MX5 engine rebuild

[OilyRagMan]

I Have a spare engine lying around in my garage that i want to rebuild over the winter. Its an import Mk1 1.6. It is for my westfield, so forced induction options is limmited to a turbo, but that is a bit of a nightmare job (it will get dont just not this time round), so i would like to extract as much power as i can out of the rebuild. What are the options and how much power can i realistically get out of the engine?

Thanks
ORM

[Snoggledog]

OilyRagMan said:

I Have a spare engine lying around in my garage that i want to rebuild over the winter. Its an import Mk1 1.6. It is for my westfield, so forced induction options is limmited to a turbo, but that is a bit of a nightmare job (it will get dont just not this time round), so i would like to extract as much power as i can out of the rebuild. What are the options and how much power can i realistically get out of the engine?

Thanks
ORM

Have a chat with sidewaysste (5-speed) in Nottingham. He should be able to help you out.

[robgee1964]

Weigh it in for scrap they are expensive to rebuild, as well as being gutless and harsh when running. Even the 1.8 is pretty weedy. Forced induction is possible but will empty your wallet.

You'd be far far better off "rear-wheel-driving" a later ford zetec 1.8 or 2.0 unit. Or a Nissan 1.8 turbo. Personally I'd fit a K-series in a westy, over the MX engine. Yes yes head gaskets you all scream, the thing is on engines which are driven hard they seldom fail, which is why the problem never got picked up during rovers test and development (generally the prototypes get thrashed to withing an inch of their life :-) )

[scrwright]

what have you been smoking, a 1.6 mx engine is easily a match for the K, and will so 150k plus miles without breaking. Stock they are revy and not harsh. Rebuild wise unless it is already toast or done big miles stick to a head skim to get the CR up and either ditch the stock ecu or tweek the AFM. IIRC the 5 racers are at around 130-135bhp from the 1.6 with standard ECUs.