LocostUSA.com

Great progress - looking good!

When you did the differential swap did you measure across the flats to set the bearing preload? (I ask because you only mentioned setting the lash.)

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-Andrew
Build Log
Youtube

Thanks Andrew,

Yes, I set the bearing preload as well. I used this website as a guide to the work:

http://www.miata.net/garage/diff_rr.html

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- John

Good deal - I used the same when I did mine and it worked nicely (knock on wood). Figured it was better to ask!

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-Andrew
Build Log
Youtube

Wow, very clean build. Your car is nice enough that it makes me want to build another one, and I'm not even done yet. Well done. I had thought about doing a wrap on my car instead of painting it too, after the mess of overspray all over my garage and places on the car that I didn't mask well enough, I kind of wish I had done a wrap after all. I see I'm not the only one to use tubing instead of flat strips for the front fender supports too. I also used fenders from the same supplier.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

One thing is for sure - I don't work fast on wiring. It's finally done and I'm happy with how it turned out. Everything works as planned. I'll eventually wrap the harness with electrical tape or protect it with loom, but for now it's pretty tidy.

Here's a few pics of how it turned out. The view behind the dash shows how shallow the gauges are - they're very light and don't take up much space at all. Pretty happy with them so far.

I made a nice little ground terminal strip to clean up the ground wiring behind the dash.

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- John

Here's a view of the console. From the driver seat you cannot see the heater or wiper switch (but I know where they are).

I routed the front turn signals through a single connector that is easy to get to by the nose latches.

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- John

You want to come to my house and do mine too?

I'll feed you some real Texas BBQ.

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

I have to admit, I think the Caterham trailer tail lights pretty much suck in the aesthetic department. So I used OEM Morgan tail lights. These are the same tail lights that Donkervoort used in the early 1990's. I had to make a housing for the transition from the fender to the light - I modeled four of these up on the CAD and then printed them out on a 3D printer. A little sanding, primer and paint - and I installed heli-coils for the threads - and they turned out pretty nice.

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- John

For the license plate light, I used a simple LED unit from "SuperbrightLEDs.com"

I also found these cool bright white lamps that I used for my back up lights - if you look close, you can see them used as the two upper license plate bolts. Together these two lamps are at least as bright as the original backup lights on my miata.

And here's a shot of the gauges at night. Fairly easy to read and pleasing to the eye.

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- John

Oh, and I almost forgot. I drove the car a bit more today - just a few times around the block. What a kick! Can't wait to get it titled and on the street for real. Everything works as well as I could expect at this stage, although one of the 18-year old coolant hoses doesn't seem to want to seal completely - I was planning on replacing those anyway.

No pictures or video of the event, but I'll be sure to make something soon. I kind of forgot about the need for mirrors so I need to get a rear view and the side mirrors mounted up before I can take the car in for the state inspection and VIN plate.

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- John

Sounds pretty good, but I'm pretty sick of wiring right now...maybe when it starts really snowing here I'll get sick of the cold and take you up on that offer.

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- John

John,
In terms of wrapping the harness, don't use the hardware store electrical tape. It looks great and works for the first few weeks/months of the cars life, but once the glue/sticky stuff on the backside gets warm or gets a little bit of oil on it it starts to break down and cause a sticky gooey mess if you ever need to do any re-wiring. You can get non adhesive tape that works better provided you wrap the harness tight. I've used it on my previous cars and its held up very well (all tape wrapped Lucas harnesses are wrapped in it). I bought mine from British Wiring, but it appears its readily available elsewhere. When I got to the end of the various portions of the harness, I did use a bit of the adhesive backed tape or some heat shrink depending on the locations.

Rod

I know it doesn't look period correct, but I'm a big fan of corrugated slit wrap and zip ties.

It makes reworking something down the road a whole lot easier.

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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

+1

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

+1 , not to mention the protection against chaffed wires taken around metal edges, much better than any loom tape.

Bob

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Build Log viewtopic.php?f=35&t=16640&p=187700#p187700

Mancave http://s1116.photobucket.com/user/mypic ... ow/mancave