build diary

March 15, 2006: Lots of destruction last night.
I reinstalled the throttle bodies a couple of days ago after fixing a small amount of play in the synchronising mechanism. It wasn't causing a huge problem but it did mean that I couldn't run an idle switch for the ECU. See, the ECU gets upset if the engine speed hits 2000 rpm and the throttle body is still at idle. I had just enough slop to make this happen when leaving from rest, leading to a bad driveability problem. So I'd been driving around without an idle switch which was fine other than cold start up. After installing the fixed throttle bodies, I adjusted the butterflies by eye and fired up the car. It idled happily even though it was stone cold. Very nice.

I drove the car out the garage, turned it around and then went right back in. Why? Time to work on the gas tank! First the fenders came off (didn't I just put one of those on?), then the rear panel was removed. Now the fun part - the fuel tank. I'd forgotten how much fun that was, having to remove every single fitting on the tank by putting my arm inside. At least it's the last time for this tank! The car now looks truly sad but I'm on a mission to build this tank as quickly as possible.

The new design will sit at the rear of the car behind the differential instead of on top. This is a more traditional Se7en tank. It'll be wider and thus more susceptible to fuel slosh, but I'll address that with internal baffles. The best thing is that the center of gravity in the rear will drop down significantly, cutting down on roll. This is my primary reason for the work. I'll also have a trunk of sorts! Initial calculations tell me that by simply filling the area below where the old tank sat, I'll have a 6-7 gallon capacity. Not bad at all! Tonight I'll make a cardboard version.

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