his swapped MX3...only hard part is finding all the small ancillaries and figuring out a coolant reroute on the cheap for it.
Anyone have an experience with the cheapie ebay gaskets? Might be a cheap source for gaskets for your swap if you go the FWD route.

Watch Craigslist and your local Miata BBS. People love to pull a good engine to replace it with a different engine. So you do find quite regularly decent 1.8 Miata engines for just a few hundred dollars.

+1 for search Craigslist. I too needed to replace my 96 Miata's engine and went for the cheap Escort GT engine off car-part. Once I got it, I realized it had been sitting a long time. Also, once you add up all the costs for gaskets (you'll need the oil pan gaskets, IM gaskets), water pump, timing belt (you may swap those anyway). I also had to figure out how to mount the crank sensor (OBDII) on the water pump and several other annoying configuration issues. It's a lot more work than a simple engine swap. My time was limited with a new kid at home so the much more straight forward Miata engine seemed the better way to go for me. Someone on this forum was parting a 97 (also OBD II) and I got a complete pullout that was running just a few months before for $475 to my door (140k miles). I jumped on that deal and sold the Escort engine. I didn't even change the timing belt on the Miata engine as it's non-interference. Sold the subframe that came attached to the new engine for $25, injectors for $25, my old engine for $125, so the total net cost to me $300. I've since seen several 1.8 complete engines pop up locally. If you are willing to drive a bit, I'm sure you could find something for decent money.

Complete JY motor with a warranty. Most of them will even deliver. Try LKQ, they're a big nation-wide chain.

I will GIVE you a K8 if you put it in the Miata.

But otherwise, junkyard motor all the way.

http://www.miata.net/garage/escort1.8.html

and

http://www.miata.net/garage/escort_to_miata.html

Although, I'm sure there are discussions on the forum, too.

While not an ideal swap, what you DO get is a cheap long block, and one that you can work on at your pace. Rod knock is fixable, as are most thing. But I sure understand the need for a weekend kind of replacement.

Just make sure it isn't something simpler. I started getting a "rod knock" sound in my '99. Since I was told the timing belt was replaced just before I bought her I didn't consider water pump...I mean you ALWAYS do a WP on a Miata when you do the belt. Well I got a hold of the pump pulley and the bearing in the WP was so far gone it was knocking! What a horrible noise. Oh and yes, it had a new timing belt...who does that?!

Anyway just don't go too far down the road until you rule out a simple fix.