In my ventures of buying broken Miatas, I ended up with one I didn't really want to part out or fix and resell (bad bearing, damaged soft top, steel hood, etc).

The kart idea had come to mind a time or two, and looking at my friends exocet build in the shop inspired me to give it a go.

At this point, I'm several weeks in and about to begin the cage work.

 

Lot of progress done already. For science, we need to know how much this weighs when you're done.

 

Can confirm. I've requested info from others that have done similar things and 1600-1800lbs seems to a good rough estimate depending on how much you cut off and then how much you then put back on.

I'll be shooting for something in the 1600's, fingers crossed.

 

A few more things happened. Learning to use the bender and detail work slowed progress a bit.

 

Sweet! Thanks for the detailed pics of your cuts.

I’ll likely be doing a very simple thing in the near future

 

Moar walding! Driver side upper door bar fits well, now to make it's mirror image and start the bracing tubes.

Also got the new silly wheels/tires in.

 

This will be a lot of fun! Coming from a Porsche, and old Brit car background, I'm still amazed at how solid and rust free a Miata can be, and still be considered a project / consumable minimal $$ thing. I guess there are so many out there, but still, looking at the rust-free inside rockers, etc. on your project, and thinking of many zillion hours I have spent rebuilding those areas in 914, 911's, MGB's, etc. I almost want to cry. Your fab work looks great, and I look forward to the outcome!

 

Love the progress; even if this is supposed to be a "hackjob", all your cuts look clean and proper. Me gusta.

 

Thanks for sharing. This one has been rust free thus far which certainly makes things easier. My jeep on the other hand is rust-ridden so I feel your pain. lol

 

As with most things I'm involved with I have a hard time not trying to make things pretty. It can be a bit of curse as things take longer than they should, but it usually ends up looking nice. That being said, this is an alternative to an Exocet for me and I want to be proud of it when I get done and I'm probably spending a bit more time/coin than most.

 

I too thought this car looked to good for a kart build

You know... The windshield is quite heavy

Can't wait to see it finished. You and the people that do these kind of builds, the kind that most can't do, are my favorite part of car forums. Keep up the work sir! O7

 

Door bars all tacked in. Picked up a set of the actual seats I'll be using and started removing the factory brackets so I can make my own flat plate to mount the sliders as low as I can. Welded in the front subframe gussets and got all the control arms/subframes off to powdercoat.

I need to decide where to put my X brace(s) and harness bar for the hoop/downbar area. Trying not to over-complicate things and turn this thing into a tube monster.

 

Powder parts came back. Sorting out bushings. Braced the rear tubes and working on the front tubes. Making room for the new seats.

 

Nice build! Way nicer than mine lol

 

Front end fab and caliper painting. Threw in a revised concept photo of the front end.

 

Front End Fabwork

 

Helluva nice job so far! It's refreshing to see a kart project with some aesthetic thought put into it. Keep up the good work.

 

are those jongbloeds?

 

Thanks! It's a different approach that hopefully takes some of the "ghetto" out of it.

Yes they are. 15x10's on 245 Nankangs

 

Nice work.


What's the intended use for the car once it's all done?

Or can you actually drive something like this on the road there?