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That's a good idea. I was thinking tint might be better than red/amber but trying it out on the car is a good plan.

Alex

Fun day yesterday. Exhaust is completely done and in the process wound up with the suspension bolted on.

First had to finish the back bodywork including the tonneau cover/gas filler:



Heat shielding next, on the rear two shields the header is really close to the body so I spaced them out about 1/8" for an air gap. I like the look once the system is on. In later pics you can see that I re-did the little duckbill upper shield, looks better now, much smaller.



Haven't mirror welded in a long time but you feel like a stud when it works Just before I cut into my nice collector for an O2 bung I did some reading and it seems that with long tube headers the better trade for a street car is to put the sensor the right distance from the head (~18") even if that's in a primary rather than in the full stream. I had planned on putting it after the collector but that was WAY downstream and even a heated sensor apparently struggles at low load/RPM that far back. Once I decided a primary was the right answer I really didn't want to take the headers off again so had to get creative with the welder. Usually this turns out #tungstenasfiller but I guess I was feeling coordinated yesterday.



Here's the whole system in place:



Header with front suspension:



Here's the whole car as it sits right now. Note that the scuttle is missing so the proportions are bit off but I'm pretty happy so far. Once the wheels are up in the fenders and the scuttle and windshield are on it should look pretty cool!



Today is either interior/dash or engine dress (valve cover, ITB's, fuel system, etc). I'll decide after coffee.

Alex

For the rear lights, you can get stick-on chip-guard film and cut it to size, There's usually yellow/red/"smoke" and the like.
I end up getting pre-cut to fit my vehicles, but you could probably get a few uncut sheets and do the rounds.

Couple more progress pics. Ordering wiring parts has been time consuming so just a few garage projects right now. Also re-built the garage door tracks to raise them up to the ceiling and changed to one of those shaft openers that gets rid of the big drop down center opener.

Seats and belts installed. Bucked up for the Schroth belts with the anti sub feature so I don't always need the 5th point. Silver looks pretty good, IMHO. I'll trim the excess after the cost shock wears off



Used the squeak and rattle engineer's best friend behind the seats - sticky backed velvet.



The hood and scuttle were never within 5 feet of each other during stripe layout. I just measured from the curved edges using a cloth tailor's tape. I was sure they were going to be off by 1/8"! Not the most flattering angle on the car but gets the point across.





Wiring is in full effect, I think the car is mechanically done.

Alex

First had to finish the back bodywork including the tonneau cover/gas filler:



I really like the way the cover came out. What material did you use?

Thom

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Thom

It's some random 1/8" carbon sheet from ebay. It's mostly fiberglass but with a nice carbon weave for the first layer. Heavier than I would like but that also helps it work a little better as a trunk lid.

Alex

Alex- I found your posts on GRM, and then later found you here- what a fantastic and detailed build. I'm not into the Seven design myself, but am building a 62 MG Midget shell into basically the same thing. My last build was a 69 Midget with narrowed miata independent (not the miata subframe, but a 4130, original build) with a miata based front as well. 4age blacktop powered that one.

So this one- Originally I was thinking duratec, but having seen the N52, I am infatuated- do you have dimensions of it? that's my hold up now. I almost went to buy a miata mzr today, but this has me on pause. If you can give me dimensions, I'd love to chat.

Thanks dude- your build is epic and I'm jealous of the straight six!

Brust

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69 4age 20v powered MG Midget

Long time since the last update but there wasn't much photogenic. Basically wiring, some detail work, and software setup.

However, it sat on it's wheels for the first time this afternoon! The build table is gone and it sits on the hoist like a grown up car! Looks about half the size now that it's on the ground, seriously tiny, kind of forgot about that part



First guess on ride height is pretty close. Maybe needs to go up 0.5" but it *just* clears the hoist by like 1/4"







Some pics of the electrical stuff, glad that's basically over. I need to finish troubleshooting and then loom the parts I left open but it's pretty much done.





Not sure I ever posted an interior shot.





Also, I started it for the first time on Sunday! Had to revert back to batch fire/wasted spark. This engine has some very odd cam wheels that somehow resulted in only firing on Cyl 1 and 3 when I tried sequential/COP. I'll get the fuel map in the ballpark on batch fire and then start experimenting with cam synch when it isn't flooding every time. Sounds awesome, very sport-bike ish at 2k RPM. Should've taken a video but we were thrashing by the time it actually ran well. Needed to back it out of the garage to keep tuning, that's what prompted finally setting it down.

SO, next is some basic tuning and megasquirt research to get it running sequential. Once that's working reliably the cowl needs to go on, windshield in, and a few things like cheapo hand crank windshield wipers to make it legal. Hopefully on the dyno before the weather starts to turn.

Alex

Alex, that looks awesome! Congrats on setting it on the ground and first fire up!!

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Cheers, Tom

My Car9 build: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14613
"It's the construction of the car-the sheer lunacy and joy of making diverse parts come together and work as one-that counts."
Ultima Spyder, Northstar 4.0, Porsche G50/52

Fantastic job. I wish the one I made (#24) was nearly so nice. Also, love the choice of motors. Inline 6s are great, and the exhaust system has a great sportbike/GP look to it. I could go on.

One thing that I've not been able to figure out is how/why the front (windshield) hoop is seemingly structurally deficient. It's got that kink in it, and where it lands on the top tube is unsupported. Just tying it into the dashboard hoop would seem to add a lot of stiffness.

Or am I missing something?

It looks fabulous

How does that bike exhaust sound? To your Passenger? When I tried H-D mufflers on my rotary build, the reflected noise from the rear fender was deafening.

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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

Great minds (or crazy ones) think alike. I tied that bend into the dash hoop with some 1.25 square. I also beefed up the dash hoop a fair bit. Not exactly the cage I would have designed but that's one of the compromises of not starting from true scratch. Bonus is probably a year shorter build.

Alex

Thanks!

Sounds great from idle to 2k RPM but that's as high as I've run it so far, literally 2 minutes run time total. Very much sport-bike like. I think it's going to be crazy loud at full tilt, though. We'll see, I made it pretty modular in case it needs revision 2.

Alex

FWIW, here are some sound level testing I took many years ago comparing Harley mufflers to my homebuilt system. Clearly the bike mufflers were much louder inside the car but quieter for driving by pedestrians.

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=15159&p=165346&hilit=noise#p165346

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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

Engine is Toyota 4AGE. My exhaust is 2 1/2" from the engine to the muffler with a 18" Magnaflow silencer. My wife wouldn't ride in it because it was too loud. Put a baffle and some stainless steel wool and that brought the noise level way down. Down side, it also took away some HP.

I didn't mind the sound level

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Larry in Seattle