The time has come to start my build log...but a little history first. I have wanted to do this for many years but the timing has not been good- until now. I probably got the "How to Build a Sports Car" book 10 plus years ago. I have more recently been reading up a fair amount on this forum and going through a lot of the build logs. This site is a tremendous resource.
I started modeling the chassis in solidworks over a year ago and things are moving along fairly well. I was originally going to do a +442 but decided that was probably a little too large for my use so I changed to a +221. Here is the current cad model:
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I started casually looking for a donor in the spring of 2010 and found this:
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So my wife and I booked plane tickets to Florida and drove it back (thanks Kel!!). We made it home a few days later after some minor adventures- the car ran very well.
The donor is a '91 BRG Miata with ~166k miles on the clock, 5 speed manual trans, viscous rear diff, and tan leather interior. This is about the perfect donor. Actually found it for sale on this forum- thanks John!! I drove it a fair amount this past summer and did a few tune up type things to it along the way.