B6 question

[getnpsi]

has anyone sleeved a 1.6 with oem style pistons from something else to bump more displacement on a budget? (not that swapping a $200 BP isn't the most budget of all)

Just saying if you're paying a shop to go over your engine anyway, finding a piston that can be fitted to our rods would make the build not even cost that much more if a suitable bore sleeve and piston combo can be found.

[blitzbuggy]

i found a b6 with 106,000 kms on it, with an ecm, for 200 bucks, does it matter if the ecm is for am auto matic?

[Aaronbrook37]

the air box will go, if the VAF sennsor can be moved,( that big alluminum box) i have read that was a problem with a festiva, like my mustang the maf sensor was the main issue for problems with a cold air intake, mind you i by passed it with my protege 5,

can i get rid of that alluminum box,? is there any one with an actual CAI ?

perhaps just get a 16 valve engine to stop all this heart ache?

sorry for my ignorance

Yeah get a 16 valve if you can. Keep the VAF.

It's too much electronics expenditure on a stock motor to delete it, and the power gains aren't worth it without an engine that can flow more than 250HP. Having MegaSquirt seems to be the most popular way, but there's no sense in having a MS-driven stock B6 haha. Here's a quick power path upgrade for you that will improve efficiency, power, and fuel economy:

K&N Air Filter, Cold Air Intake Piping, B8 (55mm) or BP (60mm) Throttle Body, DIY Phenolic Throttle Body Spacer, Ported Intake Manifold, Phenolic Intake Manifold Spacer, Ported Intake Runners, Ported and Polished Exhaust Runners, Ported Exhaust Flange, Headers, High Flow Cat, 2" or 2.25" Cat-back Exhaust

That's basically breather mods 101... from the filter to the exhaust tip, you're reducing restriction, eliminating noise-reducers and budget components to produce a very healthy-breathing zipadeedooda 1.6L SOHC. Now you need fuel, because the motor will be running lean and hot.

Once you have all that, your motor will be ready for some serious modifications. Throw in an FMS or custom-ground cam. From there, you'll want to add some fuel (injectors and or FPR) and have a wideband ready to keep you in the sweet spot for tuning. On a B6 SOHC non-turbo build, I would look into swapping a rotating assembly from a Miata... you'll get a sweet little compression bump (I think...), lighter and stronger components that can handle slightly higher revs, and a heck of a lot more power delivery in both the bottom end and the top. Probably gonna need higher than 87 octane though with the compression bump.

That would get you a very comfortable and economical yet demonic little bugger that could simultaneously cruise you 40MPG whilst giving you plenty of highway pep.

has anyone sleeved a 1.6 with oem style pistons from something else to bump more displacement on a budget? (not that swapping a $200 BP isn't the most budget of all)

Just saying if you're paying a shop to go over your engine anyway, finding a piston that can be fitted to our rods would make the build not even cost that much more if a suitable
bore sleeve and piston combo can be found.

The reason that the B8 isn't the same port spacing as the B3/B6 is that they ran out of metal to bore out. Thus, the B6 is practically maximized in terms of bore potential. Instead of trying to add displacement, read above and add some compression instead. I'm not sure exactly if or how anyone has fortified (read as titanium/stronger valvetrain) a B6 SOHC head before, but with a higher compression ratio from junkyard/aftermarket parts modification, you could look into bumping yourself up to 7000+RPM, which would assuredly add some power.

Here's the theory of the calculations: Take your B6 motor with 97.5CI of displacement. I plugged it into my turbo calculations formula, and set the PSI to zero and the air temperature to moderate. The estimates are a little high because they aren't WHP and the formula is designed for boosted calculations. Here's what you get for various redlines:

6000RPM - 97HP.
6200RPM - 100HP.
6400RPM - 103HP.
6600RPM - 107HP.
6800RPM - 110HP.
7000RPM - 113HP.
7200RPM - 116HP.
7400RPM - 120HP.
7600RPM - 123HP.
7800RPM - 126HP.

Now obviously you won't be able to just throw in Miata components and a cam and run 7800RPM on that poor little B6 swap. However, it goes to show how you can really maximize the power potential on the motor without boring out what's left of the block's integrity. Bump up that compression, fortify the valvetrain and rotating assembly, and crank the redline up to low 7000's. With all of the breather mods and proper fuel with tuning, you'll be not only in BP territory, but B6T as well.

Most on here will tell you to just go B6T or BP if you're going to bother putting that much effort into a B6 SOHC build, but this is the way you do it if you're heart-set on it. You may pop headgaskets left right and center, but you would certainly have quite a unique little Festiva, that's for sure!

[blitzbuggy]

so would a 16 valve be more work, or would it be the same for electronics??

also Aaron, thats quite the light you shed on this topic, my intentional plan is to get the engine, then do all the stuff to it over the winter then plop it in the spring/summer. i am planning on porting the Head and intake, as well a decking the head, maybe not .60 thou. more like 30 or so, bigger exhaust, ( 2 inch) with an electric cut out, ( i have a few kicking around) as for a header, is the header the same for a b6 and a b3? and i seem to recall some one saying use a honda D series header??

where do i start looking for parts for a B6?

[Aaronbrook37]

so would a 16 valve be more work, or would it be the same for electronics??

also Aaron, thats quite the light you shed on this topic, my intentional plan is to get the engine, then do all the stuff to it over the winter then plop it in the spring/summer. i am planning on porting the Head and intake, as well a decking the head, maybe not .60 thou. more like 30 or so, bigger exhaust, ( 2 inch) with an electric cut out, ( i have a few kicking around) as for a header, is the header the same for a b6 and a b3? and i seem to recall some one saying use a honda D series header??

where do i start looking for parts for a B6?

-Get the filter, vaf adapter, and the intake piping on Ebay.
-For phenolic spacers, you'll need to read this: http://web.archive.org/web/200701111...ng-gasket.html
-Get the throttle body from the junkyard.
-Porting and such is DIY with tools/dremel/die grinder.
-Headers are the same between early B6's and B3's... tough to find. I was the one suggesting using a Honda header and rewelding it onto the flange.
-Cam - festivamotorsport.com
-Wideband - Ebay.
-Miata bottom end parts - Junkyard.

[blitzbuggy]

ok so what is this VAF Adapter? and what is the vaf?

[blitzbuggy]

also are the b3 and b6 8 valve heads the same? can a b3 cam fit the b6??

[blitzbuggy]

http://www.actionsalvage.com/cylheadsmazda.asp

well after a few hours looking, the heads will fit, the protege guys say that festiva guys are taking all the 1.6 heads to put on the 1.3L, i am still unsure of the size of the combustion chambers( if they are the same cc's) but if it is the case, putting a 1.3 head on a 1.6 may bump up the torque, my friend put 305 heads on a 350 and it became very torquey.

on a side note, i will be picking up this engine in the next week or so.

[blitzbuggy]

update :

I went to the local junkyard, found a couple of bp's to yank a Throttle body off of, and came acoss a 16 valve b6 aswell, and found a nice set of performance spark plug wires!

my question about the bp, what year do i need to get a throttle body?

so this i what i gather i need so far,

motor, ecm.
do i need any b3 parts to make this thing work?( eg b3 dizzy)

edit: now that i rethink this the 16 valve should work aslong as i grab the ecm, In thery its all mechanical, so it shouldnt matter, all i am doing is adding 2 more valves per cylinder and not changing athe timing of when they open, both intake valves are times equally( so really i am just adding more air to my engine,) so the ecm shouldnt really notice any thing

[blitzbuggy]

ok well an update to my lil thread, the engine has 104,xxx kms, and i will be ditching the auto trans, the tear down will resume in the next couple days.






one thing i noticed right away was the intake was way b igger and more clearance from the throttle body to the valve cover. I plan on putting in better injectors( BP?), and a bigger throttle body(bp?). to make full use of my cam i plan on buying (fms street cam) and add the fms B6 header.

[BigElCat]

Greetings again, Blitzbuggy.

Your B6 looks just like the one I have my eye on. I've looked through your posts, but can't figure out your complete set up.

The B6, the dizzy, and the ECU all came from the same car, right?

What mods did you make to the harness?

[festyfreak39]

Loooks like its a healthy motor!!!

how dead set are you on n/a?

id prob do a leakdown test and if the motor is good, put a cometic head gasket in with ARP head studs, and feed some boost through her!

[FestYboy]

i need that trans!!!!
(no, really, i do)


just saw this is 6 mos old.... bummer.

[BigElCat]

just saw this is 6 mos old.... bummer.

Surprise! I'm hoping Blitzbuggy will update us, since I'm researching the B6 swaps.

Last I can tell, he had idle probs.

[blitzbuggy]

Lol sorry guys the swap has been done for months, still have the trans, as for your questions, I used the Festiva wiring harness, and dizzy, I do gave an idle problem, but only when it sits a while and idles, but it's not a big deal when driving. As for keeping it na, I may find some miata internals. Crank,rods,pistons. As it sits now with stock exhaust, its no slouch. Any question just ask