It is most definitely for me. If I really cared what they said, I'd buy another rust bucket Mustang and fix it up. I have loved the Seven since I was a small child and have always wanted to have one but I never figured I'd be in the right tax bracket to buy an original or buy the modern Caterham. It was about 4-5 years ago when I stumbled upon Mr. Champion's book in a used bookstore (talk about luck!) and I have read it cover to cover too many times to count. It was not long after that that I picked up Gibbs' and Tanner's books also. Since then, I have picked up much more literature and studied it. It was thanks to the guys on this site and Keith Tanner's work that I was inspired to pick up a Miata a little over a year ago.
I think I shouldn't have started with that statement. It was meant as a bit of an ice-breaker guys.
I love the V8 rumble and the power. It helps that I am pretty familiar with working on Ford engines too. I also think that going a little bit different path might be cool for uniqueness. I have seen the Stalker V8s. They are pretty cool but WOW
are they expensive!!! Plus, I'd like to have full control of every component of the car.
This will not be a track car per se. I am planning on using mostly as a street car/light touring/mountain road toy (pretty similar to what my Miata is today). I figure it will be kinda weighty (actually, downright obese for a Seveneque car) @ ~1700#s but (please don't ban me from this site for saying this
) I am willing to take on the extra weight to have the V8 powerplant.
You guys are right about the light car feeling quite powerful with a little 4cyl in it. I mean, my Miata will hang with just about anything in the mountains. As I am always explaining to my friends (most of which are part of the 'there's no replacement for displacement' crowd), it all comes down to the power to weight ratio.
Good suggestion about the aluminum frame! I had thought of an aluminum framed build but I kinda ruled it out because I was worried about strength issues (and the fact that I have never welded aluminum. Details...
). I will continue to do research on the topic under the frame forum. Do you think I'd have to modify the frame to add strength for the added power and weight of the engine? I have read through many of the build logs (especially Jon's, Peter's, Rod's, and JD's builds), IIRC they all used steel tube (and JD actually bumped the size of the tube up to 1.5" for more strength). For the record, Peter was doing Miata-based build though. Still, the frame is still up in the air as to what I will do on that. The different powertrain factors will really decide what happens with the frame.
Whereas those guys (Jon & JD) used Mustang powertrains, I am very interested in using the 5.4L V8 out of the F150. I know that I can find them for fairly cheap and I can get them with a manual transmission. As I said before, I am interested in doing something a little different. I'm not opposed to using a Mustang powerplant but I figure a change of scenery as it were would be good.
Any input is greatly appreciated!
-Sam