The Bullet wasn't a factory Mazda. The car was an ICV - Individually Customised Vehicle. Each car has modified vehicle plate, and the rules for ICVs are why the front half of the car was cut off altogether, and it is what controlled the displacement of the engine and is why they didn't use an LS. These cars weren't supported, commissioned or involved with Mazda in any way. From around the same time, there was the locally built MX-5 SP, which was a Mazda car, commissioned specifically by Mazda Australia as a prototype for the later Mazdaspeed (SE). Bullet was it's own thing.
@@phillpanaNot! More, potato, tomato. These Bullet specials are NOT 'Factory' Mazda's, and sure as heck would not have a warranty from Mazda. You wrote the title wrong and doubled down on your potato's.
@@dmpi483so did I. I saw rare factory V8 Mazda Miata and had to see. Did Mazda make a V8 I didn't know about? Just to find out it's basically a v8 swap with a rover v8 no less. Maybe it got better but no need to finish watching damn click bait.
The choice to move from Rover V8s to the Toyota 1UZ was on point. They are honestly one of the most dependable V8s ever built, lightweight, a great torque curve (considering the small displacement) and an overall great character and sound.
Yup, since it's humble beginnings as a Buick nailhead it's proved it's point. Shame about the massive variations in build quality from one unit to the next.
@eddieelizabethhitler3259 - the final generation of "Rover V8" had so much potential... but (to my knowledge) never made it off the drawing board. The Buick 215 was a great engine for its time, and would've been absolutely amazing with modern architecture... but it just wasn't "economically feasible" (translation: Oldsmobile had all the development capital). Can you imagine a modern pushrod 215 V8 with all the technology that was developed in the 3800 Series II in the early '90s?
Yes! The 1UZ is a fantastic engine! And it's light for a V8. 260hp and 300ft lbs of torque make it great for small sports cars. They are capable of 400hp without internal modifications and still reliable as hell. Toyota over-engineered those engines.
@@nismo2070 - the bottom end on the 1UZ was amazing, for its day. They were extremely well balanced... so much so, there wasn't much you could do with them to make them better for a street build, aside from forged pistons for forced induction.
Nightride has a 1uz Miata they been drifting for years. It lasted through many events, crashes and hard abuse yet the engine has always been reliable to this day
I assume Toyota wasn't yet known for their capability because the Rover V8 to me seems like a unreliable nightmare but that's my lack of understanding for the Rover brand and bias's toward what they have become.
I've never seen one in person so your not missing much. I would argue that USA has more interesting and affordable V8's available than we do. Especially 90's cars.
To be fair, the SP is also Australia-only and made a lot more power than the Mazdaspeed that was inspired by it - it made something like 203HP, which barring the Jota GT conversions in the UK and the (not factory) BBR ITB/supercharger kits, that's still the most power an MX5 has made from factory. I wish I could have an SP!
I am deeply enjoying my BBR225 ITB install, the install for which was finished about 2 months ago. It’s not a ball-tearer, but it has loads more low down torque, very wide power band, and top end power. It sounds cracking at wide open throttle, barking loudly front (ITBs) and Back (2.5 inch high flow exhaust) It makes my NC everything I could have hoped for from the factory.
@@phillpana only 100 SPs were ever made atleast partially because the extensive modifications made it very expensive(adjusted for inflation its original price would be around A$97000 in today's money)
There's a company over here in the UK that do v6 conversions using completely rebuilt jag aj 30 v6 engines. a complete build and set up cost £15k and you can buy the full kit from them and do it yourself for £10k. bit pricey for my taste but i would love to get ahold of up out of curiosity.
I actually have built a few v8 Miata’s with 3 more in progress right now. A stock ls3 stuffed into a Miata is exciting and more than enough power for the average guy.
Thats pretty awesome. is everything custom fabricated or do companies make swap kits like K-series engines ? (engine mounts, drive shafts, wiring loom etc)
I use v8 roadster’s kits, but we also have monster Miata that makes kits aswell. For wiring I like to use the Holley terminators but two of the cars are getting fueltech 550s with custom looms.
That 13BRT red Bullet Supercar MX5 (the red one) was my mates car. They only made 2 (road going) of the 13B turbo Bullet roadsters, but had heard that there was 1 other one produces prior to the red and blue one's which was also red but it apparently caught fire and burnt to the ground during testing on a race track? The red 13BRT in this video was a 13B Bridgeport turbo running a Garrett T4 turbo (bush bearing)
I think it was Greg at Bullet that I was introduced too by sir Isaac and I made the gearbox bellhousing adaptor to suit the six speed manual to the planned supercharged Toyota V8 from memory it was going to be paddle shift sequential. I think it was the third car being built for the Melbourne show. I only had two Saturday mornings to complete the part. Never heard anything from them ever since.
The main answer we all should answer now, what the difference between australian shed and the factory. For me even every TVR is not a factory, but garage built, just as Bullet cars.
They were technically in a 'factory' which was in a factory area of Queensland and had a small scale version of an assembly line just minus the line. Its very hard to engineer a custom chassis at scale in your backyard. I'm calling it a factory produced car :).
That just means more time spent to build and perfect it as aposed yo a factory machine just doing same shiiitahh every day over n over , even if it's off they still send it.. as apposed to these guys or people like myself that are devoted to perfecting every lil thing you do and or make , they you get bullet quality instead of factory replicas 😅.. peace and love bro keep it rad stay safe and build on l8z
@@phillpana the My red car was the first car built but badged car 2, light blue with early front in the video is also a rotary and badge 1, there was car 3 that was a rotary but im told its no more. Next 2 cars were the early front and rover v8 (single headlight) then cars 6-33 were all twin headlight 1UZFE cars.
Australia and Japan always get the best versions of Japanese cars. I had a 1990 MX5 (USDM) and that 1.6 lasted all of about 3 months before the engine siezed. I spent the following 3.5 years without a car because i simply couldn't afford another. That was almost 10 years ago now.
Right australia got this and japan made a actual coup non convertible and tbh I really like how it looks and prolly way more rigid , but we american never get the cool stuff .. we just do stupid stuff alot 😅
The "Miata" in the video is a bullet conversion. There is nothing factory about it other than Mazda saying go ahead and do it. There was never a "factory" V8 Miata. Not even a V6! The Mazdaspeed Miata's were 1.8 liter 4 cylinder engines with a turbocharger that made 170ish hp. People have been swapping v8s into Miatas since the early 90's. I've driven a NA Miata with a Ford 5.0 V8. Handled like crap because of the weird weight distribution.
I was hoping you'd say the Rover V8 was replaced with a UZ, but I didn't expect that to actually be the case! That's awesome. I drive a 2002 LS430, and if it ever gets totaled, I want to swap the powertrain into a Miata. I love that engine to death.
Not mass produce . It compare it to the flying miata LS ND. So you still have warranty and everything thing work perfectly but with a 5.0 in the 90s You can see one in the hot-version vol 9
I thought they were based in WA. They had a shop in Malaga. They SC the Lexus V8 in the end. The sold SC kits, their own SC units too. Also they had Orbital Engines. These engines had a motor with an unusual induction. The motor had a camshaft with rotating windows like a two-stroke would operate... controlling the induction and exh timing that way also check out Brunswick diesel, edge products. WA had/have lots cool Auto businesses
From what I understand it's just Queensland and they didn't sell kits. It was full car custom order. They sell supercharger kits and other parts though.
It kind of makes me wonder why they didn’t go with an LS or a Ford to begin with. Australia has both companies there, and i have trouble believing a Toyota v8 was more economical or easier to source. Not knocking Toyota, it just seems like an American V8 would be the obvious choice since we build far more of them than any other country
For many years there have been kits to stuff a ford v8 into Miata’s I’ve never personally heard of seen the ls/lt swaps, but it doesn’t surprise me because of the Chevy v8 availability, bang for buck, and aftermarket support… also “ls swap everything”
The mazdaspeed SP is different to the mazdaspeed SE, the SP was unique to Australia and had a VVT motor whereas the SE was available in multiple countries and did not have VVT.
I just recently got a brand new ND mx5 and I remember seeing a bullet up for sale but I didn’t really know much about the history. Mad cars though and It is so refreshing finding good Aussie car content
My orginal comment was who is bladed angel? I went and had a look for myself and i'll be honest. My hours of work on this damn thumbnail thinking it was an orginal idea and it just looks like i'm a copycat from this other bigger youtuber..... Damn But bladed angel is pretty cool. I've now subscribed. Hope they don't deem me a copy cat.....
From what I could find for the earlier rover V8's they modified a tremac 5-speed manual transmission and a differential from a Holden Commodore SS. Not 100% sure if this setup carried on to the Toyota V8's
There’s at least one guy I’ve seen online that swapped in a dodge hellcat engine into a Miata….its insane I believe it makes ~750 wheel hp(since that’s what hellcat engines make stock) Look it up on the Hoonigan channel they had at least 2 videos on it iirc
David Freiburger and team of Petersen Publishing (Hot Rod/Car Craft) did this before the Ausies using ONLY FACTORY and dealership available Ford parts (because Ford owned Mazda back then) to put a 5.0 liter V8 in a Miata with a stock hood. Just to show it could be done. No frame change out necessary. Hell, this Ausie car can’t even be called a Miata after all the stuff they changed.
The "Crazy Australians" you speak of were John Bertini (pictured in 2:04) who had the idea in the first place and Barry Pearson who designed, and hand fabricated the chassis, square tube space frames to house the 13B and the custom fiberglass tilt front, all within a small factory in the Tweed Valley area in NSW. AEC bought out rights to Bullet and looked to start mass production. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_(car)
I spent around $7-9 grand US dollars and put an LS6 in mine. fastest/scariest car I have driven. would give just about anything a run for its money. sold for $25k
I'm not familiar with the Rover V8 other than people saying anything rover is unreliable and costly. Do you have any first hand experience with the engine out of curiosity ?
@phillpana they aren't super unreliable, just when they over heat they blow head gaskets pretty easily. I wouldn't say they are a bad engine, they can sound really good. Just very under powered.
Yeah although lower wages and inflation the car brand new is still cheaper than the worst new car you can buy in todays marketing if adjusted for inflation.
I don't think that AU$9K number is correct. Never saw them for sale at that price. The only thing under AU$10K at the end of the '90's that had any performance was a Hyundai Excel and a Proton Satria. The MX-5 were more like $29K new.
I genuinely don't understand why not a Ford 4.6L modular V8. Is it not a common engine in Australia? They're reliable, they produce good power and torque in factory spec, they're highly tunable and, with Mazda's affiliation with Ford, they may have even been able to garner factory support for production.
The Toyota V8 makes sense due to the cost and reliability however the Rover V8 engine choice puzzles me. I think the Ford V8 would of made sense from the beginning but maybe it was considered and did not fit their purpose. Who knows.
The Modular has a problem, the same problem for why a Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 won't fit in a Valiant,... The US DOHC and Quad Cam motors are Wiiiiiiiiide. Like nearly a foot wider then the same size pushrod V8. That alone makes them hard to drop in to something as small as a MX-5. And 'no', the 4.6 Modular is not common DownUnder. Ford of Oz did a bit of a hybrid own version, because a '4.6' was seen as a marketing downgrade from the 5.0 they replaced, so we got a larger 5.4 Modular, which later became available in the US.
@@PiDsPagePrototypes Well that explains a lot. Still, GM crammed the Lotus redesigned four cam version of the 60 degree V6 into the early to mid '90s Grand Prix so if you completely disregard serviceability like they did, I think it's possible. (LOL) I know from experience that the correct way to change the spark plugs on the rear bank of the motor in that car is to hang the front of the motor on a hoist, disconnect the front motor mount and lower the front bank with the hoist, tilting the rear bank forward enough to access the spark plugs with a ratchet and extension without needing to bend sheet metal as most people did instead of using a hoist.
@@Where_is_Waldo I have an 02 Voyager, rear plug access requires removing the scuttle/airbox for the HVAC below the windscreen, doing it any other way doubles the time it takes,... sometimes it's better to follow the factory method.
Won’t fit. Modular over head cam engines are very wide. Old push rod engines like the old 5.0 and modern LS V8 are popular swaps for this reason. My Crown Vic is designed for the 4.6 and adding headers is nearly impossible because of space limitations
Still waiting to hear how these are "Factory" Mazdas. Everything here tells that they're an aftermarket or remanufacturer special, not any sort of Official Mazda with Mazda warranty.
Bullet was a registered Car Manufacturer. No different to TVR or Morgan whom used the same engines in their vehicles and were considered factory vehicles. Does that not make Bullet a factory vehicle too?
@@phillpana No. TVR and Morgan build the Whole vehicle and add an off the shelf engine. Bullet disassembled and existing car and Remanufacturered it. Where TVR and Morgan are doing the same as Mazda, Bullet was doing the same as a guy who buys a XY Falcon, strips it and rebuilds it as a GTHO clone. Bullett did not design, engineer and crash test the original vehicle, TVR and Morgan ceratinly do (or did for TVR, since they're shut down now). These vehicles DID NOT roll out of the Mazda Factory with a V8, so NO they are not a 'Factory V8', regardless of how you want to spin your error filled headline.
I was responsible for the tooling approval and all Engineering dimensional reports of the Rover V8 Landrover Aluminium V8 block and heads from 90 to 05 when it was killed of it went in all-sorts particularly TVRs Morgan's as well as mainly Rovers and Landrovers even boats,Rover originally bought the rights of Buick when after 3 years or so stopped producing the Aluminium V8.
the silver one (fuel injected) was the easiest to drive, the supercharged one pretty much sat there and turned tyres to smoke before getting traction. If you want to hear one of the toyota quad cam engines on song, click the below link ua-cam.com/video/WA-RXXyewas/v-deo.htmlsi=p40vwrn5o8jAQMS-
So I actually spoke to an old timer that works at Bullet and I asked him why majority if not all of the later Bullet's with a 1UZ-FE V8 had a supercharger and he said it was because the N/A V8 was slower in the bullet chassis than the N/A V8 rover engine and somewhat was boring without it. So if you make the swap i think a supercharger is needed to really get the Miata moving.
GM made a prototype sky with a V8 from a corvette. Of course they wouldn’t ever make it because it would be way faster than the corvette. I would love to build one myself but them car’s cost too much money for my broke azz to afford to buy as a toy.
@@phillpana When a car comes with a "factory" option that means it is an option available from the ORIGINAL factory. Yes the car was modified in A factory but since you want to get technical, the car leaves the factory as a Bullet Roadster, that is no longer a Miata. So yes clickbait no matter how you look at it
They have a completely redesigned chassis and square tubed space frame for the engine, and a custom front tilt hood. The only "Miata" thing about them was the rear end of the car. Also it's "MX-5 bud," Miata was for NA and that's it, these were designed in Australia.
@@phillpanaLike I say, watch Hagerty's video, and listen closely to why and how the Miata came about from concept to decades of sales. The original creator of the Miata is there and explains exactly WHY they retain a modest power to weight ratio specifically for the Miata.
It is factory, but not Mazda factory, it draws inspiration from the MX-5, but is not an MX-5, he click-baited the audience by putting V8 Mazda Miata in the title, but it's not.
Hopefully some day soon i get the ability to work on an old school V8 engine so i can see for myself. Who knows maybe that is already a reality and i might release some V8 content soon. !
I Just Purchased A Bullet Roadster! CHECK IT OUT | ua-cam.com/video/uvOnAyd8QQQ/v-deo.html
The Bullet wasn't a factory Mazda. The car was an ICV - Individually Customised Vehicle. Each car has modified vehicle plate, and the rules for ICVs are why the front half of the car was cut off altogether, and it is what controlled the displacement of the engine and is why they didn't use an LS. These cars weren't supported, commissioned or involved with Mazda in any way.
From around the same time, there was the locally built MX-5 SP, which was a Mazda car, commissioned specifically by Mazda Australia as a prototype for the later Mazdaspeed (SE). Bullet was it's own thing.
potato pata
@@phillpanaNot! More, potato, tomato. These Bullet specials are NOT 'Factory' Mazda's, and sure as heck would not have a warranty from Mazda. You wrote the title wrong and doubled down on your potato's.
@@PiDsPagePrototypesSeemed pretty clear to me that he is aware they aren’t factory MX5s and have nothing to do with Mazda
I fell for clickbait yet again!
@@dmpi483so did I. I saw rare factory V8 Mazda Miata and had to see. Did Mazda make a V8 I didn't know about? Just to find out it's basically a v8 swap with a rover v8 no less. Maybe it got better but no need to finish watching damn click bait.
I had no idea this ever existed thank you for the video great job
Cheers ! I still have not seen one in person but hopefully someday soon.
@@phillpanaI know you used a bladed angel thumbnail
The choice to move from Rover V8s to the Toyota 1UZ was on point. They are honestly one of the most dependable V8s ever built, lightweight, a great torque curve (considering the small displacement) and an overall great character and sound.
Yup, since it's humble beginnings as a Buick nailhead it's proved it's point. Shame about the massive variations in build quality from one unit to the next.
@eddieelizabethhitler3259 - the final generation of "Rover V8" had so much potential... but (to my knowledge) never made it off the drawing board. The Buick 215 was a great engine for its time, and would've been absolutely amazing with modern architecture... but it just wasn't "economically feasible" (translation: Oldsmobile had all the development capital). Can you imagine a modern pushrod 215 V8 with all the technology that was developed in the 3800 Series II in the early '90s?
Yes! The 1UZ is a fantastic engine! And it's light for a V8. 260hp and 300ft lbs of torque make it great for small sports cars. They are capable of 400hp without internal modifications and still reliable as hell. Toyota over-engineered those engines.
@@nismo2070 - the bottom end on the 1UZ was amazing, for its day. They were extremely well balanced... so much so, there wasn't much you could do with them to make them better for a street build, aside from forged pistons for forced induction.
Nightride has a 1uz Miata they been drifting for years. It lasted through many events, crashes and hard abuse yet the engine has always been reliable to this day
still plenty of parts for those engines too it seems ! Maybe not as abundant as an LS though.
@@phillpana oh definitely, but it doesn't seem to need many parts since they rarely fail lol
Can't beat Toyota reliability !
@@phillpana exactly! I find it weird the Rover v8 was even put in at first
I assume Toyota wasn't yet known for their capability because the Rover V8 to me seems like a unreliable nightmare but that's my lack of understanding for the Rover brand and bias's toward what they have become.
Yet again Australia has a cool car we’ll never see in America 😢
I’m an Australian. I’ve never seen this. So don’t worry too much!
I've never seen one in person so your not missing much. I would argue that USA has more interesting and affordable V8's available than we do. Especially 90's cars.
To be fair, the SP is also Australia-only and made a lot more power than the Mazdaspeed that was inspired by it - it made something like 203HP, which barring the Jota GT conversions in the UK and the (not factory) BBR ITB/supercharger kits, that's still the most power an MX5 has made from factory. I wish I could have an SP!
The more you know !. i've only seen SE's for sale here. SP must be very rare ? Its pretty much an NB miata witj a turbo kit. Very doable.
I am deeply enjoying my BBR225 ITB install, the install for which was finished about 2 months ago.
It’s not a ball-tearer, but it has loads more low down torque, very wide power band, and top end power.
It sounds cracking at wide open throttle, barking loudly front (ITBs) and Back (2.5 inch high flow exhaust)
It makes my NC everything I could have hoped for from the factory.
@@phillpana only 100 SPs were ever made atleast partially because the extensive modifications made it very expensive(adjusted for inflation its original price would be around A$97000 in today's money)
Last thing I was expecting to find on UA-cam was dashcam footage of Burwood East in an informational car video. Very cool
First person to notice the area! Cheers for watching!
I have owned the BLT-05 car (3:25) for a couple years now, with the 4.6L rover engine. Endless grins
You are one lucky human !
@@phillpana you serious about wanting seat-time cause it is for sale...
I haven't seen yours for sale anywhere. Do you have a listing ? Feel free to PM me on my IG or FB accounts otherwise email my business Gmail :)
There's a company over here in the UK that do v6 conversions using completely rebuilt jag aj 30 v6 engines. a complete build and set up cost £15k and you can buy the full kit from them and do it yourself for £10k. bit pricey for my taste but i would love to get ahold of up out of curiosity.
I actually have built a few v8 Miata’s with 3 more in progress right now. A stock ls3 stuffed into a Miata is exciting and more than enough power for the average guy.
Thats pretty awesome. is everything custom fabricated or do companies make swap kits like K-series engines ? (engine mounts, drive shafts, wiring loom etc)
I use v8 roadster’s kits, but we also have monster Miata that makes kits aswell. For wiring I like to use the Holley terminators but two of the cars are getting fueltech 550s with custom looms.
That’s awesome, do you have any videos up of them, would be so interesting to see them
That 13BRT red Bullet Supercar MX5 (the red one) was my mates car. They only made 2 (road going) of the 13B turbo Bullet roadsters, but had heard that there was 1 other one produces prior to the red and blue one's which was also red but it apparently caught fire and burnt to the ground during testing on a race track?
The red 13BRT in this video was a 13B Bridgeport turbo running a Garrett T4 turbo (bush bearing)
Who was your mate? I have owned the red car for around 13yrs now.
Miatas are criminally underrated cars, as are Mazdas in general.
I think it was Greg at Bullet that I was introduced too by sir Isaac and I made the gearbox bellhousing adaptor to suit the six speed manual to the planned supercharged Toyota V8 from memory it was going to be paddle shift sequential. I think it was the third car being built for the Melbourne show. I only had two Saturday mornings to complete the part. Never heard anything from them ever since.
I live near Retirement Communities here in Ontario Canada. The Miata is by far the Most Popular Car in those Communities.
The main answer we all should answer now, what the difference between australian shed and the factory.
For me even every TVR is not a factory, but garage built, just as Bullet cars.
They were technically in a 'factory' which was in a factory area of Queensland and had a small scale version of an assembly line just minus the line. Its very hard to engineer a custom chassis at scale in your backyard. I'm calling it a factory produced car :).
That just means more time spent to build and perfect it as aposed yo a factory machine just doing same shiiitahh every day over n over , even if it's off they still send it.. as apposed to these guys or people like myself that are devoted to perfecting every lil thing you do and or make , they you get bullet quality instead of factory replicas 😅.. peace and love bro keep it rad stay safe and build on l8z
Nice to see some appreciation for the cars. I have the red bullet rotary shown around halfway and don't think I'll ever part with it.
I thought the rotary was 1 of 1 ?
@@phillpana the My red car was the first car built but badged car 2, light blue with early front in the video is also a rotary and badge 1, there was car 3 that was a rotary but im told its no more. Next 2 cars were the early front and rover v8 (single headlight) then cars 6-33 were all twin headlight 1UZFE cars.
Australia and Japan always get the best versions of Japanese cars. I had a 1990 MX5 (USDM) and that 1.6 lasted all of about 3 months before the engine siezed.
I spent the following 3.5 years without a car because i simply couldn't afford another.
That was almost 10 years ago now.
Right australia got this and japan made a actual coup non convertible and tbh I really like how it looks and prolly way more rigid , but we american never get the cool stuff .. we just do stupid stuff alot 😅
Cool! Australian version of Flying Miata!
The "Miata" in the video is a bullet conversion. There is nothing factory about it other than Mazda saying go ahead and do it. There was never a "factory" V8 Miata. Not even a V6! The Mazdaspeed Miata's were 1.8 liter 4 cylinder engines with a turbocharger that made 170ish hp. People have been swapping v8s into Miatas since the early 90's. I've driven a NA Miata with a Ford 5.0 V8. Handled like crap because of the weird weight distribution.
It sort of looks like a tiny Dodge Viper. Super cool.
I was hoping you'd say the Rover V8 was replaced with a UZ, but I didn't expect that to actually be the case! That's awesome.
I drive a 2002 LS430, and if it ever gets totaled, I want to swap the powertrain into a Miata. I love that engine to death.
Daily drive an NB8B, may convert my NA project car to a V8. Fun times ahead!!!
you should film it !
The Monster Miata stateside had a 5.0 Mustang engine and it made (I think) 250 horsepower.
That would be ideal over the Rover V8 for sure.
In canada we got monster miata , took from the dealership and a 5.0 out of a fox body was added
Never heard of it but i'll do some research. Was this mass produced in a similiar fashion ?
Not mass produce . It compare it to the flying miata LS ND. So you still have warranty and everything thing work perfectly but with a 5.0 in the 90s
You can see one in the hot-version vol 9
4 litre v8 that has just over 200 horsepower? I knownits the past but that makes you wonder why such a relatively low power as standard?
I thought they were based in WA. They had a shop in Malaga. They SC the Lexus V8 in the end. The sold SC kits, their own SC units too. Also they had Orbital Engines. These engines had a motor with an unusual induction. The motor had a camshaft with rotating windows like a two-stroke would operate... controlling the induction and exh timing that way also check out Brunswick diesel, edge products. WA had/have lots cool Auto businesses
From what I understand it's just Queensland and they didn't sell kits. It was full car custom order. They sell supercharger kits and other parts though.
The company AEC (Perth based) which bought out Bullet, is also the parent company to Sprintex which makes superchargers.
There was also the v8 monster miata made in San Marcos California
In the US, we use Chevy LS and LT engines. I think we also have kits for doing this swap now.
It kind of makes me wonder why they didn’t go with an LS or a Ford to begin with. Australia has both companies there, and i have trouble believing a Toyota v8 was more economical or easier to source. Not knocking Toyota, it just seems like an American V8 would be the obvious choice since we build far more of them than any other country
For many years there have been kits to stuff a ford v8 into Miata’s
I’ve never personally heard of seen the ls/lt swaps, but it doesn’t surprise me because of the Chevy v8 availability, bang for buck, and aftermarket support… also “ls swap everything”
1uz way way more reliable
@@mastercricket7626The LS series has a pretty stellar reputation too. Not the fords so much though
The mazdaspeed SP is different to the mazdaspeed SE, the SP was unique to Australia and had a VVT motor whereas the SE was available in multiple countries and did not have VVT.
One of many reasons I love Miata is because it's not too fast.
Dang that inflation adjustment 😅 almost like we're being taken advantage of
Honestly I'm still searching the Web for a different answer because it doesn't seem real 🤣.
a brand new 90s miata costing an equivalent of 10k today makes me feel robbed
Crikey, Aussie MX-5, V8, 4.6L, 420 HP. : )
I just recently got a brand new ND mx5 and I remember seeing a bullet up for sale but I didn’t really know much about the history. Mad cars though and It is so refreshing finding good Aussie car content
Yo this is dope. It’s like Bladed Angel but Australian
My orginal comment was who is bladed angel? I went and had a look for myself and i'll be honest. My hours of work on this damn thumbnail thinking it was an orginal idea and it just looks like i'm a copycat from this other bigger youtuber..... Damn
But bladed angel is pretty cool. I've now subscribed. Hope they don't deem me a copy cat.....
@@phillpana Oh yo mb I wasn’t trying to say you were copying Bladed, I just saw the coincidence with the thumbnails. Keep up the great work my guy!
"choooning"
Ok but what transmission and diff did they use? Really intriguing subject since the cars were brand new.
From what I could find for the earlier rover V8's they modified a tremac 5-speed manual transmission and a differential from a Holden Commodore SS. Not 100% sure if this setup carried on to the Toyota V8's
I've got an LS2 swapped Miata. It dyno'ed 478 to the wheels. It's not remotely practical, but is very fun.
Heavy engine messing with weight distribution ?
There’s at least one guy I’ve seen online that swapped in a dodge hellcat engine into a Miata….its insane
I believe it makes ~750 wheel hp(since that’s what hellcat engines make stock)
Look it up on the Hoonigan channel they had at least 2 videos on it iirc
David Freiburger and team of Petersen Publishing (Hot Rod/Car Craft) did this before the Ausies using ONLY FACTORY and dealership available Ford parts (because Ford owned Mazda back then) to put a 5.0 liter V8 in a Miata with a stock hood. Just to show it could be done. No frame change out necessary. Hell, this Ausie car can’t even be called a Miata after all the stuff they changed.
Still a miata lol
Wow, that was interesting. Good ole Aussie engineering. at it's best. Didn't like the zeee instead of 'zed' reference, though Phil.
What can i say. I didnt pass english class in my youth.
There's a video on UA-cam with these cars having a few runs
The "Crazy Australians" you speak of were John Bertini (pictured in 2:04) who had the idea in the first place and Barry Pearson who designed, and hand fabricated the chassis, square tube space frames to house the 13B and the custom fiberglass tilt front, all within a small factory in the Tweed Valley area in NSW. AEC bought out rights to Bullet and looked to start mass production. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_(car)
I’m so glad that they didn’t just throw in some ford or GM V8 in it like some people here in the US….
I spent around $7-9 grand US dollars and put an LS6 in mine. fastest/scariest car I have driven. would give just about anything a run for its money. sold for $25k
LS would be superior in comparison.
@@phillpana it certainly was! lol
Cool vid
Cheers!
I thought there was a California based Miata Shop, called MonsterMiata or something that did this swap in 1999
I believe their was. I think its more recent but unsure if they redesigned the miata chassis or not.
huh I didn't know about this... though your australian, so why not call it by its real name, the MX5?
If all my viewers are American well.....
@@phillpana lol I like to irritate my american viewers with diversity :P
4:00 is where the actual video starts, after the filler.
Dragonball Z had filler and we all still watched it.
These are definitely worthy of granturismo. And need to be included.
Agreed!
In Australia was NEVER a Miata!
Only MX-5 or Roadster!
Miata is a US only version of the original Roadster!
lost me at rover v8 lol.
could have been any v8, except that one
its ok, you got me back with the 1uz !
I'm not familiar with the Rover V8 other than people saying anything rover is unreliable and costly. Do you have any first hand experience with the engine out of curiosity ?
@phillpana they aren't super unreliable, just when they over heat they blow head gaskets pretty easily. I wouldn't say they are a bad engine, they can sound really good. Just very under powered.
The bullet ss is literally a mini viper with a supercharger to compensate for 2 cylinders💀
What I'm most blown away by is that you could buy a brand new mx5 for 9k back in 99
Yeah although lower wages and inflation the car brand new is still cheaper than the worst new car you can buy in todays marketing if adjusted for inflation.
I don't think that AU$9K number is correct. Never saw them for sale at that price. The only thing under AU$10K at the end of the '90's that had any performance was a Hyundai Excel and a Proton Satria. The MX-5 were more like $29K new.
taylor ray has a ls miata used for drifting
"The last of the V8's"... Also the first... Miata that is.! 😉 😉
Basically an LS swapped Miata before the were cool
pretty much
Mazda and Ford had a partnership in the 80s-90s. Why not use Ford 302/5.0L?
Bullet wasn't partnered with Mazda that's probably why.
If my ISF ever gets destroyed, i will put the swap into a Miata.
I genuinely don't understand why not a Ford 4.6L modular V8. Is it not a common engine in Australia? They're reliable, they produce good power and torque in factory spec, they're highly tunable and, with Mazda's affiliation with Ford, they may have even been able to garner factory support for production.
The Toyota V8 makes sense due to the cost and reliability however the Rover V8 engine choice puzzles me. I think the Ford V8 would of made sense from the beginning but maybe it was considered and did not fit their purpose. Who knows.
The Modular has a problem, the same problem for why a Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 won't fit in a Valiant,... The US DOHC and Quad Cam motors are Wiiiiiiiiide. Like nearly a foot wider then the same size pushrod V8. That alone makes them hard to drop in to something as small as a MX-5.
And 'no', the 4.6 Modular is not common DownUnder. Ford of Oz did a bit of a hybrid own version, because a '4.6' was seen as a marketing downgrade from the 5.0 they replaced, so we got a larger 5.4 Modular, which later became available in the US.
@@PiDsPagePrototypes Well that explains a lot. Still, GM crammed the Lotus redesigned four cam version of the 60 degree V6 into the early to mid '90s Grand Prix so if you completely disregard serviceability like they did, I think it's possible. (LOL)
I know from experience that the correct way to change the spark plugs on the rear bank of the motor in that car is to hang the front of the motor on a hoist, disconnect the front motor mount and lower the front bank with the hoist, tilting the rear bank forward enough to access the spark plugs with a ratchet and extension without needing to bend sheet metal as most people did instead of using a hoist.
@@Where_is_Waldo I have an 02 Voyager, rear plug access requires removing the scuttle/airbox for the HVAC below the windscreen, doing it any other way doubles the time it takes,... sometimes it's better to follow the factory method.
Won’t fit. Modular over head cam engines are very wide. Old push rod engines like the old 5.0 and modern LS V8 are popular swaps for this reason. My Crown Vic is designed for the 4.6 and adding headers is nearly impossible because of space limitations
Need a turbo coyote swapped one
13b in a Miata is the best
Would be interesting for sure. Think for peace of mind i'd choose the V8 though.
41k views on the video and 55k likes? UA-cam is doing some shady stuff
Likes are around 1500 ? Where did 50k come from lol ?
The Miata is also a wonderful daily driver. I've daily'd my 2020 for the last 3 years and it's been wonderful.
Can't go wrong with a Miata. Cheap and Safe !
@@phillpana most importantly, reliable.
Ecoboost V6 Miata when
Still waiting to hear how these are "Factory" Mazdas.
Everything here tells that they're an aftermarket or remanufacturer special, not any sort of Official Mazda with Mazda warranty.
Bullet was a registered Car Manufacturer. No different to TVR or Morgan whom used the same engines in their vehicles and were considered factory vehicles. Does that not make Bullet a factory vehicle too?
@@phillpana No. TVR and Morgan build the Whole vehicle and add an off the shelf engine. Bullet disassembled and existing car and Remanufacturered it. Where TVR and Morgan are doing the same as Mazda, Bullet was doing the same as a guy who buys a XY Falcon, strips it and rebuilds it as a GTHO clone. Bullett did not design, engineer and crash test the original vehicle, TVR and Morgan ceratinly do (or did for TVR, since they're shut down now). These vehicles DID NOT roll out of the Mazda Factory with a V8, so NO they are not a 'Factory V8', regardless of how you want to spin your error filled headline.
Only the NA had the name Miata, and then it was a sub-name. MX-5 is and always has been the name, I don't know why people focus on that so much
I never knew that. Americans call all mx5's, miata from what i see on youtube.
MX-5 is the name for most of the world, Miata is the US badge.
@@PiDsPagePrototypes Only for the first gen, you will not see that badge on any MX-5 after the first one
@@phillpana They also call engines motors lol
You forgot to say 420 Nice hp at 5:32
1.6 fux spiders
that thumbnail looks kinda like something bladed would make
Your not the first to say that. Turns out when you try be original someone beats you to it.
@@phillpana im not surprised.
But is it intentionally similar?
Mazda factory, or any other factory?
Bullet Factory !
I was responsible for the tooling approval and all Engineering dimensional reports of the Rover V8 Landrover Aluminium V8 block and heads from 90 to 05 when it was killed of it went in all-sorts particularly TVRs Morgan's as well as mainly Rovers and Landrovers even boats,Rover originally bought the rights of Buick when after 3 years or so stopped producing the Aluminium V8.
What was the main reason it was killed off? Seemed like it fit many applications.
@@phillpanajust an old Engine and design, Ford owned Landrover so it was killed off , Manufacturers that used it had to source other engines.
Just like mg did back in the day
A v6 would do the trick.
A jag v6 seems pretty cool like autoalex I think did ?
the silver one (fuel injected) was the easiest to drive, the supercharged one pretty much sat there and turned tyres to smoke before getting traction. If you want to hear one of the toyota quad cam engines on song, click the below link
ua-cam.com/video/WA-RXXyewas/v-deo.htmlsi=p40vwrn5o8jAQMS-
welp, time to take my rusted out is400 and put it in my miata
So I actually spoke to an old timer that works at Bullet and I asked him why majority if not all of the later Bullet's with a 1UZ-FE V8 had a supercharger and he said it was because the N/A V8 was slower in the bullet chassis than the N/A V8 rover engine and somewhat was boring without it. So if you make the swap i think a supercharger is needed to really get the Miata moving.
GM made a prototype sky with a V8 from a corvette.
Of course they wouldn’t ever make it because it would be way faster than the corvette.
I would love to build one myself but them car’s cost too much money for my broke azz to afford to buy as a toy.
That’s not a rover v8….its a Buick motor.
Yes it is a Buick motor but it is
known as a rover V8 here and in the UK I believe.
@@phillpana I get it. Pizza Hut makes better pizza and Olive Garden is better than real Italian food.
I got clickbaited
Defintely not. Your looking at a Factory Australian Muscle Car.
@@phillpana When a car comes with a "factory" option that means it is an option available from the ORIGINAL factory. Yes the car was modified in A factory but since you want to get technical, the car leaves the factory as a Bullet Roadster, that is no longer a Miata. So yes clickbait no matter how you look at it
@@fakehandle666 Yeah it's not a Miata, that's where he gets the info wrong. The inspiration comes from the Miata, but it is not a Miata.
😮😮😮😮😮😮😮
Monster Miata did it first... And they didn't need a completely new chassis either. 😉
Mine is car number one and is a 1998. Were monster miata doing conversions back then?
These are just custom Miatas. Not a factory V8 glad I didn’t waste more than 30 seconds on this.
You did waste more than 30 seconds on your comment so thank you :)
They have a completely redesigned chassis and square tubed space frame for the engine, and a custom front tilt hood. The only "Miata" thing about them was the rear end of the car. Also it's "MX-5 bud," Miata was for NA and that's it, these were designed in Australia.
If you think the Miata is underpowered, then you need to watch Hagerty’s video they did with the creator of the car…
I'll give it a look ! I always found the Na And NB so slow hence why i bought an s2000 instead. But if your a purest i can appreciate your opinion.
@@phillpanaLike I say, watch Hagerty's video, and listen closely to why and how the Miata came about from concept to decades of sales. The original creator of the Miata is there and explains exactly WHY they retain a modest power to weight ratio specifically for the Miata.
If the car does not come FROM MAZDA with the V8 it IS NOT a factory option. Thank you for wasting my time.
Thank you for your opinion.
Wasn't factory. Be honest
It was very much factory, honestly. No different to TVR if you know the brand.
@@phillpana cerbera, speed 12
@@phillpanaWhat I meant was that Mazda never made a V8 miata.
why don't you V8 swap a mx5? LS swap would be much cheaper than $88,000 for one of these LOL
who said i wouldn't ? Its a possibility.
So this is not factory and the title is WRONG!!!!!
It is factory, but not Mazda factory, it draws inspiration from the MX-5, but is not an MX-5, he click-baited the audience by putting V8 Mazda Miata in the title, but it's not.
@@samuelpearson so not factory as I said.
@@mikeholland1031 Pretty much.
so not a factory V8. what a waste of a video
Everyones got an opinion. Negative or not, your comment still helps out so thank you !
But why tho? 💀
why not?
We need more JDM V8 roadsters. V8's just have a unique feel to them.
@@phillpana cause the v8's are (mostly) bulletproof
Hopefully some day soon i get the ability to work on an old school V8 engine so i can see for myself. Who knows maybe that is already a reality and i might release some V8 content soon. !
@@phillpana I guess a LS swap Miata would be pretty fun
clickbait
I remember the Bullet Roadster, not a bad idea for a fun car.
I’m getting prepared to put a 350 Chevy in an NB.
Please film that !
so it isnt a factory v8 miata
Your right its not factory Mazda. But Bullet was a registered factory car manufacturer in Australia so is it not factory then?
@@phillpana nah jit