Hi guys,
decided to document the progress of my swap here.
I bought the chassis about 2-3 years ago and not much has happened to it in that time. Started working on it a few months back, but life got in the way and I only could spend 1-2 evenings a month on the car, so progress was slow.
The chassis has been caged by the previous owner 20+ years back and it was mainly used as a track toy, but as far as I know, the chassis sat in the past 10 years without an engine. Rust-wise it is actually fine, there is some surface rust, but nothing too bad. I won't restore the body now, I would just like to use it asap.
The car will be a trailer queen anyways, so it won't get (much) worse anytime soon.
What's already done:
Most of the suspension. It does have china coilovers, but I moved the rear spring to the front and bought softer springs for the back (so it's an 8/6 setup now, instead of the 10/8). Also had them revalved and modified, also the rear lower mount has been shortened, so it goes relatively low. Also the shocks should not blow their seals anymore.
I also had some adjustable arms made, also an adjustable sublink. Bought shorter camber llinks for camber correction. For the diff and subframe I bought delrin bushings, also had the oem front diff mount welded, as wheel hop in these is the nr 1. diff killer. To avoid the moving much around I also added a subframe snubber to the nose of the diff. Also had the diff welded. Painted it, cleaned up the aluminium housing as well.
Refurbed the front lower control arms, added poly bushings and new ball joints. Also a balljoint extension (no picture of those). That helps with clearance, as I also added a new set of front spindles (they have roll center correction and shortened pickup points):
I also deleted the DTSS (some dynamic rear wheel steering thingy). I don't have a photo of this, it's a solid aluminium thingy.
Sprayed (really badly) a set of wheels. They are ATS 17x8 et25. Nothing too crazy, but I'd like to avoid cutting up the chassis for fiberglass overfenders.
I also fabbed up a drivers seat mount (this will be redone eventually, as it's terrible, I'm not great at fabrication but would like to get better).
The car came without a dashboard. I found one with the front half missing, so cut a cover plate for it's front and cut the dash to fit around the cage (turned out really bad, as I wasn't aware the fron 10cm missing in the beginning, so my measurements were a bit off).
The car also came without a rear hatch, so I bought one without the window. I decided to keep it shut via bonnet pins. I'll add a lexan window later on.
Excuse the crappy paint.
Next is to remove all four calipers (one was supplied in the boot with a bolt missing from holdig together of the 2 halves of the 4 pot caliper, also some strange man added a helicoil to mounting ear, where thread are not supposed to be at all) and restore them, as they are seized. I will also start mocking up the hydro handbrake soon and add new brake lines.
My new 1.8 vvt MX-5 engine is currently in transit, should be delivered soon. I will go ahead and mount it in there (desing mounts, tack them and have my welder friend finish them for me). When it's all the, turbocharging in the next goal. A conservative 180-200whp is the max I'd like to have, as the car is running the NA rear end (the turbo 2 is a lot beefier).
The goal of the car? To use where I can. Mostly for sideways action, but anywhere where the car is allowed I'd be glad to use it. Slalom, mini rally, drift, anything.
So thanks for reading it all through. I'll try to keep you updated, but this is a slow project, so please bear with me.
decided to document the progress of my swap here.
I bought the chassis about 2-3 years ago and not much has happened to it in that time. Started working on it a few months back, but life got in the way and I only could spend 1-2 evenings a month on the car, so progress was slow.
The chassis has been caged by the previous owner 20+ years back and it was mainly used as a track toy, but as far as I know, the chassis sat in the past 10 years without an engine. Rust-wise it is actually fine, there is some surface rust, but nothing too bad. I won't restore the body now, I would just like to use it asap.
The car will be a trailer queen anyways, so it won't get (much) worse anytime soon. What's already done:
Most of the suspension. It does have china coilovers, but I moved the rear spring to the front and bought softer springs for the back (so it's an 8/6 setup now, instead of the 10/8). Also had them revalved and modified, also the rear lower mount has been shortened, so it goes relatively low. Also the shocks should not blow their seals anymore.
I also had some adjustable arms made, also an adjustable sublink. Bought shorter camber llinks for camber correction. For the diff and subframe I bought delrin bushings, also had the oem front diff mount welded, as wheel hop in these is the nr 1. diff killer. To avoid the moving much around I also added a subframe snubber to the nose of the diff. Also had the diff welded. Painted it, cleaned up the aluminium housing as well.
Refurbed the front lower control arms, added poly bushings and new ball joints. Also a balljoint extension (no picture of those). That helps with clearance, as I also added a new set of front spindles (they have roll center correction and shortened pickup points):
I also deleted the DTSS (some dynamic rear wheel steering thingy). I don't have a photo of this, it's a solid aluminium thingy.
Sprayed (really badly) a set of wheels. They are ATS 17x8 et25. Nothing too crazy, but I'd like to avoid cutting up the chassis for fiberglass overfenders.
I also fabbed up a drivers seat mount (this will be redone eventually, as it's terrible, I'm not great at fabrication but would like to get better).
The car came without a dashboard. I found one with the front half missing, so cut a cover plate for it's front and cut the dash to fit around the cage (turned out really bad, as I wasn't aware the fron 10cm missing in the beginning, so my measurements were a bit off).
The car also came without a rear hatch, so I bought one without the window. I decided to keep it shut via bonnet pins. I'll add a lexan window later on.
Excuse the crappy paint.
Next is to remove all four calipers (one was supplied in the boot with a bolt missing from holdig together of the 2 halves of the 4 pot caliper, also some strange man added a helicoil to mounting ear, where thread are not supposed to be at all) and restore them, as they are seized. I will also start mocking up the hydro handbrake soon and add new brake lines.
My new 1.8 vvt MX-5 engine is currently in transit, should be delivered soon. I will go ahead and mount it in there (desing mounts, tack them and have my welder friend finish them for me). When it's all the, turbocharging in the next goal.
A conservative 180-200whp is the max I'd like to have, as the car is running the NA rear end (the turbo 2 is a lot beefier).The goal of the car? To use where I can. Mostly for sideways action, but anywhere where the car is allowed I'd be glad to use it. Slalom, mini rally, drift, anything.
So thanks for reading it all through. I'll try to keep you updated, but this is a slow project, so please bear with me.
