The Mite
Customization and Modification of a 1965 Austin Healey Sprite

All work was performed by me in my garage, with the exception of resplining the rear axles, fabbing the driveshaft and the powdercoating of various parts.

The car is a 1965 Austin Healey Sprite with a fiberglass bugeye (frogeye) nose installed. It has an internally stock 1991 Mazda Miata 1.6 liter engine and transmission; turbocharged/intercooled utilizing an Electromotive Tec 2 standalone engine management system mated to a narrowed Mazda RX-7 rear axle with wilwood disc brakes.
The front suspension consists of fabricated upper and lower a-arms to replace the stock lever shocks and stamped lower a-arms, and a tube-shock conversion. The rear axle is a limited slip diff with anti-tramp bars, a panhard rod and tube shocks. The driveshaft is a short custom unit. The radiator is from a Volkswagen Jetta with electric fans and there is a front-mounted intercooler between the Subaru IHI turbocharger and the throttlebody.
The wiring is fresh, using an EZ wiring kit with fusebox as the basis and has an alarm, stereo and a full set of Dolphin electric gauges.

For the full details, click HERE and click "next" on the bottom of the pages.

	This is the 1965 Austin Healey Sprite as I got it. I had originally planned on restoring it, but upon investigation and disassembly, it was determined that an engine transplant would be more economical
	The interior of the Sprite. The floors were rusted through, as were the "A" pillars
	1098cc's of raw, British power. The block was cracked and the crank frozen to the rods.
	The Sprite as a bare shell
	New floor boards and welded chassis braces
	The old transmission tunnel was cut out and a new one fabbed and welded into the car to clear the Miata Transmission
	Fabricated Upper and Lower A-arms to replace the lever shocks and rusted/broken lower a-arm, with Tube-shock conversion
	Fitting the Speedwell 'glass front end
	Cutting and narrowing an RX-7 rear axle. Sent the axles to Moser for resplining
	Spraying the British Racing Green with white stripes in the garage after finishing the bodywork
	The re-assembled front suspension after paint and powdercoat
	The assembled and installed RX-7 rear axle with disc brakes, anti-tramp bars and panhard rod
	Wilwood triple master cylinder setup to replace the rusted stock master cylinder
	The beginning of the wiring. I used an EZ wiring harness as the basis and added/expanded/modified to fit this application
	The interior getting finished up after re-installing the custom dash with Dolphin gauges, carpet, door panels, and roll bar
	I made up a custom hood badge that combines the Japanese flag for the Miata engine and the British flag for the Sprite
	The Miata engine installed and running
	The finished Mite!
	A burnout in the Mite. The 1.6 turbo engine runs well, providing around 140hp, and runs smooth and cool.

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