| MIATA BUILD |
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 | |  | June 10, 2008 - With a nice long list of things to do on the whiteboard in the garage, I decided to do something else.
I've had a box full of cams sitting in the garage for a couple of months now. It's time to give them a shot.
The golden ones are just gorgeous in person. They're stage 1 cams from Integral Camshafts. The others are stage 2 from the same company, but ground on a set of stock cams - a set of 1999-05 ones, interestingly. They're both designed for hydraulic lifters which is good, because that's what I have. One big advantage to the hydraulics is that I can simply bung these in without having to mess around with shims.
How do they work? Well, the car fires up and runs fine. It has a very lumpy idle. I'll check the timing tomorrow night and then take the car on a run on Thursday. No track time, just a burn down the highway to see if it wants more fuel or less. That's a really crude way to tell if it's making more power - a thirsty engine is a powerful engine.
entry 474 - tags: engine | | | June 12, 2008 - I put the car on the cornerweight scales last night.
No surprise, the right rear was the lightest corner of the car. That's how Miatas are. But it wasn't extreme, and the cross weights were actually pretty good.
I drove the car to work - the long, long way - this morning to see how it likes the new cams. It feels pretty good, although I just cannot make it idle at all. Of course, when I got to work, I found out that I had the closed loop autotuning turned off, so the car didn't do any fuel tuning. Whoops. I'm going to double-check the cam timing to make sure it's at least close, then probably change idle modes in the Hydra to the "big cam" setup that uses the TPS instead of MAP.
entry 475 - tags: suspension, tuning | | |  | June 16, 2008 - I swapped out all the control arms for new ones this weekend, as planned.
I'll get it aligned on Wednesday, then we'll see what effect this has on the car. It does appear that I have more negative camber up front, which is good. Not very much of it, but more.
While I was under there, I welded this little ramp on the lower rear control arms. The adjuster for the shock protrudes through the arm just slightly. It's not something I'd be worried about in any other car, but just in case I drop a wheel off the edge of the road this should provide a bit of protection for the adjuster. It ended up being taller than it needed, but that's better than too short!
entry 476 - tags: suspension | | |  | June 17, 2008 - After our sore butts following the 12-hour MG rally, I ordered some new padding for the bottom of the seats.
The blue pad is a "backsaver" pad from Pegasus Racing. It's another type of memory foam, but very different to play with. It's firmer than the original cheap bedtopper I was using before, and almost feels like a gel pad when you try to push it sideways. Weird stuff.
entry 477 - tags: ergonomics | | | June 17, 2008 - I had the car aligned today.
I had a 9 am appointment and the car went on to the (empty) rack at 10. Sigh. Still, by 11:30 it was all lined up and looks to be a decent job. The right front wheel wouldn't give any more than 1.4 degrees of negative camber, which is a bit of a shame. I was hoping for about 0.5 degrees more. It could very well be my ride height, of course. According to the Spec Miata Constructor's Manual, I should be able to do a bit better. But I know from hanging out with certain Spec racers that it's not unusual for the upper control arm to be accidentally and carefully bent a bit, giving more camber. Good book, by the way.
So, how does it work? I took the car out for a run on my local Targa Simulation Road (assuming the Targa has pinon tree, red rocks and 95F temperatures) and it feels pretty good. The front end sticks beautifully and it puts power down well. Of course, I'll have to take it to the track to see if the low speed, tight radius wheelspin is gone but fast road work is not a concern. I still want to spend a little more time fine-tuning the shocks but I feel the car would be quite competitive at the Targa as it sits.
The new padding for the seats seems to work quite nicely. It wasn't a 2+ hour test, but so far it's an improvement.
I also spent a bit of time tuning the engine with the new cams. They don't like to idle much, but I'm starting to get that under control. The car feels pretty strong and it's adding a whole pile of fuel at 4500 rpm or so - right where the previous cams had a big dip in power, and right where I need a big slug of torque. So far they're promising.
entry 478 - tags: suspension, testing, ergonomics, tuning | | |  | June 17, 2008 - I've been trying to figure out how to mount a rear tow hook to the car.
I cleverly took the frame extensions that hold the tie-down hooks off over a year ago, and this made things a little more difficult for me. I can't just bolt on a normal tow loop.
The MX-5 Cup racers use a loop made out of webbing, so I figured I'd give that a try. It took some searching, but I finally found one at I/O Port. It's light and with a bit of creativity I can mount it to the chassis nicely.
entry 479 - tags: safety | | |  | June 17, 2008 - To mount the tow strap, I welded a triangular plate to the frame arm.
There's a Grade 8 bolt passed through the plate and welded in as well. A 2.5" hole in the bumper cover and voila! a tow strap. I think it should work pretty nicely, actually, and it added less weight to the car than a bolt-on tow loop.
Okay, there's one more item off the checklist...
entry 480 - tags: safety | | |  | June 19, 2008 - I got myself a new set of safety triangles.
The last set I picked up were unbelievably heavy - and they proved to be remarkably pervasive when I was looking for others. In Europe, there are many options for safety triangles. In the US, there appears to be one model that rules the marketplace. After a lot of hunting, I found a website with exactly what I wanted, and placed an order.
Only to discover that their website wasn't really up. They emailed me to let me know that the store would be open in a few months. Then called me a few hours later saying they could actually ship the stuff in a week, then I got a tracking number about a day later. Talk about lowering expectations!
They showed up today, and they're significantly lighter than the previous ones. The new ones (set up on the left) even have more reflective area than the old ones, and the set of three weighs less than a single one of the old. So that's all good then.
I've been looking for places to stash them in the car. I have some ideas. Right now, one is attached under the dash with Velcro for rapid deployment.
entry 481 - tags: safety | | |  | June 22, 2008 - One of the rules - a fairly common one for racing - says that the fuel tank needs to be isolated from the cockpit by a sheet metal barrier.
The tank's under that bulge in the middle, and it is isolated. But I've had people point to that bulge in the past and state it is a safety hazard. In order to avoid any potential unpleasantness at scrutineering , I decided to close this area up a bit.
In this picture, you can see the fuel tank cover (not the tank itself) and half of the factory shielding behind the driver's seat. I had to cut it in half in order to be able to install and remove it without pulling the fixed seats! You can also see how much of the rear deck I chopped out during the install of the roll bar.
entry 482 - tags: safety | | |  | June 22, 2008 - Showing off my mad fabrication skills, I made a plate to cover the removed steel from the rear deck.
I used a cardboard template (underneath the box'o'rivets), cut out the plate and riveted it into place. To add a little bit of provenance, I made the plate out of an old piece of the Seven.
entry 483 - tags: safety | | |  | June 22, 2008 - While I was working on the rear shelf, I decided to move the Camelbaks back there.
They're more accessible now and I have a little more hose available. Velcro straps are riveted or bolted to the rear deck, and those slip through loops in the Camelbak "Unbottles". It holds the Unbottles in place quite nicely and they're fairly easily accessible. They'll boil in the hot sun around here, but that's unlikely to be a major problem in Newfoundland.
entry 484 - tags: ergonomics | | |  | June 22, 2008 - And voila, the finished rear deck.
The black piece is the stock sheetmetal, painted because it was really nasty looking. As usual for the Targa Miata, it was rescued from a salvage car. The Unbottles are strapped down and all the openings are closed up in the deck.
Sorted.
entry 485 - tags: safety, ergonomics | | |  | June 22, 2008 - I needed a place to stash the safety triangles where they're both out of the way and easily accessible.
I was thinking of putting them on the rear shelf, but finally decided to put them under Janel's legs. The velcro is riveted to the floor and they're nice and secure, but immediately accessible.
Those who have been paying attention will remember that I mounted the fire extinguisher in this same place. It's now been moved over in front of my seat. Why? Because the driver's side is a bit narrower than the passenger's side, and there wasn't enough room for the triangles on my side.
entry 486 - tags: safety, ergonomics | | | July 1, 2008 - I haven't had the chance to do much work on the car for the past week due to Real Life getting in the way.
But the good news is that it's actually getting pretty close to being ready. My to-do list on the whiteboard is getting shorter and more trivial. There are still some logistical questions to be answered such as getting the car to Newfoundland (time to do a little work on the trailer) and how we do everything when we're there, but it's coming along.
The most productive thing I did last week was go to an interview with USCIS, previously known as the INS. It turns out that Janel and I are as married as we think we are, and I was approved for a green card. This is what prevented me from taking part in the Targa last year, of course. So it's a big relief. That delay did work in my favor, allowing me to build a better car and change codrivers. It's hard to believe that a year ago, the car was barely self-propelled!
entry 487 - tags: logistics | | | July 7, 2008 - Our NASA rally licenses are here!
Yes, the same licenses we took the class for back in February. I didn't send in the paperwork for a while, but it took about two months for the licenses to arrive. After all that, they're only good until the end of 2008. Oh well, now we have the qualifications required!
entry 488 - tags: skills | | |  | July 8, 2008 - Targa Miata clothes have arrived!
If you want to get a high-quality t-shirt or sweatshirt and show that you're a fan of the coolest rally Miata around, now's your chance. I had to wait until I saw the quality of the sample shirt, but it's good stuff. It's not only a heavy, high-quality shirt but the printing is perfect. Can't say the same about the out-of-focus picture, of course...
The store is at targamiata.spreadshirt.com and about 10% of the proceeds will go towards the race effort. Yes, I know, they're not the cheapest shirts in town. But they're high quality and this way we don't have to do a big print run and hope we got the quantities and sizes right! You can choose whatever size and style you want.
Currently, all of the clothes are navy blue with the Martini stripes, but white is coming at Janel's request. I'm going to order some team sweatshirts to keep us feeling warm and looking cool during the race.
entry 489 - tags: announcements, Martini | | | July 9, 2008 - The importance of seating.
I borrowed a coworker's Miata this week while he was using my pickup, and discovered something important. His car is fitted with a race seat of a major brand - I think it's a Sparco.
It's a terrible seat for me. It's snug around my ribs (I have a much wider build than he does) so I can feel the seat press in whenever I take a deep breath. It's fairly high in the car because it's on a slider. But most importantly, it put pressure on my right leg in such a way that I'd get cramps in about an hour of driving it.
But he's quite happy with it and has driven the car to Salt Lake City and back. That's about 300 miles each way. Obviously it fits him just fine. Another coworker also used to have this seat in his car and took it on road trips. So it's a matter of my particular physiology battling with the design of this seat, and that's a hard thing to anticipate without the chance to try a seat out. There's an important lesson here - treat race seats like shoes, and try them on if possible!
I approached Corbeau as a sponsor because I was happy with how their seats fit me, and the experience this week underlined how important that is.
entry 490 - tags: ergonomics | | |  | July 11, 2008 - Time to add the extra door bars.
When I originally built the car for the 2007 race, the scrutineers would accept a basic SCCA Spec Miata cage. But after a couple of high-profile accidents last year, they decided an extra door bar would be required on my car for 2008. Fair enough, I'm not going to argue. This is why I've been hounding the organizers with all sorts of questions, to avoid awkward problems in Newfoundland.
After conferring via email on the design, I made a visit to our local Porsche guru. He works out of a small shop that is completely stuffed with everything you need to make your own highly-competitive race car, quite possibly to the point of machining your own engine block out of a chunk of aluminum. He's also run in both the Carrera Panamerica and the Italian Mille Miglia, so he's a kindred spirit of sorts.
After about 90 minutes of drilling, grinding, testing and the like, here's what I brought home.
entry 491 - tags: safety | | |  | July 11, 2008 - After a bit more fitting, more grinding and a bunch of welding, the bars are in.
It actually took quite a bit more fitting. I thought we had the fit closer when we were at the Porsche shop, but it would seem not. Once fitted, I stuffed a huge canvas tarpaulin inside the car to catch sparks and welded them in. It was a bit awkward in many places and there's no way this cage is coming out without being cut apart, but it wasn't exactly removable before. It's not my prettiest welding, but it'll certainly do the job. I sent this picture off to the Targa tech inspector and he gave it the thumbs up.
Now I just have to paint them. I'll also repair the paint damage to the nose that took place during the off during testing last summer. Hopefully that will take place this weekend.
This is the last big step in preparation. There are still a number of small details to sort out and a lot of rule book reading to ensure I'm good, but the car is now fundamentally ready.
entry 492 - tags: safety | | | July 11, 2008 - White shirts are now available.
T-shirts, long-sleeved shirts and even a vintage-style "ringer" tee are in the Targa Miata store. Show that you're part of the team!
If there's a particular product you'd like to see, just contact me.
entry 493 - tags: announcements, Martini | | |
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THE DIARY