ANOTHER Northern Illinois here too..!
 

So, Hey All.
I was directed here by "Charchri", He gave me a link from another forum where I didn't want to discuss the fact that physics exist in the really real world, and my personal belief that Mr. Shelby was a genious... Hahaha..!
I've always been a fan of the Miata.
A friend of mine in the service had one in northern California, and it was a blast to drive through the wine country, and canyons as time and commitments allowed for.
I had always been into bikes, I was recently told I can't ride any longer due to some injuries sustained in the service coming back to haunt me. So I sold my daily rider, a Honda that had been painted and pin striped by Tom Wojahn (Yes, the cartoonist from Hot Rod, Hot Cycle, Popular Hot Rodding, and Car-Toons Magazines to name a few).
I also sold my GSXR 1100 project bike.
Actually I traded one of them for a 1989 Chevy pick-Up, Stay with me...
Two days ago, I found that the frame of the "It's totally solid" pick-up was rotted through at the leaf spring mounts.
The truck has a 377 Scoggin Dickie race engine in it, so it's now in pieces on the Garage floor and listed in the local Craigslist ads after a huge amount of work over the past two depressing days.
I was dissapointed and needed a drive, and not even 3 blocks from the house I past a long drive way with a beaten up Miata all the way at the other end, sitting alone in front of a dark and dirty garage. So I pulled in, parked and walked up to the door and knocked. When the 55 year old shirtless tattooed guy answered the door, all I said was, "Is the little red Miata for sale..?"
He said, "Yeah, I'm putting a sign in the window now, that's why it's sitting outside in the driveway, it's been in the garage for a year and a half." It belongs to my son."
"He's in the Army, and he asked me to sell it before he gets home, he just bought a new truck when he got back state-side."
"What's he want for it I asked..?"
"It's up to me, I paid for it when he was in high school."
we talked for a while more, he drives truck over the road and is going to be home on Sunday. I'll be picking it up then, when I hand him $800.oo..!
Here's a couple of pictures of my old Honda VTR 1000, and the truck I traded it for.
The ORIGINAL PLAN was to put the 377 engine from the truck in the Miata, BUT I've been looking around and doing a bit of research...
There are QUITE a few cooler ideas for a V8 swap out there.
Lexus has a 4 Valve OHC Engine..?! They sound AWESOME..!
And some company is building a 4 valve GM small block head..?
Where have I been during all of this new technology..? My motorcycles were wicked quick, but I had no idea this was being transferred to the automotive market yet..! I'm a 12 year old with his first mini bike all over again..! YEAH..!
Now, how do I build it to keep it level headed for learning scca or nasa..?
Hey OTHER new guy from Northern Illinois..?!
Because... ya' gotta have goals..!
I threw in a couple pics of my last bike, I bought it wrecked, I bought a few of them wrecked and built them up. And a pic of my daily driver too...

Welcome! good luck on your project, there's tons of info here.

Welcome Speedfreek! I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with. You are thinking outside the box a bit.....which is always awesome in my opinion.

Lot of Illinois builds going on these days, welcome from the other end of the budgetless state!!

LOL I love it! I'll have to go for more drives with the courage to knock on doors! So what is this $800 Miata? If it's not rust free it may not be worth the effort to fix.

SCCA and NASA is all in the grip so tires and low weight are keys to the highway there. I do a lot of autocross with mine and it's a blast but not terribly competitive in the PAX numbers because it's such an odd duck. I just go to sling the car around and have fun and manage to do both just fine. You are lucky to be where you are there are a lot of great tracks and opportunities to play very close to you.

Coming from bike world you'll probably want to get down around 5 lbs per hp or so to be satisfying in a Miata. It's not hard to do and there are plenty of formulas to get you there. It's usually not cheap unless you are very DIY but it's a lot more fun and interesting to make a Miata go fast than a muscle car stop and turn.

Anyway welcome to our little band of brothers that will never tell you not to build it or that you have ruined your car. I have yet to talk to anyone that says we don't understand what the Miata is all about that has ever spent any quality time with a V8 Miata. They always puff up and say it's more challenging to drive a slow car fast but they miss the fact that it's a heck of a lot more fun to drive a fast car at any speed!

PS no question Shelby was a genius!

Hey everybody, Thanks for the welcome..!
Well, after a lot of reading and research, I'm dropping the hammer on the build bug.
But, It's really a twisted fate of what started also...
I took a V8 Ford swapped Miata for a ride, actually, I first rode in it, then drove it.
Yes, it was INSANE, and I loved the fact that at ANY second I could blip the pedal and the tires spun, like the electric cars on the race tracks I had as a kid, I digress.
After talking with him for a while we got down to brass tacks, and he was honest with me... 500 at the wheels, through a 5 speed is just too much.
Yeah, it screams like a cat with it's tail caught in the mouth of pit-bull puppy at dinner time, but MY GOD, I don't think I'm looking for that kind of insanity out of a track oriented car.
I'm having issues with mobility in my clutch leg, so I may have to go with an auto trans also (DAMMIT I love to shift my toys).
So, I started looking at other options of the V6 variety.
I really like the dual overhead cammers, but they're so W I D E... I want to be able to work on it without removing it.
Even Honda's 75 degree V6 is still 24 inches at the outside of the valve covers.
Now, I'm going to take a lot of flack for this, but here goes...
The GM 60 degree V6 is narrow, and at 135 ponies, is double the original power of the 1.6 that's in there, and there are SO many of them.
The engine has readily available parts, and the overdrive trans. is easy to get parts for a rebuild after I've gone through the engine and gotten it ready. I can also use a BnM ratchet shifter to get the feel of ripping a shifter off the floor when the urge hits me.
Now, I have a couple of T25 turbos sitting here in Ziplock bags in a plastic storage bin. Yeah, I honestly can't wait to start welding up my intake manifolds (yes it's plural). I've been doing a lot of research on that also, and I'll be relocating the injectors for sure after seeing that weird mess GM put on top of that engine, just WHOA..?!
I'll be doing quite a bit of work getting the engine to move rearward, where the balance difference is minimal or at least close to the factory's setting.
The engine isn't aluminum, so I have to make up the difference.
I have found a company that builds a 3.1 and 3.4 kit for the 60 degree V6, they also build aluminum heads.
I'm actually looking to get 300 to 350 horsepower to the ground, and have something unique from anything else I've seen out there, and nobody builds those 2.8 engines because they're only capable of around 180 or so horse power... but what if... just, what if, it turns out cool..?
So, I started looking, and found a KILLER deal on a 2.8 and trans. out of a 90's Camaro, for $100.oo, from a 71 year old Veteran of the Viet Nam War (You should see the INCREDIBLE pictures he's sent me in our E-Mail correspondence) the deal includes the computer and a labeled wiring harness. It was going to be put into his Triumph apparently, I'll be picking that up in the morning.
The engine has been "cleaned up" inside and out, but not built, so my rebuilding it will be a bit easier.
Now, I totally get that this is a V8 Forum, but the other guys think it should be left all factory... that's just not my bag man, again, thanks for the welcome guys..! I appreciate it..!
Okay, any Ideas, Facts, or comments are welcome...
I almost forgot the PICTURES...!

You'll find the guys here are truly passionate about the miata swap in general, not just the v8 swap. Your project sounds fun, perhaps a little obscure, but fun none the less. Looking forward to see what you come up with.

Actually I've spent a fair amount of time lately looking at a V6 swap too and considered that drive train. It's been done a couple times in a Miata and hundreds of times in MGs so there is some info out there. I'd love to have the link to the company you found with a kit. Could you post that please?