This will be a while in the making. 6 months maybe? Hopefully less? Possibly more?

Here's the possible donor vehicle.





Won't be needing this...



Cruise, AND ABS.



Don't WANT these.



Damage all the things!

 

K-swap?

 

Yes sir. You can all wait with me:

1Z81X4830346457233

Next is another $650 order at KMiata for a few bits and pieces, and an S2000 manifold off Ebay.

 

Sweet, in for the awesomeness (and envy).

 

Hopefully I'll post awesomeness. Our goal with the project is a fun and streetable track car, hopefully we can tick all the boxes. I'm also excited for NA hotness.

I'll also be doing all of this inside my one car garage, so it'll be a decent document about how much work is actually involved and how hard it'll be for a moderately skilled mechanic such as myself.

 

K swap and turbo??

 

 

Ooo, fun. Looking forward to this.

No pics of the whole car?

 

Subbed, looking forward to seeing this build progress.

 

Is the old motor spoken for? I've got a friend who is in the market for a 1.8.

 

Does it smell like the interior is as musty and moldy as it looks? One forgets that many just think of the Miata as a cheap disposable utility and treat it like the econo-box they should be driving.

Poor soggy merlot...

 

^thats why they sold so many of them. It offered buyers an economical option to drive top down and not pay much more than the econobox they would otherwise be driving.

They didn't sell a million of them on exclusivity and specialness

 

the best part is when they never replace the rain rail, it pours water into the interior for months, then you lift up the carpet under the seats and on the rear shelf to find nice little pools of moldy water with creatures swimming in it.

///Miata

 

Finally an exterior view:



The paint really is quite crappy. There's a few places where the clear coat is peeling, and overall it's pretty dull. Nothing Oregonmon couldn't fix up with his polisher.

I feel like it's a $2k car with $400 in FM butterfly brace, and $600 in Tein basics.

 

So is Eric buying it or what?

 

First piece of the puzzle has arrived! Subframe looks great. Beautiful welds left and right, I'm hoping the tubular aspect of it also make's access to engine mounts and other things a little easier. You can see the offset engine mounts, much different than a Miata. Rest of the kit should arrive "1st or 2nd week of January" according to the K-Miata peeps.



Driver's side unwrapped:



Bottom of the same side:



Purchase of the Merlot has also been given the go-ahead, as soon as money is transferred it'll mine, all mine! Muwahhahaha. By the end I'm guessing the trunk and interior will have no carpet, soft top, and hopefully no leaks.

 

Simply awesome. I'm really glad someone like yourself is going through with this K-swap. Mainly because i know you will document it well and post it on this forum for my enjoyment :wink:

 

Looks great guys.

Yeah, unfortunately we had some small delays because of the holidays. Our suppliers were on time with production, but their zinc platers, anodizers, and powdercoaters weren't :(

So the rest of the parts ship as soon as we are done making them pretty for you.

Any tear down of the chassis yet?

 

10 years ago when I bought my first miata this is why. I wanted a convertible that was manual and miata's were the only thing I could afford. Now I am stupid and own 5 and am building turbo setups.

I am now wondering if curly is going to go from the boosted side to NA side like so many others on this site.

 

Chassis has not been acquired yet. We're deciding where to put the money/time first. It's currently between chassis prep, and engine prep. Neither is really useful without the other, but there's no point in a Miata without a K-series engine ready to go in it.