Very cool to see you here Marty! Can’t wait to see what you do with it! Are you planning any engine mods for it or Judy running it el’stocko 660?
Going to run it stock for a while just to iron out any bugs and work out what the AWD system is doing. Then hoping to go EJ and 1 litre being that it should bolt up and build parts are a bit more accessible.
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Be careful with the box, I doubt it will take gobs of EJ power. Down the road you might need an M100awd box (but these are still only rear wheel drive assist) or better yet a Sadev ST4-49.
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That looks tasty! (and expensive)
The factory one doesn’t look super tough, have you seen this guys car?
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/article.html?&title=Mighty-Midget&A=109795
I’ve no doubt he broke some of the gear during his time with it.
Great to have you on the forums marty 
welcome. i have a question if you’re able to answer…
With the turbo water lines where does the bottom one go to? i have a setup from an Ef-Det. that’s the Ej head on the Ef block combo and the water lines are flipped so it’s long part on bottom and top one is only short. does that return from rad go into the thermostat housing or somewhere else??
Thanks for any info in advance.
Here are some newer pics of it on facebook recently.
Engine tech in the CB70 is old compared to the EJ-DE/VE, the latter is in my opinion a much better engine and easier to develop (I have six complete heads and one cut up). The Mighty Mira is 3j Improved Production and from what I have heard has mostly been run at Wullunga Hill Climb. I think it might be under tired and under powered (someone give me solid evidence to the contrary). But the std gearbox, even with its custom gearest, would not hold up to much more power or grip for sure, and without some sort of diff control front and rear it would never be competitive in its class. Full credit to Ian Richards for what he did a decade ago. Really that thing should have been built around a Sadev, Hollinger MF-E or Xtrac. Of course whatever was spent in the first place would have to be doubled for a good box. In the long run I’d go as far as saying a much faster and reliable front wheel drive could be built from a Mira shell for the same money. But I think it was more 4wd project than fast car - being an ex formula two driver Ian Richards knows much better than me what fast really is. https://www.facebook.com/RTEKF3/videos/611554549027150/
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Soooo keen to see an EJ in it. All I want is for it to have a triple. You just can’t beat the sound.
Just watched the latest, 38kw. Looking fwd to seeing its ongoing development. Keep smiling
Pretty happy with that, it feels good to drive. The 4 wheel drive is noticeable some of the time when you’re cornering, not at high speed … well… because it’s a Mira.
Looking forward to exploring options for a 1litre EJ built engine and lots of boost. Im sure the transfer and gearbox won’t like that much!
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do you still have the 850cc from the aus mira? why not just put your current head on that for a bit more torque in the mean time before you go re-doing all the manifolds to fit an ej. Apparently from years ago on zero to 100 forum the maylasian’s used to cut the light green wire (speed) wire to stop boost cut for a few more psi. Im not sure if the jdm ones are the same as the mdm ones though.
From first hand experience with 2wd Miras with EJ-DE and EF/ED based gearboxes, you will need plenty of spares and the best clutch and PP you can find. Also, use an input shaft that has a spigot which will sit in bearing placed in the flywheel (will give a little more reliability). The diff on the jack shaft that runs the transfer box can get really hot and may not take your “lot’s o’ boost” for very long.
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Hey Marty, I have a question regarding the awd. When you’re cornering does it feel like it helps? I’m doing a Sirion AWD but I’ve heard people speaker of the viscous type AWD systems as though they are a hindrance that adds unnecessary weight and makes the car unpredictable when cornering which has made me second guess my dedication to do the conversion. I would love to hear your personal experience with the Mira.
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Hey Mick, I wouldn’t say it necessarily helps during cornering, but i really like AWD cars when it comes to traction when you’re thrashing the car around the streets. I don’t think a ‘dumb’ awd system like this would help much at speed for turn in or anything (like a focus RS would with the diff’s doing computer-y stuff to help change the dynamics) but at launch, low speed corners, tight turns you just don’t get the annoying front wheel drive wheel spin and torque steer.
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Hey Marty, thanks for getting back to me.
I had some concerns after reading some reviews of other cars with similar AWD Systems. I was hoping to improve launching, low Speed and tight cornering, so it is comforting to hear it should help in this regard.
Hi marty, welcome, loving the current mira build and the red mira/ blue turd has inspired me to get myself a l700 that i will hopefully build to be 150Kw at the wheels
Now that it has been a little while with it on the road how have your plans for the future progressed? Any closer to an engine choice?
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Considering sticking with the engine that’s in. Still got a EJ sitting next to it in the garage but considering staying as is and it’s actually pretty fast for what it is and the AWD system is still intact
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Take this with a grain of salt, as it’s your build and you can do what you want, but I would stick with the current engine. Going Ej will lose some of it’s current uniqueness. It’s a kei car and would stop being so if an ej was used.
(this coming from a big fan of the EJ engine)
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As Hoves said, I think it would be really sad to convert to ej, You lose that high revving 660cc feel and sound and make it no longer aa real Kei 
But excited to see what you do either way
I would still love to see it in one of our track days in QLD. Obviously not this year due to the NSW apocalypse. @b_hoves usually organizes the event’s here in QLD and I’m sure he could keep it hush hush for you so 1 million+ mcm fans don’t turn up and you can have a nice relaxing track dai with the L2D peeps.
Guess one can only hope that someday we get to see the mcm mira on track with a stacked dai line up.
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