These are some of the pictures when I got a tag and took the car for a drive. The blue tape is on the car while fine tuning some of the body fitment pieces.
I don’t love the black wheels. They looked great online and I was able to get some help from a friend to get a killer deal. The requirement was a 17″ wheel to clear the front upper ball joint.
The brakes look tiny but they are more than enough to do the job. For size comparison the top of the roll cage is about 12″ taller than the top of the fender on the Suburban.
When I started I had collected the entire Miata wiring harness and related plugs/modules. First I removed all of the wire wrap and used a gallon or 2 of degreaser to get the years of adhesive off. Using several wiring diagrams I managed to identify and remove over 35lbs of wire and sensors that I didn’t need anymore. Things like power windows, wipers,emissions crap etc all hit the scrap pile.
Admittedly I was afraid because I didn’t know exactly what the engine and ECU would need to run. I left a few extra wires and plugs when I was unsure.
Wiring Harness before modification
For the taillights I did not want to use anytime similar the original or Caterham- both of those solutions use RV taillights. After looking around I managed to find some LED’s that would light up in multiple colors.
First step was to buy some Aluminum blanks.
From there I turned them down to provide a small lip and allowing for a piece of glass between them. The lights are able to light up Red, Orange or white.
The coolest part is they will hold red but flash orange if a turn signal is lite up. White for reverse lights obviously.
Here is a shot of the turn signal on. I mounted them as high as possible and they are very bright which I hope will help with awareness.
With the car being so low I knew I needed to have some form of protection from other vehicles. While the tall front cage is probably safer I like the look of the low front hoop and the “cocoon” it creates.
I wanted to have a low front hoop but side protection. There are some NASA cars running this type of cage and I really liked it. The strength it adds to the frame is a huge factor as well. Cage is built to SCCA Spec using 1.75″ DOM Tubing.
The front hoop mirrors the scuttle almost perfectly. The lower sections are attached via two points to the chassis and provides really strong side impact protection.
One critical piece of the project is the suspension. Depending on how much you know on the subject it could either be overly simplistic or incredibly complex.
Factors like dynamic toe, camber,caster and anti squat are all geometry concerns. Additionally spring rates and dampening round out the subject.
Front lower control arm
Initially I had the shocks set to a radical angle of 45 degrees. That was great in terms of fitment but required crazy spring rates since only half of it would be effective. I later built new mounts that moved the top of the shock out by 6″ and reduced the angle to something in the 20 degree range.
Original inboard upper shock mounting locationMock up of how the anti roll bar will fitEnd result.
We placed the vehicle on a laser mounted alignment rack when finished. The dimensions were absolutely amazing. The variation and setback differences were less than a production car typically exhibits. I couldn’t be happier with the suspension! It is absolutely fantastic with 300F and 450R springs
Here the chassis is starting to take solid shape. You can see a formed transmission tunnel and both pedal box areas. I would later come back and redo the steering column mount to avoid it hitting the scuttle
Transmission and engine test fit. The car is literally built around the engine and transmission. Optimizing around the engines height and shifter location.
Here you can see the first step in aligning the rear of the chassis using a laser level to set toe and camber.
Yes – Chassis can fly! Here I remove it from the build table (I built that table so I could drive the front of a car under it) and started on the suspension.
The first step in building the frame was to layout all of the pieces. First we (My Dad and myself) built the bottom layer and then started to add height. Here you can see the rear bulkhead being built.
Starting to lay out the Seating Area
Rear section being mocked up (Bungee ties don’t build consistent angles.. in case you are wondering)
The area where the rear seats go Getting to the angle was difficult but the mess of bungee cables helped keep things in order.
Starting to look like a swing set…
Finally we got to the point of having sides and needing to be ground down. It took a while but I believe in retrospect it was all well worth it.
Once I decided I would start this project I realized I would need a donor. The North American favorite is the Mazda Miata because of the rear wheel drive configuration.
Talking to John Holt at HoltWheels and he mentioned he had this 94 with rear end damage. After discussing the terms we came to an agreement and he even delivered it.
What I landed on was a 94 Miata M with an open rear diff.
Driveline Donor.. in 2005
Reason it was a donor..
Build Table was needed and we used a piece of 1/4″ plate. It was “Flat enough” even though I see a good number of new builds with NASA level of engineering on their table. I bought an abrasive saw- I wouldn’t recommend it. New carbide saws or band saws are leaps ahead.
