build diary

June 6, 2005:
I've been busy building a Miata for the Car and Driver Superfour Challenge.
It should weigh twice as much as the Seven and have at least three times the power. It should go.

The Seven itself is awaiting new bushings for the differential and for me to get off my butt and build that new front diff mount. I did spend some time over the weekend thinking about the instrumentation, and I've decided to simply mount the 2001 cluster in the Seven instead. I'll need some new connectors to plug in to it but I can find those. More importantly, I need to replace the white gauge faces with black ones. I have a set lined up and I'll exchange them soon enough. It's a pity to lose my current gauge faces because I like the vertical style, but it's probably more useful to have a full complement of functional gauges when I think about it. I've also decided to pick up a Datatool Revlight for the sequential shift lights. They show up at a good price once in a while and it's probably cheaper than trying to build my own. Auto dimming, easy to reprogram - a very cool little unit. Let's see how it works out.
entry 886

June 9, 2005:
A post about my differential troubles to the Locost mailing list (why didn't I talk to that group earlier?) uncovered a couple of folks who have solved very similar problems in the same way I'm planning.
I have also been in contact with the new owner of the GRM car. It's been out to Thunderhill several times since I was there and he reports that installing a set of stock Miata sway bars dropped his lap time from 2:11 to 2:06. That sounds worthwhile! He also said he could take turn 1 flat out so he's faster than I am by far. His car is running on 225/45-15 Kumhos which should provide a lot of stick.

In other news, I've ordered the appropriate wiring parts I need to run the new instrument panel. It turns out the 2001 panel has a computer inside and wants a lot more information than my simpler, older one, so the connectors are bigger. Greg at Auto Vend is sending me a set - thanks! I'm not working very much on the Seven these days as various Miatas are taking up my time, but at least I'm doing a lot of planning. The final text for the book has been sent off so that's going well.
entry 887

June 13, 2005:
Finally, some time spent on the Seven!
I'm taking advantage of this down time to do a number of modifications to the car so it's going slowly. Road tests of the Caterham CSR are hitting print and EVO magazine had a very interesting photo of some frame reinforcements that were added. I can't do all of them but some are based around the transmission tunnel. There are some good photos of the frame available online as well although this may be the pre-modification version. I've started planning new tubes. After a close look, it appears that there is no easy way to put a differential mount directly over the nose of the diff so a short PPF will likely be the final solution. A plate will be welded to the side of the transmission tunnel to provide both stiffness and a mounting point. The new wiring for the instruments also arrived so I need to start working there. Now I have to decide how much of the capabilities of the new cluster I want to use - electronic odometer, turn indicator lights, etc. It's just a matter of what holes need to be cut into the dash.
entry 888

Multimatic and Caterham made these modifications to the CSR frame and saw a 75-100% improvement in stiffness.
Hmm.
entry 889
After looking at the CSR chassis, I've decided to add a couple of tubes to my own while it's exposed.
A vertical plate will be inserted above the driveshaft to help prevent twisting and (not shown) a diagonal across the top. The differential will have to be removed in order to take the driveshaft out of the frame but it was borderline before.
entry 890
The differential mount - again.
I've changed my mind about what to do here as I'm not convinced I can anchor a mount properly right above the nose at this point. A very short PPF substitute will be brought forward and bolted to a plate that will be welded to the transmission tunnel over the side of this entire opening. The proposed diagonal bar is shown in this photo.
entry 891

June 14, 2005:
The new bushings for the differential housing compared to a stock rubber one.
I need to drill out the center hole to take a metal sleeve. They're rock hard.
entry 892
The cute little tachometer.
Simple installation, I just need to figure out where it wants to go on the car. This will give me green lights from 3500-6000 rpm, yellow for 6500-7000 and red for 7500-8000. It even automatically dims at night. How cool is this?
entry 893

June 15, 2005:
Yesterday was like Christmas.
Parts started arriving from all over. The LED tachometer (aka RevLight) showed up and it's a cute little thing. I'll have to figure out how best to fit it into the dash, but this will save me a lot of work. The new diff bushings from Jonathan Frenkel (whose name I just butchered) also showed up. They're solid! There's no chance of the differential moving around with these in place. Of course they'll also transfer more load to the side mounting bolts but that's easy enough to reinforce. I really want to play with the LED tach first, though. It's just so neat.
entry 894

June 16, 2005:
Exciting news!
A Flyin' Miata customer has access to a louvre punch. He'd be happy to help me poke some holes in the hood. This is a happy situation as I've been looking for someone to do this for some time. The louvres should help alleviate the high underhood pressure that's keeping my intake temperatures high, heating up the transmission tunnel and lifting the hood above 80 mph or so. They'll also look good. I'm so excited, I want to go punch them right now. Of course, I should probably also get the car running so I can see how it all works.
entry 895

June 21, 2005:
The Seven is going to be ignored for the next couple of weeks.
Between building and testing the Flyin' Miata car for the Car and Driver Superfour Challenge, resurrecting my own Miata to take to Michigan (long story) and testing various chassis reinforcements on Janel's little blue car, I'm just not going to have time. I did spend a few minutes poking around the 2001 instrument cluster, though. In 1995, Mazda changed the oil pressure gauge to a simple on-off device that looks like a gauge. My fully functional 1990 pressure gauge will not bolt into the 2001 cluster. Instead of running the car with a gauge that looks like a gauge but acts like a light, I've decided to install a water temperature gauge in there instead. The stock Miata water temperature gauge has a large "sweet spot" and isn't exactly linear. I might use the driver for the fuel gauge instead, I just have to check the resistance values. I am hopeful. Some surgery of the gauge faces will be required in order to get them to fit in their new homes but that's easy to do with scissors. And the oil pressure gauge? It will be replaced with an obnoxious light set to about 7 psi. If there's an oil pressure failure, I want to know about it immediately.
entry 896

July 8, 2005:
As promised, the Seven was completely ignored for a while.
I was running around the country with the fast Miata for work. The Car and Driver competition went well and there was some good machinery along. Caterham couldn't make it, unfortunately. That was a shame. I was hoping for the chance to crawl all over a CSR.

One of the things I did while in Michigan was exchange my Canadian 1990 Miata (sigh) for an original Mini and drove it home in two days. 800 miles in one day at a 71 mph average in a Mini? Yup! The Miata couldn't be registered in the US and so it had to go. The Mini is old enough to live in the US so it's taken up residence in the garage and will soon claim some web space as well. Between the Mini, the 1966 Cadillac, the 1967 Land Rover and of course the pseudo-Lotus, some might think that I'm stuck in the past.

So what about that little Seven car? Well, this weekend I plan on wiring up the gauges for the 2001 and pulling the differential. If I really got into it I could have the diff modification done this weekend but I think I'll take some time to relax. It's been a long hard haul on cars recently.
entry 897

The newest addition to the fleet meets the Seven.
It's fairly easy to see where the Land Rover parks when it's in the garage, too.
entry 898

July 11, 2005:
Finally, some Seven news that's actually technical and not just prattle about other cars.
The differential is out (I enjoy that job less each time I do it) and is being fitted with new bushings. I've started working on the mount as well. I'm considering selling the exotic Guru differential that's currently in the car and replacing it with a standard Torsen. It would save weight and I really don't need the strength of the Guru. The preloading is nice so it won't wheelspin like a Torsen with an unloaded wheel, though.

I've also spent a couple of minutes mucking around with sway bars. I'm trying to figure how to best mount a set of stock Miata ones to the Seven. Given that I also have some high-rate springs on the way, I might just put one smaller one on the front. Or I'll just be a little more creative. I know it's been done before. Also, while goofing around the rear wheels, I noticed the rear brake rotors are blued from heat. The fronts are fine. Well, at least I know I'm working the rear brakes! Perhaps they'll get an upgrade later.
entry 899

Looks as if the rear brakes got a workout on the track.
Perhaps I'll upgrade these to the slightly larger ones from a 1.8 Miata. All I need is rotors, pads and caliper brackets.
entry 900
Sway bar madness! A collection of Miata sway bars to try out on the Seven.
entry 901
For my new differential bushings, I need to reuse the steel sleeve from the Miata part.
This is gooey work.
entry 902
The new bushings are pressed into the differential housing.
entry 903
The first part of the differential mount comes together.
entry 904

July 14, 2005:
The Mini needs a bit of work on cooling (as do I, it's waaay too hot!
) which has taken away from Seven time. The Mini will get its own site shortly. Still, I did manage to finish the work on the diff last night. I just need to finish the mounts for the side points. I'll do the same thing that CMC did - it can be seen here on Heikki's site. Then it's back to my home garage with the bits so I can put some plate on the transmission tunnel and get this all bolted up. After that, it's simply a matter of reworking the (ugly) transmission cover, wiring in the new instruments and modifying the housing, adding sway bars and reassembling. The new harnesses (proper Seven ones with pull-down lap belts) will be here in a couple of weeks. I have some work to do before then!
entry 905

My little baby PPF.
It's not sexy, but it will allow me to connect the diff in a better location and use more fasteners.
entry 906
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