I have just taken a gamble and rescued a neglected 2007 1.8L MX-5 at the reasonable cost of just under a grand. A real beauty, with minimal rust, and 80k miles on the clock. Sold as seen with a “ticking” (tapping/knocking) engine, with exhaust coming out the oil filler cap and clouds of smoke coming out the exhaust.
As my first project car, I’ve been having a great time disassembling the engine, and the top end looks great. The bottom end, unfortunately, looks a little cooked. Going to need new piston rings, and there’s some deep grooves carved out of some of the cylinders. I’m yet to pull the block, but just thinking ahead I’ll either need a new block/full bottom end, or some machine shop work done.
I suppose my question is - are there any reputable machine shops reasonably close to Reading, that anybody would recommend? And is boring/re-sleeving the cylinders even an option on these engines? Any experience in this area would be greatly appreciated
Cheers all, looking forward to one day getting her back on the road!
Hello and welcome along, I’m sure someone will give qualified advice in due course, meantime worth having a search of the forum as it’s likely someone will have been there before.
If you’re keen on rebuild instead of replace, I think the MZR engines were all the same basic block, so it wouldn’t have to stay at 1.8l during the re-boring.
Not a bad idea. Can the engines just be interchanged without that car “noticing”, or would it need a new ECU/PCM too? Presumably the NC2 uses the same intake/exhaust manifolds etc?
Very cool videos. And that second one is actually very helpful from a learning perspective.
Interesting idea on increasing displacement. I suppose I could give the 2.0 bore diameter to the machine shop? But that would probably cost as much as getting a 2L engine to swap in…
Agree with @Christophmx5, if you go for a swap, make it an NC2 or NC3 engine, if you’re not getting something funky.
Link here for a way to identify the engine you’re looking at.
From memory the 2s and 3s have forged cranks and pistons, meaning they have an extra 500 rpm at the top end and therefore are that bit more sturdy. Tried finding a link, as I know this discussion has turned up before, but can’t find it.
Good to hear. The reason for my choice of the 1.8 on both occasions was merely because they were the best cars available at the time, in terms of condition and price. The NC2 was in Perry’s of Preston, less than 6 months old, with 18 miles on the clock……and a big saving on new price.
Obviously nobody else wanted it, but it suited my needs perfectly.
I’ve actually seen a bare block on ebay for less than £300. Any reason why I can’t/shouldn’t transfer crankshaft and pistons etc to that, assuming they are not FUBAR when I come to measure them?
