Congratulations Keith

Saw your ls1 miata in another car magazine and wanted to congratulate you on breaking into the mainstream.

cool!

Thanks :)

Actually, that one's an LS3 - technically an LS376/480 I've known Larry Webster for quite a while and he's owned a 1.6 Miata for years. I think the article was just an excuse for him to get a chance to drive one...

I did the driving for the photos, and I think I disappointed when I wasn't able to get the car sideways. Not that the car won't do it, but between the good suspension, the NT-01s and the skinny mountain road with big unprotected drops (Glendora Mountain Road, in case you're wondering) - I just wasn't man enough. I'd have to be going waaay too fast.

I believe GRM/CM is going to have something on the cars soon as well.

I'll be doing my radio show soon and would love to do a special on one of your cars.

I was reading that last night and was like...tanner....I know that name.

Keith Tanner wrote: (Glendora Mountain Road, in case you're wondering)

Near Mt Baldy / Angeles National Forest?

I was going to give the same congrats. It's interesting that Flyin Miata gets into R&T or C&D what seems like once every year, but they act as if you guys are brand new to this game.

You estimated that $12,000 and craigslist skills would do a similar build, but I wish you could've mentioned that a 302 swap with a supercharger and some cheap mods would be equally thrilling and considerably cheaper.

Not once every year by far. We were last mentioned in R&T in 2007 and that was about the Westfield. C&D was 2004, I think - actually, that was Elvis in a previous incarnation. C&D also wrote up my Locost in 2006. So, a couple of times a decade is a bit more accurate, and only one of those was actually about a Miata.

You can get "thrilling" by riding a skateboard down a hill covered in gravel. I don't think a supercharged 302 is in quite the same league as one of our LSx cars. Weight, power, ground clearance, reliability and overall quality differ quite a bit. You are welcome to disagree, of course.

Corvair, I'm not really sure exactly where we were. Lots of freeways with lots of traffic, studded by the sudden appearance of fun curvy roads. We were on Angeles Crest one day (that's when Larry drove the car) but went to Glendora for the photos.

Keith, My apologies as I did not realize another company makes the Ford kits and FM sticks to LSx only.

No worries. We try to do one swap and do it right. Takes a lot of effort to go from a one-off to a semi-production setup like this, where we have all the necessary parts on the shelf and there's no fabrication involved. You can really see the difference - a CNC-bent exhaust looks much cleaner than one welded together, and it also keeps the cost manageable.

I do think the Chevy is a better option for these cars - not due to some deep-seated Ford vs Chevy religion, but because of the characteristics of the engines. Packaging is a pretty big part of that.

I read the article as well. I liked it. I'd really like the same quality kit for an RX-8, but the Miata is really tempting.