build diary
<< | show individual entries | >>December 20, 2006: 
I picked up this steering wheel to try out.
It's a 12" piece, 1" smaller than my current wheel. I had been thinking of making an adapter to put it on the existing setup, but now I'm all distracted and considering building a new piece from the steering column back. Hmm. Regardless, it's a nice little suede wheel that only needs one small piece of repair and it only cost me about $26. It's time to stop messing around on eBay.
entry 1316
December 23, 2006:
Instead of working on cleaning out the garage, I spent some time poking around with the website.
About three years too late, I've added an RSS feed to the site. Let me know if you have any problems with it, like everything else on the site it's homebrew. I've also tweaked some formatting to make the display better for Internet Explorer users. The Search has already been turbocharged. Soon I'll also add the ability to start reading at a certain date. If anyone has comments about the navigation of the site, I'm interested in hearing it.
entry 1317
January 1, 2007: 
Happy new year!
This is how I celebrated - by taking the Seven out for a short spin. I can't say the race tires grip all that well on an icy driveway, but the roads were just fine other than the usual sand and gravel. It's nice to get back behind the wheel and play with the car again.
entry 1318
During the holidays, I managed to make a dent in the pile of stuff in the garage.
It's still not exactly finished, but there's enough room to park some more of the cars inside. I've never had a garage that was attached to the house before, and I just love the way this innocuous door in the basement opens up to reveal the toys. There's a Miata under construction in front of the Seven and room for the blue Miata and the Jeep behind it. It's a big garage.
entry 1319
January 7, 2007:
I've been really busy.
But not on the Seven, unfortunately. I have a pile of things to try out but thanks to a book deadline, no time to try them. The book has to be done in the next week or so, after which I'll catch up on all the work.
There's some travel in the future. I'm heading to San Francisco on Friday to take part in the Bay Area Miata Club tech day. They've asked me to come out a few times in the past, but this year it worked. I'll know more in a couple of days, but it's also likely that I'll turn around and head back to California a few days after returning to attend a testing session at the Streets of Willow. And yes, the presence of the Seven has been requested. I hope this works out, it's going to be a really interesting day if it does. More details will follow once I know if this is going to happen or not. But it may mean a week of frantic work checking the car over to make sure it's ready for another high-profile test...
entry 1320
January 17, 2007:
Lots of snow on the ground, so the Seven is stuck in the garage.
Quite possibly literally stuck - I haven't dared try it yet.
The long drought of no-car-time is over. I handed over the final photographs and manuscript of another book, so now it's time to start making things again. I have heard from the owner of another CMC Miata frame who has found extensive cracking in the welds of his rear control arms. This is a car that sees exclusively track use on big slicks, but I'm definitely going to investigate that. The rear end of the car is certainly going to get some close examination. This is just one more reason to amputate the CMC geometry in the rear and replace it with something else.
Unfortunately, the trip to California this weekend looks as if it's not going to happen. I think it's going to be postponed for a similar event in Oklahoma in early March. I should know more later this week. Time to get cracking then.
entry 1321
January 18, 2007:
Okay, it's time to kick a new project into high gear.
The Targa Newfoundland is only 8 months off. I'm about to start work on the third chassis, as the first two just didn't work out. With the new book and the move, not much happened on that car. That's going to change soon. It's going to be a totally different sort of build than the Seven although I'm not sure there will be any less welding :) It took about 7 months for the Seven to hit the track the first time. I have less time than that so hopefully I can put this thing together in a hurry. Wish me luck. And don't worry, the Seven won't be completely neglected.
January 29, 2007:
AutoRacing1.com has an article about Locosts that includes a short bit about yours truly.
The site is subscription-only, but a one-week pass is $5.95. The article itself has the best summation of the Locost concept that I've seen:
"The basic Locost rules are: Keep it as light as you can, keep it cheap, make it look roughly like a Lotus Seven, and keep it fun."
In other news, the new garage is now plumbed for 220v so I can start throwing sparks. Yesterday was a gorgeous day but the ice on the driveway kept the Seven trapped inside. I'm starting to get a real itch to drive it again!
entry 1323
January 30, 2007: 
These Konig wheels look a lot like the ones used on the legendary Caterham Seven JPE.
And they have snow tires on them. Hmm.
entry 1324
January 31, 2007: 
While cleaning up the garage, I came across this badge.
I pulled it off an old Holden in the Australian outback over 20 years ago. Since the Seven is a "special" in the lightweight-race-car-built-of-production-parts meaning of the word, it's actually appropriate for the car. And kind of rakish too. I'm very tempted to run this along the driver's side of the hood. This is what happens when I don't get to drive the Seven over the long winter.
entry 1325
February 6, 2007:
Due to an influx of spam, I'm reworking the guestbook.
I love to hear from people, but the constant barrage of garbage is tiring. The best ones are the ones offering to sell me something to stop guestbook spam! Regardless, it won't be a problem much longer. True to form, I'm building my own code for the website. I just have to finish loading up the database and we'll be spam free once again!
entry 1326
February 8, 2007:
The guestbook rewrite is done.
Okay, it's not a major thing and I still have to do a little cleanup. But it does cut down on a whole lot of annoyance. I really do like to hear from people - copying all the entries over to the new database gave me the chance to read it all again. It's always fun to see early notes from folks who are now driving or building their own cars, and the reactions to various problems I faced along the way.
In actual Seven news, it looks as if I'll be heading to the track for a comparison test in March. This should be really interesting. I'm not really looking forward to another 1900 mile road trip, but you do what you have to do. I must be nuts.
entry 1327
February 9, 2007:
There's a new video!
(2.88 MB) John Hunter, the fast Miata driver (of a fast Miata) who was my big motivation at the 2006 Flyin' Miata Open House, sent me a February surprise. It's a little shaky, being hand-held, but I really enjoy it because I don't often get to see the car from outside. I love the noise, it makes me tingle. It's not the fastest lap of the day - you can tell the tire pressure is too low from the noise - but it's still pretty quick. Oooh, it's time to get back out there.
entry 1328
February 10, 2007:
It was a nice day, and I had to move the Seven in the garage in order to move a Miata hardtop.
So the obvious thing was to go for a drive! This was partly to remind myself what might have to be done for the trackday in March, but really it's just because I could. Ahh, it's nice to get back behind the wheel of the little beastie, with all the entertaining pops, snorts and crackles it likes to make. I do have a little work to do before the track test, mostly a nut-and-bolt through the entire car to make sure it's in good shape.
When I got back from my short buzz around, Janel informed me that I "smelled like the Seven". This does not incite lust in the female of the species, apparently.
entry 1329
February 14, 2007: 
I'm doing a little testing for Kinetic Vehicles.
These are front upper control arms that are a direct replacement for the ones I have. However, they're a little more cleverly designed. The thick tube is steel and has one right hand and one left hand thread on the rod ends, so I can adjust the camber without having to disassemble things too far and with a high level of accuracy. The short arm is made of aluminum and is a gorgeous piece - and also lets me adjust the alignment without undoing a thing. I'm going to use these to take out a bit of the camber I have now and see if the steering doesn't get too heavy with lots of lock. They should be on the car for the track test in a couple of weeks. Hmm, I should probably get to work on preparing for that, shouldn't I?
entry 1330
February 15, 2007:
I've been reading various forums and coming across references to my car.
And I've realized that people remember when I have a problem, but not always if I solved it. For example, my various trials in getting the individual throttle bodies working and what the final configuration was. Or if I ever got the diff to stop moving around, or if the car has evil killer handling. I guess I'll have to post a "This is the current state of the car" page at some point along with the current problems I'm trying to solve. It's going to take some thinking about how to set that up so it's not a royal pain to keep up. Maybe a FAQ. Suggestions, anyone?
entry 1331
February 16, 2007: 
While I'm waiting for one last bolt to complete the new front suspension, the Seven is under wraps.
The Targa Miata is getting ready for a paint job. By the end of the weekend, it should be white! Let's hope so. It might also be runny and covered in bumps.
entry 1332
February 21, 2007: 
It's not often you see a Seven running on Bizzak snow tires.
Hey, they were both in the garage, I had to try it. Of course, there's no snow left near town now.
On a more serious note, it's time to get ready for the trip to Texas. I'm going to install the new control arms and get the car realigned. Otherwise, it's just a matter of checking everything over for health and tightness. I might also stick one of the motorcycle mufflers on the car and make it removable so I can swap back and forth. Or maybe not.
entry 1333
February 22, 2007: 
My girlfriend Janel gave me a pewter Caterham for Christmas.
It took the scenic route over here from England, but it was worth the wait! It turns out I have a bit of a model collection without really trying - this is from the last 9 years! The largest you've met before, it was what actually put me over the edge to build the Seven. The second is the new one. Third is a bright yellow model of the Caterham JPE. The little pewter model is really nicely done, the one in the box is a white metal model that I've never assembled (lazy!) and the littlest one is a lapel pin that has a mysterious origin. Oh yes, and there's a 1:1 scale model in the garage of course!
entry 1334
Enough prattle about models, what about the real thing? Aren't I supposed to be on the track in a week? Yes I am.
So I decided to try bolting on the new control arms I'm testing from Kinetic. They made all my coworkers go Oooooo when I brought them in to work. I still have a bit of tweaking to do, but the goal of cutting down the amount of caster has been achieved and adjusting the camber is ridiculously easy. Just loosen the two jam nuts and give the aluminum bar a twist. With a camber gauge on the wheel, I'm dialed in within seconds.
entry 1335
February 27, 2007:
All packed up and ready to go!
I realized last night that I was approaching this test day much differently than the one nearly a year ago - despite the fact that it's the same sort of deal. I'm heading down for a magazine test along a very interesting piece of hardware. I'm more relaxed about it because I know the guys at Grassroots Motorsports much better, and the car's in pretty good shape. No last minute hood bending or anything like that. I have decided not to run the new control arms despite the fact that they might improve steering feel a bit, as I'd rather show up with something tried and true. It's a shame, they're a gorgeous piece.
So the car's all packed up and ready for the trip. I'll be meeting up with a bunch of Miata and Locost builders after the track day, and there should be a Westfield XI at the track as well. This should be fun.
entry 1336