After my exploritory blog posts, Project Meetle (Beetle+Miata) is fully under way! This is going to be a HUGE project that, if I work fast enough, will be driveable in half a year at least. I'm not an expert welder or fabricator by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm good a learning quickly, my confidence is high, I have most of the tools needed ( I think), and - most importantly - I have my wife's blessing. I expect this project to last at least 6 months, if I work really quickly, but will probably take closer to a year, and that's OK with me. I'm not going to engineer a whole new car, I'm not going to fabricate complex components or anything. It's crazy, it's ambitions, but I think I can do it!
I've broken down the project into stages, with the idea that at the end of each stage I have a vehicle that is running and driveable.
1. driveable miata with stretched wheelbase
- driveshaft
- fuel lines
- brake lines
- battery cable
- PPF
- floorpan
- "frame rails"
2. miata with beetle body
- rocker panels
- braces
- sheet metal
- etc
3. driveable meetle
- radiator
- steering
- seats
- clutch linkage (?)
4. daily driveable meetle
- dashboard
- muffler
- AC
- heat
- wiring
5. awesome daily driveable meetle
- wheels and tires
- paint job
- accessories
I didn't waste time at all and started prepairing to cut the Miata in half.
My next steps:
- Drain the gas and brake fluid
- Cut/disconnect/remove the exhaust, driveshaft, brake lines, gas lines, rear wiring harness, emergency brake cable, and battery cable
- With the front of the car up on jack stands and leveled, put the rear tires on two level tracks that the wheels can roll down 6"
- Support the transmission with a jack stand and then cut the PPF in half while it's still attached to the car.
- Cut out the old "frame rails" under the floorpan
- Drill out the spot welds in the rear seam of the floorpan
- Sever the door sills. The car will now be in two pieces
- Get both halves of the vehicle perfectly aligned 6" apart, and then tack weld it solid at the door sills and tack weld some support bars to keep it stiff
- Weld on new frame rails under the floorpan connected the front and rear subframes with 2x4 steel, effectively making it a framed vehicle.
- Stitch weld in new sheetmetal in the floorpan gap
- Measure the distance from the transmission to the yoke on the diff. Take the driveshaft to the truck machine shop with this measurement. Pay $200?
- Bolt a steel extension for the PPF, and also add some crossmembers that secure the PPF to the new steel frame
- use a flanging tool on the brake and gas lines and slip on some rubber hoses
- put everything back together
- take it for a test drive
Coming soon: How To Cut a Car In Half, Part 1