1st post! Yay! Nice site BTW 

Aight, my engine was running on low oil and the oil rod on the 1.6l 8v being what it is (hard to read... one side is full of oil, the others barely has, so its hard to read) + having a defective oil sensor made me blow my engine this week-end. Looks liek a bearing went bad or something, because the engine sounded like if I was driving with cans inside the engine... lol

Anyway, I need a new engine. The stock engine was already swapped for a '93 or a '92 last year (I bought the car 2 months ago). It's coupled to the awfully painful 3-speed automatic, 4WD model with manual hubs.

I was wondering what I can put into the car without major modifications? I'm not off-roading, and I do alot of highway (I know, funny  ), but the stock 80HP is barely powerful enough to get up the hills there is in the city, I have to floor the engine and even then I lose speed  I'd like a bit of extra power, I can guess the 1.6l 16valve would be enough for me, but Id like to know what other options would I have.

As a matter of fact, I have a box containing most of the old engine that was in (the first one) that the guy dismantled and gave me. Most of these parts are still good, so if I stick with the 8valve, I still have alot of good parts to use. I can also take apart the blown engine for more pieces.

Basically, my questions would be: What engine can I put in my Sunrunner 2dr softtop? Can I swap the 3spd tranny to a 4spd? Is there a way to get extra power if I am stuck with the 8valve?

This is a rather urgent matter since I would need the car up and running as soon as possible, so any help is really welcome and appreciated 

A lot of the power problem might be the fact that the engine was not all that great in the first place.

I would try getting another 1.6 8-valve or see if the two engines can be rebuilt into one engine.

You robably know that the Sunrunner is the Canadian version of the Tracker, so that gives you a choice of all the Trackers AND Sidekicks in the salvage yard as potential donors.  Forgive me for stating the obvious...

You can occasionally find an engine on ebay.  Craigslist is also a source for engine and complete trucks that you can salvage parts from.

After the engine has been procured, one performace mod that you might consider is an aftermarket manifold - Thorley and Calmini come to mind - in that order.  They improve engine performance in addition to not developing cracks - something the cast-iron exhaust manifolds often do.

A 4-speed automatic is pretty complicated electronc-wise.  They were only attached to 16-valve engines which have multiport Fuel Injection and other stuff to complicate matters electronically.  Mechanically, it souldn't be a problem as the X-90 (which featured 4-speed automatics) is only a Sidekick with a SEXY body...

My '96 with 14000-plus miles runs great on the highway - but it has a 1.6 16-valve...

Maybe someone else can comment on how a 3-speed automatic 8-valve is supposed to drive...

,,,Oh, I forgot this:  You can put a VW 1.6 or 1.9 Diesel engine a Sunrunner.  Unfortunately the automatic transmission might not be the best drivetrain component for this swap.  Check out http://www.acmeadapters.com/index.php?sound=Y for more info on that type of swap.

I hope that this helps!

Thanks alot for the nice answer!

The current engine used to run around 300kms by tank, which ends up being around 10l/100kms which IMO is pretty bad (my '88 New Yorker drank this...  ). The 3-spd automatics shifts harshly and isn't exactly fast (quartermile is done slower than a snail by hitting 64mph at the line ) nor powerful (as I said before, it loses speed when going uphill).

I was thinking about doing bolt-on mods, such as headers, CAI and a new cat, for extra cheap power. Am I on the right way? And thanks for the manifold suggestion, I will keep that in mind 

There are quite a couple of scrap yards around here so I should have decent luck finding a Sidekick with a good engine.

My friend suggested me that I dismantle the current engine, check what's bad (something else broken other than the block?), grab an engine and rebuild one, by cleaning all the parts and what not.

I also thought about a VW swap, my main worries were the price and the transmission/electronics, if it's something that I could do without LOTS of work + LOTS of money then I will definitively look into that.

My wifes 91 2 door 4x4 tracker goes like stink has more power than my 16 V 1997 LSI Traker.

Hers is the 8 V and i noticed (we bought it off a heavy duty mechanic ) its got the Cat Con Removed.
But it flys up the steepist hills and its a 3 speed Auto.
Dont know if it would pass and emission test but we dont have to have em here in this part of B.C were we live.
I wish my 97 drove like her 91.

I dont think your engine was right if it seemed that gutless.

My engine might have been dirty or something. I'll know it for sure when my mechanic pulls the engine out and I crack it open.

Can I still pass emission tests if I remove the cat? Or is there some "cheap" mods I can do to improve power? I looked at Thorley and Calmini and, while their products looked interesting, that's a rather steep price. If I had the money tho I think I'd grab an engine rebuild kit and a complete exhaust + header kit from Calmini.

Im gonna check some stores around and see if they have any performance parts I could dump in there, without paying the extra.

The prices from the online stores are actually a bit more since I live in Quebec/Canada and I have to pay shipping + customs + change in currency. That's why I'd prefer something cheap that might be available locally, or even if that's something I could do myself using all the parts I have around I would really be happy.

My engine might have been dirty or something. I'll know it for sure when my mechanic pulls the engine out and I crack it open.

Can I still pass emission tests if I remove the cat? Or is there some "cheap" mods I can do to improve power? I looked at Thorley and Calmini and, while their products looked interesting, that's a rather steep price. If I had the money tho I think I'd grab an engine rebuild kit and a complete exhaust + header kit from Calmini.

Im gonna check some stores around and see if they have any performance parts I could dump in there, without paying the extra.

The prices from the online stores are actually a bit more since I live in Quebec/Canada and I have to pay shipping + customs + change in currency. That's why I'd prefer something cheap that might be available locally, or even if that's something I could do myself using all the parts I have around I would really be happy.

Im in Canada to B.C we dont have to pass dick here (in my part of B.C which is kinda Remoat) so i cant say about Emissions.
But i dont think your gona need a ton of Mods and stuff my Wifes 8V has 280,000 KMs on it burns no oil and will spin the tires. it has no mods other than the Cat is gone.
The Trany was sorta rebuilt to not sure what he did its like a 4 speed now but still the 8 V engines have power.
I like her set up!
 its the KISS set up Keep it simple Stupid.
I look under her hood theres 3/4 less wires and crap than on my 1997 LSI
Her engine its easy to work on.
Im not so sure power stearing and Air are worth it.
I sould pull all my Air Cond crap when it fails OUT and id have alot more Room.
The Power stearing is nice but i can drive her 91 all day and dont really care that its got no power stearing.
All that stuff just robs your engine of power i figger.
Maby not but her Tracker has more Torque than mine which is newer.

Mine was spinning tires only when there is (well, was) gravel, on the road there was no way I could spin them if I was on clean road.

Ill see about removing the cat, or replacing it with a feeeflow one, or maybe even a fake, so that cops don'T bother me if they ever decide to be a pain in the butt  Ill probably also replace the manifold with an aftermarket one and do the cold air intake mod. Will I need any kind of tuning to the engine if I do these mods, so that the engine doesn't run rich, lean or with weird compression or something?

Mine doesn'T have AC nor power steering, I kind of wish I had power steering, that'd be easier on the hands but I really dont mind not having it, as long as it gives the engine slightly more power 

Now there are really big chances I am taking the engine apart and rebuilding it by using the best parts between this one, my box of spare parts I have around, and another engine I will grab at a junkyard or something else, and clean all the parts and make sure everything is fine so that I can have an almost-like-new engine to drop in my car, and it is as powerful as it can be.

Thanks alot for the help guys

If you do decide to rebuild your engine there are a lot of simple things you can do to make a little more power.

Shave the head or block, a little. It my need to be machined anyway, or it may not. what it will do is it will raise your compression slightly. You would be surprised what difference 0.025" will make.

Also depending on the wear on your cylinder walls you might look at having the block bored over a little, (a very small increase in displacement, but an increase none the less).

Make sure that if you do anything like that, that you have your timing advance set correctly to compliment any change in engine dynamics.

By this you mean bore and stroking the engine, right? I didn't want to fall into this, but if I can find a place to do it cheaply it might be worth it. What do you mean by "shave the head or block, a little"?

Oh, I think I get the shave part now that I have re-read your post.

So, would it be worth it:
- carefully clean all the engine parts
- shave the head
- bore and stroke the engine
- performance headers
- cold air intake
- modification to the exhaust system (mainly the cat)
- along with a proper tuning of everything?

What kind of HP boost am I looking at? I'll probably be in the 90s, maybe near 100HP?

By this you mean bore and stroking the engine, right? I didn't want to fall into this, but if I can find a place to do it cheaply it might be worth it. What do you mean by "shave the head or block, a little"?

1.6 8-valve fully remanned,w/ RV2 cam , 020 pistons should only be about 1600 + core + delivery

Quote from: Nagoshi on June 23, 2009, 07:36:21 AM

By this you mean bore and stroking the engine, right? I didn't want to fall into this, but if I can find a place to do it cheaply it might be worth it. What do you mean by "shave the head or block, a little"?

1.6 8-valve fully remanned,w/ RV2 cam , 020 pistons should only be about 1600 + core + delivery

so I should change the cam and pistons along with all that job to the engine?

I was thinking about this... what about a completely different engine and tranny? Let's say... something from a Chevy pick-up (Sonoma/S-10, smaller than the 4300 Vortec), or a 3800 RWD engine with a matching tranny, or maybe even a 5-spd manual tranny? Wouldn't be simpler to have more power without doing a complete shave, port and polish, cam and piston swap and all that stuff?

I think that'd be more work to fit everything but in turn cost cheaper, which is what I'm mainly aiming for.