It sounds like we are pretty much at the same stage with regard to choices.
I have 99% decided to take the MX5 route rather than using a Sierra donor. My for and against list looks like this so far:
The points against first:
MX5 more expensive donor vehicle than Sierra
Not as heavilly covered in Chris Gibbs' book
More people have built Sierra based Haynes cars
The points for:
Better handling.
More compact and solid mechanical.s
MX5 conceived as a sports car from the outset.
Sierras dissapearing, will be classic status soon.
Donors often have acceptable alloys which can be reused.
All donors fuel injected.
Most donors had ABS.
Some had a limited slip diff.
Wiring loom can be reused.
Seats can be reused.
Can use MX5 uprights, saves fabricating.
I then loked again at the 'against' list and thought:
Unused bits from MX 5 donor should be easier to sell/ get more money back.
Supplementary build information for using MX5 donor is freely available from both Vodou and Saturn.
More people are starting to build MX5 based cars.
A new edition of the Haynes book is planned using an MX5 donor.
Most Locost's were Cortina/ Mk2 Escort based following the original Ron Champion book before Chris Gibbs developed the Haynes variant to use Sierra parts instead. It seems part of a natural progression to use more modern donors and the MX5 is becoming the donor of choice now for many.
I'm currently looking for a suitable MX5 donor- I thought of going for a damaged repairable but i'm not sure how that might affect / limit the registration options. (can anyone advise)
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I also need to decide whether to buy a chassis from the Talon / Vodou combination or the Saturn / HandyAndy combination. They all seem very competant engineers.
Chris