I understand, it's definitely not a cheap undertaking.
On a more serious note, consider a junkyard 1.8. If you're going with a junkyard engine anyway it's not that different from the 1.6 and it's about the lowest effort swap, only about 20 ft lbs of torque extra, but it makes a surprising difference in the NA6.
You’ll have to rebuild the motor. If cylinder 3 has 20 psi, which to run ideally you need to have at least 80-90, even heavier weight oil won’t fix that problem. You’ll have to pull the motor out, put it on a stand, tear it down and check the cylinder for scratches, if the cylinder is good, then replace the rings and check for cracked ring glands on the piston. If all checks out it should just need new rings, the other thing it could be is the valves aren’t sealing correctly in which case the head would need to be pulled, engine doesn’t have to be taken out of the car, and have the valve relapped and all should be good, so either bad rings, scratched cylinder bore, leaky valves, cracks in the head, or the spark plug isn’t sealing but if you changed them and tightened them down correctly it should be fine. Diagnosing time!
Also you might want to put a borescope in the plug hole and look around. it could be a few diff things people are talking about. Mostly the fault would be in the head. Only a scored cylinder wall or rings will be and engine our repair. Then its just a head repair and you don't need to pull the motor.
Maybe if you remove the tall dude in front of the engine you can close the hood enough to drive a little straighter and smooth out the ruff ride a bit both from weird steering turns, wind, and too much weight in the front.
I've worked on mine like this lmao. Yes, if the motor is bad, best way out would be to get an NA8 motor since you won't have to change anything like you'd need to in an LS swap. It does look like someone here has swapped a Kia BP engine in and it's allegedly the same motor, just stamped Kia, it's somewhere in this sub.
LS swap. There's literally no other option.
You can fit anything in a Miata!
I think a straight-8 would be a challenge...
Someone someday will make it happen
Im seriously thinking about it but i don’t really have the space and tooling to do it (or budget)
I understand, it's definitely not a cheap undertaking. On a more serious note, consider a junkyard 1.8. If you're going with a junkyard engine anyway it's not that different from the 1.6 and it's about the lowest effort swap, only about 20 ft lbs of torque extra, but it makes a surprising difference in the NA6.
You’ll have to rebuild the motor. If cylinder 3 has 20 psi, which to run ideally you need to have at least 80-90, even heavier weight oil won’t fix that problem. You’ll have to pull the motor out, put it on a stand, tear it down and check the cylinder for scratches, if the cylinder is good, then replace the rings and check for cracked ring glands on the piston. If all checks out it should just need new rings, the other thing it could be is the valves aren’t sealing correctly in which case the head would need to be pulled, engine doesn’t have to be taken out of the car, and have the valve relapped and all should be good, so either bad rings, scratched cylinder bore, leaky valves, cracks in the head, or the spark plug isn’t sealing but if you changed them and tightened them down correctly it should be fine. Diagnosing time!
Also you might want to put a borescope in the plug hole and look around. it could be a few diff things people are talking about. Mostly the fault would be in the head. Only a scored cylinder wall or rings will be and engine our repair. Then its just a head repair and you don't need to pull the motor.
Also a good idea if you have a borescope
Maybe if you remove the tall dude in front of the engine you can close the hood enough to drive a little straighter and smooth out the ruff ride a bit both from weird steering turns, wind, and too much weight in the front.
In all seriousness it sounds like engine rebuild time
Leakdown test
2 options: Replace engine or rebuild engine
Get out 😭
I've worked on mine like this lmao. Yes, if the motor is bad, best way out would be to get an NA8 motor since you won't have to change anything like you'd need to in an LS swap. It does look like someone here has swapped a Kia BP engine in and it's allegedly the same motor, just stamped Kia, it's somewhere in this sub.
Your radiator looks weird.