old school

iTrader: (1)

Trey ever tried driving a dune buggy or sand rail? Very fun but with four tires. You just got to be careful to keep hands in side if you roll over. Thats my other vehicle addiction. Three buggys and a chenoweth pre runner rail.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

Negative, I think I'd prefer the dirt bike.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I would love to have a street rail as a daily driver. Lighter than air, and emissions-exempt if done properly.

Trouble is that every single chassis I've found for the T1 drivetrain uses a swingaxle rear suspension and either a stock torsion-beam front, or a swing-style, ultra-long-arm design suitable only for drag cars running bicycle tires on the front.

thenuge26

iTrader: (2)

Miatas are used as the base for just about every other type of kit car, surely there is a buggy you can make using the miata double-wishbone or something.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

The problem is that there are no 1975 or older Miatas available to use as donors. (Also, the Miata drivetrain is relatively heavy, and not well suited to mid-engine / rear drive implementation.)

Were it not for this, I'd have shut up and bought an Exocet long ago.

thenuge26

iTrader: (2)

Ah yeah, California problems. I forgot.

DaveC

Joe, have you looked at FWD engine + transaxle combinations? Maybe not much selection pre '75... was there anything sold in the US? Rabbit came out in '74.

If you can work with something from the 80's then the choices open up.

mgeoffriau

iTrader: (7)

Why isn't Joe building a Locost?

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

DING, DING, DING! Folks, we have a winner here!

But Joe is tall, so he needs to build the 442 chassis Locost instead of the standard Seven which is effectively limited to guys 5'8" and shorter.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

****, I have a bad case of dirt-bike fever.

messiahx

iTrader: (2)

Dirt bikes are win. I rode mine into/under the back end of a Tacoma on Friday because I am a noob, it was raining, and I did not leave myself enough following distance. Amazingly, I am unhurt and the bike will only need $100-150 to repair. Kind of bike I have (don't have any pics pre-crash):

hustler

iTrader: (6)

I'm after one of these:

gearhead_318

iTrader: (1)

Why don't you just put whatever engine you want in it, and tell them its somthing else with an efi conversion if applicable?

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I have dreamed about it. Hell, that's how they build the Atom. But as you note, there really aren't any decent FWD options pre-76. The automotive world pretty much sucked at that time. The Celica and Corolla were RWD until '85, the Civic sucked ***** in the '70s (as did the very few American FWD platforms), Mazda and Datsun hardly had anything worth mentioning in the US at the time, etc.

No, the proper solution for a mid/rear vehicle is a type 1 VW engine mated to a 914 transmission. They're cheap and light, and aftermarket parts support for them is mind-blowing.


Nope. 1975 is the hard cutoff. After that, nothing changes until OBD-II. Used to be a 25 year rolling exemption (in which case my Miata would be exempt in two years) but they killed that a while back.


Joe's welding skills suck. And he's lazy.


Because when you register a homebrew in CA, you have to go to a Referee Station for initial inspection. And the refs aren't idiots- they specialize in kitcars, engine swaps, grey-market imports, etc.



That, and Joe is going through sort of a transitional period right now. It's not a good time for him to be committing to major investments of time, space and money.

rleete

iTrader: (21)

Menopause already?

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

Net providers begin warning of illegal downloads - New York News | NYC Breaking News

hustler

iTrader: (6)

I like how one post on Facebook about buying a dirt-bike is a trigger for everyone to post dirt-bike gore.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

When your product is too expensive for the market, use litigation to supplement income.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

“I hate business people,” said Kayne West. “Since when was making art about getting rich?”

hustler

iTrader: (6)

This just in:
Sitting on the sofa and eating cheetos is more safe than riding a dirt-bike.