Mazda has quite a colorful resume. They made some of the most iconic cars of the 90s. Car enthusiast and YouTuber David Patterson, aka Thatdudeinblue, recently featured a rare MX-5 Miata.
Which is the most memorable of the Mazda models that has graced the earth? You might be compelled to say the iconic RX-7 or the brutal 787B. Unfortunately, that might not be true.
The Legendary Mazda Mx-5 Miata takes the crown as the most memorable model under the brand. The two-seater award-winning convertible sports car has conquered the hearts of the automotive community thanks to its driver-focused engineering and drive-thrill experience.
Patterson has had a good stint with MX-5s. He’s reviewed a bunch of them in his channel, from swaps to iconic builds. And just when he thought he’d seen them all – he stumbled upon another.
“Just when I thought I had done every Mazda swap in existence, there’s always one more. There’s no possible way Mazda knew how many engines people would put into their little two-seater roadster,” Patterson says.
The car in question is a Mazda MX-5 Miata NC with a Ford Fusion swap. Now, wait! There are many reasons a car enthusiast would risk getting bullied by purists doing an engine swap – worse on a Miata. But a Ford Fusion engine swap?
Ford and Mazda initially collaborated on an identical platform called the Ford CD3. During the era, Ford had a controlling stake in the Japanese company. And as a result, the first generation of the Mazda 6 arrived with a 2.5-liter Ford Fusion engine.
The featured Miata NC belongs to Matt, a traveling nurse. He didn’t plan on doing the swap initially, but after the original engine blew up, his option for a replacement was a 2.5-liter Ford Fusion swap.
“It’s not much. You essentially take off the stock oil pan. You switch it out for the Miata oil pan from the two-liter,” Matt explains.
It’s a genius swap, come to think of it, especially for enthusiasts looking for a little more power. As Matt says, there is more to just swapping out the oil pans and little more technical work, considering it’s a shift from front to rear-wheel-drive. Matt confesses this build could cost as cheap as $1,000 with junkyard parts.
Many NC lovers believe the 2.5-liter would have sufficed in the Miata. For starters, it’s only 12 lb (5kgs) more than the stock, which greatly enhances the vehicle’s weight ratio and significantly improves handling.
We recommend catching the rest of the conversation on the build and road action in the video below. If you own an NC Miata, this might be the video that triggers you to take the leap.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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