MX5 Donor Chassis Unveiled

[Airhead]

Introducing the new MX5 donor based chassis for the Roadster. We have the plans drawn up and soon to be available for free download on the website! A lot of time and effort has been put into getting the plans right. We have redesigned the book original to take the Mazda parts not just botched the original to fit. A further exciting turn of events is that we are talking with Talon Motorsport about their actually producing the chassis for sale. Phil already has a great reputation and has the experience and skill to produce the parts at a high quality but for a ridiculous price, I just don't know how he does it!



The main difference is in the rear where the Mazda suspension and drive train dictated a new approach, gone are the heavy and ugly plates!

[CTWV50]

I like the way you are hanging the diff but I don't understand what your suggesting by the open sided transmission tunnel. Great to have new ideas on the forum.

Edit: Ah are you retaining the PPF??

[Airhead]

The open side is an ongoing concept, the mazda diff is quite awkward to remove so I am working on a few different designs, one reason for the delay in releasing them. The PPF is totally unnecessary as the transmission tunnel does the same job, there is a bracket to hold the diff nose in place as that is a known point of failure.

[MarkB]

Well I say ding dong..

[michael92]

looks nice

[Aussie_Haynes_MX5]

Airhead, looks good. Especially like the way you've done the rear diff mountings. Look forward to being able to download the plans. I just bought a running NC MX5 for $1,000 (Australian), which if you do the conversion would be about 350 or so pounds. Build board has had to be started again so this design would be great help!

[trick-kit]

Originally Posted by Aussie_Haynes_MX5

Airhead, looks good. Especially like the way you've done the rear diff mountings. Look forward to being able to download the plans. I just bought a running NC MX5 for $1,000 (Australian), which if you do the conversion would be about 350 or so pounds. Build board has had to be started again so this design would be great help!

Indeed, a lot of hard work has gone into the design to make it right, for instance the diff frame was designed to be both lighter and neater than just welding a huge flat plate on the Haynes frame. As they say the devil is in the detail, and with this design it certainly shows. It won't be long before you can download the drawings and get going

Oh, and wait until you see the bodywork to go with this, just as much thought has gone into that as well.

TK

[vmax1974]

Quite like how you have done the diff mounts but I still like the look of the saturn bodywork how compatible would it be with the saturn body

[trick-kit]

Originally Posted by vmax1974

Quite like how you have done the diff mounts but I still like the look of the saturn bodywork how compatible would it be with the saturn body

Sorry misread your post, The Vodou body is a ground up new design and none of the panels will interchange. The design of the chassis is to the book measurements, so any bodywork that fits the Haynes will fit the Vodou and visa versa. Hopefully that makes more sense.

TK

[Aussie_Haynes_MX5]

Trick Kit, you have obviously redesigned the front steering and suspension geometry. Will there be drawings for the front and rear control arms? Also, i hazard a guess there are detailed dimensionings for the mounting of the control arms too?