2014 Mitsubishi Mirage Hatchback Engine swap

[Cam]

I wonder if there any standalone engine harness out there for the 1.6 or maybe the NA 4b11 then would honestly prolly just rip out everything thats non essential and then sort out me radio problem lol

[Fummins]

What engine swaps have you done? Are we talking conversions or swaps? I think eggman was asking if you’ve ever done any swaps/conversions that are this uncommon and this involved. Basically talking about converting a 3cylinder fwd car With a trailing axle to awd turbo 4cylinder with irs. Fuel system, cooling system, brakes,exhaust, steering, are all gonna have to be modified in some way. As you are well aware lol

[Cam]

What engine swaps have you done? Are we talking conversions or swaps? I think eggman was asking if you’ve ever done any swaps/conversions that are this uncommon and this involved. Basically talking about converting a 3cylinder fwd car With a trailing axle to awd turbo 4cylinder with irs. Fuel system, cooling system, brakes,exhaust, steering, are all gonna have to be modified in some way. As you are well aware lol

I still cant see it being as complicated as yall are making it out to see.. I mean its not rocket science.. I one time put a 2 cylinder Wisconsin motor in a little chinese gocart thing was actual pretty sweet would do ab 70 but was a little to fast for even me. But by far the most badass thing I have build would be a 1969 Volkswagen Karmen Ghia that I put a 455 Buick in the back seat.. Talk about fast that thing will make you poop yourself just a little lol. Have not decided what car I am going with for this swap but may just use the frame from donor car and shorten it so fit mirage If I go awd.

[Eggman]

I still cant see it being as complicated as yall are making it out to see.. I mean its not rocket science.. I one time put a 2 cylinder Wisconsin motor in a little chinese gocart thing was actual pretty sweet would do ab 70 but was a little to fast for even me. But by far the most badass thing I have build would be a 1969 Volkswagen Karmen Ghia that I put a 455 Buick in the back seat.. Talk about fast that thing will make you poop yourself just a little lol.

That sounds like great fun right there. Wow.

Have not decided what car I am going with for this swap but may just use the frame from donor car and shorten it so fit mirage If I go awd.

How about starting a list of donor cars for this project? It’ll be a starting point for planning purposes if nothing else.

[Fummins]

But by far the most badass thing I have build would be a 1969 Volkswagen Karmen Ghia that I put a 455 Buick in the back seat.. Talk about fast that thing will make you poop yourself just a little lol. Have not decided what car I am going with for this swap but may just use the frame from donor car and shorten it so fit mirage If I go awd.

Looks like a tight squeeze! Attachment 19599

[Loren]

I still cant see it being as complicated as yall are making it out to see.. I mean its not rocket science..

No, it's not rocket science. It all comes down to what LEVEL of project you want. You want to hack a V8 into an old VW just to say you did it? (Was that car daily driven? Did the speedo work? Did it use a factory electronic instrument panel? Did the factory air conditioning work? I guarantee it didn't have an engine computer, nevermind an ETACS computer. Or did you just get it in there and running enough so that you could say "wow this thing is fast and scary" and move on?) You can do THAT level of project with a Mirage all day long. And that's mostly what the projects that you (barely) hear about from time to time are... something that someone has hacked together to go racing, or just to say that they did it. The factory gauges don't work, the AC probably doesn't work, the ABS probably doesn't work, etc, etc, etc.

If you want to, as you've sort of alluded to, engine swap your Mirage and still be able to daily drive it and not BREAK any of the systems on the car because it's only got 35k miles. Well, that's where things get complicated.

As long as whatever drivetrain you slap into the car doesn't have to interact with the Mitsubishi systems, you can pretty easily do anything. Old school no-computer engine, or a modern computer-controlled engine complete with ITS OWN wiring harness and ITS OWN engine computer, not trying to hack into the Mirage systems. That would be the "easy" way to go.

That's why we keep telling you, use an OBD app or a GPS for speedo, and just aftermarket gauges. Keep it simple.

If you've GOT to have that "integration"... that's what's hard. You want it to be reliable enough to drive every day and retain all of the factory bells and whistles? That's what's hard.

Not saying it can't be done. But, it's nowhere near as easy as just grinding and welding and putting a pre-electronics era engine that only requires three wires to run into a car.

[Eggman]

But by far the most badass thing I have build would be a 1969 Volkswagen Karmen Ghia that I put a 455 Buick in the back seat.. Talk about fast that thing will make you poop yourself just a little lol.

Can you post some pictures of this project? Something like this would get some attention at the track or car shows, would be fun to see your pictures. Was the drivetrain and suspension work real tricky?

Pictures!!

[Pimp_Daddy_Patty]

Keeping the factory tach would be somewhat simple. You would need the factory ECU in place and mount an external crank trigger with the same pattern as the 3A92. Assuming the Mirage ECU doesn't go completely berzerk because it's not controlling spark and fuel, it would still receive a crank signal and it should display engine RPM on the tach. As for the speedo, it's possible that it receives vehicle speed from an ABS sensor. Otherwise a transmission output speed signal converter is possible if it's a simple X pulses per mile type signal.

These are the things I have considered while day dreaming of possible engine swaps in a Mirage. I used to race Neons, and have engine swapped or turbocharged most of the 11-12 that I've owned. Most were Stratus 2.4 swaps, or SRT-4/PT Turbo 2.4 swaps. I also stuffed a 3.3L V6 in one just to prove a point......and just for fun. The idea of an engine swapped Mirage stems from the hope that these cars will be available for under $1000 one day (or maybe under $500), it won't hurt too bad to mess around with them financially. A V6 swapped Mirage daily driver is what I often fantasize about, maybe something with a transaxle that sits behind the engine like some fords had (Taurus I think).

Anyways, heres a photo from one of my "I got bored so decided to try it" swaps:

[BillAce]

I would imagine the 4B4 from an Eclipse Cross might be possible with a bit of harness hacking since the trans is also similar and the power might be manageable in the Mirage chassis. Would take a brave soul to attempt it. It's not like these motors are sitting around like 4G63/64 or Bseries are.
I have a racebike that has 178hp 85ft/lbs with a standalone HRC ECU. I'd consider swapping that in if warranty and engine were done... Could be a fun Lemons car.

[Pimp_Daddy_Patty]

I've also considered the new turbo 4 cylinder. I believe they have the same bore as the 3a92, so maybe cheap turbo internals for our engine, or just a complete swap as the bellhousing bolt pattern could be the same. The electronics could also be similar, making a complete swap easier. I guess we will see once they're more common.