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PostPosted: August 24, 2015, 12:09 am 
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Thanks! I picked up the Bridgeport at a machine shop about 40 minutes away. They were moving and getting new equipment. I paid $1600 and they helped load it. I'd say it's really worth closer to $1200 in this area, but it came with a basically new shaper head I plan to sell one day and they go for quite a bit. You can tell it has many years on it, but perfect for what I need.

I tried to be productive while I was out and do some component research and finally order some of the stuff needed to finish the chassis. I really want to get this thing painted so my to-do list is focused on all of the brackets and mounts that are left. I’m sure I’ll miss some things but I’m tired of running a dehumidifier in the garage non-stop. I guess I went a little crazy ordering parts and SWMBO was nice enough to set up a mini Christmas tree for my return from Austira!

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While I was away I also did some thinking on the front diff mount as posted above. I still need to get around to that. Another issue I’ve been putting off is the transmission driveshaft flange angle. I’m fairly familiar with the Hooke’s joint from school and am a bit embarrassed to admit that I never bothered to measure the driveshaft angle in my attempt to shoehorn this engine in. It had ended up quite offset to the passenger side and seemed fine at the time as I was thinking more about weight balance and general clearance. However, I decided that I couldn’t keep putting it off and it had to be fixed before moving on. Thankfully I found I was able to just make some new u-brackets for the engine mounts and was able to knock it all out in half a day. I never did measure the original misalignment, but I know it was too much for me to be comfortable with. With the new mounts and bruised ego the misalignment is sitting at about 0.5 degrees, good enough. I was very surprised to find that I still have plenty of clearance down the tunnel and a little additional room for the future turbo! I really thought it was going to be a much bigger project and I’m very relieved. For the driveshaft, I sourced a “Driveshaft Shop” HOPL 1 adapter which mates to an off the shelf Spicer 2-3-329. For the Miata diff I ordered a Rockford Drive Line R2-3-3173. These 3 parts basically convert the oddball flanges to a standard 1310 u-joint. I felt this would simplify things for the local driveshaft shop. In the end it seems to be quite a bit cheaper than trying to source a complete unit based on what I’ve seen some others pay.

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With the engine in its final position I wanted to get the engine bay diagonal in place. I figured some creativity would be required but was totally surprised to find that it fit pretty much according to the plans. It looks like a bit of a mess, but there’s at least an inch of clearance between all of the engine stuff and that diagonal.

Then back to the steering rack. I got the unit off eBay and the seller was nice enough to include the U-shaped mount brackets but unfortunately they weren’t designed to go all the way down to the mounting surface. I whipped up a simple set of U-shaped pieces on the mill out of 6061-T651. They meet up to the factory brackets and sandwich the rack. Then I bent some 4’’ pieces of 11ga in the brake and milled some slots for adjustment. I used the laser-mirror bump steer method to rough out the rack height and the slotted brackets should allow plenty of adjustment for final assembly. This Porsche 944 rack is about an inch too long, but one benefit is that it ends up raising the rack height, which combined with the slight bend in the LCAs is just enough to eliminate any of the common tie rod to LCA contact issues common with the Miata spindles. Regular 1’’ sq 16ga tubing was used to tie the rack brackets to the frame. Simple but effective. I also bored out those factory Porsche mounts so they’ll accept some hardware-store by-the-pound 3/8’’ Grade 8 hardware. Overkill but super cheap. Every time I go I buy two or three pounds and at this point I stock almost everything up through the ½’’ selection.

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Speaking of hardware, the local Ace was going out of business and I picked up some fully loaded hardware cabinets for $10 each. I've re-purposed one for Grade 8 hardware and have similar plans for the rest.

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The rack is 11/16’’ 40-spline which needs to connect to the S2000 column. I thought about several ways to do this, but for the sake of simplicity I ended up cutting off the Honda u-joint. The shaft there is 0.765’’ so I turned/milled an adapter that fits over the shaft and is the common ¾ DD steering shaft on the other end. I really hated cutting off a perfectly good U-joint, but it was an odd spline and I like the final solution. I also noticed that it had some rough spots under rotation once I had removed it. From the now ¾’’ DD column, it goes into a ¾’’ DD to ¾’’ DD u-joint , then ¾’’ DD intermediate shaft (a tad heavy), and finally a ¾’’ DD to 11/16’’ 40-spline u-joint. No excessive angles and this required only one weld (which thankfully wasn’t on a u-joint) so I’m happy with that. A bit of a pricey solution though as Bergeson was the only manufacture I could find that stocked the Porsche spline. I think I have more in u-joints than the rack cost. With all of that in place I was able to mount the master cylinder reservoirs. I just used 11ga as it was on hand. Overkill but they do feel nice and sturdy.

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Ran the fuel lines down the tunnel. Just 3/8''x72'' brake lines with 5/8-18 inverted flare to 6AN adapters. Just ordered all of the fittings for the hoses..ouch! Did a simple setup for the battery mount. CG is a little high, but it fits and wiring will be simple. There wasn't much space left as options since the passenger bulkhead is reserved for a heater.

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The roll bar seemed to take forever, but most of that was waiting on shipping. First JD2 shipped the wrong die, not a big deal as mistakes happen. Then the new die had a U-strap that was made incorrectly. In the end it took 3 weeks of waiting before I could bend the hoop. They were nice by email and both problems were resolved without any additional cost on my end, but Craig in Sales was a jerk on the phone. I won't go into detail but the whole call was just very unprofessional. I'm happy now but for a short while I was wishing I had went with the Pro-Tools unit. That rant over...I was really impressed with how it bent the 1.5'' .109 wall tubing. It took some serious effort, but mostly because I haven't built a proper floor-mounted stand yet. The bends are pristine.

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It’s a steerer now! I really need to get around to the rear control arms. I figure in its simplest form, this thing needs to go, stop, and steer. Right now I’m 1 for 3…but the other two really aren’t far behind. Actually, the pedal assembly is mounted I have all of the Miata calipers...hmm. I REALLY need to get going on those rear control arms. That’s it for mounting the major components. This is just too much fun! I’m really hoping to get the chassis mostly complete in the next few months. Then paint and start final assembly over the winter. I hate to put a timeline on this project, but I might be able to do a first test drive next spring. Much sooner than I expected considering I only started in January. Having all of these build logs and support threads to reference have but such a valuable resource.

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PostPosted: August 29, 2015, 2:55 pm 
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Are you building this off of the "book" plans? I am planning on using a f20c as well. Looks great!


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PostPosted: September 3, 2015, 11:39 pm 
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Most of the chassis matches the Haynes plans. I used the Saturn mods/plans for the Miata parts at the rear of the chassis. Other than that the only mod I can think of was the bulkhead tube at the rear of the engine bay.

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PostPosted: November 21, 2015, 7:41 pm 
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Couple suggestions, first add some gussets to those front 2 upper control arm brackets. Apparently a few people have experiended failures with them hanging out into free air like that... Or at least that was what i was told. Second add valves to the inlet/outlets of the fuel cell. Theres bound to be some reason that pops up that requires disconnecting the fuel lines while there is fuel in the tanks. Theres really no way to drain it without getting gas everywhere.

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PostPosted: November 25, 2015, 1:18 pm 
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Will do! Thanks for the input.

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PostPosted: November 25, 2015, 6:04 pm 
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Joined: August 11, 2012, 4:44 pm
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Location: Charlotte, NC
Great looking progress this far. I want a Bridgeport. They are pretty hard to find around here.

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PostPosted: December 14, 2015, 1:28 am 
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Thanks! It's been a fun build so far and the mill sure has been useful, even if not totally required.

Short update:

I've been travelling a lot for work and working long days when I'm home, so not much progress.

First I finally got around to fixing that front diff mount. I used an Energy Suspension polyurethane bushing and modified the diff mount I had made. It's definitely a much more robust solution than my first attempt and I think I'll get the job done.

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I also finished up the parking brake handle mounting. Just some simple tabs but it's arranged so no modifications are needed to the Miata assembly and it just bolts on. Not a key requirement as it will likely never be replaced, but I try not to modify the "donor" parts unless there is an advantage or it's needed.

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I ordered some random Dorman radiator mounting grommets for a Nissan that looked like they might work from the pictures, but no real measurements to go off. They ended up being perfect. They fit 3/16'' flat stock just right so I made up some very simple mounts. 3/16'' is a bit overkill so I added some lightness. The pics make them look a bit wimpy but I assure you they're still amazingly rigid.

I should also note that I mounted the Civic radiator sideways. There was just no way to get the lower hose to fit over the steering rack. I've put a plug in the coolant overflow line and have added an inline cap assembly to the upper hose at the highest point.

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Then the rear wishbones I've been putting off forever. It took 3 tries but the upper is finished. The Saturn plans are missing some critical dimensions for the lengths of the 'bones, which is part of why I've been putting it off. For the first one I just blindly followed a dimensioned drawing I found on the UK site discussing this very issue. When installed, the axle was fully compressed. That wasn't going to work, but at least I had something to hold the upright out in space. I took some measurements and compared to the Miata 56.2'' track width for round 2. I ended up adding right about 1'' to get the right track. Putting that one in it seemed like the axle was a tad too far out. Then it clicked that I made my measurements without having the rotor in place! For round 3 I was much more thorough, measuring everything like I should have in the first place and ended up with something just right. The end result is about .75'' shorter than round 1. Totally my fault for being lazy at the start. Could have saved myself a lot of time in the end...

I also replaced the upright upper rubber inserts with Energy Suspension 9.9483G bushings. They're the universal type but only required a tiny bit of modification to fit perfect. It also allows me to use a 1/2'' bolt instead of trying to source metric hardware. I figured since the coilover will be on the upper wishbone something needed to be done, as the stock rubber insert wasn't designed for that loading.

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I decided to throw a couple wheels on to see how it looked. Not bad! Just some very cheap Miata wheels off Craigslist. They'll get replaced eventually but useful for mock-up and maybe even the first season on the road. The tires actually look very new.

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And finally here's a view with the nosecone I've been working on. This is the Haynes nose from Jack/Curtis Unlimited. To cover the F20C, had to add 1.5'' to the whole thing and also added an additional 1'' to the rear to tilt the cone forward / angle over the engine. As it is, no cutouts would be needed in the hood, but I might change things just a bit yet. The fiberglass work is complete, but there's a lot of finishing yet to do.

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Let me know what you guys thinks! Any questions, comments or other input appreciated.

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PostPosted: December 14, 2015, 10:14 am 
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Pretty impressive radiator mounting! Are you relatively certain things will work out the way you want it to? I have 3 concerns and one idea about it though. Maybe you have already thought about them.

1) the entire weight of the rad is supported in shear on those 3 grommet/posts. I would be concerned that thru use, those brackets or grommets may spread, dropping the rad. Plus the posts may not have been designed for shear. They are only welded to sheet aluminum tanks.

2) but my biggest concern is that the cooling may not be as efficient. The in and out fittings are in the lower half in the tanks. There is no reason for coolant to flow across the (new) top of the rad, reducing the effective cooling. In the crossflow rads I have seen, the I/O are diagonally opposite, causing equal flow thru all of the cooling tubes.

3) You will now have to add a separate coolant drain somewhere. Or just figure the "drain" will be by loosening the rad hoses.

4) being the absolute idiot I am, I would not trust the blanking cap being the lowest part of the system. I would consider removing the filer neck and welding a blanking plate in it's place. You may even try relocating one of the hose fittings while you are at it.

Like I wrote, maybe you have already considered all of these and determined your design is good to go.

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PostPosted: December 14, 2015, 11:38 am 
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Another issue you will probably run into with your rad mounted the way you have it, is how to bleed the air out of the system when there isn't a vent at the top of it. I ran into that with my car due to the rad being tipped back, even with the one rad hose being at the top of the rad it was enough to trap some air in the system and effect the cooling.
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PostPosted: December 14, 2015, 3:26 pm 
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Thanks for the comments guys! Definitely things to consider.

The pictures don't do it justice but the mounting is surprisingly solid. Tugging on the radiator side-to-side moves the build table before anything else and it's only tack welded at this point. I thought about the grommets and they might not hold up loaded this way, but I'll make some stiffer polyurethane ones if needed. Also, the posts are surprisingly solid on the radiator.

As for the inlet/outlet, they're surprisingly well positioned. On the drivers side it isn't at the bottom, but in the bottom half for sure, and for the passenger side it's about 3/4'' from the top. I do plan to install a bleeder though. Once the car is finished I plan to do practice TIG welding aluminum a bit, so this will likely be revisited.

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PostPosted: December 14, 2015, 3:48 pm 
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Looks like you're making some good progress. Rad mounting looks good, although anytime the low rad cap vents, it will not vent air. You may want to install a higher rad cap with a little lower pressure rating to help bleed. Not the end of the world though. I would reconsider the rad fan mounting; Those sharp black ties tend to cut/wear through the soft aluminum rad tubes. I've seen it a few times.

Keep banging away. You'll be a roller soon!

Cheers.

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PostPosted: December 14, 2015, 4:07 pm 
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C10CoryM wrote:
anytime the low rad cap vents, it will not vent air. You may want to install a higher rad cap with a little lower pressure rating to help bleed.

Cheers.

I forgot to mention this. I had the same problem with mine too, so I have a 16lb cap on the rad, plus a 12 or 13lb rad cap at the thermostat housing (highest point). Both overflows are "T'd" together, then run to the overflow tank. At first I had just the one on the thermostat housing run to the overflow, but that didn't work because instead of sucking coolant back from the overflow bottle, it would suck air in at the rad cap.
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PostPosted: February 4, 2016, 10:46 am 
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Quote:
I forgot to mention this. I had the same problem with mine too, so I have a 16lb cap on the rad, plus a 12 or 13lb rad cap at the thermostat housing (highest point). Both overflows are "T'd" together, then run to the overflow tank. At first I had just the one on the thermostat housing run to the overflow, but that didn't work because instead of sucking coolant back from the overflow bottle, it would suck air in at the rad cap.
Kristian


Couldn't you have just capped off the rad cap (high pressure side) overflow with a small hose & plug? That won't suck! Would make for neater overflow hose routing IMO.

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PostPosted: February 4, 2016, 11:40 am 
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IIRC, The Subaru and Honda caps are the same size. Subaru, in some of the later turbo models, used a very high pressure cap on the radiator (19-21psi depending on the model), and the standard pressure relief cap was used on the upper convection reservoir over the turbo.

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PostPosted: May 10, 2018, 5:23 am 
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Oh wow...! What happened...?
This is one of the best build logs I've seen here, and it's just stopped.
Did it get transferred elsewhere...?
If so, any chance of a link please, guys...
Many thanks. MangPong.


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