First Noob Post, Boost or Swap?
 

Hello. I am in the process of purchasing a 1997 Miata. My dad has a 350 small Block Chevy motor that we are looking to put in a car. I have seen V8 swaps on Miata’s and I personally don’t think they’re too bad. Personally, I like the rotary sound and I’ve heard the V8 can be heavy in a Miata. I am definitely getting an an ECU first. Ideally, I want to just get a turbo kit for the stock motor. Is that the smartest option? Or would the 350 swap be worth it? I know they have conversion kits on Monster Miata and Flyin Miata

what does the sound of a rotary have anything to do with this question?

I have a Miata.
My dad has a chebby tree fitty.
I have seen V8 swaps.
I like the way rotaries sound.
I am getting an ecu for my car first, but don't know what engine i'm going to run.
I want to turbo the stock motor.


My head is spinning.

cool

I am literally on a forum to learn things. I'm sorry I don't know everything about cars like you do. Maybe if you'd answer my question without being a douche we'd get somewhere.

Take your ADD meds. Then reformulate your question.

Or you could just be a decent human being and help me out in some way. Isn't the point of forums to help people out not shy them away?

I

Leave then.

You didn't ask a real question, and you don't know what you want. I'm not sure what we can do to help you.

That makes sense. Why would I leave when the point of me coming here was to learn something. You must be fun to work with.

I am. All my coworkers love me.

I understand I should have specified, my apologies. My main question was whether to put a V8 in a Miata or a turbo. But I have gotten eaten apart already on another forum and some people were actually decent and helpful. I'll try not to piss you guys off with my dumb questions anymore.

Well hopefully you'll loosen up. I'm new to this as you can see. Just trying to learn. You saying leave helps nobody.

There we go :)

For what it's worth, v8 swaps are really quite expensive. A turbo is a much easier project, and for the most part much cheaper. There's tons of information documented on this site as long as you're willing to do a little reading. If you are really thinking about going down the v8 road, I'd highly suggest an LS over an older sbc. But at the end of the day, a v8 swap is going to take a lot more time and money.

That's a decent question. But... what do you want? What's the goal?

If you ask me that without any background, i'm going to answer "neither, those both sound awful."

That's what I have heard. They can be anywhere from $10,000-20,000. I will look into turbos more and go on mkturbo. Thank you for the insight, and nice meeting you.

I want to use this car as a spring/summer car since New York winters would not really agree with it. Mostly as a daily during the nicer months to have fun with. I would not drag race it with the stock motor unless I boost it. There are a few road courses that I could go to.

Hi, I'm a noob too :p

I'd get a turbo kit and some help from a professional shop (just judging by the information above). Turbo kit will probably be a quarter of the price of that swap. If you're looking for serious power, a LOT of other mods have to be done first to do it proper.. but you said it will be a summer daily, so I'd go with the turbo kit and shoot for some 200 whp depending on ur budget. Try to keep good looking :)

Thank you for your help. That is probably what I will end up doing.

Good stuff, you're welcome. Keep us updated on the progress! And don't hesitate to ask questions.

Theres an unspoken rule here on miataturbo.
lurk more, post less.

You want to do a V8 swap? Look it up; find what other people have done instead of putting a mumbo jumbo of text together and expect to have your hand held through the process.
you want to go turbo? Youre in the right place. Search what other people have. Find out what parts are high quality and what is junk.

Most of the people, especially mods, on this site are very abrasive, and for good reason. Threads like this are made at least once a week. Typing "V8 miata swap" into google or flipping through turbo build threads is actually less strenuous than making a thread with a shotgun blast of dumb, vague questions.

Based entirely on this post where you say mkturbo. This gives us an idea of your budget. MKTurbo puts out great budget stuff that a lot of guys on here run and cost way way less than a motor swap. The old SBC and rotary i would never ever put in a miata and knowing what i know now i would have never built an #allofit 1.8 miata motor. If you do want to go and swap a motor the K Swap from Kmiata in my opinion is the best swap for the money but still talking a lot of money.

This is a good group of guys on the forum and have tons of technical knowledge. We are a little rough around the edges because every day people ask questions like you did with little to no effort in searching so threads like this are more of a joke to us especially since you didnt follow first post protocols. Also the little attitude thing you did above with other well known members is a great way to get banned.

Last thing. Scaxx is a super cool guy and very helpful. Im sure his co-workers and friends all like to work with him.

Another thing that is really helpful is to know your mechanical ability and the amount of time you want you spend working on your car. If you are reasonably mechanically inclined AND have some sick twisted love/hate relationship with having a broken car in your garage constantly and spending way more time working on it then driving it, then do some non-standard engine swap. Otherwise, just get the MK Turbo kit and be done with it.

MK turbo kit can make more power than the small block Chevy, depending upon how both are built.

Gotcha. I apologize. I have everything figured out.

Or dont post dumb s*** and do your homework before asking questions :slap:

Understood. Hope to be in contact soon .

Im trying to be cool here man

I'm mostly looking for a winter project and as I said before, a summer car. I have come to the conclusion that an engine swap is out of my ballpark. Turbo will be my option eventually.

That's what I've heard especially cause the size of the Miata. Also nothing beats that whistle. I like the packages MKTurbo has.