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i would say go with something proven, the miata is used quite a lot. it will be plenty fast with a "lowly" miata drivetrain... maybe look into the s-10 also, lots of people use it as well

Ohhhh I vote for the Porsche even if you have to rework the rear tubing. Having the transaxle in the rear will definitely help your weight distribution and make it safer to drive for people (HS students and actually most of the population of America) to drive who have no experience at this power/weight ratio.

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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.

I vote for the Miata, simply because there are a lot more cars built with this driveline therefore most of the problems have already been solved. With the Miata, you can use the entire rear sub-frame without a lot of trouble. Also, think about things such as shift linkage, clutch activation,etc,etc, and on and on. Just my 2 cents.

Miata. No doubt about it it.

I've never seen a Porsche transaxle, but Googling for a few pictures on suggests it could be a real packaging problem. If it needed to extend forward of the rear bulkhead, I think your tunnel would be too wide to fit two seats around it.

Also, you should be doing more studying for your English class. You used "cheap" and "porsche" in the same sentence. I'm surprised your keyboard didn't spontaneously combust or something. Even if it's running fine now, you'll redouble your build budget if something German breaks in your car.

Finally, don't worry about the lack of power. My Miata 1.6-powered Locost has all the poop any high school student (or graduate...or drop-out) needs. If I blow this motor up, I can drop a new one in for $400.

Most important of all, you'll be travelling a well-trod path. All the answers are out there, and they work very well. This is particularly important for a school-class project, since you'll be eager to finish it and have so many other exciting things to pursue right now. A high school kid doesn't need a 6-year car project.


Either way, have fun and learn plenty! I am SO impressed with you guys, and with your school!

-dave

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...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
Visit my [Locost 7 build log]

Listen to dhempy, even if he is from Kentucky!

Oh, yeah...like you got some street cred, Mr. Volunteer.

-dave "c'mon down, yall" hempy

ps. Maybe we need Chet from West Virginia to set us both straight.

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...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
Visit my [Locost 7 build log]

haha we decided we will just go with a miata. the reason we started to consider a porsche in the first place was the $900 price tag.

we are basically done doing the final welding on the frame from the cockpit forward so now we are stuck till we get a car that we can design the suspension for. now its spring break so i'm off to Colorado for the next week then il get to start working again on the frame.

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building a locost as an independent study at university high school in normal, il

No, no, not a West BG Virginian.

Actually, I grew up in the Bluegrass State(fast women and pretty horses). Two sons still live there.

It felt good to get back to work on the frame after spring break last week.
my teacher bought a diff housing for a mazda miata on ebay last week that we can use to help us design the rear part of the frame and so we can start on suspension.
We may have finally found a donor car that is basically a miata without the body that is close to us and has everything we need.

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building a locost as an independent study at university high school in normal, il

Today was a good day.
I finished touching up all of the welds on the frame and we have a donor car that my teacher is picking up on thursday.

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building a locost as an independent study at university high school in normal, il

The donor parts came today so now we can start working on the drivetrain and suspension.
im also working on making braces to fill the sharp angles that cant be reached with the mig or tig welder.

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building a locost as an independent study at university high school in normal, il

Put engine and transmission into place today so we can start making the engine mounts and make the transmission tunnel.

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building a locost as an independent study at university high school in normal, il

We got the engine mounts tacked into position today and will do the final welding of them tomorrow. We are also working on the transmission tunnel. Well trying to remove the engine after tacking the mounts, we realized that the top tube right behind the engine would not allow us to actually lift the engine out of the frame so we had to cut the tube and add a supporting tube on top as you can see in the pictures. As of right now we are hoping to at least have a rolling frame by the end of the semester at the end of may.

Tomorrow afternoon we have Graham Earley visiting to show us his own car.

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building a locost as an independent study at university high school in normal, il

Graham is a great guy and he has a beautiful car!!!! Russ

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You meet the nicest people in a Locost Se7en.

Great looking frame!!

I'd like to offer a suggestion. When I was learning to TIG weld I was using gloves much the same as you were. I went for some informal lessons from a welding instructor and he told me to ditch the big gloves and get some proper TIG welding gloves. Well, when I did my welding improved immediatly. I had much more control over my welds. Just a thought, if you get a chance try some better fitting gloves.

I use gloves similar to this.