Introduction
	In May of 2005, my wife and I bought a 1966 Datsun Roadster from a guy down in Huntington Beach. We were looking for an inexpensive, but snazzy, little convertible to use as the "getaway car" for our wedding.
	The SPL311 fit the bill, and I liked the idea of mixing the fun of a British or Italian roadster with the sensibility and user-friendliness of a Japanese car. Plus, we didn't have to pay extra for the rare snow-leopard dash cover.
	The car ran when we got it, but I ended up repairing or replacing just about everything but the engine internals and the front suspension. We also sent it out to get repainted. I drove to the paint place with the car like this, then removed the brake lights in their parking lot.
	The paint job was about $2000 at California West Coast paint, on Venice Boulevard, near Redondo Boulevard. The quality of the paint is so-so, but I was impressed at the attention they gave to the prep. Either way, it looked great in our wedding photos. (by November 2007, this paint was a mess)
Soon, I began thinking about replacing the stock 40-year-old drivetrain a modern EFI engine and 5-speed transmission. After a long period of debate, I decided to go with a 1.8 liter Mazda Miata engine and its associated transmission. It's a well-liked drivetrain with a lot of aftermarket support. The other contender was a Ford Zetec engine mated with a Ford T-9 transmission (the latter found in the US on the XR4Ti ). It's a great engine with a lot of aftermarket support, but a mediocre transmission. And I was not enthusiastic about the parts sourcing necessary to joing the transverse engine to the longitudinal transmission. What follows, then, is the accumulated documentation of my transplant of a 1994 Miata drivetrain into a 1966 Datsun Roadster. I pulled the original engine in July of 2007. I got the engine running in July of 2008. I drove the car around the block in August of 2008 (although it did shut off at the first stop sign). On January 15, 2009, I finished tidying up the swap and declared it complete.   The official, if somewhat dull and truncated test drive video: