What I kept from my donor

I've pretty well documented what I sold from Winky, but I haven't really laid out what I kept. Here's what I saved from my donor:

• Engine (minus intake and exhaust plumbing before and after the manifolds, power steering and AC hardware)
• Tranny, driveshaft, Torsen differential, propshafts
• Shifter boot and shift knob
• PPF (for reference)
• Steering wheel, column, shaft, rack, tie rods (I have other plans, but I kept these as a backup)
• Suspension uprights, lower ball joints, associated mounting bolts
• Brake calipers and mounting brackets
• E-brake lever, e-brake cables
• ECU and mounting bracket
• Complete wiring harness, relays, fuse boxes, horn, turn signal switches, etc.
• Accelerator pedal assy, throttle cable, speedometer cable
• Fuel pump/vent/sender assy
• Fuel filter bracket, charcoal canister bracket, diagnostic plug bracket, fuse box brackets
• 2 eyeball vents, in-dash HVAC plumbing (for my heater outputs)
• Spare, jack, spare tools
• VIN plate from dash and sticker from driver's door jamb
• All of the rubber grommets, brake line clips and drain plugs
• A huge box of all the nuts, bolts, screws and clips I could take off

Also noteworthy is what I didn't keep, but could have. Other Miata based builders have used more stock components to lower cost and complexity in their build. I've decided not to use:

• Stock Miata seats
• Instrument cluster
• Brake and clutch pedals and master cylinders
• Rear suspension and subframe
• Wheels and tires (my donor came with heavy, ugly wheels, so I sold them; If it had the OEM 7-spoke "daisy" wheels I would have kept them)

It's easy to see why it's much cheaper to use a single donor than collect all of the parts separately. Even after keeping all these parts, I've made $500 off my donor.