Engine Transplant Pipe Dream

[MarkVII88]

My wife owns a fleet of vans for her business. I've been spending some time recently driving her new 2014 Ford Transit Connect with the 1.6L Ecoboost turbo engine. This would be the perfect engine for the Mz5, making 178hp and 185lb/ft of torque. It's too bad that something like this isn't available for the Mz5, not even Mazda's own Skyactiv series of powertrains. Ford does still make a version of the Duratec 2.5L, a close relative of the MZR engine in the Mz5, which is still used as the base engine in the Fusion, Escape, and Transit Connect. I wonder how possible it would be to transplant an Ecoboost 1.6L (possibly even from the Fiesta ST) into one of our cars? It might be possible with a manual trans but probably not with the 4 or 5spd auto. I guess I'm just disappointed that us Mz5 folks won't ever get a chance at a Skyactiv-G or the fabulous Skyactiv-D engine.

 

[tuanies]

With enough money, anything is possible. However, the hard part would be engine management.

 

[Secondtyme]

Start combing the insurance auction sites for a crashed Fiesta ST. Once you have the engine/trans/ECU in hand you can see how feasible it would be to make it work in the 5. Seems to me that most of the time energy you would have to spend would be figuring out the mounting architecture. This would be especially true if the Fiesta engine mounts/locations are significantly different than the 5s. Management might not be that big a deal by comparison, if you can fool the ECU into thinking it is still bolted into a Ford. I recall that the biggest issue that people had with the famous Speed3 engine swap was getting the ECU to allow the thing to run properly. C&D even had to duct tape the Speed3 gauge cluster into the glove box in theirs.... On a slightly more feasible note; why not get a short wheelbase Transit Connect w/ Ecoboost and hot rod the hell out of it? Other than the fact that they are kind of funny lookin

 

[MarkVII88]

My bet is that the electronics would be the hardest part, not engine mounting. I say this because the Fusion, Escape, and Transit Connect all can accommodate either the 2.5L or the 1.6T. Looking under the hood on the Transit Connect, the passenger side engine mount looks identical. There's even been a post or two about interchangability between rear engine mounts on the Mz5 and the current generation Ford Focus. I did say pipe dream in my initial post after all.

 

[Silentnoise713]

That would be a nice little engine that could! I do "think" the new sky G (and D if it ever comes to reality) from the Mz3/6 can fit into the Mz5. FWIW, JP offers the 2nd gen Mz5 with the sky 2.0 option so why wouldn't it fit?..

My pipe dream is a Cmax (hybrid or electric) tranplant . Since they are the same car, atleast things should fit. The electronics part might suck..

 

[MarkVII88]

I was actually looking at the Transit Connect wagon as a viable next car in the next year or two when my wife may need to look at replacing her Mz5. Problem is that you can get the Ecoboost in the cargo van version or the short wheelbase wagon, but not in the long wheelbase wagon. Incredibly, the long wheelbase wagon only comes with the 2.5L. I confirmed this with my local Ford dealer. We have 3 little kids plus a dog and, since the Mz5 seats 6, the 5-person short wheelbase Transit Connect wagon would be a step backwards. Then there's the price issue. Ford is asking MSRP of over $25K for a bottom end XL model without cruise control! That's a helluva lot of cash to spend for vinyl seats, no cruise (albeit a $225 option), and not even have the ability to choose 1.6L Ecoboost. For less than that I could get into a Grand Caravan SE that seats 7 with Stow and Go, cruise, and 285hp 3.6L V6 that gets nearly the same mileage. That may be the route we're headed down just for the value since you can't even get into a Sienna or Odyssey for less than $28k. We are not lease people as we like to keep our vehicles for 6-8 years and not worry about the number of miles driven. So sad to see no more Mz5 after 2015.