Warpspeed wrote:B6T comes with better designed flywheel which enables a larger diameter clutch plate. It looks a lot heavier, but it is actually exactly the same in both static weight and rotating inertia. I have measured and compared this myself. I still cannot believe they are the same, they look so totally different.
B6T also has alloy sump with proper baffles, ordinary B6 uses open steel sump with no baffles. B6T has oil squirters under the pistons, and a water to oil heat exchanger mounted underneath the oil filter.
Not relevant in this usage of the motor though. And I'm reasonably sure that the B6 has the oil squirters too. My BP does, anyway.
Warpspeed wrote:B6T has much thicker conrods and larger diameter conrod bolts. These beautiful conrods are an upgrade for a BP turbo motor. Very strong rods.
I can attest to the size - I bought some.
Warpspeed wrote:Sure you can put all the good bits into an MX5, except for the oil squirters. That would be a hell of a difficult and expensive job to do.
All things considered a genuine B6T is absolutely the very best way to build a really strong turbo bottom end, because everything is already there.
And you can always sell the funny unusable Laser cylinder head and manifolds to the Laser guys. But the bottom half of the B6T is pure gold.
Welllll, I'm kinda inclined to disagree just a little. Unless minimum cost is a driving factor personally I'd start with the MX-5 equivalent of the motor so you don't have to go messing around with ignition systems and sumps from the engine you're replacing. New B6s can be had for cheap, and B6T rods pop up from time to time on eBay. I wouldn't personally be too comfortable putting in an engine I didn't know the history of in an application designed for power - I'd be wanting to give that thing a full rebuild first to give myself confidence in it.