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I was excited until I read this and the price. I would love to try and drop this into a 90s Miata for a fun garage project.

yourusername 4mo ago
The battery weight alone exceeds the load capacity of a 90s miata by 2x. And i wonder how well it would handle with the 1000 lbs of battery under the hood or in the trunk, my guess is not very well.
- chrisBob 4mo ago
  The battery size really surprised me. I can see this working well with 1/3 the battery, but 1000lbs is crazy. The lighter motor and removal of the fuel tank will help a little, but replacing a heavy engine in the front with a heavier battery in the back can't possibly work.
  - idiotsecant 4mo ago
    How heavy do you think the average medium sized EV battery is? Batteries are heavy.
- rconti 4mo ago
  IIRC my NB (2002) Miata had a load capacity of 340lbs. I pretty much exceeded it any time I had a passenger, let alone anything in the trunk!
- oompydoompy74 4mo ago
  Yeah I uh… didn’t really think about that haha. Maybe with some frame reinforcements, heavy duty coilovers, and performance brakes?
MoonWalk 4mo ago
This, the price, and the power level. Meanwhile, Ford has been selling the Mach-E motor as a crate motor for years; but it's useless, because they sell nothing else for it. No battery pack, no controller, no regenerative brakes. Pretty much a PR sham. Why bother? I have a Mustang with a half-disassembled engine that needs major work, so I thought hey this might be cool. Nope.
ErroneousBosh 4mo ago
I'm quite keen to get the battery and motor out of a scrap Leaf to fit to something. The motor package from a Leaf is about 90kg so probably in the same ballpark as the fuel tank, rear axle, and gearbox. You'd then need to get a lighter battery because a Leaf's battery is about 350kg, or twice the weight of an MX5's engine. There would be a lot of surgery involved on the back end but since it's a subframe with the diff in the middle you're halfway there. And for once, the project car's totally rotten boot floor won't be a problem because you're cutting all that away anyway!

yourusername 4mo ago

The battery weight alone exceeds the load capacity of a 90s miata by 2x. And i wonder how well it would handle with the 1000 lbs of battery under the hood or in the trunk, my guess is not very well.

chrisBob 4mo ago
The battery size really surprised me. I can see this working well with 1/3 the battery, but 1000lbs is crazy. The lighter motor and removal of the fuel tank will help a little, but replacing a heavy engine in the front with a heavier battery in the back can't possibly work.
- idiotsecant 4mo ago
  How heavy do you think the average medium sized EV battery is? Batteries are heavy.
rconti 4mo ago
IIRC my NB (2002) Miata had a load capacity of 340lbs. I pretty much exceeded it any time I had a passenger, let alone anything in the trunk!
oompydoompy74 4mo ago
Yeah I uh… didn’t really think about that haha. Maybe with some frame reinforcements, heavy duty coilovers, and performance brakes?

MoonWalk 4mo ago

This, the price, and the power level. Meanwhile, Ford has been selling the Mach-E motor as a crate motor for years; but it's useless, because they sell nothing else for it. No battery pack, no controller, no regenerative brakes. Pretty much a PR sham. Why bother? I have a Mustang with a half-disassembled engine that needs major work, so I thought hey this might be cool. Nope.

ErroneousBosh 4mo ago

I'm quite keen to get the battery and motor out of a scrap Leaf to fit to something. The motor package from a Leaf is about 90kg so probably in the same ballpark as the fuel tank, rear axle, and gearbox. You'd then need to get a lighter battery because a Leaf's battery is about 350kg, or twice the weight of an MX5's engine. There would be a lot of surgery involved on the back end but since it's a subframe with the diff in the middle you're halfway there. And for once, the project car's totally rotten boot floor won't be a problem because you're cutting all that away anyway!