How does a Miata that has six times the power sound?
The Mazda MX-5 is a different car than the Dodge Challenger Hellcat. The one is a lightweight roadster that can be driven on twisty roads, while the other is a muscle car designed to dominate drag racing. These crazy-in-a good-way enthusiasts decided to combine the small Japanese sports car with an American beast, despite their differences in philosophies.
A 707-horsepower Miata was inevitable, given the popularity of Hellcat swaps. A Hellcat-swapped Toyota Prius has already been produced. The 1998 MX-5 will be powered by a Hellcat engine derived from a 2017 Challenger Hellcat. It is a 1.8-liter Mazda engine that produced 116 horsepower. Six times!
This is not as easy as it sounds. The Miata’s small engine compartment and V8 6.2-liter size will make this difficult. We’ll live in a world where the Miata can pack 656 lbft (890 Newton-meters of torque) if they manage to squeeze the HEMI in.
They have already identified the areas that need to be cut to accommodate the larger engine and six-speed transmission. This will replace the five-speed Miata. The original gearbox would not be able to handle six times the power. Therefore, the custom build will require the Tremec transmission that was included with the Hellcat.
Because the HEMI engine is much taller than the Miata’s four-cylinder, it will be obvious. It won’t be a sleeping giant. The idea of driving a Hellcat-engined MX-5 is equally thrilling and terrifying. We hope to see it in action in the near future. The car is still in development, but people involved in the project have promised to make it available sooner than expected. The car will hopefully have the same serious reinforcements that one would expect from such an enormous increase in power.
We will be watching the build closely and will update the story as soon as we have additional videos.