Desmond wrote:
Why a Miata engine tho? The BP engine is not a very efficient design in my experience. Despite its small size and feeble power rating, it still manages to only bring me 22 miles per gallon average, at best. If I'm highway cruising, maybe more like 26 or so, but seriously this engine does not do as well as you would think.
They did keep making the Miata after 2005, you know. The RX-8 and the NC Miata are on the same basic platform. Take the Miata subframe and bolt it into the RX-8, and voila. The MZR is mounted. And yes, it goes the other way as well.
CAN would be a bit of a hassle.
Ah, I suppose what threw me was the request for a "Miata" engine. Here in the states it seems like they only exclusively call the first and second gen cars "Miatas". Everything after that is just an "MX-5". My bad.
I do know that here and everywhere else on the internet, all generations are Miatas :)
Every time this comes up I get to point to this thread and say put some SAAB Turbo power in that bish. 
http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=109691
Many arguments could be made that the RX8 chassis is the ultimate modern swap candidate out there, so it blows my mind that no full-package kit exists for any particular drive train. Hinson claimed to have their LSX car running and the dash working, but they've been unable, over the last five years, to put a picture of the finished project on their website. I wish the guys at Vorshlag would tackle this. I would totally rock an Ecoboost Rx-8.
bgkast
UberDork
10/26/15 2:13 p.m.
t25torx wrote:
Every time this comes up I get to point to this thread and say put some SAAB Turbo power in that bish.
http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=109691
So Odd, yet so right. I did love my RX8 and also love the saab Boost. Maybe I should do this...
JamesMcD wrote:
Many arguments could be made that the RX8 chassis is the ultimate modern swap candidate out there, so it blows my mind that no full-package kit exists for any particular drive train. Hinson claimed to have their LSX car running and the dash working, but they've been unable, over the last five years, to put a picture of the finished project on their website. I wish the guys at Vorshlag would tackle this. I would totally rock an Ecoboost Rx-8.
We have many of the parts for the LS swap. But is there a market of people willing to pay real, actual moneys to put an LS in that weird platform?
Desmond wrote:
Ah, I suppose what threw me was the request for a "Miata" engine. Here in the states it seems like they only exclusively call the first and second gen cars "Miatas". Everything after that is just an "MX-5". My bad.
I do know that here and everywhere else on the internet, all generations are Miatas :)
Mazda tried to change the name in 2006, it didn't stick. Looks like the change might stick this time. But in the case of the RX-8, it's always going to be the NC that's related.
codrus
Dork
10/26/15 5:29 p.m.
Keith Tanner wrote:
Mazda tried to change the name in 2006, it didn't stick. Looks like the change might stick this time. But in the case of the RX-8, it's always going to be the NC that's related.
I really don't understand why car company marketing departments try to change the name of a successful car. They've sold hundreds of thousands of cars that say "Miata" on the back and they want to throw that name recognition out the window? The only thing stupider than that would be if BMW decided to change the name of the M3... Oh wait.
Ford gets it -- they've made a Mustang for 50 years. They haven't all been great, but they've all said "Mustang" on the back and had a horse on the front.
Knurled
UltimaDork
10/26/15 6:09 p.m.
alfadriver wrote:
Knurled wrote: The RX-8 uses an EEC-V but wiser heads than mine would know what CANbus nightmares or synchronicities exist.
Really? Which one?
That... I do not know. I don't even know what I don't know, inasmuch as I don't know what different flavors of EEC-V there are. I know enough about GM computers to know certain different generations of computers and what is interchangeable with what, but I've had no Ford tuning/swapping exposure.
I could ask some people I know if they know anything... one of them has an EEC-IV controlling a supercharged Honda, because why not? What I know about the RX-8 is from bits and pieces overheard on rx7club.com and elsewhere. Certainly, if you look under the hood of an RX-8 and pay attention to things like the MAF and other engine sensors, you get a distinct impression of being in Ford country and the electronics all speak English, not Japanese (or German).
OHSCrifle won't fit in any generation of MX5, even with seat mod magic. Just too tall.. so for me "the answer" has to be something else.
I really like the RX8.
I LOL'd about the Hinson lack of photos comment.. so true.
Thought was to harvest drivetrain from a wrecked NC and marry to a roller RX8 (both easily obtained and fairly cheap) and pray the CANBUS and difficult electronics would plug and play. Then I woke up.
Keith: where is the one FM built?
We put LS3 engines in NC Miatas, which, as noted, are the same platform as the RX-8. Nobody's convinced me of the business plan for LSx RX-8s, so the company hasn't invested anything into that specific car. Still, I know a bunch of the parts will cross over.
Ah, ok. I missed your intent with "yes it's been done" on the first page.
Ah, that comment. The MZR swap has been done, I've spoken to the guy who did it, but it wasn't FM. The car I spoke about is over in the UK.
STM317
New Reader
10/27/15 4:47 a.m.
codrus wrote:
I really don't understand why car company marketing departments try to change the name of a successful car. They've sold hundreds of thousands of cars that say "Miata" on the back and they want to throw that name recognition out the window? The only thing stupider than that would be if BMW decided to change the name of the M3... Oh wait.
Ford gets it -- they've made a Mustang for 50 years. They haven't all been great, but they've all said "Mustang" on the back and had a horse on the front.
What seems silly to me, is that they named it Miata in the first place. Hasn't it always been an "MX-5" in Japan? Why make the same car with different names? Makes more sense to me for Mazda to save the cash, and just call it the same thing everywhere it's sold.
It was a Eunos Roadster in Japan, MX-5 Miata in North America, MX-5 in the rest of the world. Apparently North America prefers names over alphanumerics, which is why we had the Protege instead of the 323 and the Millenia instead of the 929. Mazda tried to go back to letters and numbers, but the Miata name just plain stuck because the car had such high brand recognition. The Miyata bicycle company got a little cheesed about the name in the past as well.
Ask Acura how well this strategy works. I know what an Integra and a Legend are, but I have no idea what a TSX or MDX are. Also, remember how Audi kept bouncing between the 100 and the 5000 due to bad publicity?
Who ever got 20 mpg in there RX anything? Ok maybe a FB with a 12a. Them spinning triangles are really thirsty.
Could you do a K24? Much like the K Miata guys?
Anything's possible with a welder and a good electron and bit wrangler.
P3PPY
Reader
10/11/18 6:40 p.m.
I've skimmed the thread but I get the impression that an engine swap is being done for MPG gains. But there's the math of how much MPG diff you're looking at VS how much it's going to cost. I mean, even if you have the engine for free, it's going to take like $1k for a swap -- EASY. Then to make up for the $1k you'd basically need a Prius engine or european gas prices to ever make up that $1k.
IF, on the other hand, this is just the excuse you're telling your wife for why it needs to be done then that's a different story.
Mndsm
MegaDork
10/11/18 6:49 p.m.
Knurled said:
Driven5 wrote: Not that I'm aware of, but I've seriously thought about doing so on more than one occasion...And maybe even with a Focus Duratec instead of the Miata MZR.
The second time I drove an RX-8, I started wondering what it would be like if it had a 2.0 Ecoboost in there. Theoretically, it might even bolt in with NC parts.
My RX-7 by the numbers makes maybe 240hp or so. If an RX-8 makes 240hp then a lot of those are reedy thin, abused horses that you hear about in animal neglect cases. That or my numbers are off and I'm making way more than 240hp and 170ft-lb, which I suppose is possible but would do damaging things to my opinion of my engine building/tuning skills.
I'm waiting for a 2.3disi solution. I firmly believe that's the engine the rx8 was meant for.
Keith Tanner said:
It was a Eunos Roadster in Japan, MX-5 Miata in North America, MX-5 in the rest of the world. Apparently North America prefers names over alphanumerics, which is why we had the Protege instead of the 323 and the Millenia instead of the 929.
And Acura threw away the Integra and Vigor and Legend names in favor of a bunch of meaningless TLAs in the US, while keeping them overseas/in the home market.
Old thread, I know, but this make me somewhat nostalgic.
dean1484 said:
Who ever got 20 mpg in there RX anything? Ok maybe a FB with a 12a. Them spinning triangles are really thirsty.
I did 32mpg with a Nikki-carbureted 12A in an FB. With 4.78 gears. (If you believed the odometer, it was 40mpg!) Oe of the 'club members refers to this as my Polk High Football moment. 
Perfect storm of good weather and no traffic so I could keep that Nikki buried on the cusp of the secondaries opening, which was a roughly 75mph average speed.
I could normally expect 27mpg. The trick is to use a Holley/Carter fuel pump, knock the fuel pressure down to the 1.5-2psi range (do it by feel, you can feel when the engine starts cruising happier), and bump the timing up to the 24-27 all-in range, and make sure the vacuum advance is working. And advance the trailing to as much as you can get with the OE adjustment. Oh and use an SA carb, not an FB carb.
When my bridge ported 4-port 13B was new, I was getting 24mpg. Also with 4.78 gears. I had been getting in the 20-22mpg range with various half bridge 6-port and Turbo II engines. Running a Megasquirt and a "poorman's ITB" Holley manifold and Holley carb-as-throttle-body made the full bridge port engine drive like a stocker.
Mndsm said:
Knurled said:
Driven5 wrote: Not that I'm aware of, but I've seriously thought about doing so on more than one occasion...And maybe even with a Focus Duratec instead of the Miata MZR.
The second time I drove an RX-8, I started wondering what it would be like if it had a 2.0 Ecoboost in there. Theoretically, it might even bolt in with NC parts.
My RX-7 by the numbers makes maybe 240hp or so. If an RX-8 makes 240hp then a lot of those are reedy thin, abused horses that you hear about in animal neglect cases. That or my numbers are off and I'm making way more than 240hp and 170ft-lb, which I suppose is possible but would do damaging things to my opinion of my engine building/tuning skills.
I'm waiting for a 2.3disi solution. I firmly believe that's the engine the rx8 was meant for.
Ford has discontinued the 2.0 Ecoboost PCM/harness controls pack setup in favor of a 2.3l Ecoboost PCM/harness controls pack.
Just sayin'.
