An entire Miata sub-frame and drive-train under a 240Z

Sorry in advance to all Z and Miata purist. if this build succeeds there will be one less of each.

Okay this has been an idea for a long time. I've owned this 240z shell for almost 15 years, dragging it all over creation with me. Early on i knew i was not going to restore it but instead wanted to put some kind of modern FI powerplant. Over the year i considered lots of option like the obvious RBs, SRs 1JZ and some of the not so obvious 1uz and some really obscure ideas like a Honda V6 J23A adapted to a tremec.

Later on down the road i was thinking about the drivetrain, brakes suspension and all the other thing that go onto a car. Hell, how many home builders budget for the bulbs that go in the lights, fuses, nuts and bolts even. That's when i started thinking of just getting a donor car and using as much from it as i could, even wire, fuel pump, air conditioning, whatever the list is long.

I want a car that would provide as many modern parts as i could make fit to the Z car. What i finally landed at was the Miata. Main factors were; The miata is light, it has double wishbone suspension all round, manual transmission and has a huge following which means lots of info and options. the drawback is only that the miata engine is quite puny. Oh well, cant have everything.

So then the plan is to basically transplant the entire subframe of the Miata into the Z, Easy!

Here is my Z

A quick overlay of the Miata and a Z

The bottom pic isn't displaying...but I can't wait to see how this goes.

Wow. I've owned a Miata and currently own a Z car. This sounds like a great idea!

Guys let me know if the second picture is working. Im experimenting with hosting pictures directly from my google account.

I see the car and the overlay. Looks good

I approve of this blasphemy. Although you're definitely going to have to do something about the engine.

Consider new front frame rails with the Miata pickups on them instead of shoehorning the Miata subframe in there, it'll give you more options engine-wise and isn't any more work. It's what I did with my MG.

I will be over in the corner laughing! You are one wild and crazy dude.

I'm highly interested to see how this turns out. Best of luck to you.

Keith Tanner wrote: you're definitely going to have to do something about the engine.

I know. But the way i see it is I just roll with the little 1.8L while i get all the other stuff sorted out. When I'm done I'll really just be working with a Miata and there are a tone of documented swaps out there. I want this to be on the road and driving quick. i don't want to have a lump of useless car project sitting in my shop for years. Once its driving then i will continue to improve and refine. The little 1.8 could be turbo'd. It would still be a torqueless wounder but it would be light and have good rev'y HP which is okay for a street course.

Keith Tanner wrote: Consider new front frame rails with the Miata pickups

Yep, exactingly. i will fab up the Z body, rails etc... to bolt right up to the Miata subframe. Since the suspension is double wishbone, i dont have to worry too much about the strut tower pickups. One thing that comes to mind is that i can really manipulate suspension buy setting the ride height with the mount point and not the shock or spring length. I need a suspension guru to chime in and give some theory of roll centers and CGs. It would be cool to have it handle well without having to resort to hard springs and silly roll bars. I would like the car to go around the track well.

why does everyone here have slot mags on their Z except me?

NOHOME wrote:

Haha. Your trying to breed the MG with that Miata the old fasion way! I wonder what their babies will look like...

badfrogg wrote:

NOHOME wrote:

Haha. Your trying to breed the MG with that Miata the old fasion way! I wonder what their babies will look like...

If it turns out anything like an MG I will have screwed something up real bad.

Since you are about to go down a similar rabbit hole, you might want to have a look at my build thread. Might save you some pain.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/volvo-p1800eskinda/72311/page1/

I aprrove and disapprove at the same time. I like the inventiveness and think you should do it. But on the other hand I love me some Z cars and sish it would stay as it was made. But you build and I look forward to watching it!

NOHOME wrote: if it turns out anything like an MG I will have screwed something up real bad.

Oh wow! i couldn't tell in the first picture, don't no why my mind went to an MG. I love those old Volvos. They were light years ahead of their time. I am going to settle in and read this build thread for sure.

NOHOME wrote:

So THAT's what it looks like when a 240z and an MX5 make sweet love...

I looked at the overlay of the two cars and immediately wondered how a Miata would look with a 240Z roof grafted to it. One day someone is going to put a steel roof on a Miata and satisfy my fetish.

84FSP wrote: So THAT's what it looks like when a 240z and an MX5 make sweet love...

Ha! See im not the only one. NOHOME, your confusing us!

No that is NOHOME's Crazy Saint's Volvo Wagon making sweet love to a MX-5.

BTW NOHOME, I blasted through your build thread and i was amazed and traumatized. My build has a 2 month, first cut to first drive goal. I cant get sucked into the rabbit whole that you did. Tell you what I will race you to the finish line, a driving car. doesn't have to be anything else though.

DeadSkunk wrote: I looked at the overlay of the two cars and immediately wondered how a Miata would look with a 240Z roof grafted to it. One day someone is going to put a steel roof on a Miata and satisfy my fetish.

DeadSkunk, You just might have the more sane idea! A Fastback Miata! It will make it nice and rigid too

badfrogg wrote:

84FSP wrote: So THAT's what it looks like when a 240z and an MX5 make sweet love...

Ha! See im not the only one. NOHOME, your confusing us! No that is NOHOME's Crazy Saint's Volvo Wagon making sweet love to a MX-5. BTW NOHOME, I blasted through your build thread and i was amazed and traumatized. My build has a 2 month, first cut to first drive goal. I cant get sucked into the rabbit whole that you did. Tell you what I will race you to the finish line, a driving car. doesn't have to be anything else though.

DeadSkunk wrote: I looked at the overlay of the two cars and immediately wondered how a Miata would look with a 240Z roof grafted to it. One day someone is going to put a steel roof on a Miata and satisfy my fetish.

DeadSkunk, You just might have the more sane idea! A Fastback Miata! It will make it nice and rigid too

In that case, I will be the Turtle, cause I have another 3 years budgeted for this to be done.

The first year was a bit of exploratory in that I abandoned the original plan to just graft the Miata front and rear subframes.

You are correct when you say that the donnor should bring along as much as possible. this was the turning point:

Required V8 conversion Required transmission tunnel Required new steering gear Required AC Required power steering Required 250 ft-lbs to the rear wheels and the ability to cruise 70 mph at 2200 rpm Required all the brake an fuel lines plumbed Required fuel delivery to be compatible with FI Required pedal to seat ergonomics to be right. Requires a wiring harness that accommodates and routes like it was factory installed.

So, when I added this all up, it came to inserting the Miata under the Volvo. Going this way not only saves me a ton of design/fabrication work, but it maintains intact a lot of the engineering work done by the Miata engineers.

It has been a fun project. Looking forward to your progress.

Found A Miata! A prefect specimen, 96, manual, unmolested. The best part is that the body was ruined by a hail storm so there should be no tears when is comes time to chop her... That gets my thinking, a Miata is definitely a "her" and the Z is definitely not... Oh No! Will my Z will end up being a Trany?!?

I will just put it out of my mind for mow.

Anyways take a look at what i scored for $1500. Runs and drives great. Even has cold AC. R134, OBD2, Sealed fuel system! I love modern cars! My Z will be one of very few that wont smell like a lawnmower.

That radiator is getting pretty close to the end of its life, but nice find!

I'm patiently waiting for updates.

jimbob_racing wrote: I'm patiently waiting for updates.

Alright, settle down. I haven't yet officially kicked-off this project yet. Once i decide that it was time to do something with the Z, the wife said "Okay now honey... Don't start another project until you finish the first one!" She is referring to the Harley Build that i started shortly after this one over in the Sprockets forum. So you can head over there and watch that one if your impatient waiting for this one to take off.

The other delay will be getting the wife to let go of the little Miata. She has gotten a bit attached to it. I will have to perform some kind of sabotage to it. Maybe if i can attract the tree ants that infest my Oak tree to nest in it or something along those lines should work.

Anyways I don't expect this to start for at least a month.

badfrogg wrote:

jimbob_racing wrote: I'm patiently waiting for updates.

Alright, settle down. I haven't yet officially kicked-off this project yet. Once i decide that it was time to do something with the Z, the wife said "Okay now honey... Don't start another project until you finish the first one!" She is referring to the Harley Build that i started shortly after this one over in the Sprockets forum. So you can head over there and watch that one if your impatient waiting for this one to take off. The other delay will be getting the wife to let go of the little Miata. She has gotten a bit attached to it. I will have to perform some kind of sabotage to it. Maybe if i can attract the tree ants that infest my Oak tree to nest in it or something along those lines should work. Anyways I don't expect this to start for at least a month.

So, basically I am still ahead of you! And while not "finished", I have been looking at a scenario that would have me a self propelled project by the time the snow melts.

Hey NOHOME, I was tired of squinting to see your avatar so I used my supreme hacker skills (google search) to find the source.

Found the source and a whole lot more...

http://theflyingxs.blogspot.com/2012/11/look-prettyplay-dirty.html

Yep. I derailed my own thread but i think it was for a good cause. The Miata is still driving and the z is still waiting. I discovered that the holiday season is not a good time for build projects. Hopefully i will be done with the bike build by the first of the year and can start this project proper.