Flyin' Miata 520 HP LS3 Swapped 'ND' 2016 Mazda MX5 

2600 lbs, all the power you could ever need, big brakes, suspension.... Why the hell can't the OEMs do this? Kudos to Flying Miata.

Don't do it Jesse. I bet you he's got over 50 grand underneath the hood of that Miata

Miata is always the answer The ls3 is just the exclamation point

I dont even drive cars but would totally own one of these in a heart beat, so beast.

The price of all the parts is astonishing high by themselves. The brand new motor, trans, and harness alone is 13.8k not to mention the 2000 for v8 roadster subframe kit. 2500 for the fox racing coilovers and at least 1000 for the diff. 2500 for the rest of the rear end driveline 1000 for the little big break kit. Exhaust is another 1000. The moroso short oil pan 1000. All of this for brand new parts is around 24k and that's missing a lot of small things that add up to possibly a couple more grand. If you had a non specialized shop charging the typical 75hr at no less than 100hrs that's 30+k. Flyin' isn't some random shop though they are the v8 miata guys with years and years of RnD. I own a 06 mx5 and have crunched these numbers too many times. I've also sourced junkyard engines and parts and it still comes out to no less than 10 grand for a d.i.y. swap with a way more sketchy result. So for everyone here saying it's too much cost for the resulting car hasn't simply done the math.

"In a long enough timeline, everything gets an ls swap" -RCR

Flying Miata is one of those top-tier mod locations that every car community deserves. Great customer service, good communication, and shipping times. And most importantly you feel they really vet the parts they sell.

Flyin' Miata, and a few other businesses like it here in the U.S. is seriously one of the best things about owning a Miata in the first place. They offer high quality parts for literally anything you could want for your car from full fledged engine swap kits, turbo kits, suspension kits, and many many more things. I DIY a lot of things, but when its something I want to buy instead of DIY, I look to them and their colleagues first.

This in an RF will be perfect

Now that is a Miata. Truly impressed. Yes, it is expensive, but you get what you pay for. Flyin' Miata has a stellar reputation, and everything is sorted to a "T." It weighs nothing, and has 450 to the wheels. What more do you want in a toy? Now I want to see Autodelta or say Glenwood put a Giulia TTV6 in a Fiat 124. That would be a riot.

Wish I could get this past wifey. Such a well-done reengineering... this is no mere “swap”. They’ve done the entire powertrain to handle the output, they’ve done the brakes to whoa it, they’ve done the suspension to control it, and they’ve done the CANBUS work to integrate it. And I love how the exhaust work sounds burly without being droney or obnoxious. Mature power, no cringe-worthy cheap noises. Fantastic work, Flyin’ Miata team! 👌🍻

Gosh at 2600 lbs and 450hp, I was expecting something a bit scarier. Man I'd love to see this car driven hard. Flying Miata is a great company. I go way back with those guys when I had a Miata back in 96'. They do it right!

that's really not bad at all for a brand new platform for fully modded warrantied car with A/C. y'all do realize parts prices don't equal labor prices. I bet they charge over $150/hr. and that car has easy $15k in just engine/trans/rearend. and whatever parts you take off your stock ND either sell or they may give you credit. don't compare the miata you can build with a junkyard LQ engine,old T56 trans and some random rearend..yea you could build old miata for under $15k yourself....I've bought few things from Flyin Miata and they have always been top amazing quality and great service.

People complaining about price....gtho. Turn key super fast car that no one else has. Can outrun anything under 100k and you aren't just another vette/911 on the road. This is awesome. Kudos to Flyin' Miata.

Really nice build. I really respect the builder and their philosophy and you sold me on the company fully, when you stated you replaced the electric steering with a proper hydraulic rack for all the right reasons. Brings me joy to know there are still tuning companies that know what is really good.

I had over 50 videos in my daily youtube feed. Watched this as first. Not disappointed at all.

LS3. Makes. Everything. Better.

I've had a full on blast in a LS3 2nd gen Miata as a passenger. It realigned my core elements.

MRS Electronics doing great work on a canbus solution to support LS motors in the 86 chassis. Cant wait to do business with them!

Closest thing to a sportbike on 4 wheels. Dream car. Great driving BTW.

the sunbeam tiger for a modern age

Little car with V8 is the best type of car. Big cars are silly.

What I like about Matt is that he's so positive and happy. He's not a real nit-picky negative nelly looking to criticize.

6.2 liter v8 in a car as small as a miata, i've seen it all

12:45 "I think it's geared for around 250mph" Just imagine going that fast and telling everyone you did it in a miata.

The early bird gets the worm, Boise.

As a stock Miata driver who uses his his 2008 every day, 190670 miles, outside of McLaren, I cannot think of a car I would rather have than this one, except in the current red. Great vid.

when matt isnt talking as much you know he is impressed, such an awesome video

Bet Turbo Tom would love this rig!

Take a drink every time Matt says balanced

the sound of the car is incredible...

my grandma literally lived right next to their shop on east orchard mesa in grand junction colorado these cars are awesome I've been in the shop once!!!

I couldn't use this as my Daily Driver, but god damn I'd love it for a second fun car.. great look, great sound, it looks like it rides great and that it's nothing but fun! Great work Keith, and the guys at Flying Miatas.. Time to save up for something like this lol

11:00 We're getting some interesting information on why they chose the LS over the LT, and Matt has to interrupt to ask why he couldn't find 5th, and completely derails it. ...almost like he wasn't even listening.

It's crazy how quickly people jumped on building these things because it's understandable with the cheap old miata but these are NEW!

I've got nothing but respect for the flying Miata team

I only regret that I have but one like to give for this video.

Awesome video as always, ever thought about setting up a pedal cam for these videos? Would be interesting

This and awd swap would be king of the roads. Omg! This already is amazing!

Guys, $50k plus car isn't that bad when you consider this is a brand new 100% custom car. It is really well balanced meaning you don't have like a 80/20 weight split. You have amazing turn in and excellent power to weight. If you want a cheaper v8 miata then buy a used one. They can be found for under $20k all day long.

people are annoying as fuck in the comments appreciate this build instead of telling everybody what you'd buy instead of this car, who cares

Damn that's a clean looking set-up. It looks like it's from the factory.

Congrats to Keith, Bill, Teri and the rest of the FM gang on this awesome build! Hope 2 c u again at Mazda Laguna!

Kieth your looking great. FM is the way to go. Fan for a long time. I miss TurboDog

The only thing Keith didn't respond to was when Matt suggested that it must get pretty good gas mileage. Hilarious!

everyone talking about "i'd have a corvette/porsche/whatever for that money"... then you'd just be another dude with a corvette. this is so much cooler, and such a different car.

Flyin Miata is the best in the business when it comes to Miatas.

These new mx5s actually look pretty good. I like pretty much everything except the taillights on them. And with a V8, that'd be a sweet ride!

It might be q bit too much for me at $75k, but man I love that thing.

I might have missed this but they talked about the weight but not the weight distribution. That's what I'm most interested in.

Id love to see what Randy Probst thinks of this Miata

To everyone who is grumbling about the $75K all in cost - can you honestly think of another car that is cheaper, brand new, with 433hp per ton? There are a couple of Caterhams, a few other superlights, but I honestly can't think of another car that has that kind of power to weight ratio that can be used as a daily.

XD LS3 from a holden commo :DDD

this is one of the best one takes ever

two of my favorite things on the internet in one place :]

i still think that an s54 would be the perfect engine for an mx-5. I always wondered why mazda never went for a low displacement inline 6.

toms turbo garage has a nice build as well

Hats off to the guy for going that deep on a Miata. Not how I'd spend 75k but custom builds never make $$$ sense unless the builder get famous famous after you bought it.

now we need a head to head. flyn miata vs monster miata, lol.

I never got the feeling that Matt was excited about this car (while driving), and that says a lot to me.

3:24 sounds like Koenigsegg

Sweet I've been waiting for someone to ls swap a newer mx5

Just love these FM guys... Keith is near God-like status in so many different (and non Miata) communities. I've been a fan since they were in West Orange NJ (Only 2 towns away from me then) and the things their "stuff" can do for my '93 (now turbo) Miata is nothing short of a miracle.. I've dropped a tick over 300 HP from a 1.6 liter engine.... Did you get that? A bottle of milks worth of displacement. And the car is 150% drive-able, next to no lag (2871r bb- and soon a billet upgrade) and is an absolute blast to drive at 2275 lbs with fluids. On a cool night, when the intercooler is extra happy (cold), I can smoke 2nd gear and even the top of 3rd!!!! Anything over 300 is useless (but entirely welcome)... I'm calling them tomorrow for a new downpipe and turbo manifold.... Simply can't wait!!!!

Now I want an LS swapped Fiata.

never clicked on a video so fast before

What a great package. This guys know what theyre doing.

Great video and awesome build. People bagging on 50k to turnkey build an LS3 swapped anything with all the upgrades to handle that low down torque, you have no idea what it costs. That's actually a pretty fair price. I'm not much less into my build but it's even more extensive, just in an S2000 and no additional mark up for sale. Perhaps even slightly better chassis again for such a swap than the MX5. I can't wait to hear that sound when I'm driving.... one of the best production engine sounds ever IMO.

$50,000 plus a Miata is ridiculous.

Oh this is awesome... and I thought my LS swap was tight! Nice.

I've dealt with flying miata; amazing company! Keith is a god on all of the miata forums. if you have a miata, flying miata is by far the best place to go for customer service and quality products. they are expensive but at the end of the day well worth the extra money.

Nice job on this video. I really like the dual window editing. More car vids should be made this way so that you can follow the in cabin conversation while having an uninterrupted view of the road experience. Great car too!

50k and a Miata. So... 50k? 😐

YOU BOYS LIKE MEXICOOOOOOO?!?!?

I keep seeing how Mazda is saying there's no need for more power. Auto journalists saying more power would ruin the car. People on the forums saying it's fast enough and no need for more power. BUT EVERY TIME I SEE A VIDEO WITH A MIATA MAKING OVER 400HP, EVERYONE SAYS THAT IT IS AMAZING. Come on guys.

I needed a one take of these once I read they'd made them!

Great stuff! Looks like a very entertaining car!

I wouldn't even consider spending 70k on a Corvette when this is an option. It's probably more reliable too.

Flyin' Miata does quality work for sure. I have a lot of their stuff on my NB and each component gave a noticeable improvement. Nice vid!

My vette cart has the exact weight, power, and torque curve!! Almost done!

arhhh love this, but you need to check out Toms Turbo garage miata @TheSmokingtire he did this but in his garage just as good imo.

it's worth every penny may cost same as a vette or porsche but driving a 500 hp car that weighs 500 to 1000 lbs less is amazing

Sounds like an angel gargling with broken glass. Superb.

Keith Tanner is a legend amongst miata fans.

with 75k i would just get a viper or a lotus( if you want light car)

You can slap a turbo on that for couple thousand bucks and make the same power and have the 48k left for 3 more cool cars.

This is SO worth the money.

This is the greatest car ever built

How did that engine fit in there?

Thank you insomnia

A failure is a man who has blundered but is not capable of cashing in on the experience.

Fantastic! Thanks for posting this Matt!

I mean it's cool but $50000...

$50k including the new car guys is pretty good. Lot of haters....

Seems like a steal at the combined price..."geared for 200 mph in 5th gear" 👍🏻👍🏻

JRE brought me here. Damn! That's a pocket rocket!

Nice car and all, but completely ruins the point of the car. It's almost 80k , you could get a z06 for that price. It's probably better to just strap a supercharger or a turbo on the miata and have tons of fun.

+thesmokingtire If you're into track days and having fun on the weekends with a car, is the juice worth the squeeze to build or buy a v8 Miata over a C6 or C7 Vette? I've been trying to figure out what will be my next fun car and both these cars are on the list of possibles. I've driven both but never actually driven what I'd consider a well-sorted LS swapped Miata. I'd expect a shorter performance ceiling with the Miata but since it's lighter it'd be easier on wearables it might net me cheaper fun in the long run while still retaining a somewhat livable experience on the street. I'm not in love with the looks of either but I am a fan of the performance and fun, along with the ease of LS parts. Matt, since you drive everything under the sun do you have any thoughts that could help?

Can't get my eyes off the go-pro shadow in the hood :D

So I didn't read the title (I see TST, I click) and imagine my surprise on startup!

@MattFarah Try driving a VW Beetle RSI tough guy !