Engine swap

[fireant]

My little 1.3 l donk has given it up after i neglected to check the oil while wheeling int the simpson Desert. I have had plans to upgrade to more power for a while and this has just sped up the swap. The regular transplants for the 1.3 is the 1.6 vit engine or the 1.6 efi engine from older vitaras.

My question is has any one had any experince with using newer Jimny or Vit engines in the sierra/samurai, engines such as the M13A or the M16A that are currently running in the jimny Vit range ? If so is this a simple conversion and does the gearbox etc all need to be replaced or can you run adapter plates like the older Vit engines?

Thanks

FireAnt.
The right foot substitues for the lack of flex.

[Denby]

Sorry, I can't help with the gearbox details but perhaps you could find a late model Jimny in a wrecker that can confirm what gearbox is used on the M13A.

A couple of things to be aware of though, you will probably need to transplant the wiring and computer if you go to one of the very late model engines and be careful with the front wheel drive engines as I understand the distributor may hit the firewall.

It might be easier to use a G16 out of an older Vitara so you don't have to modify the wiring loom and just add headers to get similar power to the later engines. Also, if you have another problem in the outback it might be easier to get parts for the more popular G16 rather than a M13A, M15A or M18A.

Best of luck.

[fireant]

Denby,

you make a very good point regading the front wheel drive models. My initial thought was the g16 and i think that will be the one ill persue first up.

[Baratacus]

I'm currently doing a 1.6 engine swap on my Samurai as well. With the G16 engines, there are the 8 valve and the 16 valve engines.

The 8 valve will take your intake and exhaust manifolds from the 1.3L and you can run all of your stock wiring and vacuum lines.

The 16 valve requires you to pull the complete wiring harness from under the dash and in the engine bay. You also need the 16V's ECU and the speed sensor off of the instrument cluster to modify your samurai's speedometer. It will cost you about 250 dollars to have someone convert the wiring harness, or you can buy them for between 400 and 500 dollars. If you live in a state that has strict emission testing (I live in California.. so yeah... owch) you need the ECU off of an older model sidekick (95 or before) the newer model ECU is OBD2 and requires more test equipment and is very dificult to pass emission tests with. Using the older model ECU lets you test it with pre-95 emission standards. You can use the newer motor with the older ECU. The older motors have the igniter and coil seperate from the distributor. The newer models are all inclusive. If you do the 16 valve motor, older or newer, you will need to upgrade your radiator and you need an electric fuel pump.

Regardless of which 1.6L you put in, you will need the starter motor of the 1.6 and an engine adapter plate to mate it with the bell housing on the trany. You will also need motor mount adapters to position it in your engine bay.

The 8 valve swap can be done for a minimal investment, the 16 valve is much more in depth and more expensive. You get a lot more HP and better gas mileage out of the 16V motor though.

I think if I dropped my dual twin side draft Constant Velocity Mikuni's on an 8V and the Thorely headers, I could take on a 16V, but I'd be sucking gas like it was going out of style.