scancy

After months of searching for a used Miata in decent shape, I finally found a 1999 for $750. Holes in top and not running. Owner says has cylcinder issues. Intake and other parts were removed and sitting in the trunk.Had to get it towed to get it to my house Which is good, because I plan to pull the engine and drop an LS in it. :-)

Been doing alot of reading the last few months regarding the LS swap, various swap kits and comparisons, etc. Any words of wisdom?

Great forum and I hope I can learn from everyone here.My 5 year old son is really excited to pitch in where he can as well. :-)

5.0MX5

BGordon

Welcome to the Miata world.
What part of the USA do you call home?

Thanks for the kind words Ron.

The Flyin Miata kits are specifically designed for a person buying a new crate engine and new T56 Magnum transmission so my journey mostly documents the differences you will need to make to the build if you decide to utilize the earlier LS1 engine and transmission from a 1998-2002 Z28 or TransAm. I was surprised at the number of differences.
You could also decide to buy a used donor car and do the swap following the least expensive route of making or scrounging most of the stuff on the cheap. For that you should look at the Fabricators Build thread.

A couple of suggestions I would make based on hind sight.

It does you no good to have a pile of high dollar parts sitting around waiting on one or two crucial pieces.
For that reason get the front subframe / rails / cross member on order as early as possible.
You can get 90% of the work done once those items and an engine & transmission are available.
The alternative is to do what I did which was to order all the main items in the same couple of days and then sit around with a pile of parts waiting for 2 months on the front subframe.

Next item is that above all else you need to watch the YouTube series where Turbo Tom does his swap using Flyin Miata and V8 Roadsters pieces.
Then watch them a second time paying very close attention to the little details because the first time gives you a great overall picture of the swap but you need a second watch to really absorb the small details of the swap.

Stay organized.
There were way too many times when I spent an hour looking for something I knew 100% that I had but simply could not find.

Last (and best) piece of advice I can give in hind sight is to keep in mind that the build process is a whole bunch of small projects to get to your end result and
ENJOY THE JOURNEY.
Rather than getting discouraged by looking at the huge pile of parts piled in your garage stay focused on the discreet projects that get you a little further down the road to completion.
I got a huge amount of satisfaction from doing some small project and doing something that I had never even tried in my whole life.
One example is the fuel pump install.
Somebody who knows the steps involved and has the pieces laid out can probably do the change our in 15 minutes but it took me 2 hours simply because I took my time looking over the Miata fuel pieces to make sure I know exactly how everything comes apart and how to put it together correctly.

scancy

Ron thank you for the advice and welcome. Greatly Appreicated.
BGordon, I am in Land O Lakes FL and thank you for the tips. Interestingly enough, watching Tom' video and another using the 5.0 swap, is what gave me the itch to finally start to do it.

Tom does a good job of showing the details and attention to making things look factory.

Definitely will follow your suggestions regarding subframe,rails and cross member along with re-watching Toms video.

My biggest concern is wiring as I have never done auto wiring before, other than wire a new in dash stereo. Not the same I know. By looking at the complete removal of the dash and wiring harnesses done by Tom in the video, even with meticulous labeling, I hope I can put it all back together correctly and make accurate connections to get it all to work.

Again, I appreciate the advice, and would love to see your vehicle and pics showing your journey.

BGordon

Too bad you are so far away cause I would really like to do another V8 Miata swap and helping somebody else get it done would scratch that itch.
What is your budget and your goal for performance from the finished car?
In most respects your budget and goal will determine the specific components that you need to utilize.
You mentioned some things about the Miata you bought but did not say what condition the car is in overall as a swap donor.
If you read over the build threads on here your will often see that people fight thru a bunch of issues not directly related to swapping the drive train which complicates the build and the overall swap process.
Rust and crappy existing wiring are the two things that greatly increase the difficulty and headaches.

Another video series you might watch that is currently ongoing is by a guy named Taylor Ray trying to do an LS based swap for $10,000
He is doing a LS 5.3 swap into an NA Miata but he is doing a twist that is very interesting for budget minded people.
Rather than using the V8 Roadster subframe he is using a Monster Miata subframe that sits the engine further forward enough that the transmission tunnel does not need to be cut and the dash does not need to be removed.
This removes most of the worry from the swap process but brings on a couple of problems.
He is also using a different transmission that appears to be very budget friendly.
He bought a used 6 speed from a Nissan 350Z (or Infiniti G35) and uses an adapter plate to mate it to the LS engine he bought.
Still a work in process so we will have to wait a while to see just how well it works out.
For an engine he bought an aluminum block 5.3 that is sold in some SUV's and non-performance V8 applications.
Much cheaper than the traditional Z28 or Corvette engine and still makes plenty of power.
He is utilizing Pontiac G8 exhaust manifolds rather than headers.

With respect to your wiring worry, you have reason to worry because modifying the Z28 harness is a real mess.
I tried going that way then gave up and went the easy way and spent $600 on a brand new Painless Wiring harness that made everything super easy.
Unless you are just set on doing a fabricators build where you are specifically doing it the cheapest way possible I would HIGHLY recommend buying a brand new wiring harness.
The new harness makes everything real easy and is plug and play.
The connectors are marked and in most case can only connect to one place as the connectors are specifically designed to not interchange with other connectors to keep everything fool proof. They also supply a booklet with pictures of each connector and arrows showing exactly where the connector is located.
Beyond that you will only have to connect power and ground to the battery and splice one wire into the ignition to get switched power and a couple of connections to get the instruments working. The free Flyin Miata V8 swap guide that you can download from their website does a good job of describing exactly where to connect those wires. If you follow the Taylor Ray route of leaving the dash in place the connections are simple to locate because one is at the steering column wiring bundle and the rest splice into the wiring connectors that plug into the back of the instrument cluster. Both locations are easy to get to with the dash in place.

Flavaquero

I am up the road from you in Dade City and will be starting my swap here soon. There are a few others that are done located here in Florida.

scancy

Flava that is great to hear. Would love to see how your build develops and share insight. My build may take a while with progress being a little at a time due to budget, time and my 5 year old. So I will do some work here and there and try to update the forum as frequently as I can.

BGrodon, thank you for the inisght. To answer your question, my goal is for 350-400 hp at around $15-18K. May not be realistic but I need to try to set a boundary somewhere. I dont mind going a little higher, but dont have an open wallet either.

As far as the car goes, i have attached some pics. See those parts on the ground? Intake, fan, etc? They were in the trunk and front seat when I bought the car. Guy said one of the cylinders had compression issues and he didnt have the money to fix it. Didnt bother me much since the engine is getting yanked anyway. Body looks pretty straight, minor dent on rear trunk deck lid, top has a hole in it and i suspect the drain holes need clearing and new drain rail installed with a new top since the back behind the seat was wet during a rain. I was hurrying to clear space in the garage to get it out from outside and let it air out for a while.

T




he subrame on the passenger side has a dent in it. Hope i can strighten it out to fit the frame rails supports over them.

Will start draining fluids and disconnecting things next weekend.