Gunpilot

Well, after parting out my 1990 Miata I am left with a basic rolling cassis. I figure, drop in a V8, cut off the front fenders, maybe the rear fenders? Heck, cut windshield and go CRAZY!

Since I already have a 302 V8, I should be able to fabricate most of the mounts, but if anyone has extra 302 K member, transmission or diff mounts laying around please let me know. I will gather all parts before I rip into it. Should be able to find a clean 302/T5 around Houston somewhere.

Here are some of my inspirations:

mazdaspeedmiata

You don't need any of those. Now u can run wheels as wide as you want

ItsAllRigged

Theres a modified K member for a 302 in the for sale section, guy says hes throwing it out.

Im not a big fan of the exocet but this style is rad. Do it!

Gunpilot

Yep, contacted the guy in Saint Louis, but the K member was sold. Booo.

I may just replace the blown up 4 cyl with a used 1.6 for $300 and run it like that. I threw around the idea of buying the LS mount kit for sale here on the forum, but not ready to make that investment yet. Should be fun to cut up and experiment on either way. If I screw it up, off to the scrap yard as was initially planned. This should give me practice for when I want to do it for real one day. LOL

V8droptop

The rat rod is a great idea, some of those are slick looking.

I also am a fan of the NA mazdaspeed conversions. 95msm and 90msm over on the mazdaspeed forum have done that. Pretty cool. I do miss turbo 1.8s.

If I had a lot of time and want, the FE3 motor is a cool swap. Its a mazda 2.0, which you can source from a Kia in the US for little. Neat idea.
Solomiata : Interchange : FE3 motor

Who knows, the possibilities are pretty wide open. Can't wait to read about it.

Gunpilot

Trying to figure out the front cutaway on the first picture. Looks like they cut right before the firewall and into the inner fender. They left a little metal around the shock mount. I need to research on what needs to be added as far as reinforcements for those shock mounts. I want it to be as bare as can be without effecting structural integrity.

Parts are staring to come off mine so I can study it:

tbone heller

Did you see this post? https://www.v8miata.net/advanced-eng...etto-cet-2112/ You may be able to get some ideas from their site.

Gunpilot

Met someone that needed a rear quarter panel pretty bad. Decided to cut it up and sell the parts. Need to focus on my LS2 car for The Texas Mile in October. When that's over, I'll look for another Ghetto-cet donor. Lol.

Gator Bait

!?!?!?! We need a thread on this! What are you doing to prep? Do you have the 160 mph front end lift I'm plagued with? I'd love to do it myself, but really don't want to end up on my lid.