build diary

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.
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Brian came around to help me fit the engine.
Here he's putting the engine and transmission together.
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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.
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It's a giant bug!
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Because we had the hoist, we put the car on the ground.
Wouldn't you?
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Yup, I'm happy.
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The beastie on the ground.
It looks a lot smaller down there!
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A weird view of the car.
You can really see how far back the engine sits.
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June 3, 2004:
Last night was mostly puttering.
I now have a functioning clutch hydraulic system and the shifter is in place. I reinforced the headlight brackets a little bit. Then I went and read the latest EVO magazine - full of 7 Caterhams and an Exige - and I'm starting to wonder about my colour choice. I was going to use Nissan Daytona Blue, but Lotus Chrome Orange is just so obnoxious! Hmm.
entry 334

Lotus "Chrome Orange".
Hmm. Might make a good colour for the Seven.
entry 335
The shifter is in!
Okay, that was a good 5 minutes of work. The shifter is in remarkable shape for a car that's been sitting outside for 5 years.
entry 336
There's a fair bit of vibration in the light brackets.
A spot weld at the edge of the square tubing would have helped, so I put in a couple of rivets instead.
entry 337

June 4, 2004:
I ordered my radiator yesterday.
It should be here early next week. Do I need it right away? Well, no. But this will allow me to finish the nose of the car. I've also been cleaning up wiring and getting closer on that front. I'm tempted to leave the head on the engine just long enough to let me start the thing up - that would be a major milestone, wouldn't it?

I've been getting a lot of mail about the car sitting on the ground - it looks like a car now! - and on the colour question. Most votes are going for the orange, so I've put a couple of mockups in the build photos to get a better idea of how it might look. The orange is usually matched with black wheels etc but in my case it will be matched with shiny aluminum. I'm still not sure. Everyone's got an opinion - let me know in the guestbook or by email!
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A mockup of what the car might look like in Chrome Orange.
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A mockup of what the car might look like in Daytona Blue.
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June 7, 2004:
It's been a busy weekend.
I spent the majority of it working on wiring - again. I'm cleaning up the mess that was behind the firewall, finalising the wire lengths and doing some more testing. Much to my chagrin, two brand new Hella relays were dead on delivery. That didn't impress me - but I did manage to get all the lights in the front half of the car working again, the starter spins and as soon as I have a chip for my ECU I'll try firing that up. Progress is being made fairly rapidly and I pretty much have to lock myself out of the garage otherwise I'd never sleep. I'm starting to fit body panels around the transmission and I'll be installing all the switches soon. If only I had my main transmission cover, that is. I'll give the original one another try and see if I can get that to fit- at least until CMC replaces it.

Almost all the votes for colour have been for the orange. My first mockup showed too much saturation for the orange - comparison with magazine photos show that. So I've toned it down in another mockup and, thanks to a suggestion by Jamie Ruderman, changed the front fenders to black. It looks good. The latest issue of EVO actually shows a Caterham demonstrator with black cycle fenders on the front. Some more photos: All orange with black fenders and orange fenders vs black fenders.
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Because I'm not using the stock Miata computer, I don't need the stock air flow meter.
One of my old Miata intakes ("cone on a stick") makes the intake plumbing simple.
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Yet more wiring! Things are coming together and cleaning up nicely.
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The key to getting everything working is to label all the wires.
Saves a lot of detective work if you work a few hours at a time and forget what the green wire with the red stripe was for or if the turn indications are a switched power or switched ground.
entry 344
The ignition toggle, starter button and (blue) alternator light are in place on the transmission tunnel.
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Fitting the first of the internal body panels.
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Another colour mockup, based on Jamie Ruderman's suggestion.
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