Should I do it?

Higlac

Higlac

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V8 Miata. There are conversion kits to drop a 5.0L HO Mustang engine into a Mazda Miata. 225 horsepower from the unmodified engine in a 2300 lb car that runs a 12.8 second quarter mile. I want to strip the car, interior, and take out all excess weight, then just put in a piece of sheetmetal to hold the instruments and a twin turbo. I would make it a sleeper though, with a small exhaust tip and silencers so you can't hear the V8. But then, when you line it up you flip a switch that bypasses the exhaust and runs it off of headers only.

http://www.monstermiata.com/
 
Miatas ARE great cars, and I love the looks of them. Dropping down a V8 would give it a shit ton of power. Only thing is, I would expect it to cost alot for the conversion. If you really want to do it, go for it. Just don't ruin the poor body of that sexy car ;)
 
Look at the link. If you google "V8 Miata" there is a youtube video that is rather interesting, sort of.
 
There are a lot of miata kits. Miatas are nice cars so if you really want to do it then go for it. Just make sure you know what your doing and make sure your car is in good shape to handle the extra stress a v8 brings.
 
The only thing with putting that v8 in there, is if you don't get the ride rear-end, you'll just snap that, since the Miatas really aren't used to that stress....lets just hope everything works out well for ya.
 
I vote yes, just because your doing a Sleeper. I can't stand the other crap stuff.
 
Majestic XII said:
I vote yes, just because your doing a Sleeper. I can't stand the other crap stuff.
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Sleepers are great, except for a rotary. In order to have a decent TII *You don't need ANY backpressure...so the bigger the exhaust the better...* having a loud car is natural.
 
It's a waste of time in my opinion, when there are other options that are way less expensive and have a better power/weight ratio.

I've never been a fan of the V8 Miata to be honest.

The F20 can be taken to 500 horsepower quite easily. I'm not saying the 5.0 doesn't have more torque than the F20. I'm just saying you're spending a fair amount of cash to only go up marginally in horsepower. If you use your Miata at the track, I'd just leave it how it is or maybe turbo it. If you street race, I can understand wanting to put a V8 in it. I'm doing pretty much the same thing with a Datsun 240z. Even the headers part. I've got it figured out so once I'm past half throttle a cable will open a cut-out, and once I back off it closes it.

Problems I have with the V8 Miata:

*It's very costly. To start, you're taking a sports car and ripping it apart. Not saying there is anything wrong with that, just that it's expensive.

* You are FORCED to use a T-5 five speed transmission. Now, unless you want to shell out mega bucks for a TKO, you're going to need to have it beefed up as T-5's are notoriously weak.

* A V8 Miata has a somewhat poor weight distribution. I want to say its somewhere around 55-56/45-44. Which is pretty poor for a track car.

* If you live in California and want to do the conversion, you shouldn't have any problems as long as you leave the engine somewhere close to stock. Assuming the smog shop allows you to pass visual inspection, the engine will need to meet the same smog requirements as a 4 banger. Not impossible, but not probable on anything greater than a stock motor.

Don't mean to rain on your parade, just giving you some second hand advice here.
 
No for gods sake have some class. That is just... terrible. Save some money and buy a proper car anything, because putting a V8 in that thing is just asking for something to go wrong. Also is that an MX5?
 
Robbo said:
No for gods sake have some class. That is just... terrible. Save some money and buy a proper car anything, because putting a V8 in that thing is just asking for something to go wrong. Also is that an MX5?
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You didn't read the OP or know anything about cars or what he is doing do you?

If he wants to do it then he will have a nice car. Also note there are other kits out there. I have seen one that ups the power significantly and doesn't use a v8.
 
I don't know, if he sad a classy car like an RX-7 or something similar that shouldn't be ripped to shreds, I would have said no. But Miata's are everywhere, good looking, and cheap! If all else fails, I'd say twin turbo that bitch, and make sure they are sequential ;) Turbo power!
 
V8 Miata would be extremely nose heavy and would oversteer like a ****ing pro-life cattle ranch.
 
I'm afraid to comment because the things I would say will piss people off. I'll just say:

No.
 
_Z_Ryuken said:
V8 Miata would be extremely nose heavy and would oversteer like a ****ing pro-life cattle ranch.
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...understeer...

if a car is nose heavy, it will have a greater tendency to UNDERsteer.

Unless of course you were trying to say, "A v8 miata would be extremely nose heavy, and because of the extra power it would be very easy to get power on oversteer." ...or something like that...

I can't believe some of the stuff I'm reading in this thread.
 
The V8 shifts the weight ratio to 53-47. It only adds 200 lbs. And I would want to find an old burnt-out Miata, just a shell. What I really want to do (but can't afford) is to strip the car completely, no interior, no AC, weld in a rollbar, put in a couple of racing seats, add a powerglide transmission, twin turbos mounted in the rear quarter panels (eliminating the need for an intercooler), and basically make it a street- legal 9 second car.
 
xcellerate said:
...understeer...

if a car is nose heavy, it will have a greater tendency to UNDERsteer.

Unless of course you were trying to say, "A v8 miata would be extremely nose heavy, and because of the extra power it would be very easy to get power on oversteer." ...or something like that...

I can't believe some of the stuff I'm reading in this thread.
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That is mostly what I meant. Being RWD I imagine the back end would slip out quite a bit on power. Shifting weigh to the front also increases the tendency for limit oversteer.
 
wakiwaki said:
The V8 shifts the weight ratio to 53-47. It only adds 200 lbs. And I would want to find an old burnt-out Miata, just a shell. What I really want to do (but can't afford) is to strip the car completely, no interior, no AC, weld in a rollbar, put in a couple of racing seats, add a powerglide transmission, twin turbos mounted in the rear quarter panels (eliminating the need for an intercooler), and basically make it a street- legal 9 second car.
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Alright, I feel I need to step in and give you a little guidance:

1. A powerglide, while an excellent drag transmission, is something I can only recommend for HIGH horsepower drag racing. Ie, greater than 800 horsepower or so. Go with a TH400.

2. You will NOT get into the 9's on street tires, or any other form of normal street tire unless you are planning on doing an AWD conversion to the car. You will HAVE to tub out the car, which is no small task.

3. You will NOT get into the 9's with a stock Miata rear end. You NEED a straight axel rear end. A built 9 inch, or a built 12 bolt. 10 bolts can be made fairly strong for cheap. (300 or 400 bucks, plus the cost of the rear end.)

4. It sounds to me like you have a huge amount of research to do before you dive into something like this. Which, I'm not trying to stop you from doing this, you'll learn more faster diving into a project than just poking at the prospect of it for years.

5. You realize you are trying to build a PURPOSE BUILT DRAG CAR out of a UNIBODY? This is a Big NO-NO. Although by no means impossible, the car will HAVE to be strengthened. I know, for instance, that once Z cars get into low 1/4 mile times, they can be severely deformed. I've heard several accounts of the rear windows literally POPPING OUT of the car and shattering from the twist put on the car by a high torque V8 and sticky tires.

6. I don't see how mounting the turbos in the rear quarter panels "Eliminates the Intercooler". Going with a performance turbo setup without the intercooler is just plain foolish to be honest with you. I would read up more on turbos. Sure, making a DIY turbo kit for your POS car without an intercooler can be a fun experience, but please don't build a 15,000 dollar Turbo'd drag vehicle and SKIP ON SOMETHING LIKE AN INTERCOOLER. If you are really looking for a serious vehicle, I would look into water to air intercoolers.

7. You quoted as saying the miatas weight is "53-47"? Do you really think it is going to be as such after a bigger radiator (for the high performance engine it sounds like you're going to be making), after all the piping for the TWIN turbos, not to mention the weight of the turbos themselves, the intercooler, and not to mention you taken weight off of the REAR by stripping the car? Try 60-40. Don't try and build a 9 second car that can turn, unless you're a multi-millionaire.

8. You will not be allowed to even drive the car onto a track without a drag legal roll cage. This, BY ITSELF, will add a minimum of 200 pounds to the car.

9. Do you think the stock fuel pump on a Miata will feed a twin turbo'd small block? Will an after market pump sufficient to feed the new drive train fit into a Miata fuel tank? Or will you need to get a fuel cell with a high performance fuel pump? $$$$

10. Unless you're planning on using something bigger than a 302 (Or even a 347 for that matter) you are NOT going to get enough horsepower out of one of those engines (all forged or not) to run 9's on PUMP gas. You MIGHT be able to do it with spray. However, there are VERY few cars that hit 9 second quarter miles on pump gas. I would say that 99 out of 100 that do hit 9 second quarters are on race fuel. Do you have a local gas station that supplies racing fuel? Did you notice that it was almost six dollars per gallon?

Now, ofcourse, you stated "If you could afford." which I'm very happy you said. Because if *I* could afford it, I'd do the same thing. :LOL:

All I'm saying is, take baby steps. My first project, I wanted a super car for a thousand bucks and a few hours of work. Now that I've gotten my hands dirty, my plans have really toned down. If this is your first REAL car that you're building, start off small. As an example, I would recommend just turboing a Miata and get used to a new power level. For one, it will be far less expensive than an entire swap, and two, you can learn a lot about turbo's in the process.

Sorry for the long post, and good luck with the project. :devil:
 
Top Secret said:
Alright, I feel I need to step in and give you a little guidance:

1. A powerglide, while an excellent drag transmission, is something I can only recommend for HIGH horsepower drag racing. Ie, greater than 800 horsepower or so. Go with a TH400.

2. You will NOT get into the 9's on street tires, or any other form of normal street tire unless you are planning on doing an AWD conversion to the car. You will HAVE to tub out the car, which is no small task.

3. You will NOT get into the 9's with a stock Miata rear end. You NEED a straight axel rear end. A built 9 inch, or a built 12 bolt. 10 bolts can be made fairly strong for cheap. (300 or 400 bucks, plus the cost of the rear end.)

4. It sounds to me like you have a huge amount of research to do before you dive into something like this. Which, I'm not trying to stop you from doing this, you'll learn more faster diving into a project than just poking at the prospect of it for years.

5. You realize you are trying to build a PURPOSE BUILT DRAG CAR out of a UNIBODY? This is a Big NO-NO. Although by no means impossible, the car will HAVE to be strengthened. I know, for instance, that once Z cars get into low 1/4 mile times, they can be severely deformed. I've heard several accounts of the rear windows literally POPPING OUT of the car and shattering from the twist put on the car by a high torque V8 and sticky tires.

6. I don't see how mounting the turbos in the rear quarter panels "Eliminates the Intercooler". Going with a performance turbo setup without the intercooler is just plain foolish to be honest with you. I would read up more on turbos. Sure, making a DIY turbo kit for your POS car without an intercooler can be a fun experience, but please don't build a 15,000 dollar Turbo'd drag vehicle and SKIP ON SOMETHING LIKE AN INTERCOOLER. If you are really looking for a serious vehicle, I would look into water to air intercoolers.

7. You quoted as saying the miatas weight is "53-47"? Do you really think it is going to be as such after a bigger radiator (for the high performance engine it sounds like you're going to be making), after all the piping for the TWIN turbos, not to mention the weight of the turbos themselves, the intercooler, and not to mention you taken weight off of the REAR by stripping the car? Try 60-40. Don't try and build a 9 second car that can turn, unless you're a multi-millionaire.

8. You will not be allowed to even drive the car onto a track without a drag legal roll cage. This, BY ITSELF, will add a minimum of 200 pounds to the car.

9. Do you think the stock fuel pump on a Miata will feed a twin turbo'd small block? Will an after market pump sufficient to feed the new drive train fit into a Miata fuel tank? Or will you need to get a fuel cell with a high performance fuel pump? $$$$

10. Unless you're planning on using something bigger than a 302 (Or even a 347 for that matter) you are NOT going to get enough horsepower out of one of those engines (all forged or not) to run 9's on PUMP gas. You MIGHT be able to do it with spray. However, there are VERY few cars that hit 9 second quarter miles on pump gas. I would say that 99 out of 100 that do hit 9 second quarters are on race fuel. Do you have a local gas station that supplies racing fuel? Did you notice that it was almost six dollars per gallon?

Now, ofcourse, you stated "If you could afford." which I'm very happy you said. Because if *I* could afford it, I'd do the same thing. :LOL:

All I'm saying is, take baby steps. My first project, I wanted a super car for a thousand bucks and a few hours of work. Now that I've gotten my hands dirty, my plans have really toned down. If this is your first REAL car that you're building, start off small. As an example, I would recommend just turboing a Miata and get used to a new power level. For one, it will be far less expensive than an entire swap, and two, you can learn a lot about turbo's in the process.

Sorry for the long post, and good luck with the project. :devil:
Click to expand...

Thank you.

Anyway, I did the math. Good idea, not enough cash for me to do as a high-shcool senior.
 
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