Rotus Upgrade - Part 1 is done

[slngsht]

  WestTexasS2K said:

Looking good. Just a month 7/7/07 are you going to make it? I really wish I could go. I saw Brian and Jerry had to give up thier spot. But I have a house that I am suppose to landscape for a parade of homes it has to be done by 7/15/07. I just don't see how I can make it work it would be alot of fun hanging with all the folks on the site putting names to faces. We will see what happens.

 

At this point, yes I'm pretty confident... 3 weeks ago, I was pretty worried.

 

You are superman. You can leap states in a single bound. :lol:

[slngsht]

Continuing with work, mounted the windshield today. Corrected camber on driver side, and machined these little things for properly mounting the heim on the upright for the steering.

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/99292043_CIMG1592 (Small).JPG

 

Hopefull by noon tomorrow, rear fenders will be on.

[slngsht]

Took her for another spin today... this time remembered the camera

 

Most of it is me driving like a grandpa

 

[Boxologist]

coming along well. get 'er fit 'n' proper and u'll soon be set. the suspension seems to have worked out well on routine roads. be interesting on its new abilities on some ... more proctive roads:smash:

[slngsht]

  Boxologist said:

coming along well. get 'er fit 'n' proper and u'll soon be set. the suspension seems to have worked out well on routine roads. be interesting on its new abilities on some ... more proctive roads:smash:

 

It is SO tempting to let 'er rip, but I have to wait for an autox... those trees on the side of the road are not very forgiving

[powderbrake]

I would love to see a closeup video of the display as you rev it up. It really appers to be bright and viewable.

As to the car....... Fenders ?..... We don't need no steenkin fenders!!!

[slngsht]

  powderbrake said:

I would love to see a closeup video of the display as you rev it up. It really appers to be bright and viewable.

As to the car....... Fenders ?..... We don't need no steenkin fenders!!!

 

Seriously, If I didn't think I'd be given a workover in case I get pulled over, I wouldn't bother.

 

I put on about 130 miles on the car today. Mostly highway miles. Car tracks straight and true, and if you don't watch it, you'd be cruising at 90 all day, humming along in 6th gear.

 

The purpose of the trip was to get the rear fenders, and here they are. The lights are mounted temporarily for the trip home. That'll be my project for this week.

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/867821991_CIMG1595 (Small).JPG

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/541619685_CIMG1596 (Small).JPG

[slngsht]

Took her out for a night drive last night to test the brakes. I'd have to say, this is the biggest improved area. It feels awesome.

This vid has a closeup of the gauge display for Jerry, and a little bit of night driving.

 

[powderbrake]

Great display. What's that center right gague that occasionally gores to max? I assumed oil pressure or fuel level.

[RXseven]

Mazda,

 

Great work. One question, though. You may have answered this already, if so point me to it and I'll look it up, but... Why did you decide to go with a double wishbone system instead of a rebuild of the Rotus rocker top arm?

 

John

[slngsht]

  powderbrake said:

Great display. What's that center right gague that occasionally gores to max? I assumed oil pressure or fuel level.

 

Yes, that's the fuel gauge, and since i have no baffling, it goes all over the place.

 

I can read any parameter the PCM has access to, plus up to 8 other analog I/O, such as a wide band O2, if I get the sensor.

 

The bar on the right hand side is TPS

[slngsht]

  RXseven said:

Mazda,

 

Great work. One question, though. You may have answered this already, if so point me to it and I'll look it up, but... Why did you decide to go with a double wishbone system instead of a rebuild of the Rotus rocker top arm?

 

John

 

John, I wanted to upgrade my 15" front wheels to something that better matched the 18" rear, widen the front suspension (again to match the rear), and go with bigger brakes.

 

I decided on uprights from the C5 vette.

 

Those uprights are designed to take the spring load from the bottom Aarm. The Rotus suspension used the upper aarm as a cantilever beam for picking up the spring load. I was concerned about the top part of the vette upright casting cracking under that load.

 

I can still convert to an inboard suspension very easily by using a pushrod design.

[RXseven]

Thanks, Mazda. It all makes sense now!

 

John

[slngsht]

man, I am feeling SO unmotivated to work on the car now :lol:

 

It partly has to do with work picking up, and partly has to do with me wanting the car to be ready to jump in whenever I have 20 minutes.

 

I worked on her for the first time in a week tonight.

 

Russell Strough had graciously given me his old seats from his Birkin (yes, Tim Allen's azz was probably in one of these seats at some point :lol: ). The seats are pretty nice, but since they are not bolted in, and they are smaller than the old seats, they would slide around a bit. Also, their rake didn't match the slope of the back area, so they rocked.

 

I took some 2" thick pink insulation, and cut several sections to shape to position the seat at the correct angle. The side benefit is that the seats don't slide around anymore either.

 

As for my front suspension, the plan was to take it all apart again and powdercoat it, but that means I have to work on the car again... hmmm... not sure if that's gonna get done before the dragon.