In reply to alfadriver:
So weight is the issue with all of your (cool and unique) suggestions. If I'm gonna fabricate a tube chassis or locost, I'm not going to involve the X19. LOL. The allure of the X19 is that it weighs slightly more than a tube chassis car and it's already done for us!
We want to put a bike engine in there specifically for a few reasons:
1) Who DOESN'T want a 12,500-13,000 rpm engine in a car?! We've all dreamed of that! 150-175whp @ 1300-1500 lbs is gonna be crazy fast!
2) Sequential close ratio 6 speed transmission. It's integrated into the engine on a motorcycle. Need I say more?!
3) X19 is already mid engined. Can keep chain drive of bike super easy. FR layout of a Miata is infinitely inferior, especially for chassis dynamics of a ultra light race car. There's a reason all race cars are mid engine.
4) We already own the bike engine, ecu, harness, all other systems for $300. To build this thing under $2k with only $1k of recoverables for a max budget of $2-3k will be challenging. Add miata to that plus all that fab work/materials...just no. I like having a life Thank-you-very-much. LOL. Also, we want to stick with 13" wheels. 225/13 A7's are gonna be so sick! Custom 4x98 bolt pattern with custom backspacing 13x8 rims from Diamond/Bassett are like $60 each? @ 14 lbs? Good enough for us. We're literally designing this car around the powertrain/tires/wheels.
5) We have one distinct advantage...of the 10 member team we're rocking right now...9 of us are Product Development Engineers at Ford. Robbie is in fact the only non-professional engineer in the entire group! LOL! What?! I just now looked at that...
Here's the breakdown:
Transmission and Drivetrain Engineers:
Ian - RWD Technology and Innovation
Neil - RWD Technology and Innovation
Mark - Ford Performance Drivetrain
Donovan - 10R Calibration
Mike - 4WD Calibration
Peter - 10R Calibration
Hybrid Engineers:
Taylor - MHT Calibration
Jason - MHT Calibration
Greg - EPE Calibration
Team Engineer:
Robbie - Rockstar, Team lead.
So if we need custom anything, we can design/brainpower it no problem. In fact, I just have to shout over to the next cube to get completely custom axles designed if I feel so inclined. So this is one of our strengths we will no doubt utilize.
I would love to have a shaft drive option, but I don't think anything out there can handle the Torque + Weight + budget. There are sick nasty solutions to our problem, but they cost $2-4k. Just can't for the competition.
Using a naked differential, or the Infinity J30 VLSD differential + axles I have sitting in my garage for a $50 budget hit is where it's at. We'll fabricate a subframe to hold the bike engine anyways, and either mount it all transverse, or longitudinal depending on the diff layout we decide on. We will just add provisions to hold our diff. This can be accomplished many ways, but we like to keep things simple and OEM. If we do, replacements are cheap/easy to find. Make it all super complicated and unique/fabbed. You're absolutely screwed if you did something wrong or keep breaking a certain component.
Love the ideas though everyone! You are all a special breed of crazy! Keep em' coming!