I am beginning to think this way as well... also, the intercooler is one less thing to make space for. The best part is no part!

That's exactly why I can't bad-mouth myself as to why I chose the Kswap. You spend a premium for the power level, but everything literally bolts right in. The swap has been very reliable and it's a simple setup once the investment is made. I don't even have radiator ducting and the cooling system rarely exceeds 220F while on track. It's a great package for 230whp if you don't want to touch a thing behind your Mazda clutch.... and, like any engine swap, it draws a small crowd whenever I take it out, which is fun.

I'd be lying if I hadn't ever had the same thought of "Matt, why not just buy a C6Z at this point to give you a better starting point?", but we don't hot rod because it's logical and I just don't care to have something anyone else can sign a dotted line for. Nobody remembers a vette on slicks that shows up to a track day. Everyone remembers the miata keeping up with or beating that vette though. I already have a VW radiator connected to a Honda engine connected to a Mazda trans to turn BMW hubs. I'm not afraid of piecing together systems that work as long as they are proven... the key is ensuring that they are proven, and I'm not just a test dummy with an open checkbook.

When comparing LSx to K, you really have to assume the K is boosted so that the power levels are roughly equal otherwise you are deep into the apples vs oranges comparison... By time you add all the turbo goodies to a K (along with KPI's adapters), I don't see an aluminum block LSx as having much of a weight disadvantage at all if focusing purely on 2 engines that make similar power.. The rear end can be the same for either engine option, and the transmission can even be the same depending which one you'd settle on, so it's not even worth comparing as a factor IMO.

For helpful reference sake, Bronson's car is about 100lbs heavier than mine with carefully selected parts that are capable of holding his 500+whp in his LSx build. He has a full cage, more obnoxious aero, wider wheels, and heavier tires that we suspect makes up a large portion of that weight difference to my car today (not even factoring in the transmission and rear end). He is also admittedly one of the devils on my shoulder that has made me question if K is the right path for me for a 500hp goal.

 

I think with v-mounted coolers ~500hp isn't really an issue and things can stay cool. With that said, it's definitely more work/more complicated and not having an intercooler at all is even better.

What size wheels are hig hp time attack/v8 swapped miatas running? I would think at some point stepping upto a 16 or 17" wheel would be necessary to get bigger brakes on the car. Then again, I guess they're likely only doing a few hot laps so can get by without bigger brakes.

 

My big intercooler weighs more than it looks like it would, if you are adding up turbo goodies. BOV, piping, couplers, etc.

 

A treadstone TR8C intercooler (rated for 500hp) is a 22lb chunk of aluminum on its own. Estimating 30lbs for IC, lines, BOV, etc isn't a crazy estimate. It adds up fast... Getting a boosted K24 to stay cool isn't my concern considering I live and breathe cooling system design in my day job. The "concern" is more-so that you are adding the weight, cost, and system complexity compared to what you could have with a n/a v8.

15x11 with your 275-295 tire of choice is kind of the go-to now at this power level. I'm already on 15x10 with 245, so it wouldn't be too difficult to make that transition. Flares for the rear are really all that I'd need to enable that. I've already got 11.75"x1.25" rotors on the car with my AFCO BBBK, so I'm not worried about the braking aspect in the slightest. Some people are making a transition to NC platform to have more tire options in easy to fit 18" sizes, and a slight few brave souls are doing extreme things to get 18's to fit on the NA/NB. I wouldn't ever consider running anything but a 15" on the NA/NB chassis. The cons list is just SOOO much larger than the pros as long as sticky 275+ 15" sizes stay available.

 

You'll go LS, you just don't know it yet.

 

On the turbo kmiata front, I will say this.... KPI isn't doing themselves much for favors in selling new customers on product. I asked about NA/NB miata fitment on the Artec turbo manifold that they carry for confirmed fitments on the BRZ and E30 on May 7th... I assumed this should be a fairly quick check to do for them to do...

....and here we are... almost 7 months later

They FINALLY posted on the kswap miatas facebook page "Hey we confirmed this turbo manifold fits with SLIGHT modifications". You think they'd post a picture of the fitment!? Nah... not important...



....there's my late night quick rant of the night

 

Time flies when you are having fun... Missed the exact anniversary date, but I noticed we are now officially 8 years into the build thread... As a nice little throwback, here's the humble beginnings to where this all began: a stock NB with only a double hoop rollbar and some cheapo wheels.


Back to current life, I've been continuing to 3D scan more and more items and will continue to do so in my free time. Had my first ever Black Friday sale that went quite well. Had a small gift card giveaway that was cool to provide. Did a full chassis scan of an NB that was a learning experience. There are some slow but steady developments that should lead to good growth for Left Lane Designs in 2025 if I play my cards right. Patience is eating at my soul with these ideas, but time with family when the kids are little is just as (if not more) important. Thanksgiving and now Christmas parties with friends and family are eating up weekends from here on until the end of the year.

It sounds contradicting to my above "growth" goals, but I promise this makes sense in my strategy. I will no longer be planning to sell louvered lower fender vents on my own or through Flyin' Miata. Competition caught wind of this simple idea over the last 4 years and it spread like wild fire. Fast forward to today, I'm quite certain that nearly any shape of louvered fender vent exists in the market now by a wide variety of manufacturers. Rather than try to compete in that busy space, I've made the call to exit the louvered fender vent market for the foreseeable future. My mind can be changed if enough people reach out, but I'm seeing demand taper off to the point where it isn't worth the opportunity cost of the inventory sitting on a shelf. In short, I've concluded my limited time and money is better spent on bringing other ideas to the forefront. For anyone reading this that bought a set of my vents in the past, THANK YOU! Remember, it all started right here in this thread!


I reorganized the garage into "winter mode" to make it easier to work on everything with the summer toys tucked away. I swear I go through a whole bottle of Stabil fuel treatment and need a half dozen trickle chargers in the garage now to prevent a $1k battery bill in spring, but that's first world problems. Projects of relatively small scope are planned for all 3 vehicles in focus on this photo. It'll be a bit tedious as I plan to scan a good majority of any components that are removed and then also any content that exists on the car with removed parts, but long-term having all of these files will be incredibly valuable and worth my while (hopefully the community that I'm offering these to feels the same). I've got 2 weeks of PTO being used during Xmas and New Years, so I'm optimistic I can spend a few full days out in the garage for the first time in a long time during that period.


Related note: I still adore Laguna Blue..... god damn...

 

Time does indeed fly... this August was 13 years for our NA.

Sorry to see the fender vents go, but I'm proud to say I was in on the original group buy here... even if it did take me over a year to install them.

 

First drove my '93 when it was 11 years old, I hated it! lol. Happy carversary.

 

Considering the design on the fender vents is done, is it prohibitively expensive to keep manufacturing the vents? Just curious as I would assume it wouldn't cost much to keep producing them at this point, but I have no idea what that process involves.

Any thoughts about redesigning them and selling them as a 3d model for people to print at home? Since you seem to be moving into the 3d modeling space that seems like it would be a natural progression.
Having said that, I realize that there are also a bunch of files for 3d printed fender vents out there for free already, so it might not be worth the hassle of the redesign.

That Laguna blue does look pretty fantastic!

 

It's not prohibitively expensive... but it simply doesn't make sense to hang onto inventory that will collect dust. The money invested in the inventory can be used for other "faster selling" items that I'm working on at the moment. Not opposed to bringing them back to life if demand ever comes back, but the fact of the matter is, that demand isn't there right now.

I have no intent of selling the design, nor are my models designed with 3D printing in mind. It's worth more for me to keep for myself than it is to sell. If people want a 3D printable design, they can make one themselves or download one of the many files online.

 

Always love catching up on your build thread and definitely jealous of your new workspace. I have 3 cars in a 2 car garage... I'd love to have those 3rd and 4th bays

If 500HP is your goal, I'd toss the LF3 in the ring. Low compression, Ti rods, 420 hp stock, and they can be had for $3500 (sans turbos). Pair it with a stock transmission and you've got a reliable 500Hp. Finding space for the turbos would be a big of a challenge, though.

I need to bite the bullet and buy your NB chassis scan, it would make designing random brackets for the engine bay so much easier!

 

That's a fair idea in concept, but any LFx variant is out of contention for a few reasons for me. In no particular order:
1. You aren't really saving any money over an LSx or boosting the K24 that I already have for that power goal. The whole reason I'm considering an LSx is that I believe it may be cheaper (and more reliable) overall because of N/A simplicity. I know I can build an N/A LSx for ~$4k that meets my power target.
2. I'd question how much weight you are really saving by going LFx vs LSx (if you could even fit it between the NB frame rails with required steering rack clearance). Any weight you save on the engine itself, you add in power adder devices and heat exchangers I strongly predict. Passey has gotten extremely creative in packaging a rotrex to his LFx, but it's yet to be seen how reliable (or powerful) it will be. It's hard to make any conclusions on weight with his car given how far gone it is from factory. What he is doing surely isn't easy or off-the-shelf, that's for certain.
3. Aftermarket support on nearly all the LFx systems is lackluster at best in comparison to LSx or K-series. From wiring harnesses to fuel systems and everything in-between, the LFx just isn't as developed. I'll pick on Passey again, but him being forced down a DIY port injection setup is effort I frankly just don't want to have to make.

I think the LFx swap sweet spot is really for those with a ~300whp N/A target. If your goal is <250whp, a boosted BP or N/A K24 seems more fitting. If you want >350whp, the LSx starts becoming a more valuable cost/$ proposition. That's just how I see it at a high level after driving all of these engine swaps and talking to owners who have done them.

I actually test drove a ATS-V with the LF4 a couple years ago and the engine was one of the biggest things I didn't like about it after coming from its v8 powered sibling. They make good power (especially with aftermarket tunes), but you pop the hood and it's a rats nest of plumbing. The thought of working on and diagnosing issues wasn't all that appealing. YMMV, just my singular subjective opinion.

Thats basically the goal of the whole scan sale side of the business. I think most people would rather pay for a cheap file vs spend hours with a tape measure for less accurate results. Thanks in advance for any purchases you may make. It motivates me to continue spending time grabbing more of them.

 

Haha, I was 14 when I drove mine. First manual trans. I remember getting the most rowdy jerking starting in 1st gear with the blown out OEM suspension and my terrible clutch work. I could never get rid of this car.

 

All fair points, it's sort of a worst of both worlds solution, now that I think about it. My goal is to keep my LFX stock so I'd never really considered the implications of twin turbos - I've (intentionally) never owned a turbo vehicle for reliability reasons. A buddy of mine has a 500HP LS NA and it's... wild. I don't think you'd regret it.

100% - I had to guess and check to get my fuse box bracket to fit, and because of how contoured the engine bay is it's not as simple as measuring the distance between two holes. Well worth the few dollars to save hours of fit checking.

 

Yeah, I'm not intending to rag on the LFX as being bad. I've driven one LFX NB and it was a pretty awesome value if that power level with N/A reliability is what you are shooting for. When laying out a 500whp target, you have to boost the LFX to hit that target and I'm struggling to find the advantage it holds (both in total weight and cost) over an N/A LSx (or a boosted K-series) for the specific circumstance that I'm currently in.

 

Oh for sure, I agree. I hadn't really considered the size\weight\cost of all the extra heat exchanges and plumbing. I saw a $3500 motor built for boost by the factory and thought it was a good deal.

 

Just chiming in to say that an LFX swapped NB is one of the most enjoyable car's I've driven to date. The torque curve starts at what seems like 1200RPM(exaggerated) and stays steady for the entire powerband. Smooth, steady, and just goes.
Definitely not the most powerful motor, or very good aftermarket support. But if you want a solid 300 N/A horsepowers in a bulletproof, easy swap package to just churn out laps in... Man, it's good. SO good.

 

I will not jump the gun and spill the proverbial beans just yet... but this may or may not be me at this exact moment in time

 

I laugh, only because I've had those thoughts!