1993 Monster Motorsports Mazda Miata

From the May 1993 issue of Car and Driver.

Before we got all kissy-­kissy with the Russians, “throw weight” was a trendy bit of Cold War argot that gauged the ability of lCBMs the size of double-wide house trailers to toss megaton nukes between Minsk and Memphis. Thank­fully, that entire mode of technology is becoming déclassé in this age of peace, love, and the col­lapsing ruble.

But not with Dave Hops, the maestro of Monster Motorsports. His notion of throw weight is to stuff a 4.9-liter Ford HO V-8 under the hood of a Mazda Miata roadster and stand back to whiff the rubber smoke.

Should you have a spare $13,995 fry­ing a hole in your wallet and a Miata yearning to be freed of its neat but tepid four-banger, you are best advised to make it to Hops’s shop in Escondido, California, where he will take five weeks to complete the rather vivid transformation.

Hops, a San Diego State engineering grad, a former Formula Atlantic shoe, and an accomplished builder of both ERA and Contemporary Cobra conver­sions, has built 30 of his Monster Miatas (transacted strictly by word of mouth) and has a steady stream of orders ahead of him.

The basic unit is a miracle fit, as if somewhere in some secret Mazda scheme a V-8 the size of Ford’s was planned. After he and former partner Vearl Collins conceived the idea in 1991, they discovered the small-block Ford would drop into the Miata’s engine bay with only a tiny snip out of the frame. Structural integrity was not both­ered, and there is plenty of room for simple maintenance of the new power­plant.

Coupled to a Borg-Warner T-5 five­-speed manual (an automatic is optional) and a Mazda RX-7 differential, the com­pleted package tips the scale at 2480 pounds, roughly 220 more than the stock unit. Hops explains that the Ford engine weighs about 170 pounds more than the Mazda, and the RX-7 rear end adds another 40 pounds to the package. Amazingly, the T-5 (from the Saleen Mustang) is 50 pounds lighter than the stock Miata unit. With a larger radiator and cooling fan, extra bracing, and some subtle reinforcing, the Monster Miata hits the road with a reasonable 52/48 weight distribution, nullifying initial suspicions that the little machine might be a nose-heavy slug with all the maneu­verability of a D-9 Cat.

Hop also adds larger sway bars fore and aft and stiffer Eibach rear springs, plus larger rubber (BFGoodrich Comp T/As, 205/50ZR-15 in front and 225/50ZR-15 in back). Our test vehicle carried Panasport Minilite replica mag wheels ($1000 extra), a roll bar, and considerably more power than the base package. For $1995, Hops installs a 300-hp SVO package, complete with a GT40 manifold, larger injectors and throttle body, Flowmaster headers, and a less restricted two-chamber exhaust.

Expectation that a vehicle with an 89.2-inch wheelbase that weighs just over one and a quarter tons and offers nearly 300 horsepower might offer heady highway thrills are not unfounded. The Monster Miata squirts to 60 mph in 5.4 seconds. It rumbles through the quarter-mile in 13.6 seconds at 103 mph (compared with the stock Miata’s 17.2-sec­ond meander at 80 mph). With the some­what-constricted RX-7 final-drive ratio of 3.9:1, top speed is limited to 135 mph in fifth gear at 6100 rpm. Mid-range performance is dazzling: in fifth gear, the Miata leaps from 30 to 50 mph in 5.4 seconds and finds 70 mph from 50 in 5.3 seconds.

Hops has done a superb job of mounting the engine in the Mazda’s innards. The body remains taut, and there is no cowl shake, axle tramp, or unseemly rattles or vibrations, even at full throttle. The Mazda steering is more than up to the task, and the car tracks well even in bursts beyond 100 mph. Because of the short final-drive ratio, second-gear starts are recommended for routine driving, while 80-mph Interstate cruising forces toleration of a rather thunderous 3700 rpm. Engine noise and the naturally high sound levels of a roadster tend to disqualify the Monster Miata as a long-range cruiser, but that misses the point of the entire exercise. Hops’s intent was to create an inexpensive sports car in the theme of the 289 Cobra or the Sunbeam Tiger: a hoot to hammer through the twisty parts. With a nicely tuned suspension, balanced weight dis­tribution, and Mazda’s intrinsic chassis stiffness, the Monster Miata is a surpris­ingly neat and abundantly exciting little machine.

Monster Motorsports, 2312 Vineyard, Escondido, CA 92029: 619-738-4673

1993 Monster Motorsports Miata
300-hp V-8, 5-speed manual, 2480 lb
As-tested price: $30,695
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 5.4 sec
100 mph: 12.3 sec
1/4 mile: 13.6 sec @ 103 mph
Rolling start, 5–60 mph: 5.6 sec
Top speed (redline limited): 135 mph
Braking, 70­-0 mph: 191 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.87 g