swap

Is there any way to put a turbo ford probe engine in a festiva. or can you put in an rx-7 turbo motor in. if anyone knows that would be a lot of help.

I'm sure you could make it fit... But it's not gonna bolt in.
You might want to check out the Mazda 1.6 and 1.8 DOHC's.

What year of Festiva is it? If it's an older one i.e. 80's model, you'd definitely be able to put a 1.6 or 1.9 in it. I would just check for hood clearance, but the engine bay would handle it, and you'd see better power.

What year of Festiva is it? If it's an older one i.e. 80's model, you'd definitely be able to put a 1.6 or 1.9 in it. I would just check for hood clearance, but the engine bay would handle it, and you'd see better power.

the 1.9l motor will NOT fit the festy transmission, its is a ford motor and not a mazda so will not match the transmission bellhousing...

the 91-95 escort gt 1.8l DOHC motor which has more power anyways though, will... and the age of the festiva is the opposite of what the guiy on top says... if its older it will be a carburated festiva which will be harder to swap any motor into (it doesnt have the proper wiring) these would be 88-89 festivas. in late 89 fuel injection was added which works better for motor swaps (i would know i have a 91 escort gt motor and transmission swap into my 92 festiva)

as for a turbo probe motor or rx7 motor theres 2 problems, probe motors are a 2.2l motor with a different bellhousing pattern than the festiva tranny, second, it is too big... my 1.8L BARELY fits with having to clearance (cutout and weld back in further back) portions of either the firewall and/or framerails... as for the rx7 motor, its not a transverse mounted motor and you would have to spend alot of time and money on custom adapter plates for a transmission, custom wiring, custom ecu's and so much more... ive seen a rotary adapted to fwd use, but it was VERY expensive and took time to do so...

so no offence but if you have to ask, you probably dont have the know-how to do those swaps... go to www.fordfestiva.com and check out the forums ive been on for years... if you want good power go with a b6t (mercury capri turbo motor) which bolts to the stock transmission and will give you a sleeper festy with high 13 second quarter mile times on a stock motor... with mods 12's could be done. or try the 1.8l escort gt swap, same amount of hp and a little more torque, without the turbo... then you can always add it if you want and have 200hp+! any mazda B series motor fits the festy tranny and can be used!

if you have any more questions the guys on fordfestiva.com are experts, we do nothing usually but festivas and have done everything from a tiny b6 upgrade (from a mazda 323) to a guy who has done a complete nissan pulsar GTiR all wheel drive 2.0 turbo motor and drivetrain swap... come check it out! i have the same name there as here...

I never said a 1.6 or 1.9 would fit the transmission. I only said it would fit the engine bay, which it would. And how can you know of what year the guy on top said his festiva was? He never posted it.

I never said a 1.6 or 1.9 would fit the transmission. I only said it would fit the engine bay, which it would. And how can you know of what year the guy on top said his festiva was? He never posted it.


why even mention a 1.9? there are no axles to adapt it over to the festivas bus assembly. 1.8 can use mercury capri XR2 axles and fit perfectly with no expensive custom made axles. plus the 1.8l has more power...

so the 1.9l is basically a pointless and useless swap... not to mention it uses a coil pack and would be tough electronically to swap over (unless you mean the odler gt 1.9 which isnt that great either...)

and i never said i knew what year it was... i was just giving information which is what the forums here are about. i told what is easier for certain years ie: its harder to convert a carb based vehicle to a FI motor than a car that starts with FI... i would know i have tried... my first bp swap was attempted on an 88L model but i scapped the project and moved on to put the whole EGT assembly into a 92 because of wiring issues...

if he has a carb vehicle i would reccoment either an older b6 carb motor from off an early mazda 323 or even a jdm b6 carbd motor with possibly a set of sidedraft carbs... should make decent power... theres even a guy who has done a turbo carbd b6... which is like this -> :banghead:

im pretty sure he eventually got it to work but wasnt happy with what he got in returns compared to the time and money he spent trying to get it to work...

or another alternative if he has a carbd festiva and doesnt mind tearing everything up would be to simply upgrade to a FI harness...

these are all just simple informative bits of information...

just for info purposes if you have the money buy a BPT motor from a JDM importer... 215hp in a 1.8L package... not to mention it fits for sure in the festy engine bay because its the same size as a normal bp but with a smaller intake, turbo manifold and different internals... this though would require an upgrade to the g25m-r transmission (mercury capri XR2, EGT, 323 GT) because the festiva transmission if driven hard with much over 120hp tends to shred its internals into bitty little pieces :banghead:

hope any of this helps!

The 1.9 wasn't considered that great, but if you look at a decent builup of one, it's plenty good, since a good n/a 1.9 will make 190 hp, and equal that in torque. A custom turbo design would be even better with that engine. I would prefer the 1.9 over a 1.8 any day, except for price, since no real aftermarket exists for those engines.

The 1.9 wasn't considered that great, but if you look at a decent builup of one, it's plenty good, since a good n/a 1.9 will make 190 hp, and equal that in torque. A custom turbo design would be even better with that engine. I would prefer the 1.9 over a 1.8 any day, except for price, since no real aftermarket exists for those engines.


and still he would have no way short of fully custom axles and the fact the engine is too wide to fit in the engine bay without MAJOR removal of the side framerails... any motor with a good build can easily see 200hp range numbers if done right... a well built n/a bp has miata parts as an aftermarket for VERY high performance fully race cams/pistons/cranks ect.

im not saying the 1.9 is a terrible motor, its just pointless for this application and is impractical due to troublesome issues that would be non-existent in a much more similar mazda b-series engine swap like the festivas b3...

the 1.9 is a ford motor... the festiva is a rebadged mazda 121... its the same as sticking a cavalier motor into a honda civic... you could do it, yes. but its silly compared to doings something practical like another honda motor...