Hi,

I am hopefully picking up a locost chassis tomorrow which comes with a MK2 escort rear axle.

My plan is to run an MX5 engine, gearbox and driveshaft and I'm not sure which axle to run.

I am in a dilemma as to whether to run with the mx5 rear end or to use the escort one. I'm intending on buying a scrap mx5 to strip apart anyway do wondered which is the preferred option.

I will be using the car both on the road and for Hill climb racing once it is finished.

Many Thanks

Jon

You have some work to do to convert to MX5, but it will be worth it. That's my opinion, as I'm trying to get rid of my Escort back axle as well.

The escort axle should give you a return close to the value of the full mx5.

Escort rear axles price second hand are very much dependent on what diff they have and whether they have link brackets or rear disc conversions already done.

As for the conversion, not done it but one is live and one is independent, wouldn't this involve fabricating lots of new rear spaceframe to hang the double wishbones off and also mounting the rear diff ? Sounds like quite a bit of work for marginal performance gains. Speaking to Mark Fisher about the fury his view was that a properly set up live axle rear end was as good on the track but IRS gave a little more compliance on the road.

I would be tempted to plough my money into getting it set up, choosing the right diff ratio for your application and sticking an LSD in it.

My car has the MX-5 1600cc engine, 5 speed gearbox and propshaft linked to an Escort Live Axle.

It works very well and the finished car is 565kgs

So my recommendation is to stick with the Live axle.

[Edited on 12/1/17 by JAG]

Some great advice thank you!

I've been looking at the build diaries and three are a couple that use the complete rear end suffrage from the mx5 and almost fix that straight into the rear end.

I have no problem with the fabrication etc so I will do some more research but it seems opinions are split in which is best.

It may come down to cost in the end and if I can get a complete mx5 for the price of the rear axle and just add the extra fabrication work on it might be quite an interesting project.

Jon

The MX5 rear end is a better rear end from the point of adjustability of the suspension geometry but its quite a bit wider so there's a lot of work to do to make it work, plus you must constrain the diff nose properly preferably by cutting the rear section of the MX5 power plant frame and bolting it to your chassis rigidly.
In favour of the Escort rear end, you already have it, works well enough and there's a much better range of diff ratios to available.
3.9 or 4.1 english diff with 13" wheels works well with the 1.6 MX5 engine as it needs to be revved to get the best out of it.

So picked up the chassis / beam and am starting to collect parts, currently on the look out for a cheap mx5.

I'm going to keep the Ford rear end and just use the mx5 engine etc, it's got a 3.9 final drive in so should be good for the mx5 engine.

Thanks for the advice.