DanM's Westfield Miata

[DanM]

A bit more progress today.  First I fitted the new banjo bolt fitting for the clutch cable.

 

 

Then I turned my attention to mocking up the coolant reservoir and tube.

 

First I roughly located the reservoir, before attaching the solid pipe to check the positioning and clearances. 

 

 

Once happy with the way it fitted together, I installed a rivnut on the scuttle and trimmed the flexible reducing hose before a final end to end test fit.

 

 

 

[DanM]

Back to wiring again.  This time I have been focusing on tidying the front left harness for the lighting, fan and horn, etc..

 

Back in went the harness.

 

Then I repurposed a bracket from the Mazda to mount the main fuse box.

 

The I positioned the battery holder while I still had room.  I decided to go with an Odyssey PC-680 (Modern equivalent) and picked up a bracket from Amazon. The bracket was secured with rivnuts.

 

Finally, I organized my tools and got to work.

 

 

Loom layout

 

Shortening wires and making brackets

 

Positioning lights

 

I am going to try and recycle some of the mazda connectors for the lights so they can be removed if necessary.

[DanM]

Not much visible progress to speak of this week.  I spent most of the time running the battery and starter cables and making sure the ground points were in place, before I start testing the lighting wiring, etc.

 

I did however manage to solve (fingers crossed) my clutch interlock switch problem that was lingering in the back of my mind.  With limited real estate inside the pedal box I couldn't figure out how or where I was going to install it and the large cable that fed it from the 80A main fuse.

 

 

My plan would involve securing it to the side of the pedal box as far down as it would go without interfering with the clutch pedal connections and then make a small connecting arm that would attach to the pedal and press the plunger.

 

Measuring the location of the bolts.

 

Switch attached inside

 

I then attached my multimeter and marked to point on the plunger where the switch engaged.  This would determine the length of the arm.

 

The are was bent and shaped out of some scrap metal from my miata left overs bin.

 

Then riveted to the pedal

 

I initially drilled and tapped a hole for a bolt so I could adjust the throw, but after installing and testing it on the car it wasnt needed after all.

 

Voila!!

[DanM]

I guess I'm at that part of the build where I seem to be in the garage every day making progress on something, however because one think is dependent on another it feels like I have started a million different tasks but finished none of them!

 

One task I was able to start and finish in an evening was replacing the gauge faces on the mazda cluster and resetting the odometer to zero to match the chassis.

 

I bought the new gauge faces from Revlimiter.net in the states.  Adam runs a very small enterprise (basically himself) and creates some great looking and well made faces.  He is also a supporting vendor of the Miata.net community.  I choose the Warbird faces, with the new LED light replacement.

 

Adam gives his products a real personal touch and the kit came gift wrapped with a note, everything you need to change the faces plus a hot wheels toy, some gum and some swag.  

 

 

The process is pretty simple and the key message is to take your time and use the gloves, so you don't leave a finger mark on the faces.

 

Out with the old.

 

Remove some of the internals to enable light through to the bottom of the face.

 

Replace the old green lights with the new LEDs.

 

Before adding the new faces I wanted to reset the odometer to zero to match the zero Km chassis.  First, I carefully removed it from the cluster, then I tested the gears to see if they would roll back......they did!!  Next I attached a small soft bush wheel on my dremel tool, set it to the lowest speed and began gently winding it back.

 

 

In total I had over 234,000km to remove, which took me about 2 hours to complete with a few breaks in between.

 

Finally, with everything refreshed I reassembled the cluster and admired my handy work.

 

[panamericano]

Very nice looking set of gauges.  The fuel gauge in kg may make you feel a bit F1ish.

[DanM]

@panamericano Thank You.  Hopefully they will pass inspection.  If not I have kept the old ones.

[DanM]

Here are some more photos of what I've been up to this last month.

 

Grounding points

I think I went OTT with the wire harness grounding points but my worst fear on this project is electrical fire.

 

 

Horn

 

Lighting

I also connected the battery and went through the wiring from front to back, connected/tested the various lighting circuits.   Everything seems to work, just a broken indicator pod bulb and faulty Daytime Running Light (DRL) relay (it was working when I started, but suddenly died).  New one ordered.

 

I used the indicator pod light to test other circuits, including the brake lights, plate light and rear fog light.

 

Sensor bungs

I decided that I would go all in and install the Megasquirt with wideband AFR from the get-go.  This meant that I needed to install a new wideband O2 sensor in the exhaust and delete the Mazda Air Flow Meter (AFM) and install a new GM Intake Air Temp (IAT) on the intake (As per Megasquirt instructions).  The parts have been dropped off at the welder.

 

[DanM]

Gauge and Switch plate

 

While the SDV has an interesting curved dashboard, I find that there is a lot of empty space in the centre that needs some design features to make it pop a bit.

 

Early on in the build I was playing around with some designs and finally landed on this. 

 

Now was the time to see if I could make something.  First of all I made a cardboard template to match the curves of the cluster bubble and the passenger side curves.

 

I then traced the design on to a piece of acrylic that I bought from the local arts and crafts shop.

 

 

I wanted the surface to be a carbon fibre effect, so I searched the web and found some cf effect vinyl wrap.

 

Its not perfect, but looks good from sitting distance.

 

I trial fitted my gauges and switches.  Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

[Austin David]

That is nice!

[IamScotticus]

Like horn 🎺 button

[DanM]

45 minutes ago, IamScotticus said:

Like horn 🎺 button

All the button switches are from Caterham. :-)

[DanM]

With my intake tube and exhaust back from the welder, I can start to assemble the Megasquirt infrastructure. 

 

I opted for the MSPNP2 with the 1990 miata map, so just need to install a Intake Air Temperature sensor in the intake and a run a hose from the intake manifold to ECU to measure the Mass Air Pressure.

 

New IAT with K&N filter (RU-5174)

 

To hold it all together I fabricated and painted a small hanger to secure the intake with a hose clamp.

[DanM]

I managed to complete a few smaller jobs in the last few days. All progress is good progress.

 

First I fitted my Revotec self sealing hose connector to the air intake for the crank case ventilation.  This was the second one I had to order as I messed up the part number on my first try.  Anyway its now fitted so the intake is now buttoned up. 

 

Then I moved on to the fog light switch, the only stand alone Miata switch that I decided to reuse.

 

It took a few tries to get the position and orientation correct, but I think it came out ok.

 

I then had to re-install the dash panel to see how everything would look when its done.  Its not perfect, but its tidy and a bit more interesting to look at.

 

Next I made up a new wideband O2 sensor input connect for the megasquirt. I decided to make a separate input instead of splicing into the existing harness just incase I have to put the stock ECU back in for safety inspection.

 

 

The set up was very flimsy with just one pin being used in the connector so I ran the wire through a pvc cable jacket that I had laying around and wrapped it secure with cable tape.

 

Lastly, I fitted the rear arches.

 

I have used the M6 hardware provided for now, but plan to swap it out for plastic bolts (or it is Nylon I can never remember).  

[DanM]

More little tasks yesterday.

 

First I attached the rear body work, trying to keep the wheels hub. centralized in the rear arches.  The RHS was spot on so could be rivetted immediately, however the LHS needed a bit more fettling.  I think I managed to get it within about 5-10mm of the target.

 

 

Then I installed the fuel filler neck and cap assembly.  First I masked the inside, temporarily attached the hose and used it to identify the centre of the 65mm circle cutout. 

 

After drilling a pilot hole from the inside I then moved outside used a hole cutter to do finish the job.

 

Finally I marked and drilled the gas cap screw holes before fitting the cap and clamping everything secure.

 

[DanM]

More bodywork tasks this weekend.

 

Rear lights.  As you can see I still love the blue painters tape.

 

Unfortunately the nuts and bolts needed for the indicator units were missing from my stash, so I will need to buy them tomorrow when the stores open after the long weekend.  I think I will also take the time to spray some rubberized protection in the wheel arches before I finally attach them.

 

I also positioned the nose cone, drilled through the fiberglass and installed the top bolts to secure it.  Unfortunately I was missing the bolts for the lower mount so I used my workshop chair to hold it in place temporarily.

 

With the nose cone lined up I positioned and drilled the underside of the body to the chassis, using Clecos to keep it all in place while I rivetted.  I dabbed a bit of silicone sealant on each rivet before squeezing them in.

 

[DanM]

Productivity seems to be high at the moment and so I'm trying to maximize my time in the garage.  Yesterday I attached the exhaust pipe to the chassis. 

 

First I located the mounting point on the chassis and drilled a pilot hole from the inside-out through the fiberglass.

 

Then I masked off the area, inserted the bolt and sleeve and marked around them as a template.  Slowly I worked from the outside-in filing out the hole until the sleeve passed through.

 

I wasn't sure how the rest of the mounting brackets were oriented, so with some help from members of the UK forum I was able to assemble the other parts.  

 

To ensure I was able to get my spanners in there, I first attached the mounting bracket.

 

Then I assembled the rubber mount and exhaust cradle to the silencer using loctite on the cradle bolts. Again thanks for the advice!

 

Doing it in this order made it easy for me to offer up and secure the exhaust to the chassis will minimal fuss.

 

 

With the exhaust now in place, its time to prepare the Megasquirt and begin planning for a first start!

[fastg]

Looking good. Make sure you remove any finger prints from the exhaust before first startup or the will burn in. Just use a solvent and rag to remove any residue. 

 

Graham 

[Austin David]

oven cleaner was the magic potion for curing chrome motorcycle exhaust.  do these get hot enough for that to work?

[DanM]

2 hours ago, fastg said:

Make sure you remove any finger prints from the exhaust before first startup or the will burn in

Thanks Graham, I hadn't even thought of that!!! 

[DanM]

So yesterday I spent the afternoon and evening filling the car up with fluids.  Engine, Transmission, Differential and Coolant.

 

Due to the lack of access to the transmission and differential filler holes I bought some 1/2inch vinyl tube and drip fed the fluid from above.  Made a mess at first but slow got into it.

 

Differential (Much easier than the transmission)

 

I filled the coolant in steps while it slowly seeped into the system. 

 

I left it overnight and then topped it up again this morning.  I also installed new spark plugs, HT leads and finally the air filter.

 

Today I will focus on the megasquirt set up and hopefully turn over the engine to get the fluids pumped around.

 

Does anyone have any start up tips for me?  I'm feeling quite nervous, considering I assembled the engine myself!