D Prepared Miata Build

[aMaff]

I worked on the instrumentation tonight. I'm still using the Nexus S as a 'dash' / data logger, and adding the LED shift light, but now that I have somewhere to mount it, I wanted to get it off the steering wheel, and actually run power to it.

I picked up a 12v to 5v USB power converter made for motorcycles (ie: water tight) that has a handy SAE / Battery Tender connector on the battery end that can plug right into the existing battery-tender wires that are hard-mounted to the battery. The converter is the gray box on the kill-switch wiring (which I still need to shorten significantly & clean up). You can also see the red cover for the USB plug just behind the post for the dash mount.

This is the phone cradle. I can use a zip tie at each end to keep the phone secured so we don’t have any wandering electronics. I don’t think it’ll really NEED it, but it’ll make me feel better. It takes a good deal of effort to pry it out, but it’ll give me piece of mind. The cradle was an open source design I used and modified to give it a solid back with 1/8″ holes to use for rivets, and had 3D printed last year. As you can see, I also mocked up the LED shift light in what I believe will be its final resting location:

And here’s what it’ll look like from the driver’s seat. I really only want to see the shift light in my periphery, that the phone is visible is gravy.

And the battery-end of the cable, not plugged in because the Battery Tender is occupying that space.

EDIT: the dash placement already irritated me enough that I moved it.

EDIT#2: I got a few questions about glare and keeping the screen out of the sun. I threw the dash cover so you can see that unless the sun is pretty low and directly to my back, it shouldn't be an issue (and if it's directly to my back, it'll be in the driver's shadow). It should do a pretty good job of keeping it mostly in the shade.

 

[aMaff]

My buddy Michael is a body man by trade, and helped me cut & flare the fenders today:

This is at full droop, but we took about 1 1/2" off of each corner:

You can see here the flare he added to the rear fenders here, in addition to the cuts. I still will want to do proper fender flares, but this'll do just fine for now, with some edge trim to keep the cuts from flaying passers-by wide open.

Next for the suspension will be measuring to get some slightly longer bump stops, and then pulling the rear shocks so I can put springs back on them, and then getting the ride height and alignment set.

 

[Reitrof]

Nice work Andrew.

 

[aMaff]

Before and after. They needed some additional trimming and cleanup with various cutting and grinding wheels & stones and some edge trim, but I think the results are going to be good. Not spectacular looking by any means, but a show car this ain't.

 

[aMaff]

And all 4 complete. Yes, eventually I'll snag a set of flares, but for now, this'll do. I've gotta remember that you can't even breathe on the front fenders without bending them now. Fortunately, they pop right back into shape. Whether or not that'll still happen after a big cone strike or getting a cone wedged in there is still TBD.

 

[aMaff]

The Miata lives! A fried battery and a never to be sufficiently damned dead fuel injector fuse did their level best to frustrate and stymie progress, but the Christmas spirit (?) and my own pig headedness (definitely that one) prevailed. We were getting spark, and no fuel, but the fuel pump was priming, so either the timing was way out of sync, or the injectors weren't firing. Pulling a spark plug revealed it to be the latter, as it was completely dry. The connection to the injector bank seemed fine, but the color on the filament of 1 of the 30A injector fuse was slightly off compared to a spare / unused 30A fuse next to it, but it was not broken. Being completely stumped at that point, I swapped the fuses and sure enough it fired up practically immediately. How's that for some Christmas cheer?

 

[aMaff]

To expand on my post from last night, moving the fan switch from the thermostat neck to the head dropped the temp that the fan came on by almost 15 degrees, well within my 'acceptable' range. JamesCH to the rescue!


Obligatory pic:

On the Hill Climb front, I got a set of post anchors from my in-laws for a now-fully-functioning HANS for Christmas. Another piece of the puzzle falls into place. The last piece I need to meet regs, as far as I can tell, is to get my harnesses re-webbed and brought to be back "in date", as they are comprehensively expired.

 

[JamesCH]

To expand on my post from last night, moving the fan switch from the thermostat neck to the head dropped the temp that the fan came on by almost 15 degrees, well within my 'acceptable' range. JamesCH to the rescue!


Obligatory pic:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YsNhaw9LLQs/VJxnP2ym_bI/AAAAAAAAMao/PCUjGqW978w/w927-h695-no/20141225_113300.jpg[IMG]


On the Hill Climb front, I got a set of post anchors from my in-laws for a now-fully-functioning HANS for Christmas. Another piece of the puzzle falls into place. The last piece I need to meet regs, as far as I can tell, is to get my harnesses re-webbed and brought to be back "in date", as they are comprehensively expired.

[IMG]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_Iw7pJkIuLA/VJxnQ4m11OI/AAAAAAAAMas/ANDkm-qEROo/w927-h695-no/20141225_135930.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

Hooray! Good progress.

A friend of mine that did/does equipment diagnoses and repair for a living figured out that things like fuses and lightbulbs can be blow without a visibly broken filament. Automotive fuses especially can fail from a hairline fracture due to vibration and such, so I always take a multi-meter to them and check continuity.

 

[aMaff]

I got a "mod-to-fit" seat-back brace to meet Hill Climb regs for Christmas, so I did exactly that. Basically 2 holes in the seat that then are transferred to the brace, and a hole all the way through the bar is all that needed to be done. After this it's just 6 bolts (4 on the cage mount, 2 on the seats) that need to be undone to remove it for autocross duty (different sized drivers run the car regularly at autox events).

Drilling the hole through the bar once the final position was determined (aka: finally getting to play with the new-to-me stand-up drill press).

Final assembly. You can see where we bent the "wings" to better match the countours of the seat back.

And remember:

 

[aMaff]

Suspension suspended, wheels on, hood on, new alignment stands built, seat back brace removed (unneeded for Solo), front tow hook installed, and the bumper removed to finish modifying it to clear the 15x10s. Progress. Next steps are to get all the sheet metal hung and start dialing in ride height and alignment.

Alignment stands. Picked up a couple of 1000 lb capacity movers' dollies, and made a platform out of 2x6 pine. A lot more space under the car to get to the alignment bolts compared to using wheel dollies. I do need to add front & rear wheel stops on them, but they're just about "there". The casters allow for the movement of the wheels needed to make fine alignment adjustments. They're also wide enough to take scale pads.

 

[aMaff]

Picked up a couple of workshop "probably oughtta haves" to keep the car company used last night from a buddy who was getting rid of a bunch of stuff: fold up engine hoist & stand.

 

[aMaff]

Picked up another 'toy set' for the workshop. Snagged a set of https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned). If you've ever seen photos of airplane manufacturing (or older car manufacturing), you've seen Cleco fasteners. Basically, they're temporary rivets that make fitting thin pieces of metal together much easier, especially when you're trying to line up series of holes to drill. I've got a couple of small projects where these'll come in very handy soon. Teaser:

 

[aMaff]

Ok, seriously? These things are like friggin cheating compared to the old "hold it and pray you lined up properly before punching then drilling the next hole". Of course, a welder would be even faster and better, but these cost $25 for a pack including the tool, and I can learn how to use these in about a minute. A welder? Not as much. Which reminds me: I really need to learn how to weld :-/

 

[JamesCH]

Clecos FTW!

 

[aMaff]

Clecos FTW!

Seriously, they're fantastic.


On an unrelated note: you know who didn't think that "transmission bellhousing bolts" might just be the perfect hardware to bolt an engine stand to the threaded bell-housing bolt holes on an engine block? This guy. I was trying all kinds of jerry rigged s*** when I realized "These are threaded... I have a bunch of bolts that will almost fit those threads... oh, look at that. Bellhousing bolts totally fit on the bellhousing bolt holes on the block. WHO KNEW!?"

 

[aMaff]

Took care of a few projects while waiting for Summit and Jegs shipments to come in

I used my new tools to build a new tool with which to store my new tools. Inspired by a PHOTO posted by a FB friend, I was thinking of where in the shop these should live, and that solution was better than anything I'd come up with.

I also completed the alignment stands:

 

[aMaff]

I've still got to mount the oil pressure warning light (bright @$$ red LED) and clean up the wiring, but with a little help I got the shift lights and oil pressure stuff wired up. The shift lights need some configuration for min / max RPM / when to flash / etc, but they're uber bright. Should be very visible even out of the periphery.

 

[aMaff]

It's starting to look car like. Did an oil change, got the oil pressure light mounted, completed the shift light calibration, and hey look! A bumper! I still have the interior of 1 door to paint, then wrap and numbers go on the doors, and the doors get hung on the car. Starting to get close. Once all the body work is on, I'll be able to start playing with the ride heights and alignment. I guess I could eyeball it and then dial it in once the rest of the body work is on, but I don't see much sense in basically doing the job twice.

Still a lot of cleanup to do on the wiring, but I've at least gotten everything mounted.

 

[aMaff]

Oh, and somehow I almost forgot. To GET to DIY Autotune, she needed a tow. But she got out of the shop and onto the trailer under her own steam

 

[aMaff]

I finished wiring up the oil pressure warning light, then cleaned up & loomed the wiring under the dash. I have also cleaned up that big loop of wiring for the master switch behind the center stack. Braided loom is a hell of a lot easier to work with than split loom, but it's still a pain in the ass lol. At least it's a whole lot cleaner and better supported compared to the previous video a couple posts ago.

The oil pressure light is that red LED on the right near the master switch. It comes on with the switched 12v from the ignition, then shuts off as soon as the engine fires and builds pressure. Hopefully, that light never shines while the engine is running, as that would be a Bad Thing.

The startup sequence on the LED tacho = giggles
You'll note the lights coming on way early. In 1 way it worked out because I didn't have to zing the motor to 7k+ after 9pm to test it out, but I couldn't figure out why it hadn't taken the setup I gave it last time. I went back through and checked and the lower and upper light points were still set correctly, so something else was up. Turns out it was running a configuration expecting a signal from a COP system, not a wasted spark / dashboard tach signal. That's now fixed.

And this weekend, the doors are getting wrapped