Now hear me out before all you Roadster enthusiasts go crazy. After considering my goals for the Roadster and expenses to go along with it this was the most logical route to take. And here are my reasons why:
-Engine bay room: VQ30DET in a Roadster bay is cramped. SR20 swaps are boring, been done a million times, besides I have been messing with SRs since I was 16, I want something new.
-Interior room: I'm 6ft 4" tall. Anyone who has owned a Roadster knows they are tiny and a person my size is pushing it in comfort.
The biggest reason of all EXPENSE!
This roadster was in rougher shape than I thought it was. The body panels are in great shape the underbody not so much.
So let's take the time of welding and cutting, I'm doing the work myself but if I put a price on my own work... Wow.
Lets take in consideration the expense of building a suspension that will handle the power of a VQ30DET. Sure I can go the whole RX-7 rear end route and have a pretty stout suspension setup on the Roadster after I go through refreshing the entire suspension with aftermarket and expensive NOS parts or I can build a superior suspension setup on the Miata that has far more aftermarket support than the Roadster and let's face it the Roadster will never handle as well as the Miata.
Going off my original interior idea of using a Miata dash I would have had to widen the entire car which wouldn't have been a big issue since the entire floor would have had to be cut out and replaced anyway, what's a few body panels to widen when your in that deep anyway? The kicker is not the widening of the car it's the windshield! Widen the car you have to widen the windshield. So that leaves 2 options. 1. split window. Buy another 67 windshield, cut them offset from center by how ever many inches you need to make up for and add a brace in the middle and combine them or 2. Custom windshield. I don't know if you have ever priced a custom windshield but to have one made I read its something ridiculous like $8k or something crazy like that. Split windshield doesn't sound appealing and custom windshield option is out.
Rubber seal kit. Just to replace all the seals in a Roadster is quite the expense almost the amount I paid for the Miata itself.
I get it, before I pulled the trigger the biggest thing I struggled with is the fact that in the end I won't have a actual Roadster I will have a Miata. Well what I wanted was a Roadster like no other, I will have just that and I will have a Miata like no other. If all goes to plan I will have the best of both worlds and hopefully a car enthusiasts of both worlds can appreciate.
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