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Old 04-13-2009, 02:38 AM   #41 (permalink)
winkosmosis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by evolutionmovement View Post
The Miata's big problems are the truly awful gearing—the high ratios way too short and the low ratios are too tall to just swap the rear end out. If I do an aero Miata project (it's 2 designs for a Miata, a tandem 2-seat Impreza IF I can make it look marginally attractive, and a cessna-bodied 3-wheeler I'm deciding between), I'm swapping the transmission with a 2nd generation RX-7. I believe you can swap the bellhousing and bolt it in, but I need to look into it better. From there, I'd be covering the undercarriage, building an external hood vent for the radiator, extending the rear bodywork into a Kamm/boattail type thing, and either building an aerodynamic hardtop or covering the passenger side of the cockpit over, removing the windshield, and installing a sliding teardop aircraft canopy over the driver's side. I'm just reluctant to only have a single seat vehicle.
A lot of people think the first gear is too low, so it would allow a taller axle ratio. The rest of the gears, you just stay in each gear longer, and it ends up being about the same. I never really thought about that until someone on Miata.net experimented with much bigger tires to get the final ratio down. He ended up getting much better gas mileage.

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