small block in a mazda

can u guys tell ma how hard to would be to put ether a sbc or sbf in a 87 mazda rather than just put a new reg. motor in it .

Ford would be the easier of the two due to the distributor location.

This is a sbc that I installed with solid motor mounts and a urethatne tranny mount....i agree about the ford distributor for sure....but just a little choice involved there...Http://www.streetsource.com/Profile.aspx?ProfileID=32252 ....all in all it is not a bad install as long as you allow for the fans and pulleys in the front

i bought a kit from canada to put a 302 in mine like 10 years ago the company has gone out of bus. but the 302 fits fine and i have seen a few 350 thruck over the years. a 4.3 v6 works good also as does a 2.3 4cly ford..

       Really the Distributor clearance is overblown  . SBC is the easier of the two by far . The wiring is about the same 3 wire setup unless you would like to use stock guages for Temp,Oil etc which then makes it harder since the Temp wire is located in your Computer harness on Passenger side . Now with the SBC to get more clearance up front you notching into firewall is the only route , but really is not necessary . I am using the bigger distributor and still have plenty of clearance from firewall . Its not like you will be changing the timing on you're SBC everyday , it's a once in a long while change unless you have no clue about timing a motor . Now if you're worried about the size of the distributor get a MSD style with external Coil or just use the old style SBC distributor with external Coil(POINTS) which is alot smaller .        As for mounting , I used old Truck style SBC mounts that can be had from you're local parts store and takes a Single bolt . The SBC motor can be mounted alot lower then the SBF can because of pan clearance unless you reroute pickup and style pan on the SBF . The Stock Ford style pan has the hump in front which gets in way of Steering shaft when trying to lower motor for bodydrop/hood clearance . The SBC is located in rear which allows for no issues . The Ford motor mounting is quite easy , but the Transmission mount will need to be modified . The Chevy Transmission works with the Stock Mazda crossmember , just need to weld up original holes and drill two new ones depending on tranny . I would recommend the 700R4 over the non-overdrive Th350 , but if you do not want to cut Transmission tunnel then the TH350 is the way to go .

I went with the 302 in mine, its a fair bit lighter than the 350, and also dimensionally smaller by a few inches all around.  I slid the motor back, so the double hump oil pan fits right over the steering arm in the front.  That also gave lots of room for the pulleys.

what kind of headers yall runnin on the sbf?  iv already got the motor and a tranny,really wantin to do the swap.