build diary

May 10, 2004:
I'll call this panel the rear bulkhead for lack of a better name.
It's the best fitting panel of the lot so far. I needed to cut two notches to allow access to the front bolts for the lower control arms, otherwise adjusting the alignment would be difficult.
entry 284

May 11, 2004:
I started installing the rear sheetmetal last night.
The passenger's side went in pretty easily, but I hit some snags with the driver's side. More information to follow...
entry 285

Beginning to install the rear sheetmetal.
entry 286

May 14, 2004:
The problem with the rear body panel was alignment on the driver's side.
I had an inkling this might be a problem, but I thought it was due to a badly cut panel. That wasn't it - the round tube that forms the upper portion of this body is welded on crooked. You can get a hint of it in photo 87 - the driver's side is higher than the passenger's. It's not bent as there's a consistent angle from one side to the other. I'll either have to make a matching, crooked rear panel or cut those parts up and reweld it. This has prompted me to measure a few other dimensions on the frame, as you might expect. I got a bit of a scare when the wheelbase came out 1" longer on one side than the other but this was tracked down to a rod end that wasn't installed quite as far as the others. A few other measurements are showing up 1/4" out here and there, but nothing crucial as yet.

My brake and clutch pedals have also arrived! This was a fun day of unpacking white Wilwood boxes. I'm going to have to modify the frame in order to fit these. Time to wire the garage for 220v, then. I'm using twin master cylinders for the brakes with a balance bar. I've also got an adjuster so that the bias can be tweaked from the cockpit. I'd rather not have to get inside the driver's footwell to adjust the bias once everything is installed!
entry 287

Uh-oh.
That's not how things are supposed to line up. Look at the cutout for the shock mount as well as the bottom tube.
entry 288
Brake pedal and masters!
entry 289
Clutch pedal and master!
entry 290
The brake pedal in place.
It'll take some modification to get this mounted.
entry 291
Playing with switch layout.
That's the ignition switch and starter button. The blue knob is the brake bias adjuster and it's going to go over by the handbrake lever. I figure that if I'm adjusting the bias while driving, I won't want to accidentally turn off the ignition...
entry 292

May 17, 2004:
A fun weekend of playing with brakes.
The frame surgery has been done and it worked out quite nicely. In the next few days I'll put together a reinforcing plate to replace the parts I had to cut out. It should be a nice clean setup when I'm done. Now that I have the pedals in place I can start finalising the rest of the driving position. Happily, there's even enough room in the footwell for me to wear normal shoes. I'm not sure if I'll be able to work out a dead pedal of any sort. I also have to find a couple of pipe to flare adaptors - for some reason, the Wilwood master cylinders have pipe fittings on them. That seems a little odd but there may be a good reason. I'm used to dealing with flare fittings for the brakes.

A bit of a puzzle. CMC put a small bracket on the frame that's intended to be the junction between the clutch flex line and the hard line. It's placed in a similar location to the Miata one - but the Miata has it quite a bit higher. I realised that the factory bracket could be bolted on the firewall on the other side of the engine, giving a nice clean install that still leaves enough room for significant engine movement. This makes the hard lines easier to route and tidies up the engine bay. I'm pretty happy with it.
entry 293

In order to fit the pedals, the frame needed a little surgery.
entry 294
The pedals in place!
entry 295
The final location of the gas pedal will be finalized when the brake system is plumbed.
entry 296
To reinforce the frame where it's been cut away, I'll be welding a plate into place.
Here I'm working out the dimensions.
entry 297
The master cylinders.
Those brake masters have bigger reservoirs than is necessary, but I'd rather have too much fluid than too little! It was also a matter of bore sizing and availability.
entry 298
There's not much clearance between the clutch master cylinder and the frame - but there's enough.
entry 299
The balance bar for the brakes can be adjusted remotely.
You can see the cable running through the transmission cover.
entry 300
In order to use my residual pressure valve (required because of the low mounting of the masters), I'm going to have to be a little more creative with the plumbing.
The motor mount is in the way!
entry 301
The clutch hydraulics.
For some reason, CMC put a bracket for the clutch flex line on the passenger's side of the transmission tunnel. I'm not sure why. This is close to the Miata location, but it's much higher on the Miata. To use this on the Seven would mean the clutch line would be fairly convoluted. I found that bolting the factory bracket to the firewall on the driver's side made the installation much cleaner and simpler.
entry 302
The clutch system is done.
This line is very three-dimensional and the bends make a lot more sense when you see it in person!
entry 303

May 19, 2004:
A stop by my local hydraulic store yielded the pieces I needed to put together my braking system Last night I managed to get most of the lines done but I'll still need a tee to join the two front brake lines.
If I'd been thinking, I would have specified my custom front lines to have a junction block on the left side. But the tee will do the trick. One of the lines will have to wait until the test transmission gets removed as it's a little awkward to reach. But I'm getting close to the point where I can bleed the system, and then I'll find out just how hard that pedal is!

Some of my replacement parts showed up from CMC yesterday. A new nosecone - which on initial impression seems to be made with thicker fibreglass than the original - was joined by front cycle fender supports and some unwelded upper rear control arms. The unbent transmission cover slit the box open and escaped. Whoops! I've decided that my Miata will lose its engine this weekend so that I can kick-start the progress on this critter. I'm getting eager!

I'm not playing with the diff at the moment, but I did see some interesting photos of an SR20DET-powered Miata that snapped the rear mounting arm off the diff. There's obviously a lot more power involved but it does illustrate what can happen with a bad mounting setup. Here's the diff and here's some more information on the car.
entry 304

Bits from CMC!
The front cycle fender supports, replacement upper rear control arms and a new nose cone have shown up. I'll be welding the arms together for a perfect fit.
entry 305
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