build diary

July 4, 2004:
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.
entry 407
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.
entry 408
The stock exhaust manifold.
I'll simply modify this for my exhaust.
entry 409
With a borrowed steering wheel from the Miata, the Seven is ready for a test drive! It's getting the initial weighing here.
entry 410
No radiator or body panels, but here are the results from the scales.
Less than I'd expected!
entry 411
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.
entry 412
Out of the garage! The battery was tired so we had to jump the Seven with Brian's S-10.
entry 413
Miata meets the Seven!
entry 414
I expected the Seven to look smaller, but it's big for this type of car.
entry 415
No, we didn't bother aligning the steering wheel.
entry 416
Not a big car.
Brian checks out a leaking coolant line.
entry 417
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.
entry 418

July 6, 2004:
After all the excitement of the first drive on the 4th, I took the day off to do other things.
Well, mostly. I did find the time to change the upper control arm on the right rear wheel. I had to replace the right rear upper arm when the original was found to have a misaligned bracket. Well, the bracket that was used for the replacement was drilled further out than the original arm for the left side. Luckily the left side part will fit the right if it's flipped upside down. Installing it gave me an extra 1.5 degrees of negative camber, putting the alignment right where I wanted it.
entry 419

Building the steering wheel adaptor.
entry 420
The steering wheel adaptor installed.
It's fairly minimalist!
entry 421
Here's why there was no negative camber in one wheel.
These are two upper control arms compared. The one with rod ends in it is too long.
entry 422
The original left side upper control is flipped upside down and mounted on the right wheel.
This gave an extra 1.5 degrees of negative camber, putting the car right where I wanted it.
entry 423
Test fitting a front fender.
entry 424

July 7, 2004:
I chopped up the factory exhaust manifold last night.
I'm not sure if I want to use the collector from it or not. I could obviously do better but I certainly couldn't pay less! 10 feet of pool hose is being used to mock up the header and determine pipe routing but it's a bit like wrestling a blue octopus that's lost a few tentacles. This is the first time I've tried to build a header of any sort and it's obviously a bit of an art.
entry 425

The factory exhaust manifold comes apart.
Reluctantly.
entry 426
The 4-1 collector for the factory manifold.
Not too bad for a free part.
entry 427
Using pool hose to mock up the header.
It's quite a challenge getting everything tucked into place.
entry 428
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