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Aluminum Chevy big block, with staggered trumpets on the fuel injection!
CAN-AM, Baby!!! WOO HOO!!!

NO NO NO An all aluminum kaase headed boss9 engine that makes over 800 ponies on pump gas.
Sorry got carried away there.

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The biggest thing in motocross.

Dont limit yourself to the miata stuff. Suspension isnt a black art and it can be laid out quite simply on a drafting table and work well without the aid of a computer program.
Have a look at my build log before miata truly does become the answer for everything.viewtopic.php?f=36&t=7995

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The biggest thing in motocross.

Fiberglass can be as light as you want basically. There is no reason for it to be heavy outside of the labor of making it. Heavy takes less work. The fiberglass bucket seat in the race car weighs an entire 3 lbs. with the metal supports glassed in.

Study the rules a bit for roll cages and roll bars. Look at the pictures of the beach frame and Formula car on stands. What they do now is run a tube from where the coilovers on the rear bulkhead are up to the side of the main roll bar and then forward down to ideally the front coilover mounting. You might want to go to the dash hoop or whatever. Then you need to figure out how to allow your body to accomadate this. It makes the chassis vastly stiffer, perhaps several times so, and provides the required bracing for the roll hoop.

I second the thought on the Subaru. There's lots of advantages to the longitudinal setup. Skip the bike engine if you drive it on the street.

After the Beach body, make a Porsche 904 body. They're like sex on wheels... Someone drove one to the track and ran it once of the first times I went to a track. I had no idea how rare they were at the time. I remember, that was just after they invented trees...

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Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
Car9 Roadster information - models, drawings, resources etc.

Yes there's no need to use a spindle designed for a lightweight sportscar when there's the alternative of ultra amazing chevette parts out there,combine that with a strut suspension from an old dodge and your rockin'.

Well the Chevette was a lot lighter then the Miata which is a porker by comparison. I remember Modernbeat had a few nice things to say about them compared to most of the other common choices and that car seemed quite well thought out. So I wouldn't say that was a reasonable or even an informed comment.

I think Miata is a sensible choice, but by no means the only one.

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Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
Car9 Roadster information - models, drawings, resources etc.

In addition to the points already brought up

1. well-designed;
2. made for a lightweight sportscar;

my thoughts on the Miata stuff are:

3. replacements are plentiful and therefore easily and inexpensively sourced;
4. easy upgrades (1.8L brakes are a pair of brackets away... and then there's the Flyin' Miata catalog);
5. the road well-traveled = lots of locoster brainpower is a few mouse clicks away;
6. If I want, I can use Kinetic A-arm kits, which I really liked on my previous Seven project.

I don't mind doing things differently, but in this case Miata makes too much sense. Had there been a bunch of people parting out Chevettes on craigslist when I searched today, my direction may have been different. There were Miata parts a-plenty to be had, though.



Thanks for the tips on integrating the roll cage/bars. Very practical, useful information there.

I like the Subie engines and transmissions. I drive a Baja turbo. There's just not as many down here in southeast Texas as there are in other places. Still, they are an option if I can find a cheap donor.

If I make anything after this car, it will probably be a Porsche Spyder. Or a nice little Karmann Ghia for my wife.

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My Mazda BP-powered Triumph Spitfire project: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/1976-triumph-spitfire-50-v8-miata-18/54640/page1/

"Yes there's no need to use a spindle designed for a lightweight sportscar when there's the alternative of ultra amazing chevette parts out there,combine that with a strut suspension from an old dodge and your rockin'. "
Actually the idea wasnt for him to copy my design. It was to show you that designing from scratch isnt that hard. By the way if and when I do it again I will use the pinto stuff.

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The biggest thing in motocross.

Almost all could be said of (fiero) chevette parts as well, big brakes run about the same cost, fiero info and aftermarket fitments are readily available, etc. I disremember which one weighs more. ..

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"There are times when a broken tool is better than a sound one, or a twisted personality more useful than a whole one.
For instance, a whole beer bottle isn't half the weapon that half a beer bottle is ..." Randall Garrett

Aren't the Chevette and Fiero hubs one and the same?

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

But since you have to design everything around the spindle how is using a miata spindle not designing from scratch compared to a chevette,pinto,S10 or whatever?.

If I rembember correctly you yourself said the chevette spindle had a problem with the scrub radius or king pin inclination etc,if I'm not building the spindle from scratch then I'd rather use whats been designed from the start as a car for handling and not an econbox built to a target price.

Don't know about the pinto stuff,everyone I've seen needs to run huge offset wheels when running 13's(the proper size for autox imo,if it needs bigger brakes for track work than its too heavy)-can't be right to have the entire wheel/tire assembly outboard of the brake rotor.

no, no, can't be, the Chevette is an Econobox built to a price and the Fiero is a Sports car.

Oh and heres 30 pair of Chevette spindles about to go racing, the Australia Holden Gemini is the GM T Body and is one of the most popular budget race car series in Oz ...

No. The spindles are the same, but the hubs are different. The bolt pattern is the most obvious difference. But, they are better spindles than the Miata. And I'd suspect that you'll be using some very small brakes (like my Lotus7) along with 13" diameter wheels (also like my Lotus7).

Winston, after your wife vetoed the Europa, I'm frankly amazed you bought that old project.

When it comes to motor choice, I'd FIRST choose a transmission, then look at what adapters are available for it, and then choose a motor. When I had to have a custom adapter made for the 2L V8 Ferrari engine to Hewland Mk5 it cost me. Also consider the wheelbase when looking at transmissions and engines. You might consider the current Formula Ford new-kid-on-the-block. They are now allowing the Honda Fit engine. A kit mates it to the Hewland Mk5/Mk9 which is the same transmission case as an air-cooled VW bug. It's a compact, light, reliable engine and transmission setup.

Maybe label the blueprint "Chevy/Jeep" next time? Sounds like fun...

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Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
Car9 Roadster information - models, drawings, resources etc.

Reminds me of an old joke:
"Did you hear that the British found a cure for AIDS?"
"No, what is it?"
"They gave AIDS a Jaguar part number, so now nobody can afford it, and even if you can, you can't find it!"

And seriously (well, sort of), I've noted a few instances where suppliers for "Sports car racing" are higher priced on the same or very similar parts as "Circle track racing" vendors. Go figger...

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom