I have inherited this 99 Ford Escort and really doesn't give much. So I thought I should do a swap.

The questions I have, the Escort right now is weighing 1103 Kgs or roughly 2430 LBS, what does the B16A weigh? andn will it be effective to make this swap. The swap is possible and I got the whole team on standby to do it. Will it be worth it? I would think about boosting later on though.

The mechanics have given me a quotation of around 200 bucks to do the swap excluding electrician work, that would be extra charge(the harness and ECU installation and getting the car started). They are guaranteeing thte engine will be perfectly fit into the hood with no vibrations.

Right now the escort is having a 1.6ltr Zetec which should be giving 90 HP, I would say its giving less than 60 HP now. The B16's are relatively cheap where I live in Oman which is near UAE so we get a whole salvaged car with engine for as low as 600 bucks (even lower than that).

The other day I found a person selling a B18B at a local garage and he said its for 500 bucks, I asked about the B16A and he said he can manage to bring the engine for around 400 bucks. So I would be better off going for the whole salvaged car with the functional engine.

Any opinions?

 

Transaxle is roughly 80lbs.

Engine is about 310lbs.

When you are done, post up pictures.

If you are after speed and performance, I would suggest doing a little upkeep on the Escort, selling it, and purchasing a Civic or Integra or whatever makes you smile. At least you will have a good chassis with proper suspension geometry as a starting point.

 

It is a nice swap if you pull this off succecfully, but why swap in something from another make??? Ford have plenty of 4cyl engines that make you proud to swap in...

one example in which i like the most, is the 2.3 duratec, just check the torque from that thing, it produces actullay ALOT of torque and can be comparable to the K series... it have everything for aftermarket support from dry sump oil system's to individual TB's...

another good engine, is the Duratec 2.0 litre, it's 87 in bore and 83 in stroke, with a rod ratio that is above 1.75, it enjoys the same aftermarket support, but also shares the same head bolt pattern of the 2.3, which let's you swap heads easily in between them if you would like cam A for the 2.0 or cam B for the 2.3.

if you would like an engine merley for swap and a couple of bolt-ons... take the 2.3, if you are chasing after performance use, swap in the 2.0 litre...

 

focljet or something like that... go on there

 

yeah focaljet and focusfanatics are good sites for Duratec information, and you also have duratecperformance.co.uk to go check on all motor performence... these guys have no prob getting 250+ whp from these motors...

check for parts at focussport.com, what's better then to have Cosworth as your afftermarket supporter???

 

the option of swapping a ford engine came to my mind, but where i live, we dont see much of these around and the mechanics are more fond of jap engines, mainly nissan toyota and honda. it would be cheaper for me to do a honda swap and a B16 will make ppl's eyes pop out as well.

my plan is to do the swap and sell the car and some more to get an EK9, those are relatively expensive to get but i think i'll get one with a bad engine for cheap and just swap that out as well.

for now, I'm working and saving for the swap. Im waiting till after the christmas and new year when the shipments arrive from Japan with the engines sO I can get myself one or atleast book it. I dunno but I have a fear of these B16s finishing!! lol, if that happens i'll go for a b18b which is good for boosting, I wontn be going for head swaps to make ls/vtec cuz i cant trust the mechanics or technicians here.

for now, this is the under hood of the escort...



*EDIT*
i just checked wikipedia about the duratec engines, they are the same engines used in the new Mazda6. those will be very hard to get first of all and second will be expensive! I think my decision of going for a honda is good.


Modified by rivalbro at 3:04 AM 12/23/2007

 

Let's face it. LOTS of custom fabrication is going to be requried to drop ANY Honda motor into an Escort. So why not step things up and drop in, say, an H22A? These motors are still pretty cheap, and put out LOTS more power and torque than a B16A. Or if you have the money, why not go K-series? Seriusly, if you are going to go through all that work to drop in a motor from a different manufacturer, why not go for somthing more than just a B16A?

 

that is a good idea you know!

Does the H22 weigh more?

And as I said, this is not going to be my long term car, Im aiming for a Civic hatch from the profits I will get after selling this car with the swap done. I would have to just dream on for K-series, but lets see if those come as salvaged then its all good, if I can get my hands on one that it.

B16A seems to be the ideal swap for any Civic enthusiast and its lightwieght also 310 lbs, i've mentioned the Escort's weight up above there as 2430 lbs. I've just heard the H22A motor is pretty heavy. All will depend on the day I've saved enough and went to get the motor itself from that shop, I will look at the options and will 100% drop by honda tech before making a decision.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rivalbro &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that is a good idea you know!

Does the H22 weigh more?

And as I said, this is not going to be my long term car, Im aiming for a Civic hatch from the profits I will get after selling this car with the swap done. I would have to just dream on for K-series, but lets see if those come as salvaged then its all good, if I can get my hands on one that it.

B16A seems to be the ideal swap for any Civic enthusiast and its lightwieght also 310 lbs, i've mentioned the Escort's weight up above there as 2430 lbs. I've just heard the H22A motor is pretty heavy. All will depend on the day I've saved enough and went to get the motor itself from that shop, I will look at the options and will 100% drop by honda tech before making a decision.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually, I don't thnk a B16A weighs 310 pounds. I think it is quite a bit lighter than that. As fr the H22A, it is somewhat heavier than a B16A. But not that much. I believe an entire H22A swap is only something ike 85 pounds heavier than a B16A swap. And alot of that is the transmission. But isn't the Escort engine block actually iron? If so, a B16A might weigh LESS than what you have.

On the other hand, if you are just doing this swap to sell the car, I don't know how worthwhile an H22A swap will be. I would only go through the extra expense of getting an H22A if you are going to keep the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by StorminMatt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> As fr the H22A, it is somewhat heavier than a B16A. But not that much. I believe an entire H22A swap is only something ike 85 pounds heavier than a B16A swap. And alot of that is the transmission.</TD></TR></TABLE>

An H22 engine weighs about 25-30 some odd pounds more than a B16 engine. The H transmission is roughly 10 pounds heavier than a B trans.

 

so what u r saying, the B16A is lighter than the current engine, that means after the swap the car should be lighter, that would be nice.

I went today to the shop just for observation, they got a B20B in, I googled that engine and it came out as a CR-V's engine, 133 torque, that's good but no power. THey use the bottom of this engine to make cr/vtec right? Im so sad I can't make that happen properly here and have to go with a complete engine.

 

The B16A would be lighter, but whether or not that'll make a difference in negligible. Some guys will say "Since you lighten the front end it'll make the car handle better" but that's not true if the engine now sits higher than the original or closer to the bumper than the stock engine does.

B20's are popular for both N/A and boosted VTEC and Non-VTEC builds.