M18A

Liam_Ignis · Tue Sep 27, 2011 10:01 am

Im looking to swap the M15A with the M18A, I dont know much about whats involved so was wondering if anyone can help me out a bit? also im from the UK, will I struggle to find an M18A engine over here? cheers, Liam.

pHr34kY · Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:38 pm

Look for "the reasonably priced car". Surely if Top Gear ran a Liana for so many seasons, someone else must have bought one.

igsport · Mon Oct 31, 2011 9:34 pm

Would it be worth your while getting the 1770cc increase capacity kit from Suzuki Sport versus doing an engine swap, both would not be cheap but with the Liana swap you only gain 9kw and 27Nm. I suppose your engine swap would be easier to pass your vehicle inspections in the UK (MOT).

davo43 · Thu Oct 17, 2013 2:07 pm

I've only had my wife's Ignis for a couple of months and I'm already thinking about this! I've been looking at the Liana motor and even though it doesn't have bowel-shattering performance, it seems to make its power and torque at a lot lower revs and therefore has a wider usable power band. I'm pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) that the Liana has a stronger box with longer ratios too which would be a godsend in the little Ignis.

Has anyone completed this conversion? Would be very interested to hear their feedback! I'm assuming it's as simple as getting a Liana front cut (motor, box, ecu, harness, etc) and swapping the drive shafts over? Does the Liana use the same type of speed sender unit? Cheers!

igsport · Tue Oct 22, 2013 1:02 pm

Can't recollect many people doing this swap, although you can get gear from Monstersport to turn the M15A into a 1.8.

bzchi · Sat Nov 02, 2013 10:35 pm

I personally wouldn't bother with this conversion, it's a lot of work for a 9kW increase and low end torque the Ignis Sport doesn't really need.

What's the reason you want longer ratios in the Ignis?

I'd probably go the M18A as a base for a turbo setup, but for NA.. don't think it's worth it.

igsport · Tue Nov 05, 2013 10:45 pm

The longer ratios would be for more relaxed open road driving, but then again I love the gearing in the ignis, perfectly matched ready for you to plant the pedal in the meat of the torque band.

turbo_zook · Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:17 am

Does the liana have a m18 or j18? I have heard it mentioned as having both. You have to remember the ignis sport has a lot of comp compared to the 1800 so the power difference isn't great but starting with a larger motor is better for mods. I have heard the sport m15 and the m18 have large port head compared to the rest with smaller ports. What about a j20 into a ignis;) the j series are meant to bolt to the g series boxes are the m series interchangeable with the g series?

bzchi · Tue Nov 12, 2013 5:36 pm

turbo_zook wrote:Does the liana have a m18 or j18? I have heard it mentioned as having both. You have to remember the ignis sport has a lot of comp compared to the 1800 so the power difference isn't great but starting with a larger motor is better for mods. I have heard the sport m15 and the m18 have large port head compared to the rest with smaller ports. What about a j20 into a ignis;) the j series are meant to bolt to the g series boxes are the m series interchangeable with the g series?

I don't think it's all about displacement, there are many other factors to consider.. I would start with a power figure you want to achieve.

The Liana in Australia is an M16A and M18A. The J18A is in the Baleno GTX. The other J series engines are currently in the SX4, Kizashi and Grand Vitara (possibly more).

I'm personally a fan of the M series with a lot of the development happening due to the Swift Sport. There are also good gearbox solutions for the M series in the Swift Sport / Liana boxes so i'm not particularly interested in looking elsewhere.

That being said, the SX4 seems popular in the US and gonzalez seems to like it, so it comes down to what you want to use.... but if you're going J20 why not just use an SX4 shell to begin with (unless these are substantially heavier).

As for interchanging J / M in the Ignis, there are SX4's in Europe with the M series I believe, so they are probably a close swap.

Interested to know why you would want to bolt to a g series box? unless you have a 1600 or AWD g series box, this sounds like a strange choice.

turbo_zook · Tue Nov 12, 2013 5:57 pm

I did some research and the liana had the j18 and the m18, I think only the m18 in aus tho.

More power the better:)

The sx4 is a few hundred kg more and cost more.

I have a turbo j20a atm and was looking at getting either a baleno or ignis but think the baleno would be more hp in the end drop 2ltr in it.

Just heard the g series bolted up would never want to do it tho. Baleno j18 would have a decent box compared to the g series

The j20b-24b are different again too not compatible with the j18-20a

davo43 · Tue Mar 24, 2015 6:23 pm

igsport wrote:The longer ratios would be for more relaxed open road driving, but then again I love the gearing in the ignis, perfectly matched ready for you to plant the pedal in the meat of the torque band.

I think the combination of longer ratios and more usable torque band would make for a much better experience on the highway?

Also, living in Queensland, Australia means we are running the air conditioner nearly all the time which saps the tiny bit of low down torque that we have to spare...

What about an M18A bottom end with the stock M15A top end? Does the higher compression on the iggy come from the pistons or from the head/head gasket??