[Donkey]

I’ve been driving round in a 98 Coily and enjoying it though it leaves a lot to be desired on the highway. It’s got 216km on the clock and had very service. I was thinking of getting a set of 4-2-1 extractors down to a 1.75 exhaust and new muffler/ cat as well as purchasing a performance engine rebuild kit with high compression pistons etc and getting it installed when I get the timing belt done.
I’d love to get the 1.6l efi conversion but have been quoted 10k and this is not an option for me.
I wondering if this would be a good strategy, what order should I do this in, am I missing something, will upgrading pistons etc create durability issues on something else and recommended manufactures/ parts.
Cheers.

[fordem]

First - a "performance engine rebuild kit with high compression pistons" is not something you "install when getting the timing belt done" - it involves a complete tear down & rebuild of the engine - it's the sort of thing you do when the engine needs to be rebuilt, rather than just doing a rebuild using OEM replacement parts. At 216km (presumably you mean 216,000 km, it might be an idea to evaluate (or have evaluated) the general condition of the engine (start with a compression test), and then start exploring what needs to be done I believe most of the members here would recommend a good used engine (a 1.6 from a coil-pack Baleno) rather than a rebuild

Second - you need to recognize that a Sierra was never designed to be a highway cruiser.

[Gwagensteve]

by all means invest in a new exhaust and extractors. This won't hurt anything

The cost of a proper rebuild will far exceed the cost of fitting a G16B, and the outcome will be nowhere near as assured.

G series engines are open deck and tend to ovalise their bores, so the proper machine work to install new pistons is relatively expensive and requires a complete engine disassembly. The next issue with increasing compression is how are you going to fuel and time the engine to take advantage of the increased compression? the stock carburettor isn't designed to deliver much more fuel, so it will need rejetting, and you'd likely benefit from a different advance curve in the distributor. The stock cylinder head design isn't especially good at flowing and you'll need more camshaft to exploit the bigger squeeze of the higher compression. There's also a risk the car won't like low octane fuel without detonating, so you may find you're stuck on 98 octane, which the stock ignition system isn't good at firing, (and higher compression is hard on ignition systems)

End result, add up machining cost, bearings, pistons, carb, cam, ignition system and then tuning, trying to noticeably increase power with a G13 will cost far more than putting a G16B in the car, and you won't have the benefits of EFI.

And it pays to consider what the end result will actually be like. The last thing a 4WD needs is a narrower power band or more HP at the expense of torque. In order to cruise better, the engine needs to make more torque at ~3500rpm. Higher compression can achieve that, but you'll need some camshaft and tuning trickery to significantly increase the engine's efficiency at that RPM, and in doing so you might find it doesn't rev as well as a standard engine - effectively you're moving its power down in the RPM scale to gain torque at cruise RPM.

$10K is unrealistic money for a G16B swap. Whole rough Baleno donors are ~$500 and that nets everything you need other than a Vitara viscous fan, clutch, adapter plates, and odds and ends. Obviously, engineering will add some $$ to that figure, but that's dependent on your state and what other things you want engineer. I think a representative cost for engineering a G16B in Vic is ~$900.

Save your money for a G16B. Don't throw it at a G13ba that will leave you disappointed.