Swapping in different trannys

[Bert]

I may have affordable dibs on a lo-mile 92 323 LX SOHC 16 valve B8 with a 5 speed (which I think is hydraulic-clutched) in it. The clutch (obviously) will be better and the unit will have speedo gears that are more in keeping with 22-23 inch diameter tires (door post says 175/70-13 OEM tires) that are common to Aspire swaps .
Are there successful swappers of 1.8s, plus their trannys, out there that can tell me how much grief I'm in for to adapt one of these drivetrains to a Festy? I really would prefer not to bash in the firewall. Is it feasible to offset the upper engine mount and the transmission mounts just enough to clear and yet still have good connections for the driveaxles and shift linkage? What 323 parts (aside from the engine bay wiring and the ECU) should I be scavenging?
Don't know if all this is going to happen (we received over a foot of snow yesterday) but I'd hate to leave a perfectly good 5-speed behind if the opportunity was there.
Thanks folks.

[nonamekid]

Are you sure it has the B8? The 323 should have the 1.6 SOHC 16 valve, it is the same one that is in the early MX3s. The tranny will be a F series, just about as complicated as the G-series swap, just alot easier to get axles for.

[DriverOne]

Re: Swapping in different trannys

Bert, you shouldn't have to do anything to your firewall. The B8 is slightly longer than a B6, and you will either need to make a motor mount or drill another hole in the mount bracket, closer to the fender. I don't know about the transmission.

[Bert]

Are you sure it has the B8? The 323 should have the 1.6 SOHC 16 valve, it is the same one that is in the early MX3s. The tranny will be a F series, just about as complicated as the G-series swap, just alot easier to get axles for.

Only the Australian and Canadian 90?-94 323 LX models featured the 16 valve 1839cc engine, apparently. The ordinary ones had the 8 valve 1597. First one I've ever come across. No race motor but the doubled valves do give you an additional 500rpm over an 8 valve setup.

[Advancedynamix]

Bert, I have faith in you. DO IT!

[nonamekid]

I don't think you need to bash the firewall with the B8 SOHC when you use the festiva tranny. I have the same drivetrain you are looking at in a protege and I was planning on swapping it into a festiva sometime. I was debating whether to swap the tranny or not. Probably will swap it, due to the fact that it is a little bigger and better suited for that engine.

[KingFish]

I have a B8 w/ stock trans, a bit of firewall persuasion is needed but not much. If you have the time and means to swap the trans, I would as the clutch is the weakest link in my car.

[Bert]

Bert, I have faith in you. DO IT!

Thank you! I chickened out of the VW 1.6TD swap (looked like way too much work, X 2) but at the same time accidentally stumbled on to a 'retire your ride' pristine 323 LX with silver-coloured valve cover insides and negligible miles on it at the U-Pull. Dropped by there this afternoon and had to cry for help when I released the hood latch and the hood, along with foot and a half of snow, fell upon and pinned my hand. Total weight must have been 2-3 hundred pounds and I felt like a GD mink in a leg-hold trap. Knuckles are badly bruised at the moment and I did not get a picture of the motor!

[Movin]

It owes it too you now!! I wonder if you can customize the crossmember or the mounts enough to
make it fit between the fan and the firewall with dinging on the firewall? Go to a pusher fan?

May your hand heal as quickly as a college student does walking into a party!!

[Bert]

It owes it too you now!! I wonder if you can customize the crossmember or the mounts enough to
make it fit between the fan and the firewall with dinging on the firewall? Go to a pusher fan?

May your hand heal as quickly as a college student does walking into a party!!

SOB! Standing there feeling and looking like a trapped muskrat, with one hand squashed between the rad support and the hood, and the other not strong enough (even with pain-induced adrenaline flowing) to crack the hood up even slightly, was a whole new experience for me. Snow is light as a feather until you gather 3 x 5 x 1.5 feet (20 cubic feet) of the stuff between yourself and a single pivot (hood hinges) on the other side of your troubles. The complete opposite of lifting a wheelbarrow load at the handles. I might just have to go out and stick my tongue on a frosty lamp post for an encore now that real winter has arrived.
Two more early 90s 323s have appeared in that u-pull location in the past month (hadn't seen one at all for 2 years before that) but they're both autos, 8 valve 1.6s, and with standard-dirty valve cover innards. My kids think I'm nuts chasing after some elusive Festy upgrades (oldest 'kid' is about to become a Professional Engineer, by the way) and I am similarly beginning to wonder about all this.
I am negotiating to have the car made available to be 'liberated' just long enough to get it over to a heated shop in order to torch and air-wrench the parts off but apparently this is not legal. I'm not into 'greasing palms' or asking for special favours but "playing in the snow" (good luck even trying to loosen off the axle nuts) with nothing but hand tools is just not in the cards.
323 trannys are larger and from what I could see are hydraulic actuated. My concern is how easy/difficult is it going to be to swap over. Air intake is on the wrong side (and consequently so is the battery) but that part is do-able and lots of forum folks have been there before me. Rads, fans and shrouds don't seem to be a problem either although it is curious that an OEM Festy setup is 1/2 the size of any other Mazda cooling system.

[Movin]

My luck I would have been making noises like a cat getting the worst of it and the junk yard dog would have broke his chain and....!

Playing with these little things sure is fun...

[1988festivazoom]

Im not sure what a b8 intake looks like but i have done a bp swap with an f series trans and i don't care what anybody sais, it can be done with no cutting or bashing! There is photo evidence in a build thread i did for my moms festiva. The f series itself does not have any clearance issues, u just need to move the trans back 1/4 inch from the rack. Drill new holes in the cross member and build a new engine mount.

[1988festivazoom]

I found the thread.

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?34477-bp-f-series-swap-in-91-festy/page3&highlight=1988festivazoom+mom

[Bert]

My luck I would have been making noises like a cat getting the worst of it and the junk yard dog would have broke his chain and....!

You must be from a previous generation too, when JYs treated you like s%^t and always had man-eating ugly dogs on site. I had to kill one once (40 years ago, with a tire iron, after it grabbed me by the leg, pulled me down and 4 other dogs went berserk) and then had to spend 2 nervous hours ducked inside a wrecked car waiting for the enraged dogs to go away. Never went back to that place nor any other and didn't frequent JYs for 30 years thereafter. Older now, I wonder what the difference between proffering hot dog wieners to those infuriated dogs VS brandishing a .22 would have done.
Sorry georgeb (if you happen to read this) but no amount of philosophy, legislation or pacifism ever prepares you for something as rude as that.

[Bert]

Im not sure what a b8 intake looks like but i have done a bp swap with an f series trans and i don't care what anybody sais, it can be done with no cutting or bashing! There is photo evidence in a build thread i did for my moms festiva. The f series itself does not have any clearance issues, u just need to move the trans back 1/4 inch from the rack. Drill new holes in the cross member and build a new engine mount.

Thank you thank you, I needed some real life assurance. BP is an even more scary venture (to me) but then again it's really just one more camshaft on a housewife's B8, plus a bunch more wiring. Hope I live long enough to see something like this through. Aspire swap is and was billed as 'dead simple' until I had a go at my own. It was successful but also did make me realize that 'gearheads' are a breed of their own. Takes me 4 hours to do what everybody else claims can be done during a coffee break.