Thanks for the support everyone, it is a bit of a dream and I doubt I could make a go of it if it was my only source of income.
I have a Ford Puma on my drive at the moment waiting to donate its (Yamaha) 1700 twin cam. It weighs 85kg fully dressed, puts out over 120hp in standard guise and will spin up past 7000rpm all day long - Ford didn't even bother putting a red line on the tacho.
That'll be bolted to a Mazda RX8 gearbox. I have a five speed one sitting on the chassis at the moment (I have a Spitfire chassis in the garage and a GT6 Chassis in the shed) but I'll probably use the six speed version if I decide to build a more track focused version. As the RX8 six speeder has closer ratios and shorter gearing in top it would be better for acceleration but give higher revs when cruising.
I'll keep you posted with developments, the next step is to get a chassis onto its wheels and modify the body I have to fit. Although the Spitfire wheelbase is only 8mm longer than the 356, I accidentally bought a Banham body designed to fit the Rover 100 chassis which is 180mm longer, rather than a correct length Pilgrim body that the seller thought it to be Oh well, vive la challenge!
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