Maybe not for the purists......

[andyp250f]

Been a couple of years since my last posts. In that time my spider has been stripped, bagged and tagged and remained untouched due to other projects. About to get my act together and plan and sort the rebuild. As things are going to change in myself and my wife's life in the near future, it makes sense to me to build the car exactly how I want it, as we will be spending a good deal of time in Europe. (We live in England, where it's RHD), so the spider is ideal. Now the bit that might not go down well!!!!! In the back of the workshop with a few bits and bobs I have a BMW S14 engine with a dog leg gearbox. A Cosworth LSD
And all sorts of brake parts etc. As the values, in England at least are not really going up, I am not too bothered about mechanical originality. Hopefully, apart from the fun doing it, I will end up with a spider with around 245BHP, handling and braking to match, but still look "original". I will keep you posted.

[burgandy81]

Strong vote of encouragement here!

I love these little cars and think they are lots of fun modified. Having said that, if I was in the UK i would be playing with turbo Lancia engines in a Spider.

Tell us more about the diff choice. How close to original WMS? Is it live axle or IRS? What ratios?

Can't wait to see more.

Start a build thread!

Cheers,

Jordan

[andyp250f]

The diff is a cosworth, LSD, 3.62 from memory. It may prove to be a bit low, bearing in mind the gearbox I intend to use is a direct top 5th gear. Other ratios are easy to obtain, so it's a bit experimental. As for mounting it, well I'll have to make a subframe for the diff, and fabricate wishbones/ trailing arms, whichever is practical. There is a company local to me who can make driveshafts to suit. I want to keep the original track width front and rear so the car looks stock.