The answer + vintage look

I'm opening this to the GRM braintrust. I've had two toy cars, and I have both loved and hated each one for different reasons. My dream is to combine the loves from both and get rid of the hates.

First car. Frankenfiat I picked up a "free" 67 fiat 850 roller and spent the next 2 years figuring out how to put a ej20 mated to a Porsche transaxle in the thing.

What I loved: Unique, looks vintage and cool. Got the right kind of attention. The first time I took it to autocross there were two cars that all day had people standing around them. My POS fiat and a new Lamborghini. the crowd around my car was a very GRM feeling group that appreciated a stupid idea like this. The lambo crowd was mainly young, flat billed hat wearing "yo that's Tyte" types. (apologies to any yo tyters here)

what I hated: suspension. Basically I learned that horsepower is easy and suspension is impossible for someone with my skill set. having to diagnose every single problem from scratch, and then home brew a solution. NEVER ENDING PROJECT status. I finally gave up on it because I realized I would never get it to a state that it wouldn't need something done to it all the time.

Second car: 1995 Miata M Edition:
What I loved about it: nimble! any problem I had I could post here or a dozen other sites and have an answer in 30 minutes, and then have professionally engineered and fabricated parts on the way the next day. Reliable, I loved that I could ignore it for weeks when life was crazy, jump in it and go to autocross or a drive and not have a laundry list of issues that need addressing. I love that the engineering has been done for every possible way you want the car to perform (I think Paco filled in the last gap with the longtravel suspension)

So how do I combine these two? My first thought was it should be easy just get a Miata roller skate and some sweet looking body like this.

Then I started looking for likely candidates and found that all the old bodies I love have vastly different widths/wheelbases than a Miata. The Miata is tiny today but is huge compared to any of the old stuff.

The challenge here is I can't do a dang thing with aesthetics. There is no way I'll be chopping a body to widen/shorten it and have it come out looking like anything besides garbage.

So how do I combine these two? Is there a classic looking body with Miata esque dimensions?

So...is building a westfield/locost/other kit an option you've considered?

What about a Westfield? Combine the Miata drivetrain and chassis with Lotus 7 looks and lightness

Edit: Damn, RedGT beat me to the Westfield suggestion

Or a Pit Crew kit on the Miata. Not a body/chassis swap but gives the Miata cool vintage looks that are pretty unique. Ignore the stancebro ride height and tire stretch

In reply to icaneat50eggs:

Perhaps you have somehow missed NOHOME's MOLVO thread? And the Volvo 1800 is actually somewhat close to the Miata in functional dimensions.

There is an "easy button" for a classic style body on Miata mechanicals. Although I believe it's RHD-only, which may be a deal-breaker.

IMHO, the best combo I've seen is Keith's MGB-GT conversion which I believe he did Binky-style by modifying the MG unibody to fit the Miata front and rear cradles with flares to cover the increased track width. If I were to do a conversion like NOHOME is doing to my own 1800ES, I'd go that route.

In reply to NickD:

That front bumper doesn't quite flow, but damn, I still like it. A lot.

This guy grafted his Spitfire to a Corvette roller skate. If this can happen, anything must be possible.

Didn't Keith have an old Locost chassis floating around FM? Might be worth an ask.

I think the way to do this would be like Keith's friend (Ottawa? Is that his name on here?) who did it with a custom Porsche Color.

Basically, retro-ize an NA Miata. Take off the emblems. Paint it like an Elan. Get rid of the door mirrors and put little chrome ones on. 914 seats or similar. Minilites.

nderwater wrote: This guy grafted his Spitfire to a Corvette roller skate. If this can happen, anything must be possible.

With flares all things are possible

I have seen some exocettes popping up on the interweb with more complete bodies to offer a semblance of weather protection. Resemble a modern interpretation of the Lotus 7. Still no functional doors.

What is your primary intended use? Big spread between Franken Fiat AX build (really cool concept) and a miata.

That being said the pit crew conversions with a little hardtop or Fastback painted in traditional Lotus colors are pretty good-looking little cars and unique. Like a little Elan Coupe. That maybe the nearest thing you're looking for.

I've seen the westfield, that was going to be my fall back option, or possibly an exocet. I'm more looking for a "cool" factor than vintage, so either could work.

HOW did I miss that DB1 body from exomotive? that looks exactly right, I just need to find a RHD Miata I guess.

I'll be reading the whole MOLVO build tonight, I do love love love that body style of Volvo.

I need to dig up the pics. I put a Miata subframe under the rear of a spitfire with stock Daisy's and it barely stuck out beyond the fenders. So little that you probably could have given the suspension the 3-4 degrees camber spitfire's always have and had the tires clear. Miata subframes under the GT6 would be incredible

mtn wrote: I think the way to do this would be like Keith's friend (Ottawa? Is that his name on here?) who did it with a custom Porsche Color. Basically, retro-ize an NA Miata. Take off the emblems. Paint it like an Elan. Get rid of the door mirrors and put little chrome ones on. 914 seats or similar. Minilites.

This one?

Intended use.... fun weekend runaround car, autocross competitively at the local level (shooting for FTD not caring about stupid scca classes) and a track day terror. that db1 replica at 1700 lbs and a FI Miata seems like a winner.

In reply to icaneat50eggs:

Considering that it's only using the rollerskate I'd hazard a guess that the only wrong hand drive part you'd need is the steering rack.

If you're looking at the DB1 replica, be prepared to modify the frame for stiffness/safety. I've not seen one myself, but extrapolating from the UK Exocet (same designer) there will be areas of potential improvement.

My MG is basically Miata under the front but uses a solid axle in the rear. Same width as a Miata rear suspension. Even then, it required flares to fit stock Miata tires underneath. Miatas are a lot wider than older cars. I didn't realize the Spitfire was so much wider than the MG.

Ottawa's "Project 707" is a good option for you - it's still recognizably a Miata from outside, but when you're driving there are a bunch of little vintage touches. Seat, steering wheel, shifter and gauges are your primary interface, so a bit of attention to detail there goes a long way. 707 is actually going to v1.1 soon, with some tweaks that are mostly functional.

I'm not sure the Pitcrew kit is still available. If it is, it's anything but cheap.

There's also a kit in Japan that turns a Miata into a pretty decent Elan replica.

NickD wrote: Or a Pit Crew kit on the Miata. Not a body/chassis swap but gives the Miata cool vintage looks that are pretty unique. Ignore the stancebro ride height and tire stretch

I'd probably go with a Catfish though. Such a clean look. (Yes Keith I hot-linked to FM)

Do this:

With one of these:

Actually you would end up building the second car, since that is a New MGB built by Frontline in the UK that uses a MGB shell and Miata drivetrain. Frontline wants like 80k for their version, so you would be in good company.

Once you get over the sheer audacity of the idea, chassis swaps are not that big of a deal. The wheelbases line up fine. The track is like 7" wider. Look at Keiths car to see where the fender flares end up.

MGBs are cheap enough to do this.

While you could, I would not advocate for doing the V8 swap at the same time, the amount of work to swap a chassis is enough to keep you busy and the detail work and expense of doing the engine swap makes this a harder hill to climb. I tink that an MGB GT with a Miata chassis and a 1.8 would be a very slick ride. Bonus you get to keep the Miata HVAC and you can fire that gerbil under the dash with a straw that passes for an MGB defroster.

mtn wrote: I think the way to do this would be like Keith's friend (Ottawa? Is that his name on here?) who did it with a custom Porsche Color. Basically, retro-ize an NA Miata. Take off the emblems. Paint it like an Elan. Get rid of the door mirrors and put little chrome ones on. 914 seats or similar. Minilites.

Pictures? Very interested in this.

There was a pit crew kit Miata for sale in Austin a few weeks ago on Craigslist

icaneat50eggs wrote: Intended use.... fun weekend runaround car, autocross competitively at the local level (shooting for FTD not caring about stupid scca classes) and a track day terror. that db1 replica at 1700 lbs and a FI Miata seems like a winner.

Gotcha. In that case I wouldn't put an expensive body kit on a miata.

Instead I would conjure up my internal Colin Chapman and go medieval on a 1.8 miata. Get rid of pop up head lights and go fixed Ala Lotus Elan endurance cars. Put the thing on a Colin Chapman diet. AC delete...minimalist interior...no roll up windows...lexan...gutted doors...no carpet or upholstery...f glass racing shell seats...get rid ofg impact bumper reinforcement. Keep it barely street legal. Suspension tweaks...Coilovers...minilites...get it as close to 1700 lbs as you can. Small chrome door mirrors. Paint it in some vintage livery. Maybe turbo. Sticky rubber

Add fuel

Terrorize SCCA event organizers

Robbie wrote:

mtn wrote: I think the way to do this would be like Keith's friend (Ottawa? Is that his name on here?) who did it with a custom Porsche Color. Basically, retro-ize an NA Miata. Take off the emblems. Paint it like an Elan. Get rid of the door mirrors and put little chrome ones on. 914 seats or similar. Minilites.

Pictures? Very interested in this.

FM Build Log

I spent a lot of time reading this thing and looking for 914 seats before deciding they wouldn't really work for me after all. They look great here though.