351w in a NB?
 

Hi Guys,

Has anyone tried to install a 351w in Miata? I am not really that concerned with hood clearance. From what I can see the steering shaft and headers may be the main issue.


I have a built 351w from my Mustang and I am going to pull the 5.0 out of the Miata for a freshen up + HCI swap and wanted to see if there was any way in dropping in the 351 in there.

Thanks,

Makan

A 351 has been done in a NA by a friend of Martin of Monster Miata. It was actually bored and stroked to a 427!!!.

However, eventually the guy got done playing with it and got tired of replacing engines (he went through a few) and dropped a yard 302 in it to sell it. A customer of mine (and poster here) bought it, had it shipped over to the East coast and promptly blew that engine. We've built him an engine for it since (a 331) and it's running pretty well.

Having taken the car apart a few times and seen what went into fitting a 351 in it here's my thoughts on the matter...

It's not worth it. If you want 351 cubes stroke a 302. The header routing was awful, the steering shaft had to have two new universals added that made the steering sort of numb. The intake sticks through the hood. The effort required to make the 351 fit over the effort required to make a 302 fit was ridiculous considering a 302 can be made almost as big without adding an inch of deck height.

There's pictures of the car getting it's new 331 in my gallery.

So, it has been and can be done if you really want to go that route. My advice would be to sell the 351 to a Mustang guy and use the funds to build a nice 331 or 347 for it.

Good luck ether way you decide to go,

-Jason

Thanks for the info Jason. I think I will keep the 302 in there for now. I also sent you a private mesage on miata.net asking about a harness. I have the same screen name there as well.

-Makan