build diary

May 3, 2004: Busy weekend!
I spent some time finishing the wiring in the rear of the car and working on routing. It's all looking nice and tidy although I still have to work out the connectors for the taillights. This will be easier to do when the tails are mounted - I learned the hard way on my Land Rover rewire that just adding in extra wire "because I might need it" makes for a very messy harness.

I've also started on the instruments. I'm not completely happy with how they look right now, but there's always the chance to change them later. I really don't want the car to look as if I simply stuck a factory gauge panel into the dash, so I'm taking pains to hide the "Miataness" of the donor panel. It meant a lot of grinding and careful shaping to get as far as I did. If I paint the dash black it'll look more integrated but I was rather hoping to stick with body colour. We'll see.

Typically the way you build a car like this is to install the engine and transmission very early on. Because I'm still waiting for my engine, I'm having to work in a bit of an unusual order. The logic of when to install what body panel is a little complex, but the good thing is that I'm working with a mind towards how the engine will be installed and removed easily.

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