LocostUSA.com

The Car was on the track with Northern California NASA but previous owner switched to motorcycles and left this car untouched after pulling it apart for upgrades. He had removed motor and all wiring and dissassembled a few things.
not quite a build log and greatly appreciate this forum for guides to electric and KeithTanner's book for extra help. Little bit challenging on electric as I never saw how it was originally wired, nor did I remove it myself from a Miata.

The motor fit nicely into the back of my truck along with all the exta and removed parts. These filled all the camper and my back seat. The car is a roller with all the electric harness removed ( and some cut).
It came with 4 roller stands and that has been a huge blessing, not nearly as much bending.
So far I've reinstalled stock differential and put on 94+ brakes front and rear, reinstalled motor and have unwrapped most of the electrical harness.
My plan is to have it track ready in December and then license it for the street with SB100 in January. For right now just want to get it running, then add light circuits, and horn.

I saw your post over on USA7s and it looks like you picked up a pretty good looking car - nice way to start a Locost project.

Looks like quite a nice car, and I wish you well getting it back together again.

Did the former owner explain why he yanked ALL the wiring? On the visual evidence, I think I'd go for sorting out the engine loom, checking everything for continuity, then chuck the rest and get an aftermarket harness for everything else.

Website I recommend to anyone with wiring issues: http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/phil.bradshaw/car_wiring.htm

Nice find.

Do you have more details on that front splitter ? What is it made of ? any closer pictures ? Is it mount only on the nose or the chassis also ? I'm currious, since I'm planning on adding one to my car.

Thanks and keep us posted on your progress.

Cheers,

Fred

Miata based eh? Post us a pic of the steering arm mount on the spindle. Those tie rods look to be coming off the upright a lot higher than I'm used to seeing. Maybe they were redrilled and tapered from the top???

Pete B excellent recommendation and I will check continuity on wires i have left, and great web site . Emailed previous owner yesterday and he yanked all the electric I think he was making sure he would redo it right before he put it back together. I've gone ahead and simplified it down to key componenets and will wire in to connect, speedo, main breakers, ECU and have a wiring diagram coming.
I will add pictures of splitter it is bolted to nose cone and then he used VW Jetta belly pan quick releases on the body. Coleman steering box is installed (1.5 turns) but I will take a picture of steering.

Is that the GRM build car? I know it ended up as a track car in Northern California and I remember it being repainted yellow. If so, this means two things:

- it was basically the first of the CMC Miata cars
- it was built in a weekend. Well, mostly.

Jack knows it well The wiring was a problem for the car after the build, it could be simply that it was never done right as the car didn't stay at GRM long. I'll bet those tie rods have rod ends on them and are bolted on through the top - check to make sure you're not exceeding the misalignment limit of those rod ends on full droop, as that leads to snap and crunch.

Keith
yes, you are right on the history on the car. Seller did not mention any electrical problems. I was expecting to just hook up and go but found things were not complete up so now a total rewire is in the works.
!! I will check on interference.
thanks for the information. Haven't been able to work on car for a while due to other commitments, another week at it will have my full attention.

Nice find, maybe being the GRM car will make it worth big bucks at auction some day. LOL. Neat to hear about it again, I don't think they ever got it properly sorted though.

The GRM guys (well, CMC really) got the car to about the self-propelled stage, followed immediately by the patented CMC differential mount breakage. And that's about it. GRM was looking to break ties with CMC immediately so they got rid of the car without even a wrap-up article on it.

I do know the fellow who purchased the car in California spent a lot more time working out bugs - I used to hear from him once in a while and from my understanding he got the car into pretty good shape. I don't know if he exorcised most of the CMC features or not. Check out what Heikki did to his car over the years for a good peek at further development.

I wonder why they wanted out so bad? Was the car really that poorly thought out to begin with? I started my build with a CMC book frame and made a bunch of changes just to it, maybe the added complications of IRS was to much for them. It would be kind of cool if CMC had made the business work though.
Kristian

No doubt, liability. I can see how GRM would want to be far, far away from something that was literally thrown together. Imagine if the next owner got hurt - who would the family sue, CMC or GRM? Probably GRM because the suing party would guess they have deeper pockets.

From what they told me at the time, the car was basically payment for unpaid advertising costs. Nobody at GRM really bonded with it so it didn't have an owner and they did not want to spend any more effort or time promoting CMC. They're "fired" other partners in the past as well, companies they no longer want to be associated with.

Good to know I was dealing with such an honest company. I never really heard the story of how they went under, just one day the phone was disconnected. I guess I was lucky, because it was just after I finally got all my stuff from them.
Kristian

Till now I have taken all my spare time and helped a friend purchasing and remodeling his first house.I have known him since he was 9, he now has 3 girls,a wife and a house all in the right order.
Back to the car - Bolted on my first part today after constantly taking it apart, big celebration for me, and then promptly removed and relocated!
From CMC days alot has changed since the magazine pictures that came with the car. All new steering with removal wheel, sway bars added, PVC pipe (?!) intake ditched, most of the body now carbon fibre, reinforcements in frame but likely more to do. Goal is to redo wiring, replace aluminum fuel line, and get it running then license for street. Attaching pictures of front assembly and new switches (12V 20amp, with indicator lights) The coil overs are currently replaced with fixed length struts for set up.