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PostPosted: August 12, 2010, 12:36 am 
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Location: Seattle, Wa
Sleedo wrote:
Hey Peter, Ed from CT here, I bought the top from your donor, very, very happy with it. Thank you! I'm psyched to find your build thread here! I'll be following your progress and wish you the best of luck with everything.

EB


Eb - glad to hear it!!


***The Kit has Arrived***
-I got a call this morning from the shipping company (YRC) saying "we're getting ready to load your crate, but it's too big for a gate-lift...so we can't deliver it. You have to come here to pick it up". With all of the crap I've gone through w/ this company, I almost laughed...seemed like a perfect ending! Luckily I've got a few friends with trailers for their race cars, so I called a friend and after he got off work, we went down to pick it up.
-The crate looked kinda flimsy, but no obvious damage. One small portion of the body had some semi-deep scuffs from another portion rubbing on it, but other than that everything looks good so far.
-A lot of the car has been put together...gas tank, pedals, brake lines, fuel lines, under body panels,...very pleased!

picking up the crate (a forklift put it directly on the trailer - so easy):
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we couldn't figure out how to unload the whole crate, so I disassembled the crate on the trailer and unloaded it piece by piece. We used an engine hoist to pick up the rear and a car dolly to roll the front down the trailer. The front end was light enough for 1 guy to carry, and we were able to easily set it on the saw horses:
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you can see the deeper scuff marks on the front ride side of the body...not happy about it, but shouldn't be too hard to fix:
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everything packed into the garage!
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PostPosted: August 12, 2010, 9:25 am 
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Any idea what it weighs as it sits now?

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PostPosted: August 12, 2010, 10:15 am 
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KB58 wrote:
Any idea what it weighs as it sits now?


No idea yet...the crate was 1,300lbs, but there was a lot of wood. The final weight should be around 1,400lbs wet.

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PostPosted: August 12, 2010, 11:59 am 
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When I saw the pics of the car out of the crate I said to myself "Self, I'd buy something like that."

I just hope you keep finding easy things and not hard ones.

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PostPosted: August 12, 2010, 3:17 pm 
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Location: St.Thomas Ontario
Looks good! Congrats. I'm surprised that the side panels are folded and such but they didn't cut holes for the suspension to go through. The more I see the kit builds the more that I lean towards that direction for a starter build. It is quite a bit more money, but as I believe you had said, a whole lot more likely to be completed.


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PostPosted: August 12, 2010, 4:18 pm 
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Location: Seattle, Wa
dilbert wrote:
Looks good! Congrats. I'm surprised that the side panels are folded and such but they didn't cut holes for the suspension to go through. The more I see the kit builds the more that I lean towards that direction for a starter build. It is quite a bit more money, but as I believe you had said, a whole lot more likely to be completed.


from other build threads, both the MNR and Westfeild side panels don't come pre-cut for the suspension joints/arms...it would be a huge help if they did - that's one of the jobs that I'm not looking forward to. The good thing was that the rear suspension up-side-down "V" cut was done - not sure if it still need trimming.

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PostPosted: August 16, 2010, 12:27 am 
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Location: Seattle, Wa
update from this weekend:

MNR provided a modifed steering Column that'll mount to the frame...it's from a 1.6L in the UK, so no airbag. popped it off, installed my Momo and NRG quick release stuff.

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a friend of a friend recently finished his Westfeild powered w/ a 1.8L miata drive-train...he was kind enough to stop by and give me a ride...I pocked my head in every crevice of that thing - lots of good ideas! The car looks perfect - every detail is spot on...really hope mine will be this clean!

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Pressed the inboard suspension rocker arms bearings in...nice snug fit:
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installed the front inboard suspension bits...the top bolt is a tight fit b/c it's a bit too long - the shank is the right length, but the threaded portion is 4X too long for what's needed - I'll cut these down to ease installation and ensure no interference issues.

front suspension and steering rack installed...minor fitment issues on the steering rack, I had to slot 2 of the mounting holes, but nothing major:
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Lower control arm w/ pushrod...these control arms are really beautiful - so far I'm very pleased w/ the design and build of everything!
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got the LSD in...a bit of an issue actually fitting it into place. This kit is for the 1.6L miata...even though just about everything from the 1.8L will bolt into a 1.6L, some of the sizes are slightly increased - the 1.8L Torsen nose is much larger than the 1.6L viscous...I think that's where the interference is coming from. I was able to make a small cut to the Diff's arm to get it into place, but there's still interference that's preventing the nose of the diff from pointing high enough. I may need to modify the chassis a bit...I'd really prefer not to run the smaller 1.6L diff.

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**I also spent 1/2 of Saturday tearing down the wood crate that the locost came in...so many nails & screws!!!!!!!!!!! I don't have a truck, so I had to cut it down to a size that'll fit in our CR-V.

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PostPosted: August 17, 2010, 12:42 pm 
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Joined: April 16, 2009, 11:08 am
Posts: 32
Location: Milwuakee, Wisconsin
Peter,

Unrelated to your recent post, but related to our discussion about the miata harness, I had one last fix I needed to hunt down on my build.

I was driving my 99 miata based locost and noticed my water temp was unusually high. Obviously, my fan wasn't running.

It worked in the past, but as I was "cleaning-up" the harness, I cut out some un-needed relays. I was forced to trace the power wire that fed the fan relay to find out why it wasn't getting power.

It turns out that that same wire feeds power to the AC relays which I had cut out! More confusing was the fact that there are two Blue with yellow wires that run to the AC relays, and they didn't seem to make any type of loop, so I couldn't figure out how the power was returning to the fan relay. After looking at the section I had cut out, I saw that about a foot below each AC relay in the harness, there is a specially insulated section where the two blue with yellow wires connect. This creates the needed loop that would then send power to my fan relay! Problem solved!

This is a long winded way of saying if you remove the AC relays, you need to connect the two Blue with Yellow wires, so that your fan relay still has power.

It's always something! :?

Good Luck!

Scott
(99 miata locost from the completed projects area)


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PostPosted: August 17, 2010, 2:28 pm 
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Location: Seattle, Wa
lhsmx5 wrote:
This is a long winded way of saying if you remove the AC relays, you need to connect the two Blue with Yellow wires, so that your fan relay still has power.

It's always something! :?

Good Luck!

Scott
(99 miata locost from the completed projects area)


Scott - Thanks for the info!! Luckily I won't run into this specific issue, my radiator has a dedicate thermal switch that powers the fan...so it doesn't use any of the Miata controls or OEM fan.

I've decided to thin out my harness prior to installing the engine...after checking out a Westfeild, there's no room in the engine bay to remove extra wires after the engine is installed - I'll have to take my time and keep the wiring diagrams close by!!

thanks again for the tip - really hoping I don't run into wiring issues...they're always such a PITA to trace down.

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PostPosted: August 17, 2010, 7:55 pm 
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Location: Fairfield, CT
Peter, I see copper brake lines in the picture of the diff, I was under the impression that they were not road legal in the US, have I been misguided?


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PostPosted: August 17, 2010, 8:11 pm 
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Those brake lines are most likely Cunifer (Aka Cupronickel). Very popluar in Europe and used on some new cars as std fare. They are great for a car expected to last for 30-60 years. They will never rust, unlike those on my 10 yr old Buick Century, and have very good forming capability. I put them on my 54 yr old MGA. I expect they will never have to be changed again......ever!

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PostPosted: August 17, 2010, 11:50 pm 
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Location: Seattle, Wa
Sleedo wrote:
Peter, I see copper brake lines in the picture of the diff, I was under the impression that they were not road legal in the US, have I been misguided?


thanks for the looking out - I had thought the same thing, but when I went to bend them out of the way for the Diff install, they were much much tougher to move...wasn't really sure what to make of it, but I didn't know copper was bad for brake lines, so I wasn't concerned either way :oops: .


rx7locost wrote:
Those brake lines are most likely Cunifer (Aka Cupronickel). Very popluar in Europe and used on some new cars as std fare. They are great for a car expected to last for 30-60 years. They will never rust, unlike those on my 10 yr old Buick Century, and have very good forming capability. I put them on my 54 yr old MGA. I expect they will never have to be changed again......ever!


Thanks for the info - I'll double check w/ MNR, but I'm assuming you're right...Europe's SVA test is much more involved than the US, so I'd assume they're up to snuff.

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PostPosted: August 18, 2010, 12:30 am 
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Location: Seattle, Wa
My softball team lost the first game of the playoffs...so rather than a double header, I was home by 7 and had some time to work on the locost :D . I've been trying to spend at least a few minutes everyday in the garage...either cleaning or doing small jobs - just to keep the momentum going and things fresh in my mind!

Got the front Control Arms on and spindles are now sitting in a rust removal solution...the main purpose is to do a quick check that everything fits and then to make a cardboard mock-up for the body panels and where the holes need to be cut.
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Rear arms are on as well
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Test fitting the interior side panels...I'll mark them up and notch them for the chassis portions - The roll bar front portion makes is really difficult to slide them in as-is, it'll need a lot of adjustment
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Here's the front left portion of the LSD that interferes w/ the chassis...it's the mounting portion, and the bolts don't even go through that front section - the current plan is to just cut it off. depending on how much clearance there is, I may need to stiffen up the bushings to prevent it contacting the chassis under hard accel/decel.
Image



**Question of the day: What are these ? (I've got no clue... :oops: )
Image

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PostPosted: August 18, 2010, 1:21 am 
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The voice of reason
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Perhaps those are tie-rod adapter fittings, to go from a tie rod thread to a ball joint?

I think your diff needs mounts on the front. See if you can look at your friends Westfield. The engine torque will try to rotate the diff instead of the wheels.

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PostPosted: August 18, 2010, 9:23 am 
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Location: St.Thomas Ontario
I would think those pieces might be steering rack extensions and go between the rack and the tie-rod.


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