Originally Posted by steronz

My cursory search just now didn't yield any specs on the HX pistons, so I'm not sure what compression ratio you'd end up with from an HX-EX mini-me like that. Offhand, I would speculate it would be lower than a straight-up EX motor, so the HX-EX won't be as powerful as a full-on EX, but then doing a complete motor swap and ending up with 127 crank hp is kinda silly... if you're gonna go through all that trouble, you might as well swap at the very least an LS motor or a b16, although you'll need to get new mounts and all that. The whole point of the mini-me is that it's relatively cheap, easy, and will give the car a bit more pep... nothing you should go around challenging camaros with, but it's better than nothing, and it's also better than throwing money away on bolt-ons.

wiring shouldn't change, but you will either need a new ecu or a vafc or something. of course, ultimately, if you actually want to go somewhat fast, your best bet is to sell the HX to someone who wants it 'cuz it gets 45 MPG and buy a different car. or just keep it stock and enjoy your 45 mpg until you can save up for a b18c hatch or something.