imarcr2
imarcr2 New Reader
6/3/22 11:50 p.m.

Bought not built....actually purchased from a friend that spent the better part of 6 years building it. His health was in decline and I purchased the car with the promise to share his build to people that would appreciate it.

Photos here: https://www.topmarq.com/p/superlight-1061

Build diary here: https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=675514

Lightest street legal NC. Engineered and built with one single-minded purpose in mind: To build the lightest NC possible for driving joy. A built 2.5 liter engine combined with the light weight makes for a very enjoyable analog sports car. 2190lb while maintaining a full interior and top. Some of the unique features are a fully scratch built wiring harness that has allowed all the electronics including ECU, Fuse Box, and battery to be relocated to the center of the car behind the seats. Another interesting mod is a conversion to single central windshield wiper. The weight removal didn't stop there. The car has no exterior locks on doors or trunk nor even turn signal and wiper stalks or for that matter ignition cylinder. Many right hand drive interior parts were utilized so the power accessories that were removed didn't leave behind ugly blanks. As if Porsche Racing built a lightweight Miata.

Build list below:

Brakes

Goodwin Stainless Lines

Hawk HPS Pads

Proportioning Valve

ABS Delete

Centric Rotors

 

Suspension

Depowered Steering Rack(energy bushings) With tig welded modulating spline

Flyin’ Miata Sway Bars

B8 Bilstein Shocks

Flyin’ Miata Springs
FatCat Bumpstops

17x7.5 Enkei PF-01 45mm offset/215 tires
Lightweight Aluminum Lug Nuts

 

Driveline

Cobalt Short Shifter

Bent extended length lever with custom shift knob

Flyin’ Miata Flywheel

Exedy Stage 1 clutch

Stainless Steel Clutch Line

Redline Fluids in Diff and Trans

Stock Limited Slip

 

Motor

2014 Ford Fusion 2.5L 14k miles

Moto East/Zero Limit Stage 1.5 cams

New NC2 Springs

Undersize water pump pulley

Relocated Alternator using mazda 6 bracket

One Goal intake manifold

K&N RE-3190 air filter with Homemade 2.75” tubing

ECUTEK Unlimited Tuning(Dynotronics Tune)

1.8 Goodwin Racing Header

Goodwin no cat midpipe

Goodwin Street Single Single Tip Muffler

Coolant Re-Route

Aluminum Coolant Tank


40% stiffer Motor Mounts


Hood Vents

Motor Rebuild

Cleaned Water and Oil Passages

Grinded Over Cast

Honed Cylinders

Painted Block
Removed Gear Ring from Crank
New Oil Pump, follower, oil pump bolts

New OEM Bolts, bearings, rods, hybrid pistons, hybrid oil pump, timing chain, tensioner, new rings, wrist pins, followers, lash caps, water pump, belt, valve springs, VVT oil controller, seals, idlers

Weight Removal Items

Airbags

Bumper structure with custom brackets

A/C

P/S

ABS

Locks for doors and trunk

Glove box hinges

Lightweight Battery with charger pigtail(Deka)

Relocation of battery to interior

Single Windsheild Wiper conversion

Window regulator 

Relocated ECU

Simplified Wiring Harness

 

Cosmetic Items differing from stock

Black Cat Guage Faces

DG Motorsport front and rear spoilers

Momo Steering Wheel

Cobalt 3 point strut brace

Vitalonis Door mirrors

Lots of RHD parts in interior so “blanks” were used rather than switches that aren’t used

John Welsh
John Welsh Mod Squad
6/4/22 8:47 a.m.

She's a beaut.  This thread needed direct photos:

 

chandler
chandler UltimaDork
6/4/22 10:36 a.m.

Ooo, that is a beauty! Nice!

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/4/22 2:07 p.m.

Under 2200lb???

jwagner (Forum Supporter)
jwagner (Forum Supporter) Reader
6/6/22 2:20 p.m.

I really like the built 2.5 in an NC.  Congrats on the car.  A lot of attention to detail and work went into this one.  Add me to the list of people that would love to own this car if you ever need to sell it.

infernosg
infernosg Reader
6/6/22 3:45 p.m.

Under 2200 lbs is incredible! I built my RX7 with the same general goal in mind and I'm still 150 lb heavier.

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter)
AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
6/6/22 5:08 p.m.

This is a very cool project but the no AC in the south at my age.... I love that this project exists though.  I hope there are carbon fiber body panels in the future.

imarcr2
imarcr2 New Reader
6/6/22 6:52 p.m.

Another 30 to 35 lb could be removed using V8 roadster subframe and some lightweight brakes

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