build diary

April 14, 2005:
Heading out again with tires that work.
Note the appropriate number.
entry 835
The Miata beside the Seven is a monster with about 350 hp at the rear wheels and a driver who can make full use of it.
entry 836
Out on the track.
The on-track photos were taken by gotbluemilk.com and you can see them all on their website.
entry 837
Rick Weldon shows me that the car can go much faster.
Look at the body roll, though - the inside rear is almost off the ground. This is turn 3 at Thunderhill for those who know it.
entry 838
Body roll? Nah.
Turn 3 again.
entry 839
Yuk, bugs.
I had to clean the windshield several times over the course of the day.
entry 840
The driver's side mirror snapped off.
It was last seen on the outside of turn 9.
entry 841
On the trip home, I had an extra passenger.
That's a Buick 215. No, it's not for the Seven. It's to make the trailer go faster.
entry 842
To get to Salt Lake City, you have to drive through the salt lake.
This is a little hallucenogenic if you've just finished the haul across Nevada.
entry 843

April 17, 2005:
I've been doing a lot of thinking about future upgrades to the Seven.
It needs some work to fulfill its potential. The first step will be to fix the exhaust (whoops), but what's after that? I'm going to add some roll stiffness to the suspension through a combination of stiffer springs and a front sway bar. The actual sizes are still very much a mystery of course. I'm thinking 30-50% more spring rate would be a good start although it will be a shame to lose that supple ride. A bit too supple, though - I'm bottoming out the rear suspension on hard cornering. I'm pretty much going to have to just make a semi-educated guess on this one. Time for a little more research.

Another thought is to replace the Miata gauges with some new ones. The Miata speedometer isn't working due to the broken cable. The oil pressure and tachometer needles get blown around by the wind as the glass isn't completely sealed against the dash. Then again, it wouldn't be that hard to seal things up and I just might be able to put a 1999+ Miata speedometer in the gauge cluster. It's electrically driven. Hmm, that might be a possibility. Regardless, my LED strip tach is going to be added. New harnesses are coming so they can be adjusted once the seats are in - this isn't a problem for me, but currently my passengers are having to deal with ill-fitting belts and that's not safe.

Right now, I'm simply in the planning stages. I'm back in California (the Los Angeles area this time) to work on Miata things and spending all my spare time trying to wrap up the Seven book. Lots of time to think - this can be dangerous.
entry 844

April 23, 2005:
No work done on the car, I've been in California!
Well, almost no work. I've ordered some new harnesses with pull-down lap belts. This will make it easier for my passengers to be properly strapped in. I should have done this earlier.

A Locost builder who lives in the same town as CMC has reported that the building is up for rent. It sounds as if the company may finally be giving up. There has been a long stretch with little or no communication with customers. This could be why.
entry 845

April 27, 2005:
The book is done!
Or at least, it's moved on to the editors at Motorbooks. I am filled with much relief. So now I can get back to working on the car instead of writing about it. The first job? Replace the muffler with a new one that's coming in from Thermal R&D. This one is a nice stainless piece although I declined the polishing. No point as I'll just hit it with some black paint anyhow. Hopefully the sound will still be reasonable. I guess I'll find out...
entry 846

Coming soon to a bookstore near you!
entry 847

May 7, 2005:
I've been enjoying myself doing things that aren't the Seven.
My 323 GTX is up and running now and I'm spending more time biking. But does this mean the Seven is being ignored? Nope. It's hopefully going to a big Miata meet in Moab next weekend so I had a few things to fix.

First up was the muffler. I cut out the old one and welded in a nice new one from Thermal. It's looking good and as soon as it stops raining I'll fire up the car and see how it sounds. I also replaced the rear view mirrors with some that are designed for formula cars, a gift from my friend Rick Weldon. Finally, a broken front fender stay was welded up. I didn't know about this one until I got to the shop. I think I'll probably redo the fender stays because they never hold the fenders straight anyhow and keep shifting around.

It's easy to see how people become serial car builders. I'm starting to realise that some time in the future I'm going to make some rather significant changes to the car. Part of this is fix various little things that could be done better such as the fender stays and cooling, partly to address more significant things such as handling and the rear diff mounting. I'm not going to start over! The car is also developing a patina at a remarkable rate, with damage to the rear fender shields, various paint chips, dirt stuck between the tubes and the panels and bugs embedded in the windshield. I'll have to work to get it nice and clean again.
entry 848

Time for a new muffler.
entry 849
Whoops, a broken fender stay.
Is this from being pushed around to make it sit correctly over the wheel, vibration from the long tow or something else? Hard to say.
entry 850
A new rear view mirror.
entry 851

May 10, 2005:
Well, the exhaust isn't subtle.
It has a much deeper sound than the old one and gets pretty vocal under full throttle. Hopefully it'll be okay during the track day at the Open House this summer where I'll have to deal with the draconian sound levels again. Maybe we can run the track backwards for a bit of fun. There are a few corners that might be pretty interesting in that direction actually.

The exhaust will get a run this weekend as I head down to Miatas in Moab. The weather forecast looks good so it's time to go for an overnight trip. Janel will be coming along with her Miata as a support vehicle and also because she's not a big fan of long trips in the Seven. So it won't be a harsh test but it should be fun.
entry 852

May 11, 2005:
I accidentally spent a bit of time working on the car last night.
Since I'll have the opportunity for some nice photographs and I'm hoping to be showing the car off, I figured I'd make it look good. The panels were polished, partly to get the old adhesive from the track duct tape off the car. The foam around the hood was replaced with fresh stuff that wasn't soaked in oil (long story there) and a line of black tape was added to hide the chips in the paint from the hood chewing away. This actually really looks good. The freshly painted exhaust was installed. A long-overdue change was made to the fan wiring to stop a problem that's been around for a while. Naturally this only took about 5 minutes. Then I made my favourite change of all - I put the plastic cover for the gauges underneath the dash instead of over top. I've never liked the shape of that piece and this looks far better. The big question is - why did it take so long for me to realise this would work?
entry 853

Much better looking instruments with the plastic sandwitched between the dash and the gauges.
It should seal better as well and stop the tacho from being bounced around by the wind. Why didn't I think of this months ago? It's so obvious. I'm still trying to decide about the badging.
entry 854
Hmm.
This Miata badge is shaped perfectly to fit on the nose. I'm not sure if I should stick it on or not.
entry 855
Gettin' shined up for the Miata meet.
I didn't bother doing this for the track, but then again that tow through the rain to California would have ruined my best efforts regardless. This is simply the result of a bit of work with Nevr Dull.
entry 856
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