My dad’s giving up on his diesel project and wants to build a 4wd Miata. The plan is to run a b16a from a Honda to a Crv 4wd transmission and have a custom driveshaft made. The main hurdle will be putting splined hubs in the front; building engine mounts, exhaust, wiring, plumbing etc shouldn’t be too difficult. We were considering adapting civic eg knuckles to the miata control arms and building different strut holders like what the eg has. What do you guys make of this?
4wd Honda B16a/Crv Trans NA
1 - 20 of 33 Posts
Joined
·
3,358 Posts
R32 Skyline GTS-4?
Joined
·
2,538 Posts
Joined
·
3,358 Posts
Ok, so maybe I went about that the wrong way. Thinking about it, you are aware that you are up against something that is going to be very tough to do. It's going to involve a lot of trial and error, and a whole ton of fabwork. But sticking a transverse mounted engine into a car designed for rwd?
I think that if you are looking to go the awd route, don't mix platforms. That fwd engine isn't going to fit the way you want it to. The engine bay just isn't designed the way it needs to be. That said, working with a drivetrain from a platform that's designed similarly to the one you're working with would be a better bet. Hence, why I said R32 Skyline GTS-4. It will be easier to adapt to the car as it already sits the proper way. I'm also willing to bet it will be easier to adapt suspension parts from one to the other. It might be a higher initial investment (you have to buy a from clip for a Skyline, as opposed to mostly readily available Honda parts), but more often than not you can buy a clip with all the rear end parts/drive-shaft included. Plus it's already turbo.
Just throwing options out there.
I think that if you are looking to go the awd route, don't mix platforms. That fwd engine isn't going to fit the way you want it to. The engine bay just isn't designed the way it needs to be. That said, working with a drivetrain from a platform that's designed similarly to the one you're working with would be a better bet. Hence, why I said R32 Skyline GTS-4. It will be easier to adapt to the car as it already sits the proper way. I'm also willing to bet it will be easier to adapt suspension parts from one to the other. It might be a higher initial investment (you have to buy a from clip for a Skyline, as opposed to mostly readily available Honda parts), but more often than not you can buy a clip with all the rear end parts/drive-shaft included. Plus it's already turbo.
Just throwing options out there.
My thinking is that the civic/crx engine bay is about as wide as the Miata's so a b series engine/trans should fit in there with some fab work. If we have to chop up the frame and run dom tubing in it's place we will. The point of this car will be 4wd/4 cyl that gets decent fuel economy (we can tune it on hondata to get 35+ mpg) so a turbocharged iron block 6 cyl is out of the question. Its a wild idea but we're wild people and love doing this kinda bs. We mated a 3 cyl diesel to a stock Miata trans and made it work, we also put an Ls1 in mine. This will be harder but doable
Yea it should be cool, we won't get started on this until over the summer. My main reason for starting this thread so early is to see what people suggest for the front hubs. As stated in the original post, we were thinking about adapting eg knuckles, but there are allot of options.
Joined
·
2,868 Posts
FYI CRV 4WD is teh suck. if anything go with the 88-91 RT4wd setup. much better. the B20's are terrible as far as fuel econ goes. i know stock CRV's get like 25mpg at there best, and that's the 2wd versions. if you go with a b16a you'll be better off, but not by much. where have you seen hondata tune for 35mpg in a CRV? i just don't like the idea at all.. my suggestion? 2.5RS swap from a subaru..
Joined
·
188 Posts
K24 anyone? Just get the entire drivetrain from a AWD K24 CRV with modified axels and driveshafts would be a badass setup. Not to mention a far superior platform to the b-series in every way(power and ecnomy).
K24:
Engine & Performance
Engine & Performance
K24:
Engine & Performance
- Base engine size: 2.4 L
- Cam type: Double overhead cam (DOHC)
- Cylinders: inline 4
- Valves: 16
- Valve timing: Variable
- Torque: 162 ft-lbs. @ 3600 rpm
- Horsepower: 160 hp @ 6000 rpm
- Turning circle: 33.8 ft.
- Base engine type: gas
- Drive type: all wheel drive
- Full time 4WD
- Mechanical center differential
- Transmission: 4-speed automatic
- MacPherson strut front suspension
- Double wishbone rear suspension
- Four-wheel independent suspension
- Fuel type: gas
- Fuel type: regular unleaded
- Fuel tank capacity: 15.3 gal.
- Range in miles (cty/hwy): 306.0/367.2 mi.
- EPA mileage est. (cty/hwy): 20/24 mpg
Engine & Performance
- Base engine size: 2.0 L
- Cam type: Double overhead cam (DOHC)
- Cylinders: inline 4
- Valves: 16
- Torque: 133 ft-lbs. @ 4500 rpm
- Horsepower: 146 hp @ 6200 rpm
- Turning circle: 34.8 ft.
- Base engine type: gas
- Drive type: all wheel drive
- Full time 4WD
- Viscous center differential
- Transmission: 4-speed automatic
- Four-wheel independent suspension
- Fuel type: gas
- Fuel type: regular unleaded
- Fuel tank capacity: 15.3 gal.
- Range in miles (cty/hwy): 290.7/351.9 mi.
- EPA mileage est. (cty/hwy): 19/23 mpg
In a car as light as a Miata a b16a tuned on an obd1 Hondata ecu for leaner operation should get real good fuel economy
Thank you, we're not ruling anything out, maybe a Subaru flat 4 platform would be the better way to go
Please excuse my ignorance, what do you mean “ej”?
If we had more money we'd run a k20a2 from an rsx to a crv k trans. I already have allot of experience with k-series platforms and it would make allot more power for sure. However, a b16a can be had for $500-800 around here and an older obd1 hondata is allot cheaper than a kpro. K would be better, b is more practical
Joined
·
188 Posts
Now you need a trans, computer, wiring harness, intake manifold, exhaust, etc. Also those are all crv engines, not the smaller 2.0 variants. In any case thanks for the help, again you are right about k series being better then b, but its allot more expensive and not suited as well to fuel economy
Joined
·
10,440 Posts
You wouldn't be able to use miata arms in the front. There's no way a transverse b16 and trans are going to sit between the arms.
I think at the very least you are going to be nearly cutting out all the sheet metal in the bay, tubing the front, fabricating arms that fit dimensionally, custom driveshaft, custom mounting the rear end (no ppf), and then hating life realizing where da **** do you put a center differential on a miata? You could use whatever knuckle fit the axles because you will need new arms. You have no choice but to tube the front end, you have no where to mount transverse engine mounts in the bay without doing a tube front. Granted if you are up to all of this, I'm sure it is doable. best of luck should you try.
Or, just buy a 323 gtx. It is what you guys want to build.
I think at the very least you are going to be nearly cutting out all the sheet metal in the bay, tubing the front, fabricating arms that fit dimensionally, custom driveshaft, custom mounting the rear end (no ppf), and then hating life realizing where da **** do you put a center differential on a miata? You could use whatever knuckle fit the axles because you will need new arms. You have no choice but to tube the front end, you have no where to mount transverse engine mounts in the bay without doing a tube front. Granted if you are up to all of this, I'm sure it is doable. best of luck should you try.
Or, just buy a 323 gtx. It is what you guys want to build.
Joined
·
294 Posts
^This.
Joined
·
188 Posts
Uhh, yea, k24 is better....like saying a 1.6 is better than a 1.8?? I'm sure it will come with an IM and you'll have to get all that crap for a b-series as well which will be simialr pricing, max difference of $500-600 and considering you're attempting this you had better have that extra on hand.....
1 - 20 of 33 Posts
