Matt Farah Drives a Cali-legal LS3-ified Miata

LS3 Miata features a GMPP E-Rod engine with approved cats, making it fully legal in California.

The LS3 has become a popular engine to swap into low-performance vehicles, but California emissions make it difficult to switch engines in a street-driven vehicle. Fortunately, there are some options for people who want to inject a dose of LS power to something slow like a Mazda Miata, thanks to the folks at GM Performance Parts. Their E-Rod crate engine lineup is designed to be 50-state legal in newer vehicles provided that the powerplant is installed correctly under California guidelines. With the help of the V8-powered Miata experts at Flyin Miata, Zandr Milewski has a Miata with an LS3 engine that is legal in the toughest emission state in the country.

Matt Farah of the Hagerty YouTube channel recently met with Milewski, who talked about his LS3-swapped Miata. He then handed the keys to Farah, who had nothing but kind things to say about tiny car with V8 power.

BMW Introduction

At the beginning of the video, Farah is driving a BMW M3 that has an engine from a newer M3. He goes to the shop in California, where they talk about what has to be done in order to run an S54 BMW engine in an E36 M3. Whether you are into BMWs or not, it is interesting to hear someone talk about what goes into making an engine swapped car legal in California. If you are into BMWs, it is an interesting segment, as the S54 engine has to make the older M3 a hell of a lot of fun to drive.

LS3 Miata

Next, Farah introduces Milewski’s LS3 Miata. The owner begins by explaining that he bought the car and immediately sent it to Flyin Miata for the LS3 build. He wanted it to be legal for street use in California, so the state-approved catalytic convertors were installed with the 50-state-legal E-Rod LS3.

Once the car was built and in Milewski’s possession, he simply had it inspected and approved by the state, which mostly focused on those convertors. Once it was approved by the state, he was given a sticker with a bar code that goes under the hood. Should he get pulled over in California and the officer wants to inspect the engine, a bar code scanner will tell the authorities that this Miata has an approved LS3 swap.

After speaking with the owner, Farah heads out onto the open road with the LS3 Miata. Not surprisingly, he has nothing bad to say about the car, but considering that it was built by the best-known high performance Miata shop in the world, we would expect it to be a great driver’s car.

He praises the owner’s decision to go with the LS3 rather than some far-more-powerful option, as the available power makes for a perfectly balanced sports car. He also points out that the engine is strong enough in the tiny Mazda that you don’t have to run the engine to redline to build speed in a hurry, with the 4,000 rpm ranging providing gobs of instant acceleration.

If you live in California and you want to swap an LS-based engine into a newer vehicle, the E-Rod is the best option and this video provides some detail on how that all works.

Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com