Engine swaps are all but commonplace nowadays, yet some tuning houses manage to turn them into spectacular projects. Case in point is Mike Fernie, of Drivetribe, who resolved to fit a massive V10 in the engine bay of the miniature Mazda MX-5 Miata.
The inline four-pot the roadster originally left the assembly line in 1998 with used to produce around 142 PS (140 hp / 104 kW). The narrow-angle ten-banger should prove much more potent than that at 304 PS (300 hp / 224 kW) and 370 Nm (273 lb-ft) of torque. The performance gain could be even more than that, but the narrow-angle Connaught V10 only commands two liters of supercharged displacement, and boosting it beyond that in a cramped space would likely be a bad idea.
Astonishingly enough, the ten-cylinder block actually does fit inside the tiny roadster – at least, without any peripheral connections. Once everything is plugged in and wired together, we suspect the hood cover might have to go. This is not a concern, though; what Fernie wants first and foremost is a working proof of concept.
The car is currently undergoing some body cleaning procedures, and should soon go to Connaught for the swap. Color us excited!