build diary

June 17, 2004:
The driveshaft is finished and in the car.
Talk about a tight fit! I had to disconnect the parking brake cables but that's all - that was a relief. If the shaft was even a tiny bit larger in any direction I would have been out of luck, too. But it fits! Once it was in, I fired up the engine and got a feel for the clutch travel needed. Big moment - I have a complete drivetrain! The rear wheels happily spun as I let the clutch out with the car in gear. Vroom vroom!
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The finished driveshaft, compared with a stock 1.8 Miata part.
My new one is surprisingly heavy but it's sure not going to break! Check out the size of those yokes.
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1.6 and 1.8 Miatas use different size bolts for the flange on the diff.
Make sure you've got the correct ones. Buy the (unusual) bolt from Mazda but get the washer and nut somewhere else - they're expensive!
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The driveshaft in place.
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June 18, 2004:
I'm heading out of town this weekend to play with Basil and go to a music festival in Telluride.
So anyone reading this is going to have to make their own fun! I did put together a way to step through the build photos one by one, though. You can also pick a random shot just for fun. Someday I'll set it up so that it remembers the last one you looked at, so you can simply check in to see what's new. But maybe later - this is all homebrew stuff, and I want to do something else now. Check it out!
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June 21, 2004:
Now that driving the car is looking like a possibility in the future, I called the Colorado DMV to find out what's involved in getting it licensed.
First, the Colorado DMV is extremely easy to reach and very helpful. I didn't have to wait at all! Unfortunately, it gets harder from here. I can't start the process until the car is street legal. Then it will be a 2-3 week process if I manage to get all my paperwork together. Most importantly, I need receipts for all the major components such as the engine, tranny, frame, body parts (I suspect they were picturing a slightly more complex car with that one) and rear end. I can easily get the receipts for the tranny and rear end. The engine will be a little more difficult as the core was bought from a junkyard at least 4 years ago. I realize now that I also have no receipt, MSO or any paperwork for the frame and body from CMC. Time to leave a message with them and see if they'll return it - I'm also waiting for my transmission cover. They haven't been too responsive lately.

The driver's seat is bolted in to place. I've got the placement of the pedals perfectly set. Now I just need to put in the gas pedal and make the steering wheel adaptor.
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June 22, 2004:
I decided to hook up the throttle pedal last night.
I think I've got pretty good pedal placement but that will be confirmed later. I also put together the box that covers the steering column and top of the pedal. The dimensions were pretty good but one of the bends wasn't done on a break and I had to do a bit of hammering to get things to fit. It'll stay in shape when the rivets are popped into place. The rectangular hole for the throttle cable was both in the wrong place and too big - the cable wouldn't snap into place. It was easy enough to rectify this. I'll need to fabricate a different throttle cable bracket as well, as the Miata one is too far back for this setup. But now all I need is a steering wheel and I can play Race Car Driver with a working gearshift, brakes and throttle!

I just had a chat with Larry at OK Miata. They've put together one of these cars with an eye towards customer buildups. The final weight ended up at just over 1200 lbs and they've used a number of the same parts I have. They also report breaking the differential mounts almost immediately...
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The steering column/pedal cover.
The big hole is for the Miata wiring harness - not that I have one.
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The hole on the right is the one that was in this cover.
The one on the left is the one I cut in the correct place to the correct size.
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Whoops, someone's going to need a new throttle cable bracket.
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June 24, 2004:
Don't expect a whole lot of action for the next little while.
My parents are visiting from Canada. Mom was very happy to see that the Seven appeared more substantial than she had originally feared. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get in touch with CMC for the paperwork for my frame...
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June 25, 2004:
I've heard from CMC.
My transmission cover and MSO should be shipping today or Monday. Excellent news.
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June 30, 2004:
Okay, my parents are gone.
It's time to get back to work! Last night I puttered around. The passenger's seat is partially bolted in, I've made measurements for the throttle cable, picked up a coolant fitting that's going to be tweaked a little, prepped the fan for mounting and located a stock exhaust manifold to act as a base for my header. It's fun running a high-flow fan when it's just sitting on the floor. Dusty, too...
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July 1, 2004:
Happy Canada Day!
Last night was spent making brackets and cutting things up a little. I'm going to modify the water pump inlet to give me maximum room for the exhaust system so that got cut in half. Fittings for the fan brackets and radiator brackets were also put together. The fan I'm using is a Permacool 12" "high performance" fan. It's not as strong as the Spal fans that we use on our super Miatas, but it should do the trick nicely in conjunction with the massive radiator. I can set the trigger temperature of the fan to anything I'd like so it can come on quite early.

While looking for photos of roller barrel throttles I came across this build diary - a seven-day Caterham R300 build. It's a fun read - and check out the complexity of that header! I have my work cut out for me. There are lots of good detail shots of how Caterham puts various bits together. The diff is a nice little piece that's not mounted in any exotic way, but all mount points are ahead of the driveshafts and perhaps that's the key - check out day 2 for a good picture.
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The new throttle cable bracket.
You know, it doesn't look a whole lot different!
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The new bracket in place.
I could have flipped the existing one, but it would have sat quite high and probably interfered with the hood.
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To give more clearance for the exhaust, one of the water fittings will be tweaked.
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Bracket locations for the radiator.
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My fan will be a "pusher", sitting in front of the radiator.
Since the motor was golden in colour, I decided to make it a little more subtle.
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July 2, 2004:
Whoops, no argon for the welder.
So instead I spent a bit of time fitting the throttle cable bracket, drilling one of the side body panels and measuring a piece of aluminum to fit under the front of the nose. This last piece will both stiffen the nose and aid cooling.
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July 4, 2004:
It moves!
Yes, after a fair bit of work the Seven went out for an inagural cruise. No fireworks either.

First, the radiator had to be modifed to take a fan and to be fit to the frame. The end caps were a challenge to weld but Brian managed to get everything together. The water pump inlet was also rewelded in a new configuration. Then it was back to my garage where the radiator was installed, the reinforcing plate was installed under the nose and the car was prepared for an intial drive.

We lowered the Seven to the ground and weighed it. Much to my excitement, it came in at well under 1200 lbs. My estimate for a complete wet weight is around 1200 exactly. Not bad at all - I was anticipating 1400. The car also has a slight rear weight bias. I did a little happy dance.

Next came a rough alignment. Lacking any other numbers, I decided to use my typical Miata numbers only with less caster. The front came into line easily enough but the rear gave us some trouble. Due to the geometry of the rear, the upper arms are basically not adjustable at all. The lower ones are awkward to reach. We decided to leave the right rear wheel with 0 camber just so we could drive the car. The original control arm from the left side can be flipped upside down and used on the right - tellingly, the holes in the bracket are further inboard than the replacement one that was shipped to me. There's our camber.

With the wheels all bolted on, it was time to fire everything up. The ignition relay crapped out almost immediately and the battery was not equal to the task. So we threw an extra battery from the Land Rover in and hooked up some jumper cables. The charge light never went out so something's not right there. But it was driveable.

I had no oxygen sensor, no exhaust system and the timing wasn't set. The engine was not happy and had a hard time even idling. Some educated guessing on fuel setup helped, but it's still not quite right. It's obvious that one of my radiator modifications isn't quite sealing as well. The fan didn't want to start up properly either. All par for the course for a first drive really. What was it like to drive? The steering is nicely weighted and much lighter than I expected. The brakes take a good firm push. And the one time I managed to clear the engine and make a part-throttle run into second, I felt as if I'd hit light speed. This little beastie is going to be very, VERY fast. I felt comfortable with the controls (what ones there where) immediately.
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The mounting points for the fan.
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The modified water fitting compared to stock.
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With the modification to the water line, a stock rubber hose can be used (or a gaudy red one in the same shape).
Very convenient.
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A plate that I mounted under the nose.
It'll stiffen the front end and help cooling at the expense of about 1.5 lb of weight.
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The stock exhaust manifold.
I'll simply modify this for my exhaust.
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With a borrowed steering wheel from the Miata, the Seven is ready for a test drive! It's getting the initial weighing here.
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No radiator or body panels, but here are the results from the scales.
Less than I'd expected!
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Before driving, a rough alignment.
This is not a quick job as the suspension needs to be disassembled. In the rear this is difficult. The front was much easier.
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Out of the garage! The battery was tired so we had to jump the Seven with Brian's S-10.
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Miata meets the Seven!
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I expected the Seven to look smaller, but it's big for this type of car.
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No, we didn't bother aligning the steering wheel.
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Not a big car.
Brian checks out a leaking coolant line.
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The Land Rover and the Seven.
Somehow I don't think it's going to be difficult to decide which one to take for a given trip.
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