5.0, Oh Oh

PostPost by: garyeanderson » Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:37 pm

My friend Don stopped by early Monday morning and Beau went out to greet him. The first thing out of his mouth was "can you back a trailer up my driveway" It seems Don made a trip down to Texas to pickup a new ride and he had just returned from a 30 hour trip. So I said sure and asked no further questions as his spark was nearly extinguished. When we got over to his house there was the new ride parked out on the street, kind of a let down, as I looked at the white Miata on the trailer. As we got around to the back I noticed this small 5.0 emblem and a bit of a smile crept across my face. Well being 7:30 am and don lives on a busy steet I looked around and hopped in the truck to turn it around. After waiting for traffic to clear I backed it into the drive and it started up the hill and the surge brakes come on. Oh joy, I look for a lock out and don't see any, it a rental and I said brute force time. With pleanty of trotttle in the tow vehicle I here the locked wheels start to skid up the hill. We finally park the truck and unload the miata and all is good.

Today i'm out futzing around weighing the green shell and Don stops by with the car insured, registered, and inspected and "says go for it", and I do. 60 mph on my steet and theres a construction area with the officer doing the detail so I slow to 35 to ease past, I get around the bend and drop it into 2nd and punch it :D ,80 in a 45 zone just like that and the car in front is closing fast. The brakes work but need a bit of pressure to perform. I get back and tell him that Miata is going to get him into trouble and he leaves on that note, about 10 minutes later he back from the recycling center with the weighbridge and yells over 2320 lbs.

pretty impressive...

$7k usd and it doesn't need no sinking restoration, just drive it...
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Last edited by garyeanderson on Fri Aug 28, 2009 9:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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PostPost by: gjz30075 » Wed Aug 26, 2009 12:21 am

Very cool, Gary! Any hot rod stuff on this 5.0, like maybe aluminum heads, cam, etc? Stroked and bored to 331 or 347? T5 trans?

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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:08 am

Bit of a reality check there!
Makes you feel a bit foolish dunnit :roll:

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PostPost by: garyeanderson » Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:00 am

Hi Greg

Trick Flow twisted wedge heads and maybe a cam. He said it used to have a "B303" SVO cam but it wouldn't pass emisions so maybe it went back to stock, I don't know, T5 gearbox, turbo T-bird 8.8 inch Alloy diff with 3.27 gears, I don't know if it had a locker in it but that would be my guess. . Upper and lower Ford motorsports intake manifold. probably a bit more, I don't think there was a stroker kit in it. I guess it scared the sellers wife and himself too when he punched it at 60mph in second and got it sideways. He was sawing the steering wheel back and forth and a tire caught as he backed out of the throttle and nearly flipped it. He got the "Honey if you don't get rid of this thing..."
My guess its around 300 to 320 hp in a 2320 lb miata, that just sounds respectable to me.

John

The two lines of text don't have enough lead in for me to understand what you are talking about. More criptic than comment. I mean, "foolish", is that for restoring Elans, booting it in 2nd, doing 80 in a 45, what are you talking about????

Nothing about the Miata is foolish, just a big grin as I went by the cop on the detail, he heard me and knew who it was but couldn't see any of it. I guess there's just something about having enough power for just about any scituation.

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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Wed Aug 26, 2009 11:57 am

The meaning was:-
Here we all are throwing bucket loads of cash & investing hundreds of hours in restoring our beloved Elans is foolish when just around the corner there are 5,0 Liter Miata's MX5's to be had.
I never complain about speed; only about being punished for being caught at it :wink:
Errm, I've expressed my admiration for Miata's in a previous post.

Sorry, I just don't seem to have the talent for 2 liners :roll:

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PostPost by: garyeanderson » Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:57 pm

D.J.Pelly wrote:The meaning was:-
Here we all are throwing bucket loads of cash & investing hundreds of hours in restoring our beloved Elans is foolish when just around the corner there are 5,0 Liter Miata's MX5's to be had.
I never complain about speed; only about being punished for being caught at it :wink:
Errm, I've expressed my admiration for Miata's in a previous post.

Sorry, I just don't seem to have the talent for 2 liners :roll:

John


Two different toys for different intended purposes.

The Miata with the V8 is an excelent bang for the buck. If you wanted a turn key package like that, well that's the one. As much fun as it is to play with the the throttle it's still heavy and I like 1280 to 1300 pounds any day of the week. Horsepower hides weight very nicely until you go to turn or stop. My guess with bigger brakes that will give you some confidence back. Miata's handle great, probably better than an Elan but so what its 30 years newer. If I wanted comfort in my Elan I woulld have built something different to play with. You just can't compare 1300 lbs with a 150 hp and 133 lb/ft to a Miata with 2320 lbs and 300? hp and 3xx torque.

Maybe its time 1500 lb. 289 Elan... :)
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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Wed Aug 26, 2009 4:36 pm

Well I wasn't really planning an extended debate on the Pro's & Con's of Elans & Miata's.
Quite a few years ago I saw articles about fittng V8's into Miata's.
I believe ther is a company in the US that specialises in that work.
Anyway at the time I thought to myself that such a project would be fun.
Trouble is, I'm a dyed in the wool 4 Cylinder man :roll:
Nevertheless, I think we both know where we're coming from on the subject :)

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