DanM's Westfield Miata

[MV8]

[DanM]

WTF?  Lol

[IamScotticus]

23 minutes ago, MV8 said:

Can we get that in Santa Christmas livery?

[DanM]

This evening I worked on the tunnel and passenger side panels.  After the pain that I went through using the hand riveter on all the other panels, I decided to invest in a cheap air riveter for the last two.

 

Wow! what a difference, so much so that my son joined me in the garage and attached the passenger side panel.

 

Then, I move to the tunnel.  My plan is to secure the tunnel top using rivnuts and screws, so todays focus was on positioning them and drilling pilot holes. 

 

Unfortunately, there is a side rivet positioned next to the overlapping joint between the gear stick and hand brake right where I want to put a rivnut.  To get around this I will insert the rivnuts on the cross brace.

 

[DanM]

While I was on a roll, I got the family involved again today and decided to temporarily fit the body.  I was curious to see how much access there was with the body in place and also where I needed to trim do get a good fit on the chassis.

 

I need to trim around the dash hoop, so masked up and used my dremel to make small cuts.

 

I also had to trim about 5mm near the back panel as that was catching too.  Finally I got the 400mm positioning I was after.

 

I then placed the scuttle as best I could to see how much needed to be trmmed there.   

 

Looks like I need to take off about about 30-40mm before it will locate on the body.

 

Lastly, I installed my prototype dash. I'm going for an eco-friendly recyclable material! lol

[panamericano]

Gads!  It's beginning to look like a motorcar.  

[DanM]

Driveshaft

 

Quite a low key evening in the garage tonight, I wanted to take some measurements for my driveshaft so I can finally get that ordered. I took the Miata shaft into the local driveshaft supplier and after inspection the universal joint were trash so I got a quote for a new one to be made up for me.  I just needed to provide them with the measurements.

 

The manual gives some direction on how long the shaft should be, however because I have mixed up the components ('90 engine/gearbox with '99-'05 differential) I wanted to be sure that I have the exact measurements.

 

To do this I used a wooden dowel and trimmed it to fit exactly between gearbox shaft and the differential flange. It was 618mm from one end to the other.

 

 

 

 

If I get it ordered tomorrow, hopefully it will be here by the time I get back from my winter vacation.

[MV8]

You may end up with a shaft too long or one that cannot be remove or installed without loosening the diff mount.

 

I suggest inserting the slip yoke fully (without distorting the seal), then pulling it out a 1/2 inch. Bolt the pinion flange coupler to the pinion flange. rotate one end or the other so the bearing caps are aligned, then measure from the center of each hole where the bearing cap is inserted.  Provide this dimension (bearing center to center) to the shop.

[DanM]

I just got back from a week in Mexico with the family.  It was awesome to escape Ottawa and get some warmth in my body after a winter that has seemed to drag on.  It hasn't been as cold as normal, but we had about 3m of snow fall between December and March and have another 10-15cm due before spring starts to kick in.

 

I spent the weekend reviewing where I was in the build and writing down what I still need to order to keep things moving. Turns out there are still a few LHD problems to solve and that usually means getting out the credit card and getting spanked for the exchange rate and shipping. 

 

One of the items to solve is the routing of the coolant expansion tank piping. 

 

The usual method is to use the long curvy coolant tube supplied in the kit, however this doesn't work on the LHD cars because the pedal box and master cylinders are positioned exactly where the pipe would sit. It would also interfere with brake lines.  Westfield kindly sent me the RHD expansion tank pipe, so I may try to salvage it in some way by cutting it into sections and jointing the parts with flexible hose.

 

The only down side it that I'll need to put a bead in the pipe to hold the hose clamps.  I checked out a small bead roller on amazon and they aren't cheap!  While I continue to ponder that one I installed the radiator using some shock absorbing double studs and connected up the pipe work from the water pump outlet, supporting the length it with a clip attached to the chassis.

 

Question for the Westfield builders out there:  The anti vibration studs have a 2cm rubber, will this position the radiator too far forward so it interferes with the nose cone?

[DanM]

The sun was shining this evening and with the temp. at around 5C, I decided to open the garage doors this and work in the natural light and fresh air.

 

A big day today, as I got my new driveshaft from "Ottawa Driveshaft and steering".  They made a nice new one for me and it looks great!! 

 

They made it thinner than the Mazda OEM shaft and so there seems to be a good clearance in the tunnel.

 

With that nicely secured in place a installed the handbrake. 

 

Tomorrow we're expecting (Hopefully) the last snow storm of the season 5-10cm so I may spend a bit more time on the coolant tubes.

[DanM]

I spent the last couple of evenings drilling, filling and dremelling the unused Mazda power plant frame attachment on the gearbox so I could install the 90 degree speedo cable adaptor (Toyota part).  I was too scared to use cutting tools under the car so it was an arduous job and the finish is not particularly tidy....but the adaptor now fits..

 

 

 

[DanM]

After this slight detour in my diary I am returning to the coolant tank line......

 

I decided to cut the solid tube in to two parts and joint them with a short length of rubber hose to avoid the pedal box, etc..

 

I made myself a pipe beader out of a cheap crimping tool from Amazon to help secure it all together...seemed to work ok, we'll see when there is fluid in the system!!

 

...and then made a small bracket to attach it to the chassis.

 

...another LHD problem solved! 😁

[DanM]

The next task I have decided to throw my hand at is test fitting all the bodywork so I can secure the tub and continue with the electrics.  First I made a small template for the exhaust cut out....then I had to remove the exhaust headers to get the exhaust pipe out!

 

Then, I did a bit more trimming.  Although I had made a start a few weeks ago, I still had to cut a small section out of the scuttle so it fits over the pedal box bracket.

 

With the weather starting to warm up a little I took my dremel outside and trimmed the scuttle on our garden box.

 

Then I loaded everything onto the chassis and clamped it in place.

 

With the 400mm rear tub position, it looks like the wheels are central(ish) in the wheel arches, however at the front then nose cone is too far back and seems to interfere with the upper wishbones.  I imagine this will get worse once the car is on the ground.

 

I have also noticed that with the nose perfectly positioned with respect to the headlight brackets, the hood does not align very well.  I have tried to see how much play there is and there isn't really enough to make a difference.

 

Other observations...the hood on the RHS near the scuttle also sticks out, even though the positioning dimples are perfectly aligned to the tub (LHS near the scuttle is perfect!)

 

Question

What are some of the trade offs people have made with their body fitment?  Wheels not central? Nose cone not straight, etc.  I'm probably not going to get a chance to do anymore until next weekend so I need to get myself a strategy....or lower my fitment expectations! lol

[DanM]

Most of my garage time this week has been patiently fettling with the hood, to get it lined up better with the nose and scuttle.  This has involved a lot of measuring, removing, trimming and re-installing....over and over again.

 

Both the returns on the RHS were trimmed as well as the RHS locating groove.

 

 

Seems to be coming together.....😁

 

I also started fitting the Mazda dash panel.  

 

As normal, I read through some build threads and looked at any available photos (not that many available) to see what trimming needed to be done and I got the sense that my dash was different. After PMing some members, I found out that the panel mold has changed.  Not sure why, considering the low volumes of LHD SDVs, perhaps for some reason they briefly changed suppliers before administration!?  Whateever the reason, the older panels do not have the return around the top and sides of the scuttle.

 

 

I think these need to be trimmed right back to the corners.  If anyone has had a similar experience do please reach out before I go too far!

[MV8]

Does that panel glue to the normal panel or rivet? That info and a pic of the instrument panel that will be covered would help in determining how much if any you could cut for vehicle profile esthetics. From what I see, cutting that out would leave a high/proud panel edge that could catch on clothing or shoes and damage the panel. It would also weaken the outboard instrument pod support, which could eventually result in stress cracks. I guess the mazda panel is fiberglass out of a textured mold for the surface finish.

I would at least lower the horizontal cut line an inch and make the line diagonal or radiused. 

[DanM]

The front dash face screws to the fiberglass scuttle and the edges are coved in a nice finishing trim.  I should be able to cut everything right back to the edge and cover it with the trim.

[DanM]

More bodywork today....

 

First, I wanted to drill out all the scuttle holes in the tub so I could get it positioned and rivetted to the car.

 

Then I found a nice flat clear surface (my living room floor) and clamped together the nose cone and bonnet to drill the alignment holes.

 

Then I put it all back on the car to get a final position for the tub.  Once happy I drilled and riveted the tub to the chassis.

 

 

and with the tub secured I drilled a hole for the exhaust using the wooden jig I'd positioned previously.  I drilled a pilot hole from the inside and then used a hole saw bill from the outside in.

 

 

My final piece of bodywork test fitting will be the scuttle to tub holes.   Once they are done I can remove everything again and move forward with the front part of the wiring loom. 

[DanM]

Before I get myself back into wiring, today I installed my clutch slave cylinder and new braided hose.  I couldn't easily find a 4ft braided hose to directly connect the slave (M10 x 1) to the master cylinder (3/8 x 24 UNF), so instead I bought a 4ft braided hose 3AN with 2 adapters to connect everything up.

 

The slave cylinder end connected no problem at all...

 

 

But on the master cylinder end the 3/8 x 24 end of the adapter wasn't deep enough to for the flares to touch.

 

 

Did anyone else have a similar issue connecting with the AP racing master cylinder (CP2623 Type)? 

[DanM]

I couldn't resist it.....more fiberglass trimming!  This time it was the scuttle and dash panel.

 

So the Mazda SDV dash panel that I was sent was different to the older kits and required a lot more trimming.  The next few photos will give you a sense of the work required to get it fitted.

 

The start

 

With the sides trimmed off.

 

The centre piece and two sides sit about 5cm above the scuttle so you have to slowly trim them making lots of small cuts. I used a paint stirrer as a measuring guide to mark the panel before zipping off the edge with the dremel.

 

My diamond cutting blade made light work of the fiberglass.

 

Once its about there, you draw around the gauge dome and cut through the scuttle.  The dome is supposed to sit on top so you cut inside the line.

 

One of the reasons the standard heater set up wont work on the SDV.

 

Eventually after about 20 rounds (at least) of measure, remove, cut and test, I got it to sit nicely.

[DanM]

This week I have been mostly pottering around the engine bay, trying to get to a point where its nearly all mocked up so I can restart the wiring.

 

The main task was to fit the coolant re-route plumbing back to the radiator.  The plumbing was a combination of the reroute kit from Supermiata, Aluminium tube from the local metal supplier and some right angled hoses from amazon.  This turned out to be a 2 steps forward 1 step backwards affair as I was so preoccupied with getting the route nice and neat that I completely forgot about the radiator fan and top cover!!!  It wasn't until I was standing back admiring my handy work that I noticed the fan siting on my shelving unit! S**t!!

 

Thankfully, it was just a matter of taking material off the aluminium tube, so after walking away for the evening I came back to it the next day and finished it off.

 

First the radiator fan.

 

Then the top bracket

 

and finally the reroute pipe.