2014 Mitsubishi Mirage Hatchback Engine swap

[Cam]

Don't take this the wrong way (or do)... you can't be lazy and make a project like this work. Google is your friend.

If you're talking about the Hyundai 1.6 that I was talking about, look it up. There's tons of info out there. Some of it easy to find, some of it isn't. Some of it is ACCURATE, and some of it ISN'T. Don't trust everything you read on a forum, especially if I said it. Go for factory sources, or at least find multiple sources for the same tidbit of info. Sucks to get way down a rabbit hole only to find out that your info was incorrect!

So, if we're talking about that Hyundai Gamma 1.6:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai_Gamma_engine

The NA versions seem to be around 130-140 hp. The turbo versions are 177-204.

If you want more accurate info... look up what cars used those engines and look up the specs on the specific cars. You know... the car you're likely to pick up as a donor. Therein lies your answer.

You wanna know if a Lancer was FWD? Look. It. Up. (spoiler: The EVO is a Lancer, it's AWD. I think the Ralliart may have been AWD, I don't know. The base Lancer is a FWD economy car. If I cared to know more... I'd Google it!)

Round numbers:

I think you can easily take almost any unmodified engine (including the Mirage 1.2), throw 4-6 psi of boost from a supercharger or turbo at it, and safely see 20-25% additional power without too much trouble. Most cars/engines are built with enough "headroom" to handle that without self-destructing. For the Mirage, that would be a boost from 78 to very near 100 hp.

If you then add some intercooling, and make sure you have enough fueling, and again... really good tuning... you could boost that unmodified engine up to around 8-10 psi and still be kinda sorta safe. Maybe. Depending on the engine. That would get you closer to 50% over stock power.

Beyond that, you're getting into either blowing stuff up, or doing lots of expensive internal engine mods.

BUT... if you're doing a crazy custom engine swap, it makes sense to just use something that's already got the power you want in its stock form rather than building your own turbo kit and tuning and all that.

What I was suggesting as an example was:

Simple, straightforward, NA 1.6 Gamma engine swap. Get that puppy in the car. Get it running. Get through all the driveline problems, electrical problems, cooling problems, etc, etc, etc.

THEN... if you want more power, get a Gamma engine that has a factory turbo on it (along with it's ECU, and any wiring that might be different) and drop it in. Mechanically, it will be a bolt-in swap for the 1.6 that you already fit into the car. So, it would be a much easier "upgrade" at that point. (and if the base engine is known to be identical to the turbo version, you could just bolt the factory turbo parts onto the original NA 1.6 engine)

Doing something like this in stages is a wise way to go. Just plan your stages from the beginning. Don't pick an engine that's a "dead end", if you think you're going to want to mod it further later. Like, don't pick a Saturn S series engine. GREAT engine... but you had the option of single cam 106 hp or twin cam 124 hp... that's all they ever did with it. Dead-end for future upgrades.

Do your homework. Even though some people might give you answers on forums... don't TRUST anybody to do your homework for you. Dig deep and learn stuff.

Thank you for the advice.. I will keep researching before I make a final decision. need to start looking at how to get the speedo to work with a different engine besides the cylinder.

[Loren]

Yeah, the whole electronics piece is just one of the hurdles.

And like everything else, it just depends on how important certain things are to you. You want a factory style dashboard and won't accept anything less? Well... that's fun. (no idea how easy or hard it might be, never done it)

But... assuming the ECU will accept not having the factory gauge cluster connected... you could just omit it entirely. (and if it required the factory gauge cluster that MATCHES the ECU to be connected to function, as could possibly be the case with modern CANBUS stuff, I really don't know... you could hide that cluster in the glove box or under the dash and leave the stock cluster in place "dead".

If all you want is a tach and speedo, that's EASY in a lot of different ways. Any ol' phone with a GPS can give you speed. And any ol' auto parts store can sell you a tach that will work with input from an ignition coil. Boom, done!

Or, if you're using a full factory wiring system with a stock ECU, you'll have OBDII at your disposal. An OBDII interface and a phone or tablet... you can display ANYTHING the ECU knows. Speed, RPM, temp, whatever.

Options, man. Neverending options.

Happy hunting!

[PityOnU]

TBH, I can see why you would want to do an engine swap on this car, but the reality is that not many other people have done it before (esp. in the USA) and the make/model is not that popular (esp. in the USA). That means you will have a very hard time finding information/advice, and a very expensive time finding parts.

I don't know your background with stuff like this, but tackling a Mirage with an engine swap will likely be a one-off and require lots of custom parts and fabrication. I'm not sure what the engine mounts/transmission matings between Mitsubishi's engines look like, but something tells me it won't be as easy as swapping around EJ engines on a Subaru. Even in that later case, getting all of the electronics to talk to one another from one generation to the next is a massive pain in the ass. Further, you can add a ton of complexity to that because the Mirage is a late model vehicle, which means there will be a lot of security locks in place when it comes to the electrical/computer system(s), so even the correct parts probably won't talk to one another correctly until you get them programmed by a dealer.

Not trying to be a negative Nancy or anything, but if you want a tiny, cheap car you can tweak away on, you would be much better served by something like an older Miata. Everything would be much easier and cheaper.

[Fummins]

Thank you for the advice.. I will keep researching before I make a final decision. need to start looking at how to get the speedo to work with a different engine besides the cylinder.

A speedo should be the last of your worries! Download an app and just use your phone. Done and done. Or just glue an old iphone with no sim card to the dash and hardwire a charging cord lol.

[Cam]

A speedo should be the last of your worries! Download an app and just use your phone. Done and done. Or just glue an old iphone with no sim card to the dash and hardwire a charging cord lol.

Dont think I want to do that lol car only has 35000 miles so definitely want to keep as much of the electronics as possible because compared to my truck the thing is luxurious however it just lacks some speed

[Eggman]

Dont think I want to do that lol car only has 35000 miles so definitely want to keep as much of the electronics as possible because compared to my truck the thing is luxurious however it just lacks some speed

Have you done an engine swap before? I know you're bound and determined but this is going to take much more than a welding stick and some hardware to make everything work together. This isn't the days of carbureted engines with points that practically run themselves.

[Eggman]

For starters, the Mirage ECU is configured to deal with only three spark plugs. Adding a fourth likely requires another ECU. All the controllers are configured as a set - new controllers will need to be programmed to communicate with the rest. Change one controller without telling the others what it is and what it does will likely activate the security immobilizer and shut everything down. For example, another forum member recently tried swapping their ECU for troubleshooting and wasn't able to start their Mirage.

Here's another example: This forum was started back in 2013 before the first Mirage was imported to North American shores. We are about to complete our eighth year and we still haven't figured out how to access and modify the Tire Pressure Monitoring System on these cars - at this point it's a dealer only thing.

To say you don't want to modify the electronics because the car has only 35,000 miles, but are determined to change out the engine presents some conflicts and raises lots of questions.


Would hate to see you throw away a load of cash on this dream, but maybe you're loaded.

[Fummins]

Dont think I want to do that lol car only has 35000 miles so definitely want to keep as much of the electronics as possible because compared to my truck the thing is luxurious however it just lacks some speed

I think the speedometer in the Mirage would have to be the least luxurious part on the car. Unless you are talking about the 2 trip meters and economy gauges of course. You might be able to rig something up to make the speedo work, some people claim it uses a wheel speed sensor though I believe it actually uses the output speed sensor on the transmission like most vehicles.

[Loren]

I've had the transmission out of my car... can't remember what electrical connections were on it! The ABS system already has wheel speed sensors, so it would sort of make sense to use one of those wheel speeds for the speedometer just for simplicity. I can see them doing something like that.

If it were me, I'd leave the stock dash in place, and the stock ECU/ETACS system in place. You really don't want to mess with that stuff.

Put your new engine in the car with it's own engine harness and it's own ECU completely separate from the Mirage systems. Then either use old school aftermarket tach and speedo gauges (speedo would probably pick up with a magnetic sensor on an axle, tach from a coil wire), or use the OBDII to feed a tablet or phone display mounted visibly somewhere for speedo/tach/temp/whatever.

Trying to get the original Mirage display to "play nice" wouldn't be impossible. I'm sure an electronics genius who understands how CANBUS works and really WANTED to do it probably could. But, even if you did... all you've got is the Mirage speedo and tach, and for a swap project, you probably want more instrumentation than that.

[Cam]

For starters, the Mirage ECU is configured to deal with only three spark plugs. Adding a fourth likely requires another ECU. All the controllers are configured as a set - new controllers will need to be programmed to communicate with the rest. Change one controller without telling the others what it is and what it does will likely activate the security immobilizer and shut everything down. For example, another forum member recently tried swapping their ECU for troubleshooting and wasn't able to start their Mirage.

Here's another example: This forum was started back in 2013 before the first Mirage was imported to North American shores. We are about to complete our eighth year and we still haven't figured out how to access and modify the Tire Pressure Monitoring System on these cars - at this point it's a dealer only thing.

To say you don't want to modify the electronics because the car has only 35,000 miles, but are determined to change out the engine presents some conflicts and raises lots of questions.


Would hate to see you throw away a load of cash on this dream, but maybe you're loaded.

Must be an import thing.. I have engine swapped mulitple vehicles in my life time the most recent was my 07 sierra.. They dont make a Standalone ecu for the 1.6 kinda like a holley or something? would make everything much easier and Id still get my speedo. I wish I was loaded then I would not be asking for advice id just figure it out lol.