If you go down the mx5 route stay mx5 as the engines as mentioned are very good and there are plenty of tuning options available. The wiring loom from the donor needs to be used so if you were to change the engine you would need to retire the whole car.

If you were to go zetec it would be easier to go sierra donor route and follow the book spec chassis.

I've gone down the mx5 route. Mk2 may be a way to go with the steering as you will be able to get more lock on the steering due to the arms being higher.

There are lots of cheap parts available and lots of donors.

David

Sierra donors are becoming difficult to source, especially where I live up in the far north of Scotland, thats one of the main drivers of going mx5, another reason is that ideally I want to run 13 inch wheels and as far as I can tell you can't do that with the sierra uprights. I think I want the best of both worlds but it seems that I'm just going to cause myself a world of pain :(

If I was starting again I'd probably go for a late Mk2 MX5 donor which put out around 150bhp as standard.
I was tempted at one point to swap my 1.6 for a Mk2 engine, but I'm not sure I can face the job of rewiring the whole bl00dy car again.
I'd definitely advise you to build it the way you want it from the start.

If you've got your heart set on a Duratec have a look at the Mk3 MX5.
Not the cheapest donor, but the diff looks easier to mount and they come with a Mazda MZR L engine - Ford also use this engine, but re-badge it as a Duratec.

Ford stands for two things, Fix Or Repair Daily or Found On Roadside Dead draw your own conclusions.

ah my head is done in now, started reading about superchargers for the mx5, no idea what to do now........

Fantastic on rear drive

For our roadsters (darling:o )

Take a step back.

What do you want to use the car for? If it's just for a car to have a bit of fun with and you're not planning to build it with a race series in mind, then ultimately any common configuration would result in a fun car to drive. Even a car with a Crossflow fitted is still a fun car to drive today.

Use too late a donor though and you'll need to fit a CAT to pass the IVA emissions test.

Which isn't that much of an issue really.

Well that depends on whether you don't mind spending hundreds of pounds on a little metal box that turns CO into CO2 and has no life threatening sharp edges that might cut your knee!:D