Correction. It ALREADY has a V8 in it...and its quite well balenced despite your scepticism.

He has already stated that front suspension will be coming later. And what does the steering have to with anything right now? You keep saying its a longer body...well, how does that matter? There comes a point where there is too short...and with the amount of power he's got he's probably on target. Longer cars, from my experience, are more stable when it comes to hp.

And how does the power plant frame have anything to do what we're talking about? That only helps with power delivery.

This really all comes down to: We'll see what its like when its done. I've seen Rob's work personally over the past few years, and I have his full confidence.

 

i like the idia, and if it messures up the way you say i think i see my this in my futer. my other car is a 83 benz 300d turbo D, and it can out corner mutch of what is out thier so indepentent rear suspention is a griet idea however i have to wander about the V8???

 

I will keep this brief. I am not arguing this is a bad idea. I am just stating the things that popped in my head when I had the exact same idea. (sans the V8)

I am also trying to make the point that I think there is a point of diminishing returns with a project like this. The solid axle works if massaged correctly.

That is all.

 

im sure he knows the stock rear works correctly if dont right, but point is, he wants something different, i guess more different than what hes already got. there have been MANY threads here about this, and a fully capable person is finally attempting it, and hes getting **** for it.

i think if you dont have anything positive to add to the thread, stop posting. there are plenty of people including myself that are interested in how this works/turns out than dont need to hear the "it wont handle as good as a stock rx7" **** when it probably already does.

like i said, im glad someone is finally doing it. good luck bro

 

I don't know if this helps at all but back when I left Japan back in 01 the big thing was to swap in the multilink setup from the S13 into the AE86. From what I heard, the swap wasn't insanly difficult. I don't know how different the rear end from a miata and s13 would be but I just wanted to throw that out there as an idea.

 

...back to engineering class I go

 

Jeez man I agree with you. I am just stating an opinion (it will be a lot of work). I am not giving him any grief for the Miata suspension. I think it is a good idea. I have stated that many times.

BTW what positive thing did your post add to the thread. j/k

 

I'm stoked that this is going on, I'm just upset that someone beat me to it.

I am waiting with baited breath!

 

Now that I'd like to see. The ae86 is already an awesome car, that must make it insane.

 

What year Miata is the rear end from? I'd also be interested in the weight difference between the sub-frame (with axles, diff and all) and the solid axle (with links).

 

i dont really care about all that bull yall are taking about...i just wanna see pics of somehting being done to get it on the car.

Brad

 

Wow, stuff a V8 in your car and you're still fighting arguments 1 year later. Make a post about a Miata suspension and you'll have people fight your arguments for you

The point made about diminishing returns is a valid one. I have no idea what the car will handle like when finished, all I can do is make an educated guess based on what I know. What I know is that a Miata suspension is pretty awsome. Although the suspension isn't the whole package. It's not the point of the thread, but the car will also be getting a full cage with suspension points integrated, and undergo some major weight reduction. The PPF is easy enough to copy and the car will be braced significantly. It'll probably still be a 2300+lbs car when finished, but I am pretty sure it'll be an amazing vehicle on a track. Weither or not it's worth all the trouble, who knows. Is it worth it to fully restore an FB? Is it worth it to put thousands of $$$ into a 13b-t? You might just ask why I don't just cram a V8 in a miata, well, the chasis doesn't lend itself to the swap like the FB does. Weither you want to believe it or not, a V8 FB is a pretty nice car to drive, and nothing in the world beats the feeling of V8 torque pulling you out of a 90mph corner.

I have seen G Force's suspension stuff and It's very impressive. I would buy it in a heart beat for an IT 7, but since I'm not limited to a set of rules, I am free to "think outside the box". The solid axle and rear suspension in the FB is still a trouble area. You can minimize it all you want, but it's still a poor design that can't be fully corrected. 1.2g's is very nice, but wouldn't 1.3g be better? How about 1.5g? My point is there's always room for improvment.

Not to mention you're talking to a guy who managed to get a carb'd 302 under the hood of an FB when everyone else said it can't be done. I'm also the guy who swapped a JDM B16 into a 1986 Prelude, just because. I like challenges, I like cool cars, I like projects. I have a feeling that this will not be the last "crazy" thing I build. FWIW I have 18 months of stuff planned out for this car. The miata suspension is mearly a taste of what will come.

 

As I was starting to suspect...the project is possibly more about the project than the actual end result. At least that is what I am getting out of your last post. Very cool.

I hope it goes well and I hope you can pull 1.5gs.

Please please keep us updated. If you can get a website that you can document the process on. Also if you are successful and this really works as well as it should there could easily be a market for a swap kit that gives a guy with a little less gusto to get a head start on the project.

 

Good luck with the swap. I can't think of a better car to try it on really. You've already gone your own way with the engine swap and now you can compliment it with the rear IRS.

 

I would think the easiest way to achieve this would be to cut out pretty much everything in the rear but the major subframe and build a rollcage;

as for the shock towers, if I was adding a miata rear subframs and building a cage for it...


might as well build a heim joint, cantaliever system with coilovers and remote reseviors...


but lets not get rediculous.

 

Rear axle in the 7's are horrible but much easier to correct handling problems than the front steering. The steering on the front is so horrible I have given up on autocrossing my car until i get a steering rack installed. But I too have a 302 in my car. So the CP VW rack will not work. Front steering is slow, not enough steering angle when the rear steps out and off the road you go. Not to mention bump steer etc etc. I was at the Formula Drift in Atl and watched two guys in horror trying to drift their FB's, and these cars were set up well. Even one of the Japanese judge's said the FB was just not a good car to drift, mainly due to the front steering.

With the miata rear and steering rack up front, that would be sweet.

 

I drift with the stock front system and just springs, adj shox, and sway bars.

its not great but it can be done, you just have to be really fast with your movement.

 

I hate to burst your bubble DarthMazda but one of those guys had the CP R&P kit. I drove his car and you couldn't ruin a drift car faster than by putting that kit on it. The centering effect was vauge, and the motion was slow. 90% of his trouble is a result of that kit. I made a post several months ago on that very subject, and it basically ammounted to Track days,, daily driver, get the R&P kit, drift and autoX stay away.

I spent 5 alignments on my car before I finally got the setup needed for fast steering action. I have zero trouble drifting my car. I'm running 3.5 Caster, 1.2 Camber, and 1/16th Toe-IN ( which basically zero's out at speed). Suspension is very important too. I have a huge front bar and 350lbs springs on my car. Without the sway bar attached, my car does nothing but loop. What I'm trying to say is that the steering isn't the problem with your car, and you'll get better results focusing on other areas.

Both those cars need a little tweaking in their set up before they'll make good drift cars. They both have 13b-t swaps in them, one was putting down more power than my V8.

 

90% of my problem at f. drift was i had only drove my car 250 miles, and had never driven a 1st gen before. i can drift just as well as you can in a 1st gen now. One was putting down 150 to wheels more, And mine made the same power as you, but alot faster than you.

 

lol, now you pop up. I tried to find you to see if you were going to go to the US Drift event in DC but no one could give me your info. There's another one in NC coming up, we can figure out who's better there .

 

md is to far to drive for a drifting event. But the lowes event im go to sign up for that. I hope to have some camber caster plates installed by then. Hey what kind of diff are you running? I think im going to buy some mazda motorsport clutch plates. I can't see spending 1k on kaaz at this point, when i need more suspesnion work, and i need to find a better rack and pinion. I olny have 27 degrees of steering w/ this cp crap. Are you having any more events i ight be able to drift at? I would like do some legal drifting agian.

 

I seriously doubt we'll have anything before the Lowes event. The Greenville race was a huge hit though, so we'll probably be repeating it in the future.

I'm running a rebuilt GSL diff. 3.9 gear, and over packed. It was on the car when I bought it. Very tight, works great.

Yeah, the camber/caster plates should help out a lot. Like I said before, I think a little tweaking of your alignment will probably make all the difference. It was like night and day in my car. You'll notice the difference when you transition from one drift to another. Before I got my alignment nailed, I'd just spin the car, now it's very easy to catch a transition drift and hold it.

I went and bought a set of Zex512's for the event in DC but didn't go. I'm going to run them at VIR on the 31st instead. I suspect there will be some tread left, and I'll take care of it at Lowes most likely.

 

Next on list is a clutch, rebuild the diff with oversized clutch plates, camber caster plates, and panhard bar. As of right now i am running 0 degrees camber, and 3 degrees caster, stock toe settings. I have -1.0 degree camber in the rear, i didn't bend my axle but it does have some camber. Im hoping the panhard will help out with the snap over steer, and give me more traction for the faster entry speeds.