New car ... not as tidy as it looks in the pic, but it's solid and doesn't need too much work
Talking of work, the engine that came in the Amazon is a Mk1 1.6 MX5 engine. I wanted at the very least to swap it for a 1.8, so last weekend I had a closer look to see how it had been mounted. The answer is badly! It's about 3.5" off centre, and the gearbox is a similar amount off ... in the other direction. The engine has come out (sold it already!), but now I have a real quandary. I can just put a 1.8 in, but I need to remake the engine and gearbox mounts. The wiring hasn't been started, and the intake hits the steering rack so there is a lot of work needed. So if I'm going to put a load of time into fitting an engine, it may as well be a better engine than a 130bhp MX5 one.
The current favourite is an inline 6 out of a Volvo 960 or S80 / XC90. The former is a 2.8 or 2.9, and is 200bhp, NA. The latter is a 2.9, and is 275bhp, with a turbo ...
Russell.