badfrogg

I just pick up a 96 miata for $1500. It is in really good mechanical condition, not molested or riced out. 100% factory. Got it cheap because it had been in a hail storm and the body has like a hundred dings all over. It was really cool to drive a Miata for the firs time. It surprised me how peppy it was, begged to be driven fast. Unfortunately after only twenty minutes of driving it some hillbilly redneck yelled out of his F350 Super-Duty to call me a homosexual. It made me chuckle but i do feel a little girly when i drive it. Come to think of it i bet %95 of all new Miata buys were by females. Anyways, the biggest piece of this potential project is obtained so hold tight and lets see what happens!

Yep, I've seen quite a few miata transplants but not one s30. Love the 411 wagon. I had a 510 wagon when i was a teenager. my biggest regret was getting rid of it only to see now that they are almost unobtainable.Oh the stupid things we do when we are young.

I have a metal shop at my disposal and a machine shop in the evening that only cost me cold beer to sneak in small things. So... Not as big a deal as it is for most. I do not have both but on paper the miata looks to be a better platform and it has a lot of aftermarket performance support. when i look at s30 performance stuff, its expensive and limited. "z bodied Exocet" That is exactly what got me interested. I will not go so crazy as to hollow out the Z body but i would plan to transfer the mount point from the miata body and then gusset it up just a bit with tube. One cool thing is that the miata is all four wheel double wishbone and if i do a little math i could position the mount point so that the suspension is the correct geometry at whatever ride height i want. I am hunting craigslist now for a $2000 or less, 1994 or better miata. Even I don't do it i will still have a miata which has always been on my list of vehicles to drive.

I looked around the internet an did not fine anyone talking about transplanting the complete miata subframe into a s30 body. The miata has a lot more economical suspension and brake options. Sure the motor is not all that powerful but its modern and has some potential. The wheelbase is very close and all you would relay have to do is move the motor mount 1.5" back. Anyways just some food for thought. Here is an overlay of the miata with the z in scale and here is what im working with right now for a z body