| MIATA BUILD |
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 | |  | 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 | | |  | July 1, 2007 - I spent the weekend working on another Miata.
Janel's little supercharged Miata is now turbocharged. The operation was a great success.
But that doesn't mean the Targa Miata was completely neglected. The new tires (Toyo RA-1 in a 205/50-15 size) came in so I had them mounted up. The wheels are some white SSR Competitions. Hang on, they never came in white! Ah, but they did in Japan. These date back from a previous race effort that was sponsored by SSR Japan. They're a custom 15x7 with a +20 offset, and are perfect for this application. The fact that they have a little tricolor stripe that happens to match the Martini colors is simply icing on the cake!
entry 228 - tags: tires, other cars, Martini | | |  | July 1, 2007 - Speaking of Martini colors, this book arrived in the mail today.
It's the "Martini Racing Story, 1983-1987". From the text, I think it's been translated from Italian. I bought it (half price!) for the pictures and it's even better than I'd hoped. There's a 6-page chapter on designing the stripes, and it confirms my thoughts about how it was done. The stripes were used to accentuate the curves of the car. Or boat.
entry 229 - tags: Martini | | | July 1, 2007 - I calibrated the wideband oxygen sensor today.
This has been holding me up because it needed to be wired in. Finally I just decided to get on with it, and it was a pretty straightforward procedure. So that's it for setting up the drivetrain. Now it's time to actually drive the car. I'll probably take it out of the garage for an extended drive on Wednesday, which is a holiday for some reason. It's also the third anniversary of the first drive of the Seven for a nice piece of symmetry. The Targa car is more complete than the Seven was at that point, though.
I hope.
entry 230 - tags: tuning, other cars | | |  | July 1, 2007 - Wheel weigh in time.
The white wheel is the race setup. The graphite one is a Kazera KZ-M with a 225/45-15 RA-1. The weight difference? Just over 5 lbs! The white SSR package showed up between 28 and 29 lbs on the scale, the KZ-M was a solid 34. Not bad, but that extra 5 lbs is significant.
entry 231 - tags: weight loss, tires | | |  | July 1, 2007 - See?
Martini stripes!
entry 232 - tags: Martini | | | July 2, 2007 - The official color codes!
The shop that did those beautiful Martini restorations (Makela Tuning) answered my email about paint codes. I'm blown away - I think they actually contacted their paint shop to get the codes on my behalf and that's why it took so long. It's great information.
Here you have the color codes, as I have got those from Carrozziere
Nitro Taurus (Official Italian Martini paintshop)
VERNICE SIKKENS / MAX MAYER # TIPO # TINTE COLORI
ROSSO OPEL 512
BLU INNOCENTI 5208
CELESTE FORD 537
LOGHI LAGANA' ADESIVI CHIVASSO (TO) #
(CHIEDERE ARKENTIS)
CARROZZIERE NITRO TAURUS
I have also used:
RED: Lamborghini 231240 (arancio diablo)
LIGHT BLUE: Mercedes DB5508 (cyan blau)
DARK BLUE: Volkswagen VAG.LA5B (marine blau)
I've managed to track down the PPG code for the Lamborghini red/orange and the VW color was used in the US on the Golf in the late 80's. The cyan is proving elusive though, both the Mercedes hue and the Innocenti. Are there any paint shop magicians who can help out with the Opel red or the cyan? Heck, can anyone translate some of those lines in all caps. My Italian is a little rusty.
The cyan I found in the MS Rod and Custom colors can be used, but since I'm so close I'd love to use the "real" colors straight from the legit Martini paint shop.
I'm blown away by the helpfulness of MAT.
entry 233 - tags: Martini | | |  | July 3, 2007 - A variation in the side stripe.
I decided I didn't like the arc I had going before, so now there's more distinction between the flare over the fenders and the line across the door.
entry 234 - tags: Martini | | |  | July 3, 2007 - Weigh-in time!
2020 lbs as it sits. There's still weight to be gained, as the car doesn't have sway bars, a full tank of gas or a windshield. I'm going to estimate the final wet weight at about 2150. That's what my street Miata used to be, but it didn't have a hardtop or a full roll cage installed. There's also a fair bit of bracing under the car that is overkill for a lot of applications. So while I was hoping for a bit less (I wanted to be under 2000 at this point), it's not a bad start. The power/weight ratio should still be pretty healthy. The rules limit us to 2070 lbs in race trim.
For those who don't want to do the math, the car currently has 53% of its weight on the front wheels. Cross weights are perfect as is the left-right split. Not bad!
entry 235 - tags: weight loss | | |  | July 5, 2007 - I stopped by the paint store (they love it when I drop in, it's good for their bottom line) and picked up some plastic tape and masking paper.
The plastic tape should let me do nice smooth curves with sharp edges, just what I need for laying out my stripes. I'm a bit worried about this, it would be easy to end up with a goofy looking setup if I let my line widths vary the wrong way.
entry 236 - tags: paint | | |  | July 5, 2007 - Bill Cardell stopped by on the July 4th holiday to help me take the car for its first significant run.
We bolted on the hardtop, fixed a small brake leak at one wheel, set the timing and then headed out for a spin. The car did very well overall. The fuel and timing maps, based on a "best guess" by Jeremy at Flyin' Miata, are pretty close and the autotuning abilities of the Hydra Nemesis will take care of the former quite easily.
The car feels good. The engine comes on cam at about 4000 rpm and pulls strongly up to my self-imposed redline of 5500. I'll stretch the engine past that next time I go for a drive. The steering was surprisingly light even without the power steering belt installed, but I'll have that fixed soon. It's too early to say anything about the suspension as it's currently on junkyard parts. Brakes feel strong though. Overall, it's giving the impression of being a very promising, entertaining car.
It wasn't completely free of problems, of course. The temperature gauge on the dash isn't working, but that's an easy fix because it's a very simple system. I wired the fans off the same switch which seemed easier at the time, but having them staged makes more sense and takes a load off the wiring. The front tires rubbed on light corners but I think I have that sorted now by bending some mounting tabs for the inner fender liners. The lack of a windshield made the car fairly drafty as well.
Time for more driving! And then the masking for the new paint job.
entry 237 - tags: testing, tuning | | |  | July 7, 2007 - We have paint!
Okay, it's not on the car. But still, I do have the magic stuff to make my stripes happen.
I chose the Lamborghini "Arancio Diablo" because I wasn't having any luck finding Opel 512. But it's orange. Really orange as you can see in the picture. I expected an orange-red, but there's little or no red here.
This has me conflicted.
entry 238 - tags: paint, Martini | | |  | July 7, 2007 - Looking at pictures of legitimate Martini cars on the MAT site, I can see that they do indeed use an orange.
But it shifts with the light - this is the same car under different light. I've tried photographing my brushed-on stripes in fluorescent, shade and sun light and it's always orange. I never get this shift into red.
entry 239 - tags: Martini | | |
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