Calling on the Mirage Guru's for a look at some photos

[Hezath]

Hey there guys, I've been working to get my little Manta collection (which I'm only wanting to keep one car of for myself to build) in one place so that I can take proper inventory of what I've purchased



Because there's no one local, I figure the best thing to do is grab a bunch of photos and start asking you fellas what you see. Any comments are appreciated - I've got a lot to learn!

There are basically two cars in the photo above, with a bunch of spare bodywork (there's actually a bit more which is not pictured!)some of my stuff isn't pictured).

Yellow car with grey chassis:
- Apparently sold new in Australia
- I am told it's a "factory" car, not a kit car.
- Right Hand Drive
- Ford Front End?
- Modest front brakes (Solid Discs + Girlock 2-Pot Calipers)
- Drum brake rear




How much of this front end is original? Is it Mustang II?

Rear end showing drum brakes:

[Hezath]

Red car with black chassis:
- From Spokane, Washington
- I am told it's a "factory" car, not a kit car.
- Left Hand Drive
- Chevy-based Front End?
- Big front brakes (Thick vented + Delco 4-Pots)
- Big rear brakes (Thick vented + Delco 4-Pots)




And the big rotors: (calipers not pictured)




Handbrake:
One of the cars came with this huge steel bracket (that reaches across under the dash apparantly) to mount a handbrake in the middle of the interior. Also you can see the (RHD) steering column mount here.

Is this something that the factory did?
If not, did they have handbrakes, and how did they look?

[Hezath]

One of the cars has the original Kelmark adaptor (the other has a custom one). I couldn't see super well but I assume this is just has a pretty plain-jane open diff. Is there an LSD (or as you yanks might call it Posi-Traction) rear end available?

Are these Corvair transaxles sufficient for a ~400hp 350 Chev? I know they are not very sophisticated, but I can probably live with four gears.

What are these shafts for exactly? Quill shaft or something?


One of my floorpans has these VW pedals in it.

Is this common? Is it a good solution? I've seen others with fabricated pedals also.

One of the firewalls I've found has this catch grafted into each side. It seems well executed. View from interior side:

And from the engine bay side of the firewall.

Is this a good solution for door closing? How would you actuate the "release" of the door typically with this format?
Does anyone recognise the latches?

[Blueovalz]

Don't recognize the latch. Appears you would have to unlatch it by first lifting the rear bodywork up to gain access. I instead chose to put the striker on the panel, and the latch on the underside of the door, which allows access to the lower door if the upper door is open, or no window.

[Hezath]

Thanks Terry. I'd love to get some more comments from fellas like yourself that are very familiar with these vehicles.

I found this twin master cylinder... does that suggest the car was running single circuit brakes? Super neat... but I don't know if I like the idea of single circuit.


I think I've identified these four pot brakes as being from a C3 Corvette or similar?

And the rotors are also Corvette I think. 11.75" diameter, vented, 1.25" thick

The front end on this black chassis (red car) must be based on a Chev upright like a Nova or Corvette?



Banksia parking brake on the rear end too, I guess this is standard Corvette.


Very curious about what's on the yellow car (grey chassis).

[Jerry]

The Quill shafts go from the clutch through the transaxle.

They can fail at 400 hp. Good to have spares.

The yellow car frame has Mustang 2 front suspension I think.And the other frame has homemade/custom front suspension. I think.

The mustang susp. is good but they cut a big part of the front of the frame off. I am sure you can tell looking at the other frame.

So do you want to do minimal work and money and make a lower HP car? but get the darn thing going? or go much more modern on suspension, brakes, transaxle, engine?

The last picture does look like 1988 Corvette maybe.

[Jerry]

Who thinks he should go with the red car chassis, and who think start with the yellow car chassis?

[Hezath]

Thank you for the help gents. Certainly guidance right now is appreciated!

I was not sure if the yellow car was Mustang II, or Pinto? Or something else? I can't figure out if Mustang II's have radius arms. Keep in mind we never had either of those models in this part of the world, so you'll need to excuse my ignorance.

I am leaning pretty hard towards using the red chassis. Either way I am going to need to do a fair bit of work, and I'm not looking for another 5+ year project (which is what my current Torana is taking me, and I work a lot of hours on it, haha). I suspect ~400hp will keep me pretty satisfied in a Mirage. Might try and keep it a bit more simple.