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Nothing interesting to report. I've been working slowly on fully welding the frame. I did turn the frame on it's side and upside down to better reach some welds, which was a little exciting, since it was the first time the frame's been lifted off the table. Little milestones.


(I for the life of me can't find my 4th jack stand, and I had to use one of the three I had holding up the frame, so if you're wondering why a wheel with a block of wood on top is holding up the frame, that's why.)

As you can see, I also worked on cutting out the floors. I decided to do them in separate panels, simply because I had no good way of transporting a 4x8 sheet of steel. Since I did them in separate panels, I took advantage of that. The driver's side footwell floor is 16 gauge for additional stiffness and safety, and the other three panels are 18 gauge. I realize I'll probably be losing some structural rigidity with the floor not being one continuous panel, but what can ya do.

Speaking of cutting out the floors, I initially started out using a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade, and it did ok, but it was necessary to clamp the steel to a piece of MDF and cut the MDF at the same time. I also found it hard to cut a perfectly straight line, even with a guide clamped to the metal. So I hopped on over to the good ol' Harbor Freight, and bought an electric sheet metal shear that said it was good for up to 14 gauge steel. It was on sale for $44.95, plus the ubiquitous 20% off coupon. So far, so good. It cut both gauges of steel like it was paper, and in a perfectly straight line. The only issue is that the material being cut out kept curling up and blocking the shears, which necessitated stopping and moving the material out of the way every now and then. I've never used other (better) shears, so I've no idea if that's a universal problem. Regardless, for $37 (the cheapest name brand ones I found were ~$180), I was truly impressed. Whether it'll stick around for the long haul is to be determined. There's much sheet aluminum to be cut in the future, so we'll find out.


thumbs up from me!

Regarding the shears:

Use a little bit of oil when cutting steel. It will drastically increase the shears blade-life.
Also consider having a pair for aluminum only.

I use my shears all the time especially on thinner than 050 alum.

Cheers.
Cory

Thanks for the tips, Cory.

No update, but I just want to say that fully welding the frame has been the worst part of the project so far. There are so many joints I feel like I'm never going to finish. To make matters worse, the temperatures here in Houston have been creeping up to 90 already. Normally, working in the garage in the heat isn't too bad, as long as I have my trusty Harbor Freight high velocity fan pointed at me, but of course, you can't have a fan on while welding. Not enjoyable. I'm getting close though...

You should line up your steering shaft universals a bit better if you haven't since page 3, example ....



... otherwise you will variations in your rack speed as you turn your steering wheel.

Cool, I did not know (or really think about) that u joint alignment would affect the movement. Good thing I haven't welded the shaft together yet! Thanks for the tip!

Well, it's been two years to the day since I officially started this project with buying the donor Miata, and I am happy to report that it is a roller!!! I'm pretty excited.



I'm finally done fully welding the frame (well, almost...I noticed a few missed joints today that I'll get to later, and it's still missing triangulation in the tunnel), built the passenger seat mounts, and welded in the floors today.

I apologize for only having one bad picture. Since my garage is so small, in order to make room for the frame, I had to tear apart the build table. For the past two years, everything in the garage has revolved around this build table, and an incredible amount of spare parts and trash had accumulated on the shelf below the table. Thus, most of today was spent sorting through everything and disassembling the table. This also explains why everything else is unceremoniously thrown to the other side of the garage (as you can see in the picture). I was running out of daylight as I bolted on the last wheel. I'll get better pictures later in the week after I install the engine, steering column, and diff.

Next step is to build the pedal box.

Here's a couple pics with the engine installed and the garage clean/organized. I lied when I said the next step was to build the pedal box...it was actually to clean the mess of a garage you saw in the picture above.



One of the front upper a-arms is installed upside down, haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

Update: got pretty close to finishing the pedals. The only thing missing is a pedal stop for the clutch to prevent over travel of the clutch. For the clutch, I cut apart the stock Miata brake pedal, and used the pivot tube and the footpad, and used .75" square tube. I also reused the clutch slack adjustment thingy from the stock R1 hand pedal. The brake pedal is a Southwest Speed Wilwood knockoff, and the throttle is the stock Miata piece.




I also wanted to reuse the R1 throttle cable. The Miata throttle pedal uses a cup and ball type cable termination, while the R1 has a cylindrical end, so I used a socket head cap screw, and cut a slit longitudinally into it. The cable end fits into the hex cup. Hopefully it will work ok. Throttle travel is a little short...we'll also see how that goes.

Wow, it has been way too long since an update. No excuses, I just am really bad at remembering to take pictures and update my build log. I was determined to at least update so anyone who was interested knew I was still working, so the photos aren't the greatest because I just used my phone to take them. Here's what I've been up to for the past 9 months.

First I worked on the cooling system. Mounted the radiator, and ran the hoses. I originally wanted to go with silicone hoses, but the cost started to go up really quickly, so I went with standard rubber hoses. I used a product called Gates Uni-coils to create the bends. If you haven't seen them, they look like this:

You put the hose inside, bend it by hand, and the hose keeps it's shape like so:

Not the best way, but it was cheap and easy. I'll most likely go back and upgrade at a later date. I will also make some mounts/supports for the rubber hose.

I also mounted the gas tank, ran the fuel lines with the fuel pump and filters, built the shifter, handbrake, mounted the scuttle, and formed the firewall. Here are some random shots of everything. Apologies for the lack of details, but I just wanted to get something up. I won't even say that I'll try to do better in the future, because I know I won't. As always, I welcome any questions or comments!








Next up I need to go back and finish the small details, i.e. fuel filter bracket, brackets for coolant hoses, and mounting master cylinders.

Been working on the header. I pretty much followed Richard Miles's 4-2-1 header dimensions (http://www.btinternet.com/~richard.d.miles/exhaust.html). I bought 2 1.5" to 1.75" 2 into 1 collectors and 1 1.75" to 2" 2 into 1 collector (I hope that made sense) to create the second half of the header. The runners are mandrel bends from Summit Racing.


I ordered 3 2" radius bends and 3 2.5" radius bends, and ended up needing 4 2" radius bends and only 2 of the 2.5" radius bends. I had to order another 2" radius one.

I don't have any great construction pics, but here's the progress:






I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, but there are some little details aren't perfect. It is really close to being equal length. The runner off #3 is about 1/2 an inch shorter than the others. I'll revisit it later if need be.

That exhaust looks GREAT!!! Really nice work, Sir!

I can't believe it took me two and a half months to finish the exhaust. It's been a busy couple months...a trip to Portland, OR for one of my best friends's bachelor party, a trip to Chicago with the wife, and a trip to San Francisco for aforementioned friend's wedding. Work has been slow. The weather is finally starting to cool down (finally under 90 degrees!), so hopefully more time will be spent in the garage. Please ignore the mess.




The muffler is a used Yoshimura RS-3 muffler for a motorcycle bought off ebay with slight damage. The exhaust design is based off of Richard Miles's design (http://www.btinternet.com/~richard.d.miles/exhaust.html). Someone already did the homework for me, and I didn't think I could improve on it with my nonexistant knowledge of exhaust design. The muffler is mounted as it usually is on a motorcycle, which doesn't allow for a whole lot of compliance. I hope this doesn't translate into cracked exhaust pipes later, but we'll see. The clamp around the muffler has a rubber gasket between it and the muffler, so that's something.

Next up is the part I've been dreading from the beginning of the project, wiring. I'm planning to extend the harness from the donor R1. At the same time, I need to sort out the driveshaft details.

Stuck in wiring hell. I decided to go with splicing the wires when they needed to be shortened or extended, mostly because of my lack of soldering skills. I bought a Paladin ratchet crimper and nylon butt connectors from Del City, and I'm impressed with the strength of the joint. I made a few test crimps, and I couldn't pull them apart as hard as I pulled.


For the first time ever, the car shows signs of life! I was probably more excited than I should be, but this is the first time the car has ever done anything. Here's the current view from the driver's seat.

I know I say this over and over, but I really am awful at updating. No pictures, since I feel like I haven't done anything worth taking a picture of. I've "finished" the wiring, installed the driveshaft, halfshafts, filled the brakes (I can't believe nothing leaked!), buttoned down all the wiring and hoses, and a bunch of other details for the barebones of what's needed to drive the thing. If I could get the thing started, I am torquing down the axles nuts and filling the diff with oil away from taking a very illegal spin around the neighborhood!

I put quotes around "finished" the wiring because I think there's an electrical issue preventing the engine from starting (and also the taillights have not been mounted). If you don't venture over to the Bike Engined Builds much, you wouldn't have seen my thread on not being able to get the engine started. Here's the full thread:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=14946

If you want the cliff notes, the engine cranks, I have spark, but no fuel. Fuel is getting as far as the fuel rail with pressure. I rented a set of Noid lights from Autozone, and if I am using them correctly, they are telling me the ECU is not sending a signal to the injectors to fire. I have a feeling there's something amiss in the starting logic that is telling the ECU to not provide fuel. If you know ANYTHING about trying to get a bike engined car to start, PLEASE kindly venture over to the above thread and see if you have any insight.

Once I get this thing running, I promise I'll provide a full update with pictures and details on the driveshafts and halfshafts and whatnot. And hopefully a video!

Edit: I lied! I have one picture of the baffle plate installed in the engine. I got my baffle plate from Jonathan Rarity in the UK. His responses were very prompt, and shipping was surprisingly cheap and quick considering it came from across the pond. The plate also fit perfectly...no filing or modifications were necessary. High recommended. http://www.rarity.freeserve.co.uk/Sump_Baffles.htm Surprising I couldn't find a supplier in the states, but oh well.


While I had the engine out of the car, I also did the double diaphragm spring mod to the clutch. You just stack another diaphragm spring on top of the existing, and it (supposedly) improves the clamping strength of the clutch, eliminating clutch slip.

First start! Had a bit of an ordeal trying to get this thing started, so I am beyond excited. You can follow all the details in the thread mentioned in the last post. Turns out all 4 injectors were gummed up with fuel after sitting for so long. I managed to get 2 of them firing by just soaking the tips of the injectors with carb cleaner while still installed in the throttle bodies, but the other two just didn't want to give up as easily. I ended up taking them out and soaking the entire injectors in carb cleaner, and that did the trick. After a few missteps (messed up one of the o-rings and had to go buy another replacement, resulting in fuel spraying everywhere on the first try), the engine fired up like it hadn't been sitting for over 3 years. I have videos of the first two starts, but 1) during the first start, the throttle was unknowingly held open by an improperly adjusted throttle cable, which resulted in the engine instantly jumping to 7000 rpm and scaring the crap out of me before I got to the switch to turn it off and 2) I'm embarrassed at how messy I let my garage get while trying to get this thing started and didn't want to show you guys. So here's a glamour video of the third ever start when I pushed the car outside the garage for the first time ever.



Here are some pictures. I love how the surface rust just glows in the sun. Is it just me, or am I the only one that is starting to think the chassis looks good that color?




The only thing stopping me from driving this thing is a clutch issue. I took the clutch cover off to do the double spring modification, and ever since then it hasn't worked right. The arm on the engine isn't getting enough travel when I push the pedal. Might be as simple as adjusting the cable properly, we'll see. Getting close!