iVai's from-scratch miata based build

[ivai]

Hello everyone, I suppose its time I start one of these threads.

Today I bought a donor car, finally. Its a 1991 Miata with 250k miles on it. 100k miles on the engine. What's really cool about it, is it has a Jackson racing supercharger on it, and full exhaust from the headers back. Of course, I don't care about the exhaust other than its worth some coin.. I paid $2500 for the, but I think I ought to be able to recoup most of that, especially if I sell the supercharger.

I'm waiting to start working on the chassis until I totally strip the donor, so that I can measure everything and appropriately decide on my chassis size.

I also need to sit in eVo-x's car (book frame) and see how my size-13 feet fit.. From the sound of it, I'll need to go with a Mcsorely 442, or perhaps the design presented in the Gibbs book, which is a "221", I believe. We shall see. I would like to go with as small of a frame as I can and still fit.

Oh, and also, I bought 450 lbs of steel last week.. I know that's a ton, but I got a good price on it and wanted to get a bunch of everything. The 4'x8' sheet of 1/8" (11 gauge) plate weighs 160 lbs!

My steel list:

1"SQR tubing, 16GA, 20' lengths, 9 pieces - $115.56
3/4"SQR tubing, 16GA, 20' lengths, 2 pieces - $22.72
1/2"Round STD (.84" OD x .109" Wall) 21' lengths, 2 pieces - $35.70
Sheet, 11GA x 4' x 8' - $87.62
Sheet, 16GA x 4' x 8' - $52.00
Cutting Fee - $7.50
Subtotal - $321.10
Taxes - $25.69
Total - $346.79


Now that I actually have everything I need, I will try to post a bunch of pics this weekend of the garage, the donor car, and the steel.

[chetcpo]

Welcome!
Looks like you have enough steel to build a bank vault.

[ivai]

Welcome!
Looks like you have enough steel to build a bank vault.

Haha, yeah. I'm planning on building my project table out of steel (with an MDF sheet on top), I'm currently building a welding cart/table, there's a couple other things I wanted to build. Both for fun and for some extra fab experience before I get started on the car.

[rust_bucket]

I paid $2500 for the, but I think I ought to be able to recoup most of that, especially if I sell the supercharger.

WHAT!? Why would you do a silly thing like that? The only replacement for displacement is pressure! If you're selling that supercharger, I would be interested!

... Just giving you a hard time, build it whatever flavor you like. At any rate, Welcome. We look forward to your updates!

[SteyrTMP]

I dunno... I'd be interested too... I'm fond of superchargers, owning a Mini Cooper S...

[mr.peabody.d]

Welcome aboard...I would like the super charger label stuck to you car just to keep the ricers at bay! (yes this is a joke)

[ivai]

Just driving the miata with the supercharger on it is exhilarating.. I can't even imagine what it would be like minus 800-1000 lbs..

If I sold the supercharger, it would be one of the very last things to go. I'll keep you all posted though, obviously.

[violentblue]

Oh, and also, I bought 450 lbs of steel last week.. I know that's a ton, but I got a good price on it and wanted to get a bunch of everything

I don't know where you went to school, but a ton is 2000 lbs,
if you paid half price for a ton, but only got 450 lbs, you got ripped off.

[Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F]

Blue, "A ton" is slang for an excessive amount of something. They don't teach slang in school. I'm sure you knew this.

[Andy Bro]

You got a nice deal on the steel plate, last week I had to get some steel for the build table for the SAE car here at school, and I paid 74 per half sheet (I didn't feel like driving my truck that far at 10mpg), and I got 14 gage. I would so much rather have used 1/8th inch for the build table, but such is life. Good luck, and keep us posted.

[THAWA]

Blue, "A ton" is slang for an excessive amount of something. They don't teach slang in school. I'm sure you knew this.

Apparently they don't teach sarcasm in school either.

I think the wink smilie in blue's post means that he was giving ivai a hard time.

[ivai]

Pictures!


Here's the donor. 250k miles on the body, 100k on the motor/supercharger. Its got some dings, and the top is really crappy.





Here's the steel:




Had some fun this weekend and finished construction on my welding cart/table (still needs paint):



That's all for now, folks! Hopefully this week I'll pull the engine and get some serious progress made on disassembly. I have tons of boxes and zip-lock bags at the ready!

-Jeff

[chetcpo]

Nice! Looks like you have all you need to keep you busy for a while. Just add a bunch of time, sweat and new tools you never imagined needing and you might make a Locost out of that stuff.

[ivai]

Began disassembling the donor.

All these boxes are empty, and ready to accept zip-lock bags and parts.



I labeled EVERYTHING and took a ton of pics as I took it apart.



A nice jackson racing header, I believe these go for around $450 new. I was planning on selling it.


Until I discovered this.. I'm not sure if I should weld it and try to sell it or what.



Yours truly:



These $15 harbor freight moving dollies are amazing.. 1000 lbs capacity. I couldn't buy the 4 casters from home depot for that price.



Anyways, I got the whole drivetrain out (including diff and axles).. Next will be disassembling the interior, the remaining bits out of the engine bay, and then the suspension. When I take the suspension off I'll probably put the body on a couple of those moving dollies so that I can still move the car around.

[weconway]

Cool, another builder in Atlanta. There's probably enough now to have a local Locost builder's club.