| MIATA BUILD |
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 | April 24, 2007 - A donation from Jason on the Grassroots Motorsports forum - a Sparco navigator footrest.
It reeks of obsession. Not only are the hinge screws countersunk, all of the lightening holes are chamfered and of course there's an engraved Sparco logo on top. Beautifully made for what is really just a metal plate. But it's going to be a good rest for Eric's pretty little feet and it saves me the effort of fabricating one. Thanks Jason!
entry 148 - tags: ergonomics, sponsors |
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 | April 25, 2007 - Time to bolt up the flywheel.
Lots of people have questions about how to keep the crank from turning when tightening the front crank bolt or the flywheel bolts. A well-placed prybar does the trick.
But really, the reason I took this picture was to show off the very cool purple flywheel from Flyin' Miata.
entry 149 - tags: engine |
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 | April 25, 2007 - Most people use a plastic clutch alignment tool to ensure the clutch and pilot bearing are properly aligned.
Bah, that's for sissies. At Flyin' Miata, they use the input shaft from a transmission!
So, the clutch is bolted up and the engine is ready to install. That will hopefully happen tonight and then I'll start the process of firing it up. I want it to make noise this weekend.
entry 150 - tags: engine |
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 | April 25, 2007 - Brandon from FM dropped by to help me insert the engine.
About 2 minutes later, it was in. It really couldn't have gone any easier. Everything was clean, there's very little in the engine bay and two highly competent professionals were at work. Well, two out of three anyhow.
entry 151 - tags: engine |
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 | April 25, 2007 - And voila!
Engine in the car! Brandon hooked up the wiring while I messed about with fuel filters.
To plug up unused holes on the firewall, I used some foil tape that is apparently so waterproof that you can apply it underwater. I'll let you know if it sticks.
entry 152 - tags: engine |
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 | April 25, 2007 - More evolution of the Miata.
These are two examples of the bracket for the power steering pump. The smaller, lighter version is actually the original. The large, thick version is the "upgraded" later design. What prompted that? I'm really curious about why Mazda decided to double the weight of this part - was there a rash of failures from excessive belt tension?
The two threaded blocks are also from different applications. They're dimensionally the same and interchangeable, but the lower one is significantly heavier. Ahh, Miata trivia.
entry 153 - tags: interchange |
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 | April 30, 2007 - Testa rossa!
Or whatever the Japanese equivalent is. I decided that this engine deserved a pretty valve cover, so I had it powdercoated red. A few minutes with a scotchbrite pad mounted in a drill and the raised letters perked right up. This is the same sort of treatment Mazda gave to the 2004-05 Mazdaspeed MX-5 turbo car. The difference is that this engine will have more horsepower!
I had to hunt around for a bit for a 1994-97 valve cover to do this to - the 1999-05 covers have recessed letters. The front of the cover is cut for access to the cam gears.
entry 154 - tags: engine, interchange |
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 | April 30, 2007 - Like every engine that comes out of Flyin' Miata, this one has a plaque with the engine builder's name on it.
That's not usually me, but I figured the Targa Miata needed one anyhow. Besides, I'm proud of this.
entry 155 - tags: engine |
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 | April 30, 2007 - Enough playing around with pretty valve covers, it's time to get back to work.
The fuel lines are hooked up and the engine bay is gradually being repopulated with wires, hoses and tanks. I made one little error here - the fuel injector harness is for a 1995-97 model car with the "three-wire" coils. But the main wiring harness is from a 1994 model with "four-wire" coils. Not a problem, I can run that way - but first I need to change a plug. Whoops.
Meanwhile, Jeremy at Flyin' Miata has prepared the base map for the ECU. It's pretty impressive, really. I told him I needed a base map for a high-compression 2.0 with 1999-00 injectors, the 1999 intake manifold with VICS, a front crank trigger from a 1996-05 with a cam angle sensor for TDC...and his question was "do you need A/C?"
entry 156 - tags: engine, interchange, tuning |
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 | May 2, 2007 - Part of the fun of building a car like this is deciding where to put all the knobs and switches.
The main cutoff is going to go inside the car somewhere. I was going to put it here on the transmission tunnel, but further experimentation (ie, I pretended to drive the car) showed me that it would be pretty easy to flip open with my elbow. Now that would be an unhappy moment! Now I'm looking at installing it in front of the gear shift. First I need to see if there's clearance underneath.
entry 157 - tags: ergonomics, wiring |
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 | May 2, 2007 - More wiring fun.
I have the fuel injector harness sorted out now. All the connections are crimped with a ratcheting tool for a good solid connection, then mechanically secured with heat-shrink. It's important to do this well, as bad connections can obviously cause a real problem in the heat of competition. The collection of crimp connectors is one I've assembled myself from Del City, with the exception of some less-than-stellar ring terminals. Those are mostly used for grounds so there's less concern about shorting out.
entry 158 - tags: wiring |
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 | May 3, 2007 - Ahh, more wiring.
It's the job that never really ends. But I feel as if I'm making some progress, as parts are being hooked up and large sections are being called finished.
The final location for the cut-off switch can be seen here. It should be within easy reach for both occupants, but also difficult to flip accidentally. The location works well for the wiring as well - the main line to the battery runs just underneath.
entry 159 - tags: ergonomics, wiring |
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May 3, 2007 - The transmission is in!
That's one step closer to firing up the beast. I've become used to installing transmissions on the lift with a nice transmission jack. I guess it was time to pay my dues, working alone under a car on jackstands. With a bit of muscle, a helpfully placed strap and a floor jack I managed to get it in without too much drama. Now all I need to do is find all of the various bolts to hold it in place.
I'm a little disappointed in myself. After I installed it, I figured it would have been fun to paint the power plant frame some bright and obvious color like red to draw attention to it. Why not? But I didn't. Maybe I'll pull it out tomorrow and give it a quick spray paint job...
entry 160 - tags: drivetrain |
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 | May 6, 2007 - I couldn't resist.
I had a spare power plant frame, so I blasted it clean with the pressure washer and gave it a coat of nice red paint. For those who follow my various builds, it's the same paint I used on the interior of Basil. But there's a functional reason to change to the other PPF as well. Note the little "tooth" at one end of the painted PPF. That's to protect the bolt heads at the differential. Not a bad thing to have on a car that could easily bottom out! So there is a method to my madness, although the red PPF does make me giggle every time I see it under the car.
entry 161 - tags: drivetrain, other cars |
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 | May 6, 2007 - The subframe brace here is from a 2003 model.
Not only does it stiffen up the rear suspension, but it also protects the differential. It doesn't protect against rocks as well as a legit skid plate would, but I'm more concerned about bottoming out the car on pavement and it should help out there. It also wouldn't be difficult to add a plate or two to this solid frame.
The little skid plate on the red PPF is visible here as well, and the brace does make it rather obsolete when I look at it now. Oh well.
It's also possible to see in this picture that the exhaust system is in place. The main power line running from the battery to the engine bay has been cut and modified so it goes through the cut-off switch, then the wiring was properly secured. The driveshaft is on - and all of a sudden, I have a complete drivetrain!
entry 162 - tags: exhaust, wiring, drivetrain, interchange |
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 | May 6, 2007 - For the time being, the exhaust system starts with a Racing Beat 4-1 header.
I really like these, they have nicely designed and cast flanges that give a great transition from the oval exhaust ports to the round primaries. They're also beautiful to look at. But they're designed for a different sort of engine than mine, one that's mostly stock. I'm hoping to be considerably more than stock in terms of power so I'm thinking about building my own header eventually. I've done it before and I know it's a lot of work, but I think it might be part of the key to making good horsepower out of this engine.
entry 163 - tags: header |
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 | May 6, 2007 - Because the header I'm using is from a 1999 model (simply because that's what I was able to scrounge up), I have to use a 1999-05 exhaust system.
The hangers are in slightly different places. No problem for most of the exhaust as I cunningly used a 2003 subframe in the rear (no, really, I did consider this!) but one of the rear mounts just isn't going to work. No worries, I have a welder...
This muffler is actually a stock unit from a 2005 Mazdaspeed. I'll probably replace it with something else later, but it was handy so it got bolted on. The midpipe is an old Flyin' Miata unit with a bad catalytic converter.
entry 164 - tags: interchange, exhaust |
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 | May 6, 2007 - I dropped the radiator in to check some clearances.
It's from an automatic car so it has a dual core instead of the truly weedy single core used on the manual cars. It has steel tanks on it instead of the crack-prone plastic ones found on factory rads as well. It is better than an aluminum race radiator? Well, no. But I am trying to build this car out of available parts for a reasonable cost. It's easy to forget that with the recent engine build.
It's close to engine start time. I need to hook up the crank angle sensor and get a lower radiator hose on the car. And then it's a matter of taking a deep breath and putting some electricity through the car. I'm a little nervous about that actually - I don't have as high a level of familiarity with this particular ECU as I'd like, and there are a lot of changes to the wiring. Maybe I'll see if Jeremy from Flyin' Miata wants to drop by for an evening.
entry 165 - tags: interchange, wiring |
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 | May 8, 2007 - While rooting around the piles of parts in the salvage area of Flyin' Miata, I came across this fan and shroud setup.
They're two powerful Spal fans on a nicely fitted shroud to ensure maximum efficiency for the fans. The shroud was a prototype part from Flyin' Miata. This setup was actually originally installed on the red shell that has become the Targa Miata, so it seemed fitting to return it to its original home. Quite possibly overkill for the car, but it's not going to hurt anything and I didn't have fans yet anyhow.
entry 166 |
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 | May 8, 2007 - The red silicone hoses were also donated by the previous incarnation of the Targa Miata.
But the real work in this picture was on the power steering lines. The 2003 steering rack has a loop of hard line that's intended to help cool the fluid. The 1994 rack doesn't have this loop and ours was kinked from the accident, so it was removed. A bit of trimming to the hoses and careful routing around the coolant lines finished the job. I may still hook up a cooler of some sort.
So it's almost time for the big startup. I've wired up everything but the oxygen sensors and almost all the vacuum lines and fluid lines are complete. Now all I have to do is load the new program into the ECU and see if I can find a battery that's fully charged.
entry 167 - tags: interchange |
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