I've been waivering on whether to create a thread or not, but decided why not.

I'm embarking on my first V8 Miata, but certainly not my first engine build/swap. My experience comes from Mustangs. I've done a few 4 cyl - V8 swaps and a 98 2v to 4v swap. While those pale in comparison to the Miata swap, I believe I can stumble through it.

I know the LS series is a very popular swap these days and I've nearly pulled the trigger on a few 5.3s, but my wallet keeps telling me to play it conservative and stick with the 5.0.

As such, I've started gathering parts. I have a T-5 from a 2000 3.8 that I'll change the input shaft on. I also have a line on the 8.8 with 3.27s and a t-lock that I'll rebuild with extra clutches and plates.

I also have a line on a 96 Explorer engine, but I'd want to rebuild it.

I have a huge list of steps to take and the order for them, but it's probably a little too much for this post. Instead, I'll document it along the way.

Now, here's the catch. The car I'm using was involved in a bus incident. The bus ran over it.



The car has a clear title, zero rust, and is pretty much unmolested. I've inspected the car and it looks as though I can handle the repair. I figured why not. I'll throw it up on the rack and if it's not straight, I'll use the car as a mock up for my 95.

This is the windshield frame I pulled from the local Pick-n-Pull.



My intent is to cut the spot welds on each of the panels and attempt to install the replacement as the factory did (except by hand; not robot). I won't start pulling the welds until this weekend.

At worst, I see this as challenging my skills, ultimately ending up as a mock up car. At best, the frame will be straight and the car will serve as the V8 base.

 

The first piece is off. The rain and my trip to pick up some spot welding bits slowed the process significantly.

If I wasn't trying to learn something with this endeavor, I'd say it would be really smart to scrap the car and start with a good tub. This will certainly take a while, but I will know exactly how this car was intended to go together if I can stick with it.

 

I'm making progress, but as with my 95, the hour or two a night makes things take a while.

I got the other side off and I'm down one more layer. Before I start on the next layer, I'm going to reinforce the tub both inside and in the engine compartment.

 

I'll move the car to the garage this weekend to get it up in the air. I need to rebuild my dirt bike engine first.

 

More progress. *** is draggin. Done for the night.



I'll pull the drivetrain tomorrow, finish pulling the remaining pieces, and start prepping the new hairpiece.

 

I spent today trimming the replacement wig. I have a little more to do tomorrow before I start fitting it to the car. I'm fairly confident I drilled well over 100 spot welds. It's getting pretty exciting. With any luck, the next pictures will be of the windshield fitted to the car.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Holy crap! It fits! I have a lot of work to do, but at least the rough cuts were pretty close.

 

And you can take pride in it because you're doing it yourself! It won't be a 'checkbook' car. The 302 is small, light, and super easy to get parts for. I have a buddy that did a Boss 302/T5 in his 90. Like yours, it had alot of body damage. His is beautiful, and if I didn't already have the 355 on an engine stand, I would have gone Ford.

 

Door alignment is good.



Top alignment is good too.



Next is to figure out the best approach to adding strength. The factory used various panels inside panels to add strength.

 

Well, the car is at a standstill for now. I'm waiting for my new MIG gun to get here. I broke my other. The soonest it'll be here is tomorrow.

 

Somebody got his welding gun. Somebody got his welding gun. Somebody got his welding gun. Let the work resume tomorrow.

 

She's all welded together. I plug welded like the factory, but also stitch welded wherever possible to add strength. Gun angle in the interior starts to be problematic, but it is done.

 

I didn't really make a lot of progress this weekend. Instead, I worked on my 95. I was able to pull the whole drivetrain, though. I'm not sure what I'm going to work on next. I can either work on the mods to the engine bay and seam weld everything, or I can start on the interior. I'm using a set of NB seats, so I'll need to do some work to the seat rails.

 

There's not a lot going on in Tim land. I've been focusing on my Mustang and 95.

I ended up putting the rest of the car together, so I could have my garage back. All of the panels align, so that's good. The bumper is a little off, because I only have the top of it bolted in to make removal easy.



The car is now called Frank, because she has parts from six Miatas. When I get the passenger fender, it'll be seven. Frank is fitting.

The path has been set, though. The Miata will be Blue Oval, because I had a good day at the junkyard. I was out looking for a rear from a T-Bird, but decided to take a look at their Explorer stock. As luck would have it, I found a 1997. The engine looked to have seen better days, so we didn't pull the whole engine. Instead, we pulled the intake - which is fairly common and not a great find. The treasure came when I decided to check the back of the heads on the off chance this was an early 1997 with the GT40 (non-P) heads. One bar, two bars, three bars - gold. So, now I have a good set of GT40 heads and a GT40-style intake to polish up.

For comparison sake, this is the last intake I played with from the junkyard.

Before:



After:



This one will take a little longer, because I'm going to ship it off to St. Louis to get ported.