| MIATA BUILD |
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 | |  | June 13, 2007 - Time to fill up the transmission and differential with some good fluid.
It was a quick and easy job - until I was cleaning up and I noticed an empty MT-90 bottle by the back of the car, and an MT-90 and 75-90 bottle by the middle. Whoops!
So, do I drain out the fluid and replace it all? Or do I figure that I'm probably in good shape? Or do I run this for a few miles and use it to flush out the diff and transmission? The latter could probably use it, honestly. I checked into the history of this particular unit and it turns out it spent a fair bit of time bolted to a 250+ hp car. Let's just say it's not the transmission that will be used in the race!
All I know is that I don't feel like making the change tonight.
entry 208 - tags: drivetrain | | |  | June 13, 2007 - One of the gauges I'm going to run is a Revlight.
It's a tachometer made of 11 LEDs that light up sequentially. Six green, three yellows and two reds - and it automatically dims at night. I have one on the Seven and I love the little thing. Of course, they're not made anymore and Flyin' Miata (at my recommendation) managed to empty out the last stash in the country.
I've been trying to figure out where to mount it. On the rollbar? On the gauge cluster? The A-pillar? I'm thinking the top of the gauge cluster is the best bet.
entry 209 - tags: ergonomics | | |  | June 13, 2007 - This particular unit is a used one that I picked up off eBay, and it doesn't have the usual black housing that makes it a little less obvious and prevents accidental backlighting.
Five minutes of work and I have a little aluminum house for my Revlight. I'll clean it up a bit, paint it black and rivet it to the top of the cluster.
entry 210 - tags: ergonomics | | |  | June 15, 2007 - My latest Miata book, Mazda MX-5 Miata: Find it, Fix it, Trick it is now available.
FindFixTrickMiata.com is a sponsor of the Targa Miata. Everyone should run out and get a copy. I think it's a pretty good book, covering every aspect of the Miata from history to annual specification changes to how to install a turbo system. And yes, there are a few pictures of the Targa Miata components in the book but you'll need a sharp eye to recognize them.
entry 211 - tags: announcements, sponsors | | |  | June 16, 2007 - A comparison between my white paint (foreground) and Mazda's version.
There is a slight difference - but that's fine with me. I like mine better! My only concern is if I have to touch up the car. There's a fair bit of paint left, but not quite enough for major work.
Oh well.
entry 212 - tags: paint | | |  | June 16, 2007 - So, after a final wander around the car, Brandon and I bolted on some wheels.
Okay, in the rear we fixed the alignment of the brake lines, then we bolted on some wheels and lowered the car to the ground.
It's funny. I work around Miatas all day. There's another one in the garage parked by the Targa car. But as we dropped the white Miata down on to the ground, it looked smaller. Much more compact than its usual stance of being nearly 2' in the air, that's for sure.
The suspension currently consists of "whatever I could find sitting around", and I suspect the rear springs came out of a late 1996-97 car while I know the fronts are from a 1990. There's a bit of rake going on. It doesn't matter, the car rolls and suspends. Its best angle is from the rear quarter, where the white roll cage is most obvious.
The wheels are a +30mm offset with 225/45-15 tires. I'll be running +20 offset with 205/50-15 tires, so the outer edges of the tires are in the correct place with this setup. The car looks good. Very white.
entry 213 - tags: tires | | |  | June 16, 2007 - The first drive!
It wasn't much. I drove the car out of the garage and did a short run up and down the street. I probably spent more time doing three-point turns than driving. But it moves! A longer test drive will have to wait until I fix a bad exhaust leak (left a clamp off) and get a little more comfortable with the ECU so I know the engine is getting the fuel it needs. I do have the car registered.
However, I can report on initial impressions. It feels very, very eager. The engine has that sharp, low-inertia feel I'd been hoping. It's going to be a great engine once it's tuned and I can explore full throttle, just blipping it reminds me why I like high compression so much. The clutch is nicely weighted and even without a power steering belt the steering isn't excessive.
I can't wait to get this up and running completely.
entry 214 - tags: testing | | |  | June 16, 2007 - It wasn't a perfect test drive.
The car was idling high, indicating a vacuum leak. Popping the hood showed that it wasn't just one vacuum leak - I hadn't bothered to do anything about a bunch of vacuum ports on the intake manifold, two or three of which are in this picture! Whoops. Well, at least it's not a complicated fix.
entry 215 - tags: testing | | | June 17, 2007 - The car also had an exhaust leak on the short test drive.
The two-piece midpipe didn't have a clamp on the slip joint, so I figured I'd put that on. And I discovered that I'd left the entire exhaust system put together with bolts that were just finger tight. Well, it's not difficult to solve that particular problem. It should be nice and quiet now.
I've also fixed the vacuum leaks and painted the headlight covers and fuel door. Now I have a complete white body. All I need to do is read the manual for the ECU cover to cover a couple of times so I can break everything in properly...
entry 216 - tags: exhaust, testing | | |  | June 19, 2007 - Another part in the "I hope I don't need this" category.
These tow hoops are required in case the car needs to be yanked back on to the road. The front one attaches where a front tie-down hook was, the rear attaches to where the rear tie-down hook was. But, umm, someone cut that rear mounting point off. So I'll have to figure a better way to mount it. Since my bumper is cut out, I have options not usually available to Spec Miata drivers. I'll weld something to the frame.
These things are heavy! But that's what you have to do. Anyone want to buy the rear one?
entry 217 | | |  | June 19, 2007 - I got lazy.
I've made hardtop bolt plates before, and it's not any fun. SafeRacer.com had these aluminum ones for sale, and I figured I'd save myself some trouble. Initial tests show they're not perfect - they need to twist a bit to fit - but they should do pretty nicely. And I'm not going to have to fabricate them.
Like I said, lazy.
entry 218 | | | June 21, 2007 - Now that's a little odd.
I went to install the front recovery point last night. It bolts in to the four threaded holes used for the tie-down hooks in the front. But on my car, two of those holes aren't threaded on one side of the car. On the other side, a different hole isn't threaded and another seems to have a thread problem.
Weird.
I'll probably weld the plate to the frame rail and use the two holes I have.
In the rear, I'll have to get a little creative. VWs use a little hoop that screws into a receiver in the bumper, maybe I could adapt one of those. It's tempting to find a place to mount a big D shackle - perhaps I've been spending too long off-road.
entry 219 | | |  | June 24, 2007 - Martini colors!
Thanks to a member of the Grassroots Motorsports board, I have the right colors for the stripes. They're not perfect, the dark blue is metallic instead of...well, not metellic. I'm not sure if I can get that mixed up. Still, metallic isn't a big problem, it'll always be a small area (unlike red) and this will make it look blue instead of black.
For those who want to know, these are MS "Rod and Custom" colors Blue #59398, Blue #59392 and Red #59352.
entry 220 - tags: Martini | | |  | June 24, 2007 - Martini stripes!
Okay, not really. But I couldn't help myself. I grabbed a roll of tape and, well, this happened. It's both easier and harder to do this on the car than on the computer. I've spent a lot of time thinking about the layout over the last few days, and it turned out about as well as I'd hoped. I'm not convinced about the door area yet. I don't want the whole stripes to go in a big arch, I want the width to shrink and expand. Maybe I won't go all the way to the roof, but cut across the windshield pillar. Hmm...
The stripes are continuous around the car, narrowing down to a band that crosses the nose and the tail. I'll mock this up in the computer to see how much red will be on the car and then it's time to start laying it out.
Why all the excitement about stripes? Because I realized that it will be easiest to stripe the car when it's still basically clean, and before the windshield and rear glass goes on. Once the masking starts, it'll be a pretty quick process. But nerve-wracking! It's a crazy way to learn to mask well.
entry 221 - tags: Martini | | |  | June 24, 2007 - I'm very happy with how the stripes work from the front.
I think they'll flatter the car quite well. The design will also work with and without the hardtop. That's not an issue for Newfoundland, of course, but it's hot here in Grand Junction.
entry 222 - tags: Martini | | |  | June 26, 2007 - A side view of the proposed stripes.
It's not bad, although I'm not crazy about the curve over the top. There's too much of an arc to the stripes.
Let's call this shape "A".
entry 223 - tags: Martini | | |  | June 26, 2007 - Another side version.
Let's call it version B. I like this a bit better than shape A. You can't tell from the pictures, but it comes straight off the top instead of a big curve. There will be more red on the side of the car this way, including a large patch on the side of the hardtop.
entry 224 - tags: Martini | | |  | June 26, 2007 - Version A from the rear.
I'm not happy with how it transitions into the rear. I suspect once the full blue stripes are laid out (two light blue, three dark) there won't be much room for the red.
entry 225 - tags: Martini | | |  | June 26, 2007 - Version B from the rear.
The transition is much better. Other than the large panel of red on the hardtop side (the C pillar, to add to our alphabet soup), I'm pretty happy with this design.
As you can probably tell, I'm having fun with this. I'll wander into the garage and stare at the car for a while, then maybe play with some tape. Then I'll go dig through my library of Martini pictures and decide if what I'm doing is appropriate. I'm trying to come up with the design that Martini would have used on a factory Miata.
entry 226 - tags: Martini | | |  | June 27, 2007 - In anticipation of upcoming test drives with a computer jockey riding shotgun, I installed the passenger's seat.
It went in ridiculously easily. I'll pay for that later I'm sure. Due to the shape of the transmission tunnel, I was able to mount the codriver's seat about 1" further inboard than the driver's. It's also further back.
Eric's reaction to the proposed Martini schemes? "BBBBBBBBBBB!"
entry 227 - tags: seats, Martini | | |
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