11Budlite Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Ok, so it was running in the fall when I got it inspected and registered, but it never ran very well. I tried a few different starter maps but they were either too rich with black smoke coming out of the exhaust, or too lean with hesitation and popping and spitting from the intake. So I finally got my wideband wired up and running and then went to try it out and the car wouldn't start. Did a few checks and I could see I wasn't getting any spark. Couldn't remember what I did to cause it but by this time it was late November, so I decided to push it around back to my basement "garage" and leave it for spring. :ack: So today I decide to take a day off from work and see what I can do to get it running again. So I push it back around to the "real" garage and start playing around with a test light. I can see that the fuses check out and I'm getting power to the ignition/ECU relays, but I'm not getting power to the coil. So I put a new relay in and it's the same thing. So I take the ECU cover off the passenger footwell to access the ECU and the back of the relay holders. Everything looks ok, but after playing with the wires a bit, I can see that one wire has been pushed out of the relay holder just enough that the relay wasn't making contact. So bend the tang of the terminal out a bit, and pop it back in place and she holds fine. So crank it over and she fires right up!! Unfortunately, it still runs like it did in the fall. But it was a beautiful day up here, so I have some additional incentive to get it running right. So I "borrowed" Randall Kerth's map from the Birkinowner's mailing list and with the help of my son Matt, downloaded it to my ECU, turned on the fuel pump, double checked the fuel pressure, cranked it over and she fires right up. So I gave it a little throttle and no spits, pops, or bangs. Hmmm, we could be onto something here! So I let it warm up, checking for any lean conditions, leaks, coolant/oil temp, etc and everything seems fine. So what the heck, I tell Matt to hop in and monitor the laptop and we take it for a spin. Well, as soon as I pull out of the driveway I can tell something is different!! We take it down some back roads and she seems to be running fine. No hesitation/popping/stumbling, the temps are all normal, great oil pressure, charging a little above 14 volts, the suspension is soaking up bumps and potholes much better than before (thanks to Woody Harris' rear trailing arm kit), and the T9 tranny that I rebuilt with a BGH close ratio gearkit and Cherik's expert advice is shifting beautifully with what seems to be perfect ratios! So there are a few issues like the speedo that seems to be reading about half speed, the steering wheel is off center a bit, the brakes don't seem to have a great initial bite, I have to calibrate the gas gauge, and I still have to get it on a dyno, but man she runs and drives and what a blast! I love this car!!! So I don't want to get too personal or all emotional, but this has been an almost 6-year on-again/off-again project while my family and I dealt with some trying circumstances. Finding time to work on the car was very difficult at times but I kept plugging away knowing that at some point it would all be worth it...AND IT WAS!!! I'd like to extend a special thanks to all the guys on the Birkinowners mailing list, all you guys on the USA7's site, a special thank you to Al N. for encouraging me to get involved here, and Mazda for all the hard work he's done on this great site!! I look forward to many, many years of se7en activities!!! And I guess I should thank my very understanding wife Nancy, who's been my greatest supporter and has helped in any way she could to make my se7en dream come true!! Bruce :7fume: PS: One more thank you to my son Matt for helping me with the maps and laptop, if it weren't for him I'd still be in the garage scratching my head, ok, banging my head!! :banghead: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 What a group we are! Who else thinks it's a historical event when their car starts:)! Mine started yesterday for the first time in a long time so I have real empathy for you on this. Congratulations for hanging in there. Ditto your spouse-all of us have very special wives/signif others for tolerating our obsession with these totally irrational, wonderful little cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 I can't wait to fire mine up... hopefully before Bob It's nice that everything seemed to work day 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athens7 Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Those 'aha' moments when your car feels RIGHT (usually after significant expenditures of time/money) sure are great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevet Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Congratulations Bruce (and Nancy!) :cheers: Question: did you order the gearkit from BGH direct? Have I already asked you this (it's an age thing...) Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11Budlite Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 Thanks guys!! Had a great day driving it to work, giving rides at lunch time, answering lots of questions, and taking Nancy out for a nice ride and dinner. We even got the speedo calibrated which was really easy! I think I put on over 50 miles today!! "Question: did you order the gearkit from BGH direct? Have I already asked you this (it's an age thing...)" - Even if you did Steve, I couldn't remember! To answer your question, yes I talked to Brian himself and did a lot of research on Blatchat, Cherik's website, and Phil's home page before deciding on the BGH 2.8 Sporting Close gear kit. I went with the 2.75, 1.75, 1.26, 1.00, and .84 ratios and have been very happy so far. I think it would have no trouble pulling the 2.66 gear so that is certainly a possibility, but I decided to go with the 2.75 1st gear because I might be switching to 205/50x15 tires due to the better availability. I went with the .84 instead of the .82 5th gear for the same reason - that and I think he didn't have any .82's at the time. Brian was great to work with, the parts were well packed and I rec'd them in about 3 days. I got the kit in the summer of 2006, so the exchange rate was a little better then. Not sure what the damage would be these days. If you really are interested, let me know and I can check my records a little better and give you some more info. I think I still have a new long input shaft that I ordered by mistake (think it works with the Cat bellhousing) but didn't return because of the shipping cost. Check out these websites: http://www.our-nest.co.uk/Caterham/html_files/2004_cr_gearbox.htm http://www.bghgeartech.co.uk/html/gear_kits.html http://my.voyager.net/~quadrant19/Gearbox-upgrade.html I even came up with a very simple tool to do the minor machining that has to be done to clear the bigger gear. I was surprised to see how well it worked. Here's a picture of the rebuilt tranny before installation. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1007157265_IMG_9500.JPG Bruce :7drive: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevet Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Bruce, Looks great. I might get in touch for some of the ugly info (money etc) if you don't mind? Many thanks, Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11Budlite Posted April 11, 2008 Author Share Posted April 11, 2008 No problem Steve, I'll be glad to help. Bruce :7drive: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherik Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Congratulations Bruce! I saw the pics of your car in motion elsewhere on this forum. The car is looking very sharp! Let the fun begin! Cherik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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