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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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PostPosted: March 29, 2015, 9:39 am 
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Looks like good progress! :-)

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PostPosted: April 5, 2015, 8:11 pm 
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wait.... you think that is "clutter?" :lol:


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PostPosted: April 5, 2015, 10:15 pm 
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WAX wrote:
wait.... you think that is "clutter?" :lol:

A lot of clutter: a lot of progress
A little clutter: a little progress!

Seriously though. I miss my door-sized* workbench in my old garage--that allowed significant accumulation of stuff between sortings and cleanings. I might try and make a hinged work surface that I can fold down or up (Murphy bench?) when it's not in use.

*made from an actual door

After picking up today, I was able to do a little something: I found a tentative solution to my front differential mount. I think I'm just going to use one of my spare suspension bushing assemblies and weld a little arm and chassis carrier for that. I even have some tabs with suitably sized holes in 'em for the outsides. I had left over material from my suspension from which I cut the bushing OD (only took me 30 minutes to find it amongst my shelves).

I'm going to do some sleuthing on here to come up with ideas for proper orientation and mounting, but at least it's an achievable trajectory.


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PostPosted: May 3, 2015, 11:00 pm 
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Last weekend I got some time to add some rivet nuts to the front end and mount my upper radiator support a little more permanently (I'll probably redo the mount when that time comes, but this'll suffice for now). I did that instead of the differential mount because I needed a metal brake and I didn't want to buy (or store) a giant Harbor Freight one. I got a 6" vice mounted one off Amazon.

This weekend I got that set up and some test bends. I was able to get the right bend offset on the second go around after one re-calibration. My differential is much more solidly mounted now! It'll be an interesting process to get the mount out with everything assembled around it, but we'll see how that goes. Perhaps I turn the chassis clevises into a two piece affair. The vice brake is pretty nice. It's simple and has removable fingers for doing inside bends if I need to get that fancy.

I added a few things to my "doable now" and several to my "buy now" list. I bought a catalytic converter for now, and I'll get the rest of the exhaust system pieces bit by bit to cut down on sticker shock all at once.


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PostPosted: May 22, 2015, 2:15 am 
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I've been slowly investigating exhaust solutions--what a near-infinite design space!

I bought a muffler (blank Jones 5"), tubing and a flex joint tonight and they should be here wheneversday. We'll see how that goes.

I got out to Maker Faire and saw Nick47's car last weekend too, which was exciting and good to take notes from!
viewtopic.php?f=41&t=17224&p=201192#p201192


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PostPosted: May 24, 2015, 11:30 pm 
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Some of my exhaust parts came, waiting on the rest. It'll be a challenge to make the initial turn from the exhaust manifold to the pipes: my engine is quite far back in the engine bay and the manifold dumps out awfully close to the driver's side foot box. Custom headers in my future? I sure hope not.

In the meantime, I finally got my fuel filler next mount plate actually welded in. It was an excuse to make a bunch of shrapnel with a jigsaw and die grinder. Jeep Wrangler (mid 90's?) neck and vent/filler hoses.


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PostPosted: May 25, 2015, 12:38 am 
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Location: Petaluma, CA
Matt,

Just picked up a chassis and some other misc parts for a 442, would love to chat. I am 408 thee one four 4211 Thanks,

T. J.


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PostPosted: May 27, 2015, 5:36 pm 
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I fell down a vortex of analysis paralysis on my intake yesterday. Apparently the stock Miata AFM doesn't flow enough, but an RX-7 AFM does flow enough, but it's ever so slightly bigger. So do I try and design everything around the RX-7 one from the start, or do I "upgrade" to that later? And how does that affect my choices for intake routing and plumbing.

It's just a matter of getting parts and putting them on at this point, I think.

I'm slowly acquiring exhaust components to assemble and that'll be fun to start mocking up and welding.

tjmarrone wrote:
Just picked up a chassis and some other misc parts for a 442, would love to chat.


Sure, whaddya want to know?


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PostPosted: June 9, 2015, 6:27 pm 
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I'm slowly acquiring exhaust and intake components, and I made some progress on getting the intake routed. I'm still waiting for an air filter. I still need to tee in my idle control line, but it's coming together finally. I need to make a small mount for the AFM to get a little bit more support, but it seems to dangle fine for now!

I also had a BBQ a couple weeks ago and Nick47 brought his completed MGB car down to share in the festivities. It was fun to compare the two sizes and progress. I definitely learned a lot of things inspecting his car next to mine.


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PostPosted: June 15, 2015, 3:47 pm 
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Making progress on the exhaust routing. A coworker came over and we had a fun time hacking up mandrel bends and making the Miata exhaust manifold flange. I think a solution exists for mounting and routing; it's now just a matter of getting everything cut, mocked up and tacked to see how things look.

Intake is pretty much sorted, aside from the physical mounting--theoretically I could start the engine tonight and have a (loud) running, idling power unit.


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PostPosted: June 15, 2015, 7:48 pm 
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mattrogers wrote:
My differential is much more solidly mounted now!...Perhaps I turn the chassis clevises into a two piece affair.
It may be much more solidly mounted now than it was before, but with your still looking at future improvements, are you also wanting a stronger design or mostly just increasing ease of installation? If I'm thinking about this correctly, at peak torque in 1st gear, the differential will be undergoing as much as 315 ft-lb of torque about the driveshaft axis (passenger side upward, driverside downward) and 1285 ft-lb of torque rotating the nose up about the axles...Which will be additive in how they load that mount position. Now if the bushings in the wide set rear mounts are significantly more compliant than the bushing in your nose mount, the more solid mounting may not even be a good thing. As that could indicate that the front mount is carrying the lions share of this. I'm trying not to jump to conclusions, but just based on the one photo it's not exactly giving me a warm and fuzzy feeling right now.

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PostPosted: June 16, 2015, 12:50 pm 
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Driven5 wrote:
Now if the bushings in the wide set rear mounts are significantly more compliant than the bushing in your nose mount, the more solid mounting may not even be a good thing. As that could indicate that the front mount is carrying the lions share of this. I'm trying not to jump to conclusions, but just based on the one photo it's not exactly giving me a warm and fuzzy feeling right now.


Understood. I replaced the original rubber ear mounts with urethane, the same material as the nose mount. Clearly, the geometry might load each mount differently, but the materials are now similar. Actually, looking at it a bit more, the ear mounts are farther away from both rotation axes, so they should be taking most of the static and torsional load of the differential*

*subject to we-shall-see analysis!


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PostPosted: June 16, 2015, 3:25 pm 
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I didn't consider that there were poly mounts for the diff ears, nor that the front mount might actually be further forward than the ears are upward...Good to know! Unless that front mount tube is larger/thicker than it looks to me, I'd still at least consider vertical gusseting of both ends of the RHS tube...And definitely on both of the chassis mounting tabs.

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PostPosted: June 16, 2015, 4:10 pm 
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Driven5 wrote:
Unless that front mount tube is larger/thicker than it looks to me, I'd still at least consider vertical gusseting of both ends of the RHS tube...And definitely on both of the chassis mounting tabs.


Certainly! There are a few (dozen) places on my car that need reinforcement still. I wouldn't *dream* of taking a first drive with critical joints only tack welded on!


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PostPosted: June 17, 2015, 1:35 pm 
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Hey Matt- The build looks great.

Would you mind sharing how you routed the park brake cables??

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