I would go with a Ford Crossflow engined 4/4. Almost unlimited parts availability and several examples on TM of full rebuilds (Image) or rolling upgrade programmes (TBM et al).
And (with help from Burton Power and others) tuneable to give quite a bit more power.
CVH engined 4/4 introduce electronic distributors and their associated complexity which require some ingenuity in finding parts these days.
I love my 2014 4/4 but do wonder when I will start to find problems in getting parts for the engine. The gearbox is less of a worry as there are so many MX5's out there!
Very much looking forward to Arwyn and other fully hands on people's contributions to this thread.
