So, why not just modify it?

 

nice build. Will follow.

 

I've been pretty busy the past couple weeks and will continue to be busy the next month or so. Lots of things going on so there's not much time to work on the miata.
I picked up a z06 intake with an air filter for $75


I also started repairing the rust and did some seam welding. I bought a cheap sandblaster from HF to clean the rust better and it works pretty well despite being a cheap tool from HF.










Welded up some filler pieces in the holes where the heater core, ac evap, cruise control and speedo cable came through the fire fall. Still need to grind these down and clean them up.


And I started to reconstruct the rusted out area that I cut out.

 

Awesome project dude! I'm trying to convince my friend to do the same

 

I've wanted to build a very similar car.. L33, Cam, Headers, Many mufflers, Built up T5, 8.8 diff.. No HVAC at all.. Dash and all that back in it with nothing behind it..
SO MUCH FUN

 

this should be awesome! do you know how much it will weight when finish?

 

That's almost exactly what I'm doing except a t56 rather than T5 for strength purposes. and it will probably be loud. lol
Shooting for 2500lbs.

Finally got the bottom end assembled. Still need to send off the heads for porting and get the rest of my internals. (pushrods, lifters, gaskets, etc.) But I want to buy some parts I need for mockup first like a radiator, fan, water pump, fuel system,

 

wow, this should be a riot!

 

Things are starting to come together! Got the drivers side rust finished up today. The passenger side isn't nearly as bad and can be fixed with a small patch on the frame.

I'm pretty proud of how this came out, as I've never fixed anything like this before.

 

Got my griffin radiator today
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/gri-1-58201-xls
Mounts should be here next week, Sure I could fab something but these come with nice rubber insulators. I'll still have to do some fab work to mount the mounts though. I'm kind of concerned about placement with the sway bar, it just seems to be right in the way of everything.


Also, kind of on the fence if I want to try to fit the radiator under the core support or behind it. I'm worried about room for a fan and sway bar clearance, so I'm kind of leaning towards the forward mounting.

 

Finished the seam welding in the engine bay around the strut towers this weekend. Also got the radiator all mounted up. I'm pretty happy with how it came out! Also got all my lizard skin stuff. 1 gallon of ceramic insulation, one gallon sound control, and the application kit with a spray gun and mixer.

 

Well, today had its ups and downs. I welded some small support rods to the bottom of the radiator mounts to give it some more rigidity. Then I decided to do a test fit of the subframe and headers on my spare engine... here's where the downs come in.

The V8R kooks long tube headers DO NOT fit with the bossfrog subframe. Not even close at all. So I'm going to be selling the Boss frog swap kit and will purchase a V8R swap kit so I can use these beautiful headers. I've only got one picture, but both sides had the same fitment issue.

 

Been a while. Any luck changing out the kit parts? I've enjoyed following your build & hope you'll continue posting updates.