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Hi Bill- When you posted that, I wrote a witty, smart a$$ reply to you about being too smart to hang around Team Slotus and thanking you for contacting CR. I got booted off the forum again when I tried to post it, and only just got back in this morning. "403 FORBIDDEN" strikes again!

So, any-hoo... You always wuz the smart one in the family. You sure you ought to hang out with Team Slotus???
Thanks for reaching out to Cheapracer. I hope we hear good news from him soon.


JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

yes power steering, i didn't think i needed it but having done it man what a difference.
just added a saturn vue electric system to the column and a little kit fom the guy in portugal on e bay.
you can adjust the amount of power with a little knob.
surprisingly, it also makes a good dampener as it only works from the steering wheel end so inputs from the road are dampened because the "crown wheel" and the electric motor have to move, thus causing a damping action.

the car is much nicer to drive with it and i recommend it to all.

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this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

Howdy, Mr. H!!! Good to hear from you! Also good to hear from somebody that's "been there-done that" with regard to power steering. Thanks for the input. I'm going with the PS pump and rack from Ford that fits -vintage wise and mechanically- with the engine and front uprights and such. No variable rate available (that I know of) but we'll see how it feels and go from there. I'm not ruling out ending up with one of those nifty electric units like you describe some day.

Other'n that, how the heck are ya?

JD

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

Is this thing still running? Wow!

Great idea going to power steering, but don't use electric power steering, they feel awful, no feedback at all.

That's not true, or at least it's not true with the S2000, BMW or Cadillac electric power steering. It might be true on the Vue, but I know it's not true in those cases.

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

CHEAPY!!! HELLO, Prodigal Son! Great to hear from you again. You said in another thread that it was aliens. I'm guessing you confused the hell out of 'em and they gave ya back. Right?

Regardless, thanks for stopping by, good to hear from you, and come back soon!

Peace, Love and "Nearly Naked Chinese Chicks"-
JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

the power steering is all a matter of the amount of assist verse the amount of caster action or resistance to the drivers inputs and the amount of resistance to the road surface or feed back.

with a relativly play free steering setup there is better feel and the tighter the ratio and smaller the steering wheel, the tighter it gets to a point where the feed back is a pain in the armpit.

i was finding that after about an hour of driving i would have limp wrists from the buffeting.

i looked at hydraulic with an engine driven pump, the only way to change the amount of power is to change the valving or the pulley size, you must find room on the engine to fit a pump and use a different rack which will need to fit exactly as the manual rack does or change a whole bunch of stuff and of course there are hoses and maybe a remote resovoir.

now you can fit an electric pump but most of the above still applies.

with a system like the "vue" the whole thing is in the column somewhere, mine is above my feet in the foot well, you can at the turn of a convenient knob, adjust the amount of assistance from none to a one finger lock to lock.
as far as feel, all the judder felt in the steering wheel is gone because the wheels have to turn the electric motor and drive wheel which they don't like doing so this judder is arrested at the power unit without any perceived loss in feel, well by me anyway.

there is no need to change any of the steering components already fitted just enough room in the column somewhere to insert it and a simple bracket to hold the motor unit still.

if you could drive my car you would immediately go home and find a place to fit one, its that good!

it even has a startup delay so when you turn the key on it waits about 3 seconds before it draws any battery voltage during cranking.

if i were to build another car i would fit this system from the outset.

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this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

That's great to know. I had no idea the Vue was adjustable. I know it's tiny, by comparison to other units

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

I have a question or three for all you Miata-wise folk:

Will the serpentine alternator pulley from a second generation (or third or fourth or etc) fit on a first generation Miata alternator?
(The first gen version has a v-belt pulley.)

Is the serpentine pulley a 6-groove piece, or sumpin else?

Anybody got one lyin' around that you're not using and would part with without too much weeping and lamentation?

That is all. You may now resume your regularly scheduled activities.


JDK

PS- Yo, Lonnie! This is your opportunity to chime in with some silly comment about a girl (or goat) that you used to know that had... Well, I'll leave that part up to you...

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

well if Lonni isn't commin' i am.

i just purchased a house in Greenwood near Marianna.
its time to leave the desert and head for somewhere that has real trees, to be honest i won't be moving for a while but it will happen this year. ( i don't mean a locost build year, a real year that's somewhat shorter )

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this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

Sorry I missed the boat with respect to commenting, JD. I've been working on my build so much that I'm hardly on the computer these days. I'll try to do better with your next posting.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Hey Mr. H! That's really cool! I've been to Greenwood a couple of times, nice rural area, typical North Florida pines and hills. There will be a slight increase in humidity over the desert... And it's only about 80 miles from the house. We can meet in the middle and have an adult beverage or something.

Please keep me posted on your progress and when you think the move will happen. I'll be looking forward to meeting you!


JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

Good on ya! Out in the shop building stuff...

I remember a poem from somewhere:

Backward, turn backward, O Time in your flight,
For I remember a wisecrack I needed last night!

Good hearin' from you anyway, Sir!

JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

- "Ha,ha,ha" said the guy that left the Mojave for the Ozarks!

Gonzo's right. Never miss an opportunity for a wise-crack!

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Mike - Read my story at http://twinlakesseven.blogspot.com/

Hey, all y'all Miata powered folk!
I am in the process of (hurriedly, and at the last minute) installing a first-gen Miata alternator on the Ford 5.0 motor in the Slotus. (Don't ask, it's too long a story, kids would get restless, grownups would snore...)

I have a bit of a problem regarding wiring up the little beastie. See diagram below:See the alternator, the circular item near center of the picture? OK, there's three wires. One, the main output of the alternator, is a threaded post and that wire goes direct to the battery (or the pos lug on the starter). Found him, no problem. Then there's the other two wires. One -white/black stripe- goes thru the indicator lamp or the resistor and connects to an "ignition on" fuse. I understand the alternator won't properly charge without that circuit/wire. The other wire -white with a green stripe- goes up around the corner and connects to the 12v output line. I understand it's the input for the voltage regulator.

OK, here's the problem... I don't have the factory plug that connects to the two spade connectors on the side of the alternator. See picture below:There's two spade connectors in that light brown plug. Which one is which???

OK, answers from the crowd! Anybody? Don't be shy, speak up...


JDK

_________________
JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom