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We’ve seen so many wild engine swaps displayed at SEMA that it takes a lot to surprise us, but a first-generation Miata fitted with a twin-turbo Lamborghini V10 certainly fit the bill. Or it would have if it were true, because a closer look reveals that this build’s Lamborghini intake is highly misleading.
Even at the SEMA show, where out-of-this-world builds are the norm, the little Miata turns heads. It’s finished in a distinctive shade of blue, it’s got turbos where you’d expect to find pop-up headlights, and there’s a Lamborghini-branded intake system seemingly sourced from a Huracán poking through the hood. It’s all over social media; Hot Parts USA, the shop that built it and hauled it to Las Vegas, describes it as a “1992 Miata Lamborghini twin turbo.”
That's a Chevy truck engine with a Lamborghini intake slapped on top. Not a Lamborghini engine. https://t.co/Is5hkK47mc pic.twitter.com/o4DKIdSoMI
— Bozi Tatarevic (@BoziTatarevic) November 7, 2024
Bozi Tatarevic, a race-car mechanic and journalist with a sharp eye for BS, disagrees. He’s got the evidence to prove it, too. Posting on X, he shattered the “Lamborghini-powered” claim and explained that we’re instead looking at either a 5.3-liter V8 or a 6.6-liter V8 sourced from a General Motors pickup or SUV. This is the same engine that has powered the Tahoe and Silverado, among other models. The water pump is supposedly a giveaway, and Tatarevic points out that the builders used a custom-made adapter box to install a 10-cylinder intake system on an eight-cylinder engine.
Stuffing a V8 in an older Miata is cool, but it’s not all that original. Flyin’ Miata even offered swap kits until emissions regulations forced it to stop.
Even the folks running the SEMA show’s Facebook account were fooled. Several other show-goers noticed that we’re not looking at a Huracán engine, however, and the comments haven’t been exactly kind. “It’s an old Chevy small block and [it] doesn’t run,” one user wrote on Instagram. “Sick until you realize it’s an LS and [it] doesn’t run,” another opined. Interestingly, a Portuguese-language Instagram account presented the build as a Corvette V8-powered Miata that’s fitted with a Lamborghini intake system. Hot Parts USA hasn’t replied to any of these comments.
We’ll reserve judgment on whether the company is intentionally trying to mislead SEMA show-goers with its Lamborghini-branded NA, or if it’s just out to deliver a good old-fashioned trolling. What’s certain is that there’s not a Lamborghini-sourced V10 between between the fenders.
So, who is going to be the first to build a real Lamborghini-powered Miata? Send us pictures if you do.
Got tips? Send ’em to tips@thedrive.com
