First Drive
 

For those that don't read build threads, especially year-long ones that never seem to end, a milestone first real drive tonight. I say real as in not driving it onto the trailer for paint while sitting on a bucket and holding the steering column up. Only went five miles but it was dark and I had no dash lights, gauges or turn signals, let alone plates or insurance so I didn't want to push it. Oh, and probably 5* positive camber on the RF tire. Everything just got bolted on and eyeballed. Going for an alignment next.

Nothing fell off, and I made it uneventfully. Some pics of the big day. The car is a mess. Been sitting in the shop for months since paint, let alone all of the new dust on the rear from my gravel road so it is very dirty.

After alignment I want to get a few drives on the clutch and then off to the dyno for tuning. It has a rough canned tune but it is pig rich.

Anyway, I'm happy.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328191349
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328191349
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328191349
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328191349

Looks good! Congrats! What a sleeper, you would never know a 5.0 sits in that car.

Nice! Wasn't this "just" a rebuild? I thought you tracked a v8 and decided to tear it apart and fix everything you didn't like.

I can't wait to read dyno numbers!!
Glad to hear it hit the street!

Nope. Scratch build. Fabbed my own front and rear subframes by heavily modifying the stock ones to work, modified the rear control arms to clear the CV joints, new trans mount, TIG welded 2 1/2" primaries dumping into 3" exhaust, everything. There was zero kit parts used in this build.

Congrats Stein. Epic moment for an epic build.

Nice 02SE!!!....Oh wait.... :giggle:

Looks great man!

If it was my lip would fit. :cry:

built like an adult. very clean.

Whoohoo! It is a car at last!

I don't see a turbo or two installed. I think you forgot something.

If its a stock 5.0 block I'd be pretty careful w/ the turbos, they're known to split in half (yes, the block itself) at as little as 450 crank hp.

I think the block splitting only happens with certain generations of the 5.0 blocks that had high nickel levels but I'm not sure... Anyone have any info on that? I've seen a few that have much higher output than 450 hp and run reliably but I have seen a few of them that separate too.

Not that this is a 5.0 forum, just curious.

Nice build!
Why did you choose a 5.0 over a SBC? If I ever build a V8 Miara I'd want under 350hp for sure.

I was under the impression that any of them post mid 70s do it, and the only significantly better stock blocks are the 'mexican' ones, but even that only gets you to 550-600. The 351w blocks are quite a bit better. There's also the aftermarket block solution, but that's quit pricy.

Ease of fit mainly. Heck, my headers drop in from the top, lol. That, and because I was going to fab everything myself and there were others out there to look at for hints. The front distributor makes the fit easier as well.

I know this is a weird question, but once you get to driving it on a regular biases can you post MPG's? Did you use a T5?

I love this build for so many reasons...
1) It's an NB. Most don't know this, but there is a lot of differences between an NA and an NB as far as a V8 swap.
2) So many things are custom fabbed, it really brings to reality the term "if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish great things".
3) I always said "If I did a V8 swap, it would only be a GM LS engine." This build makes me think twice about that.
Fantastic Job!

car looks good, bro.

out of sheer curiosity, what'd you do for exhaust? ;)

I am so jealous.

I can do that. It will be a while. We are supposed to get close to a foot of snow Saturday. I used a T5 but went to 3.73 gears so my mileage will not be what it could be. I am confident that low 30's would have been possible had I left the 3.2 or whatever gears in it that the diff came with. You can get 2.8-ish ratio if you want.

Like?
I can only think of a few-
Wiring harness (NB's have a seperate engine harness where the NA's are very intergrated)
Cluster (NB's are electronically driven)
Radiator (obvious differences)

I can't speak to any real differences other than what Chapman pointed out. There is more room to work in on an NB due to fixed headlights, which is a bonus. That said, when I worked from scratch on one car I have no point of reference.

beautiful car and great work
what are you going to have to do to get the cluster functioning?

I don't know yet.:rofl:

NA cluster swap?

Could, but I don't want to hose up my title when the mileage changed. I have a 24K NA cluster.

Don't you have a 94R cluster?

Great job John,
Looks beautiful so far.

but

MOAR PICS AND MOAR VIDEOS (should go without saying actually :) )

I wonder how much cheaper/easier this is to do vs the LSx swap.
Biggest problem on LSx is headers, and w/ CA nazi emissions that's a no-go. If the headers on this thing drop right in that means there's much more room which means (hopefully) the stock headers will bolt right on and POSSIBLY pass a state ref here in CA?

I'm probably dreaming:cry:

+1
vids please
i really want to see wot run - even if you can't tell what rpm your at lol

"Vids or it didn't happen" is the new "Pics or it didn't happen."

Really though, how do you not capture the first start-up, first drive, etc? We need moving pictures.

I do now!

Looks great John. Milestone for sure. Even with all that's ahead, it must have felt great!!

Time to change your sig, bud.

You will never be able to make it happen in CA. I'm technically in violation of fed emissions laws which state you cannot put an older engine into ca newer year car. All of the 5.0 motors are 95 or older. That's why almost all people do 5.0 in early NA's.

LOL, it was 9:30 at night, I couldn't think of anything else to do on the car, it was 50* and I just said hell with it and went. Really not that smart on something that I just built. Even forgot my phone so couldn't have even called my wife for a tow.

I have them turned off so forgot that I had one.:noob: Updated.

Okay, so I've been contemplating a V-8 swap for some time now, in various platforms. One question: knowing the work it took, and the time invested, would you do it again? If so, would you do it the same, or not? What significant changes would you make with the benefit of hindsite?

:cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:
Shatter my dreams why dont you.

Not entirely true... in fact the v8 exploders they made till 2000 were 5.0 v8s with better heads than the 5.0 mustangs came with. throw a cam and some cheap headers on one of those and you should hit 250-270whp pretty easy.

So you think a 00 exploder stock motor+t5 in a 00 miata done cleanly and correctly (retaining emissions equip) would actually sneak past the ref over here?

Sorry for semi-off topic quesiton

Stein,
How much did this approx cost? I know you did tons of fab yourself and didn't buy off the shelf (which is something I'd do too) but whats an honest figure to be looking at all said and done? I think I saw you throw 10k out in some thread. is that for everything or just motor+swap not counting original car?

No. It's a truck motor. Nice try.

Stein, I'm pretty sure that's how most of our first drives have been. Mine was a spur of the moment because I'm tired of wrenching on it and just want to make it hate life kind of thing.

It depends on the individual. I enjoy fab work. I have just bought another Miata to hack up as I'm in fabrication withdrawals already. The time it took was irrelevant to me. I probably have 500-600 hours in this swap making everything myself. Monster Miata claims you can do the wwap with thier kit in 50-60 hours. I'd double that but even 100 hours is short compared to mine. The kit is $4k. What is your time worth to you? Because I did this as a hobby with no completion date in mind, it didn't factor in. It's a fifth vehicle for me so I didn't need to get it on the road. The 5.0 is easier to DIY fab the subframe. The LS1 is harder to fit.

If you are going with a kit the monster kit is good but if going with the cost of a kit, I'd go LS1. More HP, more modern motor, lighter swap. More expensive, though. Motor/trans will be $2K-3K more money. Low end if you go L33 higher end for LS1. T56 transmissions are $1200 vs $200 for a Ford T5. Header fit is still an issue with the LS1 although I hear that they may have that whupped now.

It is a truck motor which can't be swapped into a car in Kalifornia.

I think I'm at $12K but I haven't totaled it up. $2K for the car so yeah, about $10K in the swap itself. I spent some cash on parts not needed, plus I have included $3200 in paint and bodywork.

Its not really a 'truck' motor... Ford racing sold them as crate 5.0s for a while, it has the 'gt40p' heads and 'gt40' intake like the 93 cobra had. swap the truck cam and its more cobra motor than truck... Or is there some california rule about it being swapped from a truck? You could always run a stock mustang 5.0 intake (barf)

Kalifornia knows that there were no car 5.0 after 95? 96? I don't recall which. In either case, there can't be a 99 or 00 car 5.0

Kalifornia can suck a bag of d1cks

They already do. It's called San Francisco.

Stein, thanks for the response. For me, swap would probably be an LSx motor, and I'd be purchasing at least a crossmember, as my welding skills are non-existant. Not the place to be practicing!

I'm seriously considering a mid 1980's 944. My concerns are with wiring (I hate it!) and ECU. It'd have to be done on a fairly tight budget, as it would be a toy. It would also have to be completed fairly quickly, or I'd lose interest and it would sit unfinished. Hence purchasing some sort of kit.

What about the 3.9 from the Lincoln LS V8 (maybe too wide since its a modular ford), Mazda KL from a Mazda Millenia L ('97-'02), Mustang 3.9 (again maybe too wide because modular), mustang 3.8 (I think thats a windsor based engine, so not wide like a modular, more like the old 5.0 me thinks), V6 from the -'02 Camaro/Firebird. I'm trying to think what chevy had rwd and a decent engine. The Camaro engine may be your best bet, otherwise your only option I can think of is a swap into an NA.