Honda J series v6 swap?

[venturaII]

This place has a kit for Honda 3.2/3.5 J series V6 swaps into 1st and 2nd gen Miatas. Considering a 3.5 with headers and a tune will get you close to 300bhp and 275ft/lbs, and the entire swap adds only 40 pounds to the front of a Miata, it'd seem like a great candidate for the twins. It might even drop weight in our platform. Also, if a Miata gearbox will live behind the Honda motor, wouldn't it be safe to assume our gearbox would be strong enough as well?


http://www.superfastmiatas.com/index.html

[swarb]

NO

[Alltezza]

God no lol I hate those J series engine lol I came from a 05 Acura RL, and it's not that good lol

[cdrazic93]

J series? I have never heard of it. the only honda motor I actually LIKE are the C30A/C32B and F20/22C.

putting in a honda motor in this car is an entirely different story.

that would be a resounding NO.

[venturaII]

Just curious - why all the opposition? I suspect it'd be easily as light as the FA20, if not lighter, easily make 40% more bhp and even more torque, all while being in it's basically stock, understressed state. The Miata community is already embracing this swap as a very reasonable alternative to the LSx swaps due to it's light weight, decent power output, and compatibility with the rest of the stock Miata driveline, making it more affordable than an LSx swap. It's a 60 degree V6, which makes it compact and naturally balanced as well. Not sure about the overall height of the motor and whether it'd fit under out hood.

Is it simply a brand-oriented thing?

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by cdrazic93

J series? I have never heard of it. the only honda motor I actually LIKE are the C30A/C32B and F20/22C.

putting in a honda motor in this car is an entirely different story.

that would be a resounding NO.

The J series V6s are the ones in the Oddessy, Acura TL/CL, etc.

[continuecrushing]

wow, it bolts right up to the miata stuff...

interesting

[Bawlz]

If we're going to swap a Honda engine in the twins it will either be a FC20, CA20 or the new Type R engine.

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by Shutter

wow, it bolts right up to the miata stuff...

interesting

Exactly. Well, with an adapter plate, but it uses all OEM driveline. I would have to assume that if a Miata driveline can live behind the Honda motor, then ours would as well...? The stock Miata cooling system is reused as well. We certainly have the length and width in our engine bay, just curious about height and crossmember clearance...

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by Bawlz

If we're going to swap a Honda engine in the twins it will either be a FC20, CA20 or the new Type R engine.

All somewhat lighter than the J series, but all also lacking in torque, which is much the same problem we have right now.

[NOHOME]

Love the knee-jerk reactions to this engine.

The real question is if this would be a more cost effective way to pick up some reasonable power over a turbo effort. The budgets are not too far away.

The swap is kinda funky in the way the motor is hung cantilevered on the end of the adapter plate that mates the transmission to the engine. There are in effect no engine mounts n the traditional sense.

The other question is how the engine will play with the final drive? I suspect the Honda, with more torque, will be happier with a bit taller gear than stock.

Next up are the electrics. The kit works with the Honda ECM and Body modules. That I know of, there is no provision to get rid of the body module. It all gets nebulous around this point.

Better bet for me would be the LFX out of say a 2013 Camaro. Same engine in the Cadillac CTS. Available with twin turbos from the factory also.

EDIT

This might not work with the Twins since it relies on the Miata gearbox and the included brace to the rear end as a structural component. The kit would put a lot of upward stress on the FRS gearbox mounts.

[venturaII]

The real appeal of the Honda motor is it's cheap and plentiful availability, it's light weight, and it's relative simplicity when using a standalone aftermarket ECU, which the kit was originally designed to use. If you're going to throw F/I on top of the V6, then that negates much of the appeal of this particular swap, since it's about a relatively moderate power increase using an inexpensive and solid motor, with (in the case of the Twins) a potential weight reduction, and still keeping the whole engine bay simple, and not overstressing any other factory systems like the rest of the driveline or cooling.

[swarb]

OK, I will play along. Say the motor cost with harness and shipping is $1500. add in 3500 swap kit and 1300 aem ecu. And a tune on a engine not many people tune to begin with. Then you have to modify the intake manifold. And possibly the oil pan as our hoods sit pretty low. $6300 before fabrication and tune. I'd say that isn't exactly cost/labor effective.

Look at the dyno video 3.2 dyno TUNED at 236hp 209tq, not exactly impressive numbers. And the stock miata diff/trans is a ticking time bomb.

Second video, crooked steering wheel drives me crazy, that just shows you what kind of work they do.

For those numbers, I could get a jackson racing super charger kit, save money/time on labor and fabrication, and be done in one day.

Pass.

[inertia]

Wow these responses lol