Keith Tanner wrote: Remember, we are a business. This gives us different priorities than some guy standing in his driveway looking at a Camaro SS and an MGB!
How is your MG doing, anyway? :)
Keith Tanner wrote: Remember, we are a business. This gives us different priorities than some guy standing in his driveway looking at a Camaro SS and an MGB!
How is your MG doing, anyway? :)
loving it - working really hard to talk myself out of a LS swapping one of these sub 1K RX8's. 4 doors equals respectable family car right?
Keith Tanner wrote: Remember, we are a business. This gives us different priorities than some guy standing in his driveway looking at a Camaro SS and an MGB!
I thought Chevy had lots of crate engines available, but I realize now that only a few are the "Connect and Cruise" variety.
Though this does beg the question, is the new Skyactive receptive to boost? You guys have done some great work with the older series in the past.
84FSP wrote: loving it - working really hard to talk myself out of a LS swapping one of these sub 1K RX8's. 4 doors equals respectable family car right?
I would really love to see FM tackle this swap.
Brett_Murphy wrote:Keith Tanner wrote: Remember, we are a business. This gives us different priorities than some guy standing in his driveway looking at a Camaro SS and an MGB!I thought Chevy had lots of crate engines available, but I realize now that only a few are the "Connect and Cruise" variety. Though this does beg the question, is the new Skyactive receptive to boost? You guys have done some great work with the older series in the past.
We want brand new engines complete with wiring harnesses, engine management and a warranty. Most of the crate engines are the typical carbureted drag setups or a good cheap replacement for a bad SBC. Very few come with the engine management and wiring harnesses.
The Skyactive is going to be an interesting challenge with boost. The combination of DI and VVT with an unbelievable range makes for some new capabilities. It's also taking care of catalytic converter temperatures all the time, which I think is going to cause problems for a few tuners. Dyno runs will be one thing, keeping them alive in the real world will be something else.
As for the RX-8 - no real interest here. We're a Miata shop, and our R&D capabilities are stretched enough already. But the chassis was also used in the NC Miata, so we've got the subframe needed to mount the engine in the car. Some details will be left to the installer 
But it would totally be a respectable family car!
The MG hasn't caught fire for a while, so that's good. It's awaiting a trans swap to get rid of the junkyard T56 that keeps popping out of reverse.
McTinkerson wrote:daeman wrote: While your playing around for fun and research.... Mazda klze or klde with turbo or supercharger would be mighty fine. Keeps it in the family to. Just saying....Or a 13B-REW. You don't even have to keep the factory twins.
Carlos Lopez from (I think) CLR Racing down in Miami is building an NA with a massaged 13B. IIRC he started with a V8 subframe he got from Flyin' Miata (I assume it's the V8Roadsters one, or is there another one?
All that was needed to make the engine physically mount on the subframe was welding on a couple of mounting tabs.
We offer that subframe without motor mounts and in bare steel. It's been used for a few different swaps. There have been a few rotary Miatas over the years - but the funny thing is, nobody ever seems to build a second one. There's always been a lot of interest in them, but there are surprisingly few running around.
They're too busy trying to clear out the remains of the apex seals from the turbo?
Friend of mine in st paul built a rotary miata. Its something like a 13b street port in side draft webers or some E36 M3. The build is around here somewhere.
In reply to Keith Tanner:
Any plans on a SkyActiv swap into an NA/NB?
Is there a snowball's chance in Mojave of plumbing things so as to make it CARB-legal?
Keith Tanner wrote: We offer that subframe without motor mounts and in bare steel. It's been used for a few different swaps. There have been a few rotary Miatas over the years - but the funny thing is, nobody ever seems to build a second one. There's always been a lot of interest in them, but there are surprisingly few running around.
I seem to recall a thread somewhere where people discussed how the swap was cursed. Apparently some sort of misfortune befell a bunch of people who attempted the swap. One guy's garage got vandalized, another had the car catch fire, somebody else's got stolen, one guy got ripped off by the shop he had working on it, etc.
Well jeez Keith, this is no good. Why don't you put a turbocharged Offy in the ND? 
Javelin wrote: In reply to Keith Tanner: Any plans on a SkyActiv swap into an NA/NB?
Nope. It's tough to come up with a reason why.
CARB-legal would be tough. We can't use the E-ROD EO that we can with our CARB-legal swaps for the 1990-95 cars (do you like that little plug? Smooooooth, eh?) so we'd have to transfer over all the stuff from a donor car. This can be a challenge for packaging. So the answer there is maaaaaaaybe but not easily.
Joe, send me an Offy turbo and an ND, I'll put it together for you in my garage. Just because
Why not a Ford 2.3L Ecoboost swap into an NC/ND Miata? IIRC the engine bolts up to the factory trans, and it's available as a new motor with ECU from Ford Racing.
(Mostly) Kidding. I love the work you all do and will keep buying parts from you until that changes!
So heres a quick question that you might be able to answer, how does the drivetain-less ND compare with a drivetrainless NA/NB/NC?
I guess I am wondering if the engine/trans was considerably lighter for the ND to offset newer safety gear or if the car is just that light.
As far as the having the subframe to put an LS into an RX8, but details needing to be worked out... Any ideas on how bad this would be? I know it might be a "well, they are similar, but noone has tried it", but it does pique my interest as there seem to be a ton of RX8's with 100k miles and blown rotaries.
Keith Tanner wrote: We offer that subframe without motor mounts and in bare steel. It's been used for a few different swaps. There have been a few rotary Miatas over the years - but the funny thing is, nobody ever seems to build a second one. There's always been a lot of interest in them, but there are surprisingly few running around.
I would think that the Miata chassis doesn't jibe well with the insta-torque of a good rotary.
My prejudice is that V8 conversions are used for putting to and from cruise-ins and the occasional mile-long burnout.
2.3 Ecoboost into an NC is a really interesting idea. We've looked at some of the dimensions of the 2.0 and the high pressure fuel pump is a potential problem. I don't know how the turbo setup would package. Really, it's one of those things we simply haven't had the time to investigate.
We haven't weighed the ND in its current state. I don't think we've ever weighed just the shell, actually. So while it would be really interesting to know, I can't answer anything about how they compare at this point. The car is considerably smaller than the NC, that's got to be part of it. And the NC, being an RX8 in party clothes, was definitely built like a heavier car.
I think there are a couple of LS RX8s out there. Details would be the gross mechanical stuff - supporting the trans (you could probably use the NC swap parts), mounting the diff (or you could try to see what the stock one will handle). Then plumbing - cooling mostly, and we'll count building an exhaust as plumbing. Then the electronics. Making the engine run is easy, making the gauges work is not.
Knurled wrote:Keith Tanner wrote: We offer that subframe without motor mounts and in bare steel. It's been used for a few different swaps. There have been a few rotary Miatas over the years - but the funny thing is, nobody ever seems to build a second one. There's always been a lot of interest in them, but there are surprisingly few running around.I would think that the Miata chassis doesn't jibe well with the insta-torque of a good rotary. My prejudice is that V8 conversions are used for putting to and from cruise-ins and the occasional mile-long burnout.
The typical thought process of someone who's never tried it. Kinda like saying that all turbos are laggy and all superchargers are weak on the top end.
Of course, you're just trolling for fun Other than that, I have to say that the GRM discussion has been one of the best of the various discussions of this photo online.
Keith Tanner wrote: Of course, you're just trolling for fun
It's certainly better than the facebook "Why would you ruin a Miata with a V8" discussions I have seen.
Keith Tanner wrote:Knurled wrote: I would think that the Miata chassis doesn't jibe well with the insta-torque of a good rotary. My prejudice is that V8 conversions are used for putting to and from cruise-ins and the occasional mile-long burnout.The typical thought process of someone who's never tried it. Kinda like saying that all turbos are laggy and all superchargers are weak on the top end. Of course, you're just trolling for fun
I'm admittedly in somewhat of a sour mood but I do have somewhat low expectations for the kind of people whose first instinct is "V8 swap".
After driving EvanB's turbo Miata, I don't think it would work well with my engine or vice versa. The turbo hits nice and smooth at any RPM, the rotary isn't as forgiving of that. Which is probably a lot of why I had so much difficulty driving it, after all these years I am not used to an engine that isn't instant-hit, and a chassis that is easily upset. Clearly it works though
I was skeptical of the V8 swaps until we built our first one. Then I became a convert.
The 400+ lbs of torque from my 6.2 hits pretty hard. The cam in that thing gives wicked throttle response. If you're a binary kind of driver, you could definitely get yourself in trouble.
EvanB wrote:Keith Tanner wrote: Of course, you're just trolling for funIt's certainly better than the facebook "Why would you ruin a Miata with a V8" discussions I have seen.
Or the "Why would you waste money on 'x'" discussions we hear sometimes from people criticizing other peoples' projects. The answer is always, because that is what they want to do.
Keith Tanner wrote: If you're a binary kind of driver, you could definitely get yourself in trouble.
All I know is "idle" and "foot through the firewall", and deal with traction problems by cranking in more angle in my 3-link...
I know it hasn't been asked here, but the usual response to an LS swap is "LS swaps are so played out, you should use a Coyote FORD FOREVER LIKE MY PAPA DONE TAUGHT ME!"
Well, here's a reason why not. That's an old SBF on the right, it's about the same size as an LS3. Coyote on the left.
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