DanM's Westfield Miata

[MV8]

About the grounding, a 1/2 inch long #10 or 1/4 sheet metal screw can be ok for one or two 18ga wires if the powder coat is removed under the head. To extend the length of time between cleaning, use dielectric grease between or a spray sealer over the connection. For more or thicker wires, 1/4-20 riv nut, riv stud, drill a nearby existing bracket, weld or fit a plate across a corner or off a tube with two or more screws to hang a stud that can accept a cluster of ring terminals, a buss bar, terminal strip with a shorting bar, etc. The schematics give you an idea of where the ground junctions would be on the miata. On the caterham (and a lot of other older cars), instead of junction blocks, they stagger the splices over a foot of wire.

[fastg]

On a Miata there is an engine ground bolt in the back of the block/head, I think it's on the exhaust side. Make sure you use it or you will have problems. I remember on the Turbo Miata list when people would install MegaSquirts and ground them to the chassis. It got to the point were the first question to people having issues was, where is your 'Squirt grounded? Talk to me again when it's grounded to the stock engine ground. 

 

Graham 

[DanM]

2 hours ago, fastg said:

Talk to me again when it's grounded to the stock engine ground.

Will do! Thanks Graham

[DanM]

Quick Update......

 

Not much excitement here, still reading wiring diagrams....

 

Making spreadsheets and cross checking with reality. Spreadsheets also enabled me to filter and sort so I can quickly check multiple wires for a single system.

 

....and then more labelling.

 

I'm taking my time, trying to be tidy and methodical and only working in short burst of time....I think I'm finally starting to tune into it! 

[DanM]

....forgot to mention, I bought a packet of 12 small velcro straps (Red in the pictures) from the dollar store.  Makes tracing and moving wires so much easier!!

[DanM]

I've been away from the build for just over a month now.  First, I caught the mandatory cold from the kids and was out of commission for a week or so, then I had to finish up up a bunch of consulting work before my clients closed down for the holidays and finally I had my list of home projects that "MUST" be completed before we have guests over for Christmas.

 

Anyway, I managed to get a full day in the garage and tried to tune into where I had left off......oh yeah, wiring! Progress is still slow, but I think it is finally coming together.  My main focus is shortening the sections of wire behind the dash by cutting and crimping.

 

Here's a couple of pic of my progress.

 

Before

 

After

[IamScotticus]

Gotta love shrink tubing!

[DanM]

4 hours ago, IamScotticus said:

Gotta love shrink tubing!

For sure! It’s sooo easy to use and seal! …..just gotta remember to put it on before you crimp!!! 🤣

[IamScotticus]

There are shrink crimps with and w/o water sealing goo that melts around the wire.

[Austin David]

the best work I've done / seen involves uninsulated crimps, covered later with heat-shrink.  That way you can do the crimp correctly, then apply the insulation around it in the color of choice.  Otherwise, (a) color matches wire size, and not purpose, and (b) you crush the insulation when applying the crimp, which looks less fast.

 

It takes about 4x as long to do it this way, but gets better with practice.

[DanM]

4 hours ago, Austin David said:

the best work I've done / seen involves uninsulated crimps

That’s exactly how I’m doing mine. I really want to see a good crimp before I cover it.

[DanM]

Started focusing on the dash panel wiring today.  My centre dash panel will have switches for the Horn, Demister and Hazards and I will also add future proof wiring for AFR and Boost gauges.

 

I made a quick mock up of the dash panel to help me get some spatial awareness.

 

From the back

 

I have finally reinstated a bunch of the ground wires that I had removed to help untangle the illumination wire birds nest that I caused.  I may install a ground bar to help tidy these up.  Anyone else done this?

 

My inline fuse holders for the AFR/Boost Gauges and USB ports.

[DanM]

So, I'm writing this to try and convince myself that I'm actually making progress.  I'm guessing that if people give up on a build its around this time, when they have wiring fatigue and they have reached a point where everything they think about doing, has an impact to some other part of the build.  Being such a pensive guy, it takes all my effort not to overthink things and just freeze up....and when I do make a decision I realize I'm missing some hardware and it has to go on hold again.  On top of that Winter has finally set in were back to regular snow storms and frigid temperatures.

 

To help get some motivation back, I decided to go on a spending spree to make sure I had things when I needed them.  Seeing lots of boxes of parts coming through the door has certainly lifted my spirits a bit, although my wife has started making comments about Amazon blowing up her inbox with notifications!! 😏.  The list included:

• Silicone hoses and intake parts.
• Windscreen Washer kit
• Momo Steering wheel
• Tesa tape
• Convoluted tubing
• Interior LED lights
• Borgeson Steering parts (U-Joints and DD shaft)
• Oddessy battery
• Caterham push button switches
• .......

Hopefully this will keep me going and help get me over the hump.

 

So what have I been doing?

Well, the only visible changes since the last update are the completion of my relay trays and installation of my washer bottle. 

 

Washer bottle

For some reason my Miata bottle was completely different to the one in the build manual and completely unusable in the Westfield.  I opted for this universal bottle.

 

Looks compact and tidy! 

 

Relay Trays

The relay brackets & trays were made from scratch. They're not much to look at but I'm really proud of myself for taking the time to put them together.

 

Bent into shape and sprayed (The small one is a modified piece from the donor)

 

JB Welded to the aluminium tray

 

All sprayed up with relays positioned. Time for install.

 

Two trays in place!

 

There is still plenty of electrical to do, but I think I'm going to take a break for my sanity. Now I have my steering column parts I think I'll tackle that next.

[JohnCh]

10 hours ago, DanM said:

I'm guessing that if people give up on a build its around this time, when they have wiring fatigue and they have reached a point where everything they think about doing, has an impact to some other part of the build.  Being such a pensive guy, it takes all my effort not to overthink things and just freeze up....and when I do make a decision I realize I'm missing some hardware and it has to go on hold again. 

 

Dan, if it's any help, my build is far less complex, yet I feel the same way.  Although you forgot the part about the anxiety you have before making a cut or drilling a hole in an expensive, long lead time part and opting to measure 5-10 times just to be certain it's right, then stepping away for a day or two before measuring another 5-10 times and then maybe making the cut or maybe letting it sit for another day while you continue to contemplate if you overlooked anything    You are to be commended for both your approach and your dedication despite all the challenges thrown your way.  This one has not been easy.  I'm looking forward to reading about your first drive!

 

-John

[DanM]

Thanks for the kind words @JohnCh.  You're absolutely right about the anxiety!  One thing is for sure, you definitely learn a lot about yourself doing a build, what ever it is!! lol

[DanM]

Took a visit to "Ottawa Driveshaft and Steering" today to talk about shortening or fabbing up a driveshaft for me.  Turns out that my U-Joints have seen better days so I'll be getting one fabricated.  I have a 1990 1.6L engine and gearbox with a 99-05 differential and driveshaft from a 1.8L.  Rather than give them the dimensions from the manual I took some measurements from the car instead and gave them that.  They're going to make one up with a thinner shaft so I can get a better clearance in the tunnel.

 

Next task for me is figuring out the LHD steering set up to navigate the exhaust, etc. Here's my collection of new parts to play with.

 

 

I'm hoping to join the Ford parts that connect to the rack to the MX5 upper column parts with these U- joint adaptors and universal centre 3/4 DD shaft that will be cut to length.  The heim joint will hold it in place on a bracket that I will have to make. Fingers crossed it'll work out!!

Edited January 18, 2023 by DanM

[MV8]

You may want to dimple where the grub screws touch the DD shaft and use loctite as well as the jamb nuts to ensure they don't come loose. The joints are bare steel so wipe them down with acetone and let it sit a while before rattle can clear or black.

 

I guess you are having a 2.25" driveshaft made. The shaft is sized to be appropriate to the maximum rpm it will turn to prevent flexing/whipping but since you are probably going to be shorter than a miata shaft, it will probably be ok. The weld yokes are sized for a specific tube size and wall thickness (typically .065 or .095").

 

I built a replacement for my wife's na using all new parts since the originals are throw away with staked bearing caps, thin edges and no grooves for retaining clips. They eventually offered joints to the the original yokes but I wouldn't trust it. I used 7260 joints (same as dodge dakota) and 2.5 x .065 tube. I bought the parts and had a heavy truck driveshaft shop put it together and spin balance it.

[DanM]

Thanks @MV8.  I will definitely take your advice on this one re: dimples, loctite and painting.

 

Not sure exactly what they are going to propose for the driveshaft, we discussed some options and they are going to put together a plan for me.  2.25" and dodge joints does sound very familiar though!!

 

BTW that's a very tidy looking Miata there!  It looks mint!!

[DanM]

Steering column

This evening I made a start laying out a route for the steering shaft.  I think I mentioned before,  Wesfield do not have a LHD build manual.  All they provide is a 15 years out of date and incomplete RHD manual. As a result one of the key parts of the build (the steering) is left to us to figure out for ourselves.  To make it even more fun, they provide some LHD specific steering parts that don't really fit anywhere!

 

Thankfully I'm not the first LH builder and I managed to find some old threads and conversations on the UK forum that were quite useful.  I also spoke to some LHD builders who shared some photos to help. 

 

From what I can tell I'm trying to run the shaft under the coolant hoses, around the engine mounts, over the exhaust and then up through the footwell.  Easy right!? lol

 

Starting at the bottom, I have a ford connection to the rack which is held in place by the Westfield provided support bracket.  The bracket doesn't fit the frame very well, but I think its still usable if I fill the obvious gap with some washers.

 

From here I connect the first U-joint adaptor (9/16" - 36 spline to 3/4" DD) to the 3/4" DD universal shaft.

 

At some point along the length I will cut the DD shaft and attach the second U-joint adaptor (3/4" DD to 5/8" - 36 Spline). This will join the DD shaft with the lower Mazda steering column which passes through the footwell and connects to the Mazda upper steering column.  Just got to figure out where to poke it through the foot well and how far along the shaft to cut!

 

I'll leave that one for tomorrow! 🙂

[MV8]

Lateral is easy using a stick or wire gauge from the center of the column forward end to the chassis rail. For accurate vertical placement of the steering shaft hole in the firewall, you can run a string down the outside of the car between the center of these two joints. You can use a long wood dowel (to cut, square is better than round for this), some more blue masking tape, twine (found with concrete tools), and two string levels. The levels are about three inches long and hang from the twine.

1)      Cut the dowel into three pieces that are at least long enough to vertically cover the side of your chassis upper and lower rails.

2)      Fit the upper joint to the column end.

3)      Tie the twine around the center of this joint. Run the string horizontally through the side of the frame.

4)      Tape a vertical dowel on to the side of the car so the twine, when wrapping around the dowel, does not slope forward or backward in the overhead view. It should he both horizontal and perpendicular to the chassis. If there happens to be a chassis tube in the way, go around the aft side of the tube and don't add a dowel. Use a string level between the chassis and the joint to bring the string level then tape the string to the dowel/tube to hold it level.

5)      Repeat the process for the other joint of the steering shaft you want to make a hole to clear except that if a tube is in the way, go around the forward side.

6)      Now place a dowel, ruler, or anything you can place across the firewall where you can ensure it is level and the end can reach the string outside the chassis and mark a line on the firewall. This will give you the height of the hole. If one or the other end had a tube in the way, the hole will be a little higher or lower than the line depending on which end of the string is offset in the overhead view.

7)      When cutting the string, tie a knot near the end and melt the cut ends so they do not unravel.