Hey everyone, my names Mike. I’ve been a member on these forums for a long time but I'm fairly new to the conversions section. Over the past few months I've read just about every build thread in history to learn all I can about swapping an LS2 into my 2001 Miata.

First a little bit about the car. I bought the car new in March of 2001. I didn’t want leather and all the options so I ordered a base model with a Torsen diff and a hardtop.
Here’s a shot of it brand new still sitting in the dealer lot.


I had the car a couple months before I got the itch to start modifying things. Before I knew it I had replaced the suspension and wheels.


Now I had a great handling, rear wheel drive car but it was missing something…..power! Next I installed some bolt-ons. Intake, headers and exhaust. The car sounded good, had great throttle response but it was still slower than dirt. I think I ran a 15.7 with this setup. Not exactly a ¼ mile car but it gives you an idea of its power in near-stock trim. Here’s a shot of it on the dyno where it made a whopping 112RWHP.


To help out in the power department I traded in my NA bolt-ons for a FM2 turbo kit. After a weekend of wrenching in the garage I went from 112RWHP to around 180RWHP. At my only trip to the drag strip on OEM 195 tires, stock clutch and a rough tune I ended up running a best of 13.5@103. Here’s a shot of the turbo kit installed.


Soon after adding the turbo kit in 2003 I started auto-crossing. By 2005 I was pretty competitive in the car. I removed just about everything within the rules of the class (SM2, now SSM) including all emissions equipment, muffler (not loud with the turbo), A/C, P/S, lightweight seats, lightweight 3-piece wheels, ect.. Despite still having a full interior and the added weight of the turbo system I was able to get the race weight down to 2125lbs. At this time the turbo was now tuned better and was up to about 210RWHP@10PSI.

After the 2005 season I decided to retire the car from auto-cross. I didn’t have a trailer for the car so driving it half way across the country, racing it, and praying nothing broke so I could drive it back home was no longer an option. The downside to doubling a cars output without upgrading the rest of the drive train is that things start to break….and they did. After three 5 speeds and a trashed engine (snapped rod) I was done racing it. I rebuild another engine but this time it was going to be for the street. I’m now racing a vehicle that costs a fraction of what the Miata did, has 1/5 the tire budget and is much, much faster... And OH YEA, it fits in the back of my truck!


I still drive the car on the street. Not a daily driver but I take it on trips and run errands and stuff… Basically just a fair weather, weekend car. After seeing more than a few successful LSx Miata swaps I got the bug again for more power. This time I plan on doing it right! Here’s the car as it sits now.

Just recently I’ve started purchasing things to get the ball rolling on the swap. The first thing I found was an LS2/T56 dropout from a 2005 GTO with 43K miles. Once I got the engine home I decided to run a compression check on the engine….and it’s a good thing I did. The engine would not turn over either by hand or with a battery. After tearing the engine down to figure out what the problem was I started to wonder if the engine didn’t have much more mileage on it than the seller claimed. It turned out to be a cracked ring that was jammed up against the cylinder wall. This was all way more work that I intended, so after a couple weeks of downtime I sent the engine back to the seller and finally got refunded my money. http://ls1tech.com/forums/generation...cs-inside.html


Since then I’ve found another LS2/T56 from another GTO. This time the engine only had 41K miles but the price was about $1K more than the first engine. Reason it was so expensive ($6.6K) was because it had a FAST 90 intake, SLP long tubes, and Billet short throw shifter on it. I figured by selling those couple things I could come close to making up the extra cost over the other engine. Unfortunately the shipping company had other plans. They decided to load things on top of the engine (that said top load only all over it) shattering the high dollar intake, MAP sensor, belt tensioner, crank pulley and a couple other small things. The good news is that this engine looks to be in MUCH better shape than the first one, and as a bonus, when I removed the T56 I found a sweet Stage 3 Monster clutch package hidden inside! Excellent, more stuff to sell off to make up for that extra cost. The seller is working with the shipping company and is expected to refund me the total cost of a new FAST and other parts. No money yet but the seller is keeping me up to date on everything. Here’s a before and after shot of the FAST 90.


Other things I’ve picked up to date:

• LS3 Intake with fuel rail and injectors
• CTS Rear 3.23 limited slip PN# 25978162
• T56 offset shift bushing for F-body from Thegearbox.org
• MaxJax 2-post lift!



More updates tomorrow!

Great project. I love the polished hood!

I'm right down the street from you in Severn. Right off Quarterfield. Two LSX swaps in '01s within ~5 miles.

I hope my car was one of those examples.

Good luck with the build. It will be nice to have another XP Miata in the area to make the Cobra guys whine.

Welcome to the nuthouse! Mine's not nearly as good looking as yours, and is going about as fast until I get my engine rebuilt (spun a bearing at the last autocross, still trying to figure out the root cause).

Sorry about your problems with the shipper, but it helps me out because I'm trying to work with a seller of a short block LS1 about 450 miles away. Might be worth my time and money to drive up and pick it up.

Looking forward to more build posts!

Have a good one,
Mike

Looks real nice. I have the LS2 in mine and absolutely Love it. Looking forward to your build updates! Good luck!

HAHAH wow, I'm right off Hospital drive. You're like 1 mile away. I'll have to come check out your car one of these days. I haven't had the chance to see many of these in person.


Yes fourwhls, it was I don't plan on racing the car very often but yes, it will be fun beating up on the Cobras....again.


I'd definitely suggest seeing the engine in person before committing to buy if you have the opportunity. That said, I may just be the unluckiest person on Miata.net.

Just lemme know. Usually home Fri, Sat, Sun. I'm only dealing with minor issues.

My car may eventually be an lsx car well I bought it with that intention.

But either way the polished hood looks perfect with a silver car

Hi gocart ; i've owned 2 nbs (03 & 05) in the past. They are great looking cars that are anemic acceleraters. A v8 swap is the way to go for fixing this problem. From what i've read on this forum ; v8 roadsters seems to have the best engine swap kit.

Parts on order now. Should have these Friday.

- V8R Oil Pan
- V8 Crossflow Radiator Kit
- Stage 2 V8 Crossflow Fan Kit

Also have a order in to PatG to spec a cam for my setup.

Going to try to get all of the engine parts ordered tomorrow or Friday so I can get the engine finished up.

Waiting on 1 concrete anchor to replace a bad one for the lift to be finished. Once that's in I can start dismantling the car.

While I have some down time I decided to clean up the valve covers. I don't plan on using the plastic engine covers and the stock valve covers were nasty and discolored. I coated them and the timing cover with some VHT Wrinkle paint. I think they turned out nice. Here's what they look like

I found that JBA Chevy on Ritchie has reasonable prices on GM parts. They seem to be an internet discounter or something. Not like GMpartsdirect.com, but local so no shipping, and they can get stuff from the distributor quickly.

Thanks! That's good to know. I've already compiled a list with all the GM part numbers. I'll drop by there tomorrow and see what their prices are like.

Gmpartsdirect is good if you can wait a month to get your parts.

Welcome aboard. LIke you I put a 2005 GTO as my first motor. Loved it. Unfortuneately I decided to blow up.....not the engines fault.

Looks like your set up for success and like everyone else will be looking and liking your build.

I often get asked how much this swap is going to cost so I decided to keep an up to date spread sheet with every cost associated with the project. I just uploaded it to Google Docs so everyone else can follow along if they like.

LS2 MIATA COST BREAKDOWN

Welcome to the club, Mike. You'll be tempted to slap some Hoosiers on it, get a tow hitch and bitty trailer for your kart and double enter at your next local event.

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Are you single or do you have a wife version that says "$800" no matter what you put in?

Haha, I just sold my bitty trailer last year. I'm afraid if I race this its either going to be on the RA-1's it already has on it or I'm towing the car.


I'm single but I'm sure we could make you a spreadsheet where it automatically removes 25% from the total. She'd probably never notice.

Got my Cam spec sheet back from Pat G today and spoke with Geoff over at EPS. Cam is ordered!

Also ordered more engine parts today:

-Timing cover gasket (12633904)
-Rear crank seal (89060436)
-Valve cover gaskets (12612045)
-LS2 timing chain (12586482)
-LS7 lifter kit (12499225)
-CTS-V accessory drive kit (19155066)
-CTS-V/Corvette water pump (89018052)

First I went to the dealer to see what price they could give me. They wanted to bend me over. I was able to find much better prices online with no tax and free shipping. Saved a total of $350.24 on just these parts.

fixed.

Anyone know if the FM oil pans happen to come with gaskets? I know its a long shot. lol

Longer shot than you wish: No.

Have a good one,
Mike