build diary

April 14, 2004:
Everybody wants a bit of attention.
entry 234

April 16, 2004:
An interesting discovery as I look through my "instructions" - the GRM build photos.
They put the tank in backwards! While this places the pickups at the front of the tank and thus makes them more prone to starvation under acceleration, it should sit the tank down flatter and make it easier to tie down. I'll have to try that. Putting in a surge tank would prevent the possible starvation problems as well as my plumbing problems so that may still happen. Hmmm, so many options.
entry 235

April 19, 2004:
I'm not sure exactly why the GRM tank was installed with the pickups at the front.
It's easier to slip the tank into place but it offers no other packaging benefits - and there's the potential problem of fuel starvation under acceleration (and lots of fuel under braking). So I installed mine with the pickups at the back. A frame of 1/8" and 1/16" aluminum has the tank firmly secured in place with very little weight and a cash outlay of about $12. I'm happy with the way things turned out there.

I also changed the rear end. The super-strong GURU racing diff that was in my street Miata is now in the Seven. The reasoning is that I have to get a custom driveshaft made for the Seven, and I'd rather not discover (like the GRM guys did!) that the smaller, weaker 1.6 ring and pinion isn't up to the abuse the Seven is likely to dish out. My Miata, despite being twice the weight, has survived for years with a 1.6 rear and it's much cheaper to upgrade that car to the 1.8 with off-the-shelf parts should that become necessary. This has added 15 lbs to the weight of the rear end but it's probably worthwhile.
entry 236

The 1.6 viscous LSD (right) and the 1.8 Guru torque-sensing LSD.
entry 237
The weight difference of the two diffs - 56 lbs vs 71 lbs.
entry 238
Remember that Shoe Goo stiffening? Well, it didn't survive very long!
entry 239
When I installed the last diff, the frame was upside down.
Installing it in the correct orientation took a little creativity.
entry 240
The lower support for the fuel tank.
This is an aluminum U-shaped channel for lots of rigidity and light weight.
entry 241
The tank is in.
The upper straps are 1/16" aluminum.
entry 242
The fuel filter is installed.
The pump will be strapped just above it.
entry 243

April 20, 2004:
I had been concerned with the sizes of the fuel lines, given that the Miata runs on 5/16" and the tank has a 1/2" outlet.
It turns out that my fears were unfounded - the pump has a 1/2" inlet and we have the adaptors on the shelf at Flyin' Miata to make the outlet 5/16". That was resolved far more easily than I expected! I'm also going to use fuel hose to feed the engine instead of bending up hard lines. While manufacturers use the latter, I suspect it's not for performance reasons.
entry 244

April 21, 2004:
More fuel line work.
I needed about 18 feet of 5/16" line in total (9' for the feed and the same for the return) as well as maybe 18" of the 1/2". It's all looking pretty good.

To ensure that I don't have problems fitting the lines past the transmission, I've put another transmission and dummy engine in the car. It's impossible to get anything past the bottom of the tranny on the right side which is unfortunate. But I've worked out routing for everything that will keep the wires from chafing as well as keep them clear when the transmission is being removed or installed. I did decide to cut one of the rubber mounts for the rear of the transmission down by about 3/4" as it was putting the tail of the transmission too high.
entry 245

The nice thing about working at a performance shop.
I need fuel line, but I'm not sure how much. So I brought home 60 feet of it.
entry 246
The fuel line routing.
While the pump mounting looks a little cheesy, this does work quite well. We do the same thing on some of our turbo Miatas.
entry 247
Another dummy engine in place so I can do fuel line and wire routing and don't accidentally put the main power feed through the transmission, for example.
This time I've mounted some accessories.
entry 248
These cool little mounts are what I'm using for wire and hose management.
A 1/4" hole and they pop right in. A ziptie fits though. I can't ziptie right around the frame rail because there are often body panels riveted to the other side.
entry 249

April 22, 2004:
Not too much work done last night - I finished the last two fittings on the fuel tank.
The return line is now hooked up on top and the extra pickup has been plugged. Most of my time was spent working on getting my Cadillac ready for a trip to Vegas this weekend.

CMC appears to have dropped off the face of the earth. Their phone line no longer takes messages and emails are not being acknowledged. I could repair the broken/sawn nose cone that was shipped to me, rework the upper control arm and transmission tunnel cover that didn't fit and make my own cycle fender supports so I'm better off than the folks who are still waiting. One person just contacted me and says that their frame arrived on April 8th after being ordered in November! Steve at CMC seems like a good guy but he's having trouble keeping customers informed. Even just hiring a temp to cover the phones would go a long way towards keeping customers happy...
entry 250

April 27, 2004:
Yes, I had a good time in Vegas.
Thanks for asking. It appears that I may have made a mistake with my 1.6 automatic TPS. The signal is a 0-12v signal as opposed to the 0-5v one my ECU wants. Oh well.
Update: turns out I was mistaken about the TPS. It's okay.

Lester Seal is doing some interesting things with his build. He's moved the differential back and up, will hopefully be using a modified Miata Power Plant Frame and is working on a dry sump. He also reports that Leslie is back in the office and CMC is starting to return phone calls. Good!
entry 251

Lester Seal's modifed differential mount to move the diff up about 1.25" and back 2".
He's also modified the frame to fit the Miata Power Plant Frame.
entry 252
Lester's PPF.
I'm not sure there's room for a passenger anymore, but the PPF sure looks good.
entry 253
Another view of the PPF mount and the frame modifications.
entry 254
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