Hi,

I've been thinking this as you can pick up a MK1 for about £500/600 and they're 1.6 (im only 18) and rear wheel drive.

Can I get some opinions on this and what I should look out for

Cheers

Max

Yep.
Click Me

MNR, Westfield and Roadrunner use the MX5 as a donor. I have stuck the MX5 engine and gearbox from a MK2 into my Tiger. Defo a good option as there are fewer Sierra's around.

Does the Pope poo in the woods?

Might be worth looking out for an import Eunos or Miata as they're more likely to have an LSD diff'.

Is a sand crab's arse water tight?

I've just started one got an old mx5 mk1 1600 500 notes run it for two week make sure the motors ok 80% the way on fabrication of the chassis , looks like it's gonna work !!

MX5 owners avoid me at meets because they know I see their cars as mere mechanical parts for my car.

if your looking at racing you might want to look into the MEV EXOCET race car, i believe a dedicated series may start next year.

Why bother making a kit car out of it? When my MX5 comes out of the garage next spring after some modifications it will be just as uncomfortable as a kit car, handle just as well as 90% of them and should be able to keep up with most of them in real world terms (BECs driven by mad b'stards from Charnnock Heath are more of a problem tho ). The down side is that no matter what I do it will be about 250kg heavier than your average kit car (otherwise I'd be able to keep up with more than just most of them!) - BUT the upside is it will only have cost me just over £2000 (including buying the car) from start to finish whereas ripping it apart to build a kit car would realistically cost me upwards of £6000 (at least) by the time I'd finished........

But then I've been there and done the kit car building thing so if you actually want to build a car then yes, it's a great donor!

quote:

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Originally posted by D Beddows
Why bother making a kit car out of it? When my MX5 comes out of the garage next spring after some modifications it will be just as uncomfortable as a kit car, handle just as well as 90% of them and should be able to keep up with most of them in real world terms (BECs driven by mad b'stards from Charnnock Heath are more of a problem tho ). The down side is that no matter what I do it will be about 250kg heavier than your average kit car (otherwise I'd be able to keep up with more than just most of them!) - BUT the upside is it will only have cost me just over £2000 (including buying the car) from start to finish whereas ripping it apart to build a kit car would realistically cost me upwards of £6000 (at least) by the time I'd finished........

But then I've been there and done the kit car building thing so if you actually want to build a car then yes, it's a great donor!

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My apologies Mr Steward

YES

I'm about to embark on a Haynes MX5 chassis with a full body. It will be supercharged to 250bhp.

Happy Days!

Get yourself a copy of 'How To Build a Cheap Sports Car, by Keith Tanner.
All about building a seven using an MX5.
Don't worry about it being an American book, he's English.

thanks for this. in relation to just keeping the mx5 as an mx5.

Standard MX5 insurance: £3854
Kit Car MX5: £2012

Maybe all teenagers should driver kit cars, they're faster, more dangerous but they'll save you money on your car insurance

Yeah but odds are that by the time the kit car is on the road you wont be a teenager any more and will have some ncb behind you so the difference in price will be neither here nor there - plus the £X thousand pounds more you're going to spend building a kit car FAR outweigh the savings in insurance.....

I understand what you're saying ie you can't afford to insure an MX5 now BUT you're probably not going to have a kit car to drive for a couple of years either if you're building one yourself - there's always buying a finished one of course!

Building a kit car isn't going to save you ANY money - but then that's not what it's about and wasn't the subject of your original post as I recall

quote:

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Originally posted by D Beddows
Building a kit car isn't going to save you ANY money - but then that's not what it's about and wasn't the subject of your original post as I recall

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lol - me?

Cooling is shocking as standard, especially if air con is fitted - how any air gets through the radiator with a condenser the same size as it hung in front and two huge fans hung off the back is a mystery to me! Add to that the MX5 'scene' fashion for fitting radiator grills (not guilty, came with the car) that can't let any air through above about 40mph and well...... Air con all gone as part of it's diet, undertray back on (again car came without) and a new radiator, hoses, grill etc fitted so the bar stewards not going to overheat now...........

Cooling is ok on mine even with AC, Chargecooler rad, 2 fans and a grill!

I will be doing the coolant reroute when I build the car.


Haynes "Build your own sports car on a budget" by Chris Gibb is the latest book. I believe there is a new one due soon especially for the MX5, though the revisions are readily available on the Haynes forum

I will be using a chassis designed by Vodou

and supplied by Talon Motorsport as a kit.

The body will be this



From Jim Walker.

lol, fair enough, my radiator was a little bunged up as well it has to be said

That ^^^^^ looks worth takng an MX5 apart for

A MEV Exothingy on the other hand much less so.............personaly I think whatever you build from your donor should be better (in terms of looks as well as performance) than the donor or you're wasting your time and money. But hey, there are enough beyond repair rusty MX5s to go round at the moment

[Edited on 20/9/11 by D Beddows]

As mentioned on the Haynes forum by TT, "Build a two seater sports car from a two seater sports car!"

If it means a shed destined for the scrap heap is being put into use, you enjoy building it, then I would consider it worth while. The main thing is having fun, paitence and the money to complete, then the good weather to drive it in.

I like the closed body style in the picture.

Hope they are not picking on you Dave just because it got a little warm!

Adrian

WOW, loving the response. Let me tell you a bit about me and the car Im building.

I bought the car as an unfinished project on ebay. It had a type 9 gearbox and 1600 xflow engine.

I am currently studying Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes University and next year I'll be racing in the 750MC Locost championship with my other car.

So...

I've taken out the engine and gearbox, sold the engine to a friend and kept the gearbox for my race locost.

Being a student I have quite alot of time and alot of people to help me put it together. We think if we work on it solidly every day, we'll have it done in a coupe of weeks.

With the cooling I was told i should use the rad from a 1.4 polo (can someone clarify this)

Everything else I think i've got covered.


Max

quote:

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Originally posted by RK
MX5 owners avoid me at meets because they know I see their cars as mere mechanical parts for my car.

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Does the mx5 drivetrain fit into the standard haynes roadster chassis?

I've got a couple of MX5s in the garage, one stripped and track only, the other is almost gutted for use as a donor.
We're going down the Exocet route and seeing how they're performing on track - if that's what you're after then it's well worth looking at.
Buying the kit for <£3k and using most of the running gear from donor means anything you dont need gets flogged bringing the build price down.

hi spoonana

i have a 1.8 mk1 mx5 in the for sale section for around your budget

regards
paul