| MIATA BUILD |
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 | |  | August 29, 2011 - More preparation work.
The cars have to carry some tools with them, just in case. We don't plan on actually using these, but you never do. It's not a full complement of tools (and you can't see them all here) but it should allow us to do most of what we may need at the side of the road. The support vehicles will have a much fuller kit, although everything does have to fit in the back of a pickup along with our spares. We did manage to cleverly come up with two cars that have absolutely nothing in common with each other, which does make this task a bit harder.
The past weekend was actually fairly low-key. The car's in good shape, so it's just a matter of packing by this point.
entry 930 - tags: tools, preparation | | |  | August 18, 2012 - I didn't use any special tools to build these uprights.
Well, other than the bead blaster at the end. The aluminum was cut with a battery-powered jig saw and final shaping was done with a hand file and a belt sander. Holes were all hand-drilled, and you've already seen the exotic brake setup. Three of the most useful tools are shown here.
The transfer punches allow you to transfer the center point of a hole to a new piece of metal. You simply put the appropriately sized punch in the hole and whack it with a hammer. Voila. I got these from Harbor Freight, although you can spend a lot of money elsewhere if you want.
The gold punch is spring loaded. I used it to emphasize the dimples from the transfer punches. There were something like 60 holes involved in this project, and every single one of them lined up. Also Harbor Freight.
The blue stick is wax. Spreading this on the blade of the jig saw kept it from loading up with aluminum and helped it cut smoothly. I'd read about this somewhere, but never tried it. It works really well. I used ski wax because that's what I have in my garage.
entry 1059 - tags: aero, wing, tools | | |
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