i want to buy a donor engine and rebuild so I can put the supercharger on that and pull one engine out putting the other straight in, I’ve looked for engine on eBay the stand 1.8 are £250 upward but the vvt is around £150 other that the vvt pulley and the solenoid and rocker cover are the base engines the same?
basically can I buy the vvt engine and take the vvt off it or do I need the standard engine
VVT was fitted to the NBFL (face lift model) for the 1.8L engine only. Used on standard models and Sport series. As as I’m aware the NB (Mk2) engine is different to the NBFL Mk2.5. - compression ratio was uprated.
It is possible to remove the VVT as you suggest, you just need a blanking plate to cover the hole in the cam cover to replace the VVT.
The real expert to talk to is Mark Fryer, at www.freelancemazda.co.uk, who has done this several times, where owners of earlier cars with lower powered engines wanted an upgrade, or had a dead engine they wanted replaced. He’s based at Chatham, which presumably you are nowhere near, but if you ring him (mention ‘Gerry’ - pronounced Jerry - told you to) and hopefully if he isn’t too busy, he’ll tell you what you need to know.
I’m not trying to talk you out of the idea, but have you tried in lower gears (up to fourth) in going over 5000 rpm? Both torque and bhp bands start to come together at 5500 rpm, and continue up to redline - 7200 rpm, so this is where the real power lays. The secret of the VVT engine is using the right gears to get where you want to be, and combining that selection with what the tacho says. Needless to say, I don’t use max power except for certain occasions, like pulling out in passing traffic to join the procession.
A mini cooper S/C conversion is pretty complicated according to the article I read, too many scrap parts needed, but don’t aim for much more bhp out of the engine, where max power of the standard engine is reccomended not to exceed 220 bhp. See what Mark says. Good luck!
Thank you for the info didn’t think it was going to be a quick replacement to be honest for the extra £75 i think I might just get the nb standard engine
when adding forced induction turbo or supercharger I was told that they always do away with the vvt
ive looked into the mini supercharger conversion I was only looking to get about 180/190 hp using megasquirt dont want to go nuts just looking for a little bit more poke is all
Darrell - Unless you know something I don’t then I don’t know where you’ll get an NB (Mk2) engine from for 375? Maybe you are thinking of an exchange, but if it were me, I’d keep the VVT engine, and strip out the VVT.
You are going to need lots of garage space, an engine lift, and lot’s of B’ hard work to swop engines, that’s apart from the searching for parts to adapt the Mini S/C. I can visualize various rusted in bolts, and the inevitable shearing, which brings more problems to solve. You need to minimize the problems, and stay with what you’ve got as much as possible. For better fueling, you may need bigger injectors (which means you will burn juice faster than you figured!)
There’s also a possible problem with ECU’s, which are different for the NB and the NBFL, with more sensors on the latter, so a mismatch may occur between different engines. Like I suggested, ring Mark for his thoughts, though he is more of a really good standard mechanic, and not FI inclined, but i could be wrong, as it’s years since I last went down there for a service - it’s over 140 miles from me, and the dreaded M25 P’s me off. - I hate queuing!
Me? I spent time thinking about it, then settled for the car ‘as is’, having learned how to get the best out of it. ( I come from a V8 background - - -)
I’m no expert, but was talking to someone the other day who regularly fits turbo kits to mk1s and mk2s who said fitting superchargers is a much quicker job. I guess it depends whether you’re using a pre-fabricated kit or making stuff yourself, but from what I’ve seen I think I’d go with the former and leave the engine in place.
If you can find a kit of parts that will fit out of the box, supercharging can be fairly straightforward. If you have to design, make and fit your own setup from scratch, as a one-off, as I did on my other car (a small, open topped sports/trials car equipped with a 3 cylinder, 1 litre engine), it is a whole lot of work.
But I did have to convert it from a carburettor and distributor ignition to fuel injection and a supercharger, with an ECU to control it all, which complicated the issue quite a lot.
However, the difference a supercharger can make is amazing. Unlike a turbo, which tends to increase the mid range & top end, it just feels like you have a bigger engine and the “grunt” is there as soon as you open the throttle.
You will almost certainly need bigger injectors, but that will be just a small consideration in the whole scale of things.
I have an almost brand new, old stock Eaton 45 blower in a box in my garage. I bought it from someone with a brand new Mini Cooper S which had less than 1,000 miles on it before it was treated converted to a JCW upgrade. It may well go in my Mk2 as my next little project…
thank you for your input, I have a rather large garage thank you and an engine hoist, tools and that coupled with the fact I’m a master tech I think I should be ok thanks mate!
Rusted bolts do not bother me I come from an e type jaguar background and a car restortion garage, i was going to buy a spares or repairs NB and break it as I broke one a couple of months ago sadly it was a 1.6 so it went to the scrapyard with the shell
i like the look of the mini charger on the nb engine and the sound it produces I’m not looking for something bonkers and fuel isnt an issue I work 2 miles from my house
Mark? Is that Mark who has the red MX5 and runs a company in Barry tuning them used to be in a band and was a jaguar tech?
Darrell - No, it’s Mark Fryer, as I mentioned on my first post. Mark is as experienced as anyone is with Mazda’s as a whole, but specializes in MX5’s. He worked with MCL before Mazda took over import and distribution in the UK, and only left them when Mazda took over, around 2001/2002. His loyalty is with Mazda, but felt it wa time to do his own thing.
Sorry about the assumption that you might not be experienced, I stand well embarrassed! I’m used to new owners who may not not know what they are getting into, and usually go the turbo route, very few are able to do the work by themselves, so it’s my usual thing to warn them of the work involved. The moni supercharger fit was mentioned in Car Mechanics, July 20th 2016 issue - I bought a copy myself to see if it was worth doing, but there were scant descriptions of which Mk it could be adapted to, or the implications involved.
Most of the pages are photo’s with instructions, not sure if I can scan them as most are pretty dark, but I can try if you wish, PM me and let me know, and I’ll give it a try. I’ll need your email address too, if it works.
Hi I’m currently fitting a turbo to my 1.8 mk2.5 VVT. As standard the compression ratio is higher (10.5:1) then the NB (9.5:1) but it comes with the 6 speed box and bigger brakes all of which were desirable when buying the car especially after the turbo. As for removing the VVT not that I’m sure why you would it’s a head swap not just blanking stuff off.
I’ve kept the VVT and gone the whole hog.
ME221 ECU with wideband
ACL Race bearings
Manley Rods
Wiseco 84mm 8.8:1 pistons
Cometic head gasket
Supertec single valve springs with titanium lifters
Stage 1 ported and polished head
Boundary engineering oil pump
Gates Kevlar timing belt
Skunk2 inlet manifold and throttle body
G19 engineering ebolutoon 2 manifold
And now the big question which turbo. TD04L-13t or TD05H-16t/18t/20t
I know all the 1.6s and some 1.8s run the TD04 but i worry it will run out of puff with my setup making the TD05H-16t my current first choice but I haven’t spoke to anyone who has done one.
Also I’ve ordered my Exocet conversion so she’s going on a 500kg diet which then makes me think the TD05 is overkill.