build diary

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

May 21, 2004:
The plate is now ready to be welded in place.
I'll also do a couple of other small jobs that need attention such as the seatbelt mounts. Of course, first I need a welder in the garage. I shudder to think where that might lead! The shell engine has been removed from the Seven frame, and the first step in getting the various engines shuffled around has begun - Bill's Miata is getting a new engine, freeing up the one intended for my Miata, which will make the 11:1 engine available. Phew.

Someone on the Locost mailing list suggested using a motorcycle muffler. There are stock sportbike mufflers all over eBay for next to nothing. Hmm...
entry 306

May 23, 2004:
Whoops - left the memory card for the camera at work, so no photos yet.
The garage has been wired for 220V, the reinforcing plate is welded in place, new seatbelt mounts have been welded in to replace the incorrectly located ones - and the tube that forms the back of the rear body has now been properly aligned. This latter job had me swearing, as it required the removal of the gas tank again and this is a VERY tight fit now that the rear bulkhead has been riveted into place. I'm not looking forward to having to reinstall that once again. It would have been a lot easier to start with a frame that wasn't crooked. It's too bad I didn't have the camera, as the Hi-Lift jack was brought into play to help "massage" everything into place. Add another use for the Hi-Lift - welding clamp! A quick test fit shows that the rear panel will now fit correctly. Because I was dealing with supports that had been straight before, one of them is pretty ugly now that everything else is in alignment. Hopefully this will be well hidden by the gas tank once that gets reinstalled. First I need to repaint the welded areas.

I also picked up a pressure switch for the brake lights. The first cruise through the parts catalog unearthed the perfect candidate - the same one used on all the British cars in the 60's, including my Land Rover! I've even got a spare one of those but it's been through a fire and I don't trust it. The cool thing about that would have been that it's probably the same switch used on the Lotus Seven during that time period. I did decide to get one from 50's Detroit iron instead, as it was both cheaper and in stock. It just means I'll use bullet connectors instead of spades - odd, given that Lucas really liked bullet connectors.
entry 307

May 24, 2004:
The new upper control arm has been spot-welded together and a few other touches have been done.
I'm already ready to repaint the modified areas and reinstall the gas tank. I feel like I'm actually making progress here.
entry 308

The brake light switch in place.
entry 309
The relocated seatbelt mount.
This is where it was supposed to be installed but the welder had a bit of a senior moment and put mine in the older location below the cross bar.
entry 310
Having the welder in the garage allows me to build little touches such as this support for my residual pressure valve.
I'm a little obsessive about supporting brake lines.
entry 311
When I realigned the rear cross bar (I don't know the "official" Locost tube number), one of the vertical supports no longer lined up properly.
It's ugly but it should be hidden. Now my rear body panel will fit and the car will look more symmetrical.
entry 312
The replacement control arm from CMC was sent in two pieces so that I can weld it into the exact alignment for my car.
In order to get everything properly set up, I did have to move the forward rod end (on the left of the picture) out a bit further. But now the arm is nicely centered and everything is in place.
entry 313

May 25, 2004:
I decided to weld up a new upper control arm for the driver's side ret lastar wheel as well, as the existing one was a little crooked in the brackets when installed.
I had a hard time cleaning out one of the threaded tubes for the rod end - it's almost as if it were the wrong thread as it was tough going the entire way down the tube. Still, it fits now. Now that both arms are welded I can put a new coat of POR-15 on everything and get it all reassembled. Hopefully the gas tank will go back in without causing any more damage to the rear bulkhead - there's a small crease where I had to force it on the way out.
entry 314

It's good having motorcycling friends.
Here's a pretty little muffler with a carbon fibre can. It's small but I might give it a try. The price was right!
entry 315

May 26, 2004:
Back into the black paint.
All the welded bits and my new parts are getting the POR treatment. It's about as exciting as watching paint dry. Oh, everyone's a comedian. Anyhow, I also received a CD of photos from Heikki Rinta-Koski. They include a number of closeups of the CMC build at the Walter Mitty last month, a visit to the CMC factory and some detail shots of a Westfield. The Mitty photos will likely be quite handy as I reverse-engineer the parts and show some interesting modifications to the frame design. The CMC factory visits include a number of detail photos of Wade Horwood's factory-built version of the Miata kit. Wade had mentioned his frame was sparkly green - he wasn't kidding!
entry 316

May 28, 2004:
The newly welded suspension arms are back in place and fit nicely.
The brake system is now sealed up and partially full of fluid - although that was not without some excitement. By mistake, I ended up with some British flare nuts and US fittings. The threads are compatible but there's an unthreaded portion at the beginning of the nuts. This makes it very difficult to get everything properly lined up and tight so I've replaced a few of the nuts with spares that I have around. That was not a happy moment as all the parts came from the same hydraulic shop - I don't think they realise that the parts aren't terribly happy together. A Westfield owner emailed me to mention that my vertically mounted brake pressure switch will be a perfect place to trap some air bubbles, so I'll see if I can lay that down.
entry 317

May 29, 2004:
Engine swap time!
Yup, significant things are happening. The engine destined for the Seven was in my Miata street car. Note the past tense - it took me 70 minutes to pull it out this morning. Hey, I literally wrote the book on this one! Actually, if you've seen my book, you'll see this very same engine going in to my Miata. A couple of hours of hunting down parts that had been scavenged from my "new" engine for the Miata and it's ready to go back in. Once I find the clutch alignment tool, anyhow. We've got a new tech at the shop and he's not sure where to put things back yet.

Last night I also reinstalled the fuel cell and bled the brake system. I've got a nice firm pedal now. Things are starting to get exciting!
entry 318

Engines everywhere! The "donor" Miata (in better shape than most) gives up the powerplant for the Seven.
entry 319
Now that's an engine that is worthy of a Seven.
11:1 compression, ported head, cams, all forged and balanced internals...and it's pretty.
entry 320
My trick dual plate Kevlar clutch.
Super light with a smoooooth engagement.
entry 321

May 30, 2004:
The Miata is now up and running with the "new" (original) engine in it.
So I'm ready to have some fun with the one for the Seven. It does have some bad valve stem seals so I'll fix that quickly. I'll probably install the engine in the Seven first simply because there's so much room available to work on it.
entry 322

June 1, 2004:
A bit more puttering around with brake lines and a long-overdue garage cleaning and the frame is ready for the engine!
I also redrilled the rear for the rear body panel and it looks good. The front fender supports were installed and it quickly became obvious that you can't bleed the brakes with them in place. Given the expected use of this car, that's not going to work. I can modify them easily enough to make this possible.
entry 323

June 2, 2004:
Much excitement!
The engine is in! Brian, the new tech at Flyin' Miata, came around to my place after work and we dropped the engine in place. It went in fairly easily but was a tighter fit than I'd expected. Once the front pulley slipped in behind the top of the frame it all went easily. Brian's done a fair bit of fabricating and the motor mounts gave him a bit of a laugh - they're hugely overbuilt. Beats the alternative...

So there we were, standing in the garage. We had a car up on sawhorses and an engine hoist. Time to put the car on the ground! We bolted on some wheels, tossed the seats in and carefully lowered the car to the ground. I got all excited when the front touched down and the suspension compressed - it's like the car came alive! The suspension was set at the lowest point because it made it easier for me to play with it, and this put the car pretty much right into the dirt. We measured about 1.75" between the oil pan and the garage floor. Hmm, maybe I should raise this up a little. Playing with the steering revealed that one of the joints in the column was slipping a little but that was fixed with a bit of welding. The car looks even smaller on the ground. After a bit of fooling around, we lifted it back into the air to make it easier to work on.
entry 324

The braking system is all done.
entry 325
The rear body panel is fitted into place and shaped to fit the round upper bar.
entry 326
Brian came around to help me fit the engine.
Here he's putting the engine and transmission together.
entry 327
The engine going in! Brian didn't do ALL the work, but it certainly would have been more difficult without him! This job would also have been simpler if we'd been able to come in straight from the front.
entry 328
It's a giant bug!
entry 329
Because we had the hoist, we put the car on the ground.
Wouldn't you?
entry 330
Yup, I'm happy.
entry 331
The beastie on the ground.
It looks a lot smaller down there!
entry 332
A weird view of the car.
You can really see how far back the engine sits.
entry 333
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