Any one have any helpful ideas or comments about putiing a 1.8 from a 98 sidekick 4dr into a 90 kick 2dr tintop. I have a chance at the motor, trans, and wiring harness. just dont know anything about the 1.8

It should bolt right in if you change over the wiring and ECM.  I am in the process of doing the same swap.  But if you have everything they should mount up together.  But don't hold me too that one forever, my first zuki engine swap.

Didn't see this one yesterday!!!

Well, I'm in the process of swapping in a J20A into my 98 2Door Kick. My engine's from an aerio so I had to modify some extra things but you will not have this prob.

What you need:

- J18A (obvious) with its respective flywheel and pilot bearing.
- Your tranny bolts right in but if you want to get the "new"tranny for spear...
- Wirering Harness and ECU if you want no trouble at all although it could be possible you have to mod it very slightly in order to keep all accs working correctly.
- Check that the engine has the coolant "passage tube" that comes fron the back of the engine, over the exhaust manifold, and extends towards the front. It's important because otherwise you will have to trace a long hose to the back of the engine and that will look awful.
- Get the exhaust manifold from the sidekick (BTW, are you sure it's a sidekick and not a Vit. I thought Sport Vit's were the ones with the J18A).
- If you're sure it's a Sidekick, you will want to get the engine mounts too and that will save you a hell of a lot of trouble.
- Get as many extra things as you can that you think will be needed as extra is always good.

Again, make sure its a Kick and not a Vit. If it's a Vit, the engine mounts will definitely NOT work on your Kick and you'll have to make custom ones (if all goes well on my swap, I'll be working on making an engine mount kit at first to sell - I'm still working on mine so don't expect it any time soon). Also, if the J18A comes off a Vit (something tells me it's an early 99 Vit and not a 98 Kick - hope I'm mistaken) you will have trouble with the trans "propulsor" (don't know the exact word in English - is the center, splined shaft that passes through the pressure plate and the clutch disc when you attach the tranny to the engine block, it also hold the realease bearing at the back). The thing with this is that you have to get a pilot bearing with the correct measurements (which is very difficult) or adapt the one you have (I went this route).

The rest is just fabricating and adapting.

Let us know when you start the project.

Will be going to look at it this week. pictures I have seen say it is a kick. but then he tells me he has an x-90 with only minor damage. now I have to think twice on which way i want to go

Will be going to look at it this week. pictures I have seen say it is a kick. but then he tells me he has an x-90 with only minor damage. now I have to think twice on which way i want to go

Well, as I understand, the X90 has the same engine as a Kick (G16KV - I thinks they all are 1.6 16v) but I'm not sure about 4x4. All i've seen in Puerto Rico are 4x2 (RWD) and they have the same tranny as the 4x2 Kicks (my Kick is 4x2), but that does not means they didn't come in 4x4 versions.

Thanks for the info. I just cant deside if I want to pull every thing to put in a tracker tin top or re-build the x-90