LocostUSA.com

Hello,

Looking into building a locost and i'd like to find a nice OEM upright that is light weight and will not be a limiting factor in the future. The Miata uprights/hubs/bearings seem to be a very good starting point but i am unsure which generation to go with. The new ND's seem to have improved alot in the weight department so i'd assume that their uprights would be the way to go but i obviously don't have any direct experience with either.

Thanks for the help,
Grant

Are you hoping to find used ones, or buying new factory replacement parts? The ND is still quite new, so finding used parts would be tough.

Do you have a wheel bolt pattern preference? The NC Miata has 5 bolt hubs and the ND went back to using 4 bolt hubs. Something to consider when looking into wheel selection/availability.

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I agree that wheel size will be the driving factor here. If you want 15's, you want 4 bolt. If you want narrow 17's you can use either. And if you want wide 17's you want 5 bolt. A further consideration on the ND beyond availability, is that it sounds like 15's can be somewhat hit-or-miss over the stock brakes. So especially if you want 15's and are on a budget, I'd actually still recommend NA/NB Miata hardware. If you're going 17's on a 5 bolt pattern, in addition to the NC Miata you can also get the same basic hardware from an RX8.

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-Justin

"Orville Wright did not have a pilots license." - Gordon MacKenzie

Thanks for the breakdown!

I originally looked into the NA/NB pieces but they are cast iron which id like to stay away from due to the weight.

I didnt know the NC cars shared architecture with the RX8 but that makes sense. If thats the case i guess these are alot beffier than the rest? Maybe its worth looking into if the hub/bearing is more stout.

Looks like i have some research to do now.

Thanks for the help. I will try to update this post when i know more about the hub/bearing sizes.

-Grant