Part 1 of the Miata 2.5L Swap - Miata Background & Clutch Failure

February 23, 2024

For context on the NC Miata, please check out my prior blog post of "Why I love the "Ugly Duckling" of the Miata World. In this article I break down much of the background for my love of the NC Miata and provide background for some of what is mentioned in detail below.

In 2017, I was 22 years-old and driving around Tuscaloosa, AL (I attended University of Alabama). I drove past a beautiful red NC Miata in a parking lot. I had my then-roommate (Jake from the Cannonball Run series) in the car with me and we decided to stop just to admire it. Come to find out that 2011 Miata was actually for sale and only had 19,000 miles from the original owner...

Well, I made the questionable decision as a soon graduating fifth-year senior with student loans and no job to purchase that Miata (I did negotiate the price a bit prior to purchasing). The car was owned by a 90-year old gentleman who had put 19,000 miles it since new. The Miata was Sport trim level with a 5-speed manual and an open differential. I was the happiest person in the world!

Over the 2 years of ownership with that car, I learned:

• How to drive a rear-wheel drive sports car (sometimes in the silly ways that are needed to learn)
• The potential for modification (without the financial means to pay for any modifications)
• My love for driving sports cars on curvy mountain roads

Here's a short video of just one stupid decision that I made in my first NC Miata... For what it's worth, I now understand what hydro-locking a motor and ground clearance are; I wouldn't do this again...

But that creek crossing it did make for a great couple of pictures:

Also during my ownership, I took that NC Miata to the Tail of the Dragon (The Tail). If you're unfamiliar with the Tail, it is a road in Robbinsville, North Carolina. The road boasts 317 turns over the course of 11 miles making it one of the curviest roads in the world. On this trip, I saw what was my first 2.5L swapped NC Miata (for context see the link at the top of this post) and was blown away by it. I was enamored by the thought of the potential power and its OEM look (the car looks completely stock and clean); I knew that I wanted to go that direction but couldn't justify spending the money at that time. I enjoyed the rest of that trip and got a couple of great pictures, but the thought of that 2.5L swapped NC Miata continued to pop into my head... 

Outside of that trip to the Tail, I was also going up to North Georgia about twice per month. Here were a couple of pictures from those trips to the mountains.

On one of those trips to north Georgia, I even got my Dad to join with his then-owned 2013 Mustang (V6, 6-speed manual). In case you're wondering, the Miata is far more at home in the mountains than a bloated muscle car.

Well let's fast-forward to May of 2019. Due to a series of events, I decided to sell my NC Miata because I had intended to purchase a 2010 Miata with a Power Retractable Hard Top (PRHT). The reason I wanted the PHRT is I still wanted a Miata, but was about to begin commuting much more for work and thought it would be a more comfortable vehicle with a hardtop. In hindsight, this was a poor decision. For a variety of reasons, that PHRT that I had my eyes and heart set on fell through leaving me without a Miata for the foreseeable future...

Soon after selling my Miata and the PRHT deal falling through, I realized that my "happy place" (yes, a Happy Gilmore reference) for evenings and weekends was driving. I'm not an aggressive driver, but there is something so appealing of rowing the gears in a great handling sports car. It took selling the Miata to appreciate its existence even more. Over the next few months, I kept my eyes open on local listings just waiting for the right (and cheap) example to pop up. I drove 2 or 3 examples, but for one reason or another they did not work out.

In late 2019, my Dad reached out to me and said that a distant cousin was actually about to sell their 2006 Mazda Miata; it was the same generation as my old one just a few years older. At the time, my Dad had no context on anything about it. I reached out and found out that the Miata was a one-owner vehicle in a Grand Touring trim with about 145,000 miles and a 6-speed manual transmission. As soon as I confirmed it was a 6-speed manual, I knew I wanted it. Two weeks later I flew down from Atlanta to Tampa and drove it back to Atlanta in a day. Needless to say I was about as happy as you could imagine! Here were a couple of pictures when I bought it:

The best part of buying this NC Miata is that it was almost identical to my first, but due to the high-mileage and heavily used condition, I would feel no remorse in driving the daylights out of it and potentially modifying it. Over the next 3 years, I started to modify it. Here's what I did:

1. Used PPE Catted Header (couldn't pass emissions upon purchase)
   
   
   
   
   
2. Used 2014 Club edition suspension takeoff from a 2014 Miata
   
   
   

   
   
   
3. Used 2014 Toyota FR-S seats (while these seats look great, they are honestly too tall for the platform; don't waste your time like I did as I ended up later replacing these) and used WeatherTech mats
   
   
   
   
   

   
   
   
4. Used Good-Win Racing SuperQ muffler
   
   
   
   
   The OEM muffler for sound comparison...
   
   
   
   
   ...versus the SuperQ muffler. Which sounds better?
   
   
   
   
5. Used Racing Beat rear sway bar
   
   
   
   
   
6. Sony XAV-AX100 head unit (needed Bluetooth, Apple Carplay, and a backup camera) and Morimoto shift knob (intending to replace as it's too long)
   
   
   
   
   
7. Limited-Slip Differential (LSD) from 2015 Miata Club edition with about 8,000 miles (car was totaled in front-end collision). This was a dirty job, but probably the single largest thing I did to improve the Miata to this point
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. VersaTune ECU tune due to a check engine light (CEL) caused by the high-flow catalytic converter in the PPE header. This was the second best upgrade I did outside of the LSD. I don't have a picture of this upgrade, so here's a picture of my dog and I driving in the Miata:
   
   
   

With all of these modifications done, I felt the Miata was in a solid place! The suspension creaked a bit and the engine was strong, but I always said that if the clutch or engine ever blew that I would go for a 2.5L engine swap. I daily drove the Miata hard putting about 14,000 miles on it over the course of 3 years (it did split time with the LX570 hence the low mileage).

Well, on August 14, 2023 fate decided that it was time for that swap as my clutch blew and left me stranded for the first time in my 3 years of ownership at 161,500 miles. Here were a couple pictures as I awaited to load up the tow truck...

In my next post, I'll hit on my experience of having a professional shop install my 2.5L and the associated upgrades at that time. For a hint on what's to come, there's a TON of change coming and I didn't use any used parts this time so it actually cost all of the shiny pennies I had saved over the years...