build diary

August 13, 2004:
Well, maybe the radiator won't get welded.
A couple of non-professional attempts at welding haven't worked (not me, I know I can't weld aluminum!) and the professionals are concerned about the epoxy in the rad melting. A custom radiator might have been easier and cheaper in the long run. I'll use epoxy to glue the fitting into place - it's what I tried last time but I hadn't done a good enough job of preparing the surfaces. This time I'll do better.
entry 569

August 14, 2004:
Phew, a long day.
I popped the radiator in this morning, drove to Flyin' Miata to put the car on the lift for the transmission swap and immeditely had to remove the radiator again to get the engine out. I should have used velcro to attach this thing! No leaks on the way over, though. Two hours later the engine and transmission were on the floor and a surprising amount of the car was disassembled. The fact that I had to reach into the rear wheel wells to undo the seats was quite entertaining for the others in the shop! The new transmission was cleaned up and everything was reinstalled eventually with a few extra jobs thrown in along the way. Bill Cardell spotted the problem with my high idle - a misadjusted throttle stop - and hopefully that's fixed. But the radiator sprung a pinhole leak and so it was time to remove it again. The epoxy was obviously not the right choice and since welding was discouraged we decided to try a technique similar to brazing. This proved almost impossible to seal up so I'm using a combination of epoxy and the braze now. I'll let it dry for couple of days before installing it. If this doesn't work, it's off to the professionals to be welded and I'll just take my chances with the epoxy in the rad. The frustrating thing is that I obtained a set of dealer plates to drive and tune the car this weekend and it's spending the entire thing on the lift. Oh well, at least the new transmission should make it easier to drive. Now if only I could figure out the instruments...
entry 570

Draining the radiator.
I'm much better at this now. The rad has been on and off the car far too often.
entry 571
From underneath, the Seven looks like an airplane!
entry 572
The engine comes out for the transmission change.
It looks a lot bigger out of the car!
entry 573
Sigh.
I thought this part was over.
entry 574
The engine and transmission are back in but the radiator continues to give problems.
entry 575
After carrying this extinguisher around on test drives I decided it was time to install it permanently.
entry 576
My new, difficult to photograph coolant overflow tank.
It's a metal can that used to hold brake fluid. Light and cheap!
entry 577

August 16, 2004:
Much better.
The combination of the brazing and some epoxy (okay, JB Weld) with lots of curing time has fixed the radiator. The adjusted throttle has made the car far, far more drivable - it had a terrible light throttle snatch before that has gone away. With the new transmission with synchro on 2nd, it's now a well-mannered little car just like a Miata should be. The exhaust fit better when I reinstalled it (I have no idea why) so it's quieter now although it still makes highly entertaining noises. A less entertaining noise is the buzzing from where the #4 header tube hits the bodywork - a bit of trimming is required.

In terms of the instruments, some quick probing hasn't given me any clues. The speedo cable snapped about 10 miles after installation due to a nasty tight bend in the cable. That's going to be difficult to avoid given the packaging. The oil pressure gauge and tacho are the two that interest me more though. I'll try to work that out this week. I'm leaving the car at the Flyin' Miata shop because I won't have plates again until Wednesday night. Most of the work remaining is just fettling although it might be good to have a wind deflector of some sort - passengers seem to mention that a lot.

Eric has asked for more photos of the car. I'm constantly taking photos of it because I still can't believe it's out on the road - so if there's anything that you want to see in particular let me know either via email or the guestbook. One comment from Bill is that it's more orange in person than in the photos. I have a tendency to show the yellow highlight in the photos but most of the time it looks like the basic orange you see in photo 438.
entry 578

It looks like I'll have to do a little work on the exhaust tip - my rear fender is getting most of the heat and I'm sure the tire isn't appreciating it either.
entry 579
A shot of the car from further away with less distortion from a wide angle lens.
entry 580
If you were really tall, this is what the Seven would look like.

entry 581
I'm amazed at how different the colour looks in this photo when compared to the previous one.
It's also quite obvious how far back the seats are. The rear fender prevents me from leaning my elbow on the rear wheel!
entry 582

August 17, 2004:
The instruments are working now!
It turns out there was a badly corroded connection on the back of the instrument panel. Replacing the circuit board with a known good one solved the problem. Now I have a tach and an oil pressure gauge. Still no speedometer but that's not going to change any time soon and really isn't a great priority. I've packaged up the wiring in the engine bay to make everything look neater. I might even take advantage of the new giant 20,000+ CFM fan at Flyin' Miata to work out a decent little wind deflector. Am I just doing small things that will improve people's impressions of the car? Why, yes I am! There are a lot of folks who will be checking the Seven out this weekend at the Flyin' Miata Open House.

I also weighed the car last night. It's a little heavier than anticipated - I probably underestimated the exhaust system. Still, a full wet weight of 1257 lbs isn't bad at all. That's with a full tank of gas, water, all the body parts and even a fire extinguisher. The empty car is slightly tail heavy (52.7% on the rear) and almost perfectly balanced left to right. The cross weights are also very good. The moral? It'll handle best with a passenger. I don't think it will be a problem finding one this weekend.

Pulling into my garage last night, it looked odd. It was too big and too empty. It's the first time the Seven hasn't been there since January! All that's left is a bunch of debris.
entry 583

Bill does some investigation on the wiring.
It's quick and easy to remove the scuttle and it makes working on the car far, far easier.
entry 584
The circuit board looks better in this photo than it did in person.
The left two pins were all green and we weren't able to clean them up.
entry 585
Time to hit the scales!
entry 586
The final weight and balance.
Not too shabby, really!
entry 587

August 18, 2004:
Is it possible to accidentally work on a car? Last night I was finishing up at work and made the mistake of wandering back to look at the Seven in the shop.
An hour later, I was putting the final touches on a new exhaust tip. I'm not as happy with how it looks as the original but it should both be slightly quieter and will prevent the tire from overheating. Thanks, Ander, for confirming this in my guestbook. A bit of trimming on the side panel for the exhaust exit and the car is getting more and more civilized. Well, relatively civilized.

After some talks with my friends down at Scotty's Muffler, I've worked out a slip-on exhaust tip that should drop the sound level a bit. The track day is under some extreme noise restrictions due to small-town politics - a community across the interstate, underneath an airport approach path have decided that their ambient noise cannot go above 55 dB. The use of the track this Friday is a test to see if cars can use the kart track without causing noise problems. Only Miatas are allowed to take part but we're going to run the Seven. Obviously there is some concern about the side exhaust being loud although I believe it is now at the same level as the turbo Miatas.
entry 588

The brake bias adjuster has been labelled.
It's surprisingly common for people to get this backwards. Hopefully I didn't...
entry 589
Pedal cam! I don't think I've shown a photo of the final result before.
entry 590
The new exhaust tip.
It's a 90 degree bend and aimed slightly downwards. When I look at it now I realise I probably should have angled it back about 10 degrees to line up with the rear fender. Maybe later. It looks a little odd in this photo.
entry 591
Another view of the exhaust.
entry 592
The fan I'll use for designing a wind deflector.
Yes, it's taller than the Seven!
entry 593
In the parking lot at work.
The scary thing is that this Jeep is only average around here!
entry 594
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