NVP66S Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 (edited) I bought an in-line LED CHMSL to mount on my roll bar. I ride motorcycle a lot and the key to safety is to be seen. There was no way I wanted the wiring to run down the outside of the roll bar, so I drilled through the welded steel base that comes with the WF kit. I have the RAC roll bar option which is the middle of three options, the third being a full cage. Back to my build. I drilled 3 holes on the bottom of the bar cross member and tapped the outer 2 holes to mount the LED array. Now the hard part; getting the wire from the top bar to the drilled flange. [insert long period of frustration here] But I got the idea of using lightweight fuzzy string and attaching the vacuum cleaner hose. Instant success! Tying a knot between the string and the wires didn't help, but adhesive lined shrink tubing was just the thing. So now the high third brake light is installed with the wiring dressed and covered by the boot box. Edited June 28, 2014 by NVP66S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVP66S Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 WF sent a very nice pedal box, with two problems. The clutch master needed to be moved an inch, and the throttle pedal sticks out about 2 inches from the other two pedals. I took the throttle pedal out and heated it with a MAPP gas torch and bent it back so I can do heel-and-toeing. The bar in the photo was straight as received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Getting antsy; ready to see it on the road. :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVP66S Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 Getting antsy; ready to see it on the road. :cheers: YOU'RE getting antsy??? Seriously, I think it will be down on the ground (that's a big deal for me; I have to borrow a forklift) and motoring under its own power by next weekend. I spent today, at least the part of the day when it was under 100F, reinstalling roll bars, wiring the sub panel, and scratching my head wondering if I should install the headlight risers. They're needed to pass the U.K. inspection, but they're ugly and I don't think I need them in Texas. Anybody know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mondo Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Are you in Texas, or Mojave? They didn't do a light height test when I did my DMV thing... just showed them they worked (low & high) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVP66S Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 I'm building the car in Mojave, but the company I work for is moving to Texas in a few months. I travel back and forth now. I have an apartment and a building lot in TX and a Texas drivers license. I plan to get title and registration where I am moving to, not moving from. Then bring it back to CA for a few months of canyons and mountains before taking it back to flat land. The winds were up to 'only' 35 gusting to 42 knots today after a few days of higher winds. The hangar door has gaps and I have to vacuum every day to keep the dirt down. Plus the banging banging banging of the door drives me nuts. I'm really looking forward to building a nice workshop in Midland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mondo Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 I was stationed at Edwards Air Base back in the 80s... I imagine Mojave is a ghost town now that the freeway doesn't go through it anymore. Yeah, you may be carving it up around some parking lots in Midland;) Definitely easier in the registration department though, sure some Texas guys will chime in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Hill Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Midland huh? Maybe you should hit up Jim Hall to use his shop at Rattlesnake Raceway...now that his Chaparral cars have a permanent home in the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum the shop may be sitting idle. And in case you haven't been there, the museum is most certainly worth at least a morning. Once a month they run one of the cars around the entry drive late in the day on a Saturday, sometimes with Hall himself doing the piloting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escondidoron Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Then bring it back to CA for a few months of canyons and mountains before taking it back to flat land. I recommend that you check out Bouquet Canyon Road. It's close to you and also a pretty rewarding drive with very little traffic during the day. It heads south off of Lake Elizabeth Road traversing the south side of Bouquet Resevoir and ends up down in Santa Clarita / Newhall. Here's a picture from this past Tuesday: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVP66S Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 I've done Bouquet Canyon Road on my Honda 599. Definitely interesting. So is Angeles Crest to the East and Caliente-Bodfish to the North. If I only want 20 minutes of fun, I take 58 West from Mojave and exit at Cameron and follow the canyon twisties through the windmills to Tehachapi-Willow Springs, then Oak Creek back to Mojave. Tonight I spent about 3 hours fitting the front fenders to the stays. I might be 1/2 done with that task. Dang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVP66S Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 Midland huh? Maybe you should hit up Jim Hall to use his shop at Rattlesnake Raceway...now that his Chaparral cars have a permanent home in the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum the shop may be sitting idle. And in case you haven't been there, the museum is most certainly worth at least a morning. Once a month they run one of the cars around the entry drive late in the day on a Saturday, sometimes with Hall himself doing the piloting. I've been to Midland about a dozen times in the past 2 years, but haven't seen that museum yet. I figure that can wait until I'm there full time. Yeah, I'm old enough to remember Chapparral trouncing everyone else in Can-Am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVP66S Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 Got the Megasquirt installed and functioning. It's not exactly 'plug and play' but it was reasonably easy to program. I got the version specifically for the '95 to '97 Miata. It does need a laptop with a serial port, which many don't have. The white cable coming off the left side is the serial cable in case I need to fool with it after the scuttle is installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Automoda Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 I have a $20 serial-to-usb adapter that works perfectly with my Megasquirt 2. I got sick of using an ancient POS laptop. Your MS housing is a bit bigger than mine. I mounted mine in the same place, though. Its funny how hard it is to find room for something so small in a 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVP66S Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 I have a $20 serial-to-usb adapter that works perfectly with my Megasquirt 2. I got sick of using an ancient POS laptop. Your MS housing is a bit bigger than mine. I mounted mine in the same place, though. Its funny how hard it is to find room for something so small in a 7. I planned to keep the charcoal can with its actuators but removed it simply because it wouldn't fit in the space available. And Yeah, I'm probably gonna buy an adapter when I finally throw out that old laptop. But since I have no experience with an adapter, I can't comment on how well it works. As for location, I had the Mazda ECU there and the Megasquirt is almost as big. It's the location per the WF build manual. The car ran fine (still on the stands) with the Mazda ECU, but I was concerned about it commanding a too-lean mixture because the EGR components are removed. At least that's my opinion after spending several hours on line researching various ECUs. With this setup, I can reinstall the Mazda in a few minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVP66S Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 Lots of detail work in the past few days, but I keep forgetting to take the camera to the shop. I designed and made a battery holddowm clamp, and spent an incredible amount of time on a license plate holder. If you don't get the spare tire holder, the license plate is trivial. Just screw it to the body. I got the windshield sorta in place (no RTV yet) and the front turn signals wired. There's a single connector in the wiring so I can remove the nose easily. The first photo is me feeling for the windshield screws in there somewhere. I actually stuck the nuts to my finger with masking tape so I could start them on the screws. I was in the shop until 2AM because it's cooler then and because the Suspension Man arrived the next morning. I also arranged a forklift to get the car down off the stands. It took the two of us about 4 hours to set the corner weighting, ride height, front & rear camber, and front & rear toe-in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVP66S Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 FIRST DRIVE!! :party: No license yet, so it's back and forth between the hangars. Brakes were crappy at first with new pads and rotors, but it only took a few stops to fix that. Now it will lock up all 4 and stop straight. It takes a bit more force than my Miata, but hey, there's no booster. The 2nd photo is Mike Valant, Suspension Man driving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lg2k Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 It took the two of us about 4 hours to set the corner weighting, ride height, front & rear camber, and front & rear toe-in. Congrats on getting the car running and on the road! Curious as to what your car's weight ended up being. Mine is 1356 lbs with a full tank. Cornerweights with 200lbs driver weight and full tank: LF 373 RF 326 LR 464 RR 400 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancylad Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Well done. Great to see the car on the move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboWood Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Amazing work in a short time. It reminds me how slow I am... Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVP66S Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 Amazing work in a short time. It reminds me how slow I am... Daniel Something I learned in my first real job out of college: "When you're all done, nobody knows how long it took, but everybody knows how good it looks" Partially it was a race before hot weather set in. It's regularly getting up to 105 inside my shop. It's 5 months to the day since the crates arrived, and not quite done yet. It still needs the interior vinyl and carpet with custom cutouts for the shifter and handbrake. and a few other bits. I think there were 4 days during that 5 months that I did zero work. Sometimes only a half hour, but something every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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