Between visiting friends, two family obligations, Christmas, shopping, returning stuff, and being on-call, the car's seen about four hours of work :(. However, the car at least has a proper grill, made the same way as the other wire mesh grills. Need to make the cover over the air filter and the "gills", and also start the car just because. With next week being really short I'll probably take off to make it a full week's vacation, which "should" allow for some decent progress.
One problem with vacations is that the wife considers my time off as free time, to be assigned. Inevitably, a lot of honey-dos pop up around now which consumes far more time than just the tasks themselves. Just this morning, she was hovering around while I was writing this up, which is always a bad sign. It means that she was thinking about something that was no doubt going to consume a slug of time. Yup, "the bedroom lamps are old." I said, "but they work fine." "But they're old." There's a lot of things I could say to that...... but didn't, knowing that we'd be getting new lamps no matter what. I wonder at what happens when I become "old?"
Pretty much have the front hood assembly done. "Pretty much" means that it still needs a prop support, and epoxy is needed to fill the uneven flange on the composite nose, but at least the hard part's done.
Not sure what to work on next. Since the car hasn't been run for over a year(!) that should be done for several reasons. The ECU wire harness has been shortened up, so there's a little concern there. However, since only one wire at a time was shortened, it "should just work." Also, during the dyno run, the idle air bypass control valve destroyed itself, and while it's been replaced, it's unknown whether the valve itself was bad or if the ECU was sending it a bad signal. Going to have to start it again. Need to make the "gills". While the cardboard templates are done, it might be a bit interesting to do the combination bend and curves that each will require.
A local company, "Aptera" went out of business recent. At one time they had a car with a 300 mpg claim (uh huh) but hard times and lack of funding killed it. (Makes you wonder if all the people that put down $$$$ deposites on a car will be getting their money back...) They're auctioning off all their equipment this week, and for a little while I thought of checking out their lathe, mill, and MIG welder. After some thought though, I don't have space for much of anything, the lathe and mill, even if cheap, would need heavy equipment movers, so, eh. The MIG was attractive for a moment, but MIG is intended for production, which I'm not, the welds aren't as good as TIG, and since my chassis is virtually done (uh huh) the MIG would just sit. Nope, decided to pass on it, much to my wife's relief.
Worked on the lateral rib for the front cover which both stiffens the assembly and keeps exiting radiator air out of the passenger compartment. Also took the wife out to get her Christmas presents which cut into the work session, but hey, it's all about balance ;)
Fabricated the second hood pin bracket, note this one's a lot less involved that the first, just a tipped-on-edge nut.
With both pins done, the next step was to cut clearance slots for the suspension push-rods. Due to not thinking the whole tilting-hood thing through completely, only now did it become clear that simply vertical slots wouldn't do. Because the hood pivots on a pin below the radiator, the entire assembly moves on an arc about that point, so they have to be triangular in order to allow for both closing the hood and normal vertical suspension motion. Oh well, more character building.
Yet another consequence of having the nose tip forward is that, because that wasn't planned at the time that the headlights were mounted, they drag some on the nose as it's opened. Possible solutions include angling the headlight mounting brackets outboard, cutting off the brackets and shifting them outboard, or leaving them be and adding some rub strips. I'm leaning toward the last solution since it's the simplest and also keeps the lights tight in toward the body, not angled outward and looking bug-like. Another reason is that, being mid-engine, it means that the front "probably" won't be opened all that often.
Last shot is one of the rare whole-car pictures. I kind of like it, as it's a bit "sprint car" like. Actually, not having rear fenders is growing on me, too. Not sure how legal it is, but hot rods do it all the time.
No entry last week but work got done, the other hood latch was installed.
Today, the left hood pin bracket (a tricky little son of a gun) was fabricated. It's pretty goofy looking because the entire hood revolves around a bottom forward pivot point, so the pin has to be aimed just right in two planes. With a couple rivets in it, it looks like it'll work fine, but the entire assembly's a bit floppy. Since an internal bulkhead is needed anyway to keep radiator air out of the footwells, it'll be attached to the hood to double as a stiffener.
The last picture shows a happy but sleepy Midi in my computer chair - I end up on the carpet since there's not room for the both of us. He was happy we were around over the last four days. In related news, a stray young female pitbull was found in the neighborhood. She got along great with Midi, and the guy who found her has contacted the humane society, so we'll see if she gets claimed. If not... hmmm, we'll see. My wife's going to kill me...
Came this close to ruining the hood due to some over-exuberant trimming. It was saved, barely, with one edge left not quite even, but to be honest, it was so much work to make, and since the indiscretion is not too easy to see, it's being left... gives the car character...
Next up was starting on the hood latches. I saw them first on my buddy, Dennis's site, dpcars.net. They aren't cheap but were the perfect solution for locking the hood down (Dennis also happens to be a distributor.) The pictures show the latch design and it's pretty sweet (the red rod in the pictures is the locking pin.) With the locking version, it means having some semblance of security, at least for the front storage area. Mounting them was easy enough, but everything was made much more difficult due to having the hood tilt forward. Doing so means that the entire assembly rotates around the front hinge, so the locking tabs that have to extend into the latches move in an arc. That's going to take some fussing with but I think it'll be pretty sweet, after the sweat-work is done.
Completely off-topic but nevertheless awesome, is this car owner and her car. I can only hope I'm half that able at her age! Changes her own oil and plugs... hah!
Me: I'm going to go work out in the garage.
Her: It's raining...
Me: Yeah, perfect for working in the garage, and it's not hot.
Her: Are you going to back out my car?
Me: .... (uh oh.)
Her: You always remind me your car rusts when my wet car is put back in the garage.
Me: ... (nuts.)
So I worked on the book instead, which was just as well. Beta builder Jim is back to working on his car and found a couple embarrassing mistakes in the manuscript, now fixed.
Today was the big day to bend the front "hood", in quotes because of course there's no engine up there. "Boot" maybe? Anyway, it went okay; 0.040" 3003 is about as thick as I'd want to go free-hand. As you can see I made due with what I had as far as bending facilities go, a welding bottle, several heavy cardboard tubes, and I-beams.
It came out okay but the real work lies ahead, very carefully determining where the final trim cuts go. There'll be 1/8" rubber padding along the cowl and down the sides, and there'll be locking pins that'll apply some tension. There'll be tubes or angle material down the sides; it's just too critical to risk bending the hood material itself and having it off by "just a bit." As you may recall, I chose to have the front pivot forward, so it'll be permanently attached to the nose. Since it's such a visible component, it requires care in getting all the edges to line up and that the hood/boot/whatever doesn't bow, or worse, flap at higher speed. Regardless, psychologically it's a big step forward.
Looks pretty much the same, doesn't it? This is the third take on the cardboard hood pattern and it's finally done. The extra work was fine-tuning the edges to eliminate irregular gaps, and then there was the small detail that, once it was time to transfer the pattern to the aluminum sheet, there wasn't any! Well, there was a piece large enough but it was only 0.040" - too thin and floppy. Oh well, next week.
My brother's finding that the LS-3 upgrade is expensive. Between the engine, transmission, clutch, wheels, tires, and dry sump, it's turning into a $10K upgrade. It didn't seem like it initially, buying just the engine and thinking it was practically done. However, research showed that the drysump is far more of a requirement than a nice-to-have, as there are numerous track reports of people going through two or three engines in one day due to oil-starvation. Of course, I can't say much; getting a reliable 400 hp from a Honda four-cylinder wasn't cheap either.
The cowl is done, more or less; the curved end pieces really need a couple backing pieces to keep the edges perfectly lined up with the panels to either side. Not hard, just another "thing. What looks like an irregular cut around the chassis tube is actually black marker ink, the cutout is very uniform all the way around. In hindsight I should have bought 100 clecos instead of 50... I'm always having to steal them from other parts of the car when working on a new component.
With both ends of the cowl fabricated, attention finally turned to something new and fun - the hood. The car sure looks different with even the cardboard in place, much more finished, and does a lot for my attitude. There'll be "bumps" on the hood (probably separate pieces) to give space for the rockers to move. It was decided early-on that the suspension overruled the aesthetics, so the bumps will be another feature of the car, but if they're teardrop-shaped they should look okay.
The last picture shows why it's always a good idea to make cardboard patterns, especially before cutting large sheet material. Due to the goofy angles involved, the forward edges around the nose cone have to curve forward a bit. What's nice is that the entire hood is made from one 4 x 4 foot panel with material to spare. Also, part of fitting the hood is deciding where the uber-cool hood locks will go; you'll see those in a bit.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. It's been a combination of competing interests and a big mental stumbling block. I absolutely loathe doing anything over again on the car, and nothing has hit harder than redoing the cowl. The knowledge that I had already bought the material, cut it out, shaped it, drilled it, trimmed it, was a big relieve. Great, put it behind me, close the door, and move on. Nope, after staring at it for months I couldn't bring myself to stick builders with having to bend the cowl in order to slip it around the down tubes because it was almost for-sure would crack the paint.
Soooo, it's being redone, made in three pieces instead of a nasty one-piece affair, and has been extremely hard to push through it again (I was done.) Anything else seems much more interesting; it's like not wanting to write that big term paper. But as you can see, progress, as painful as it is, is happening, and it should be done by next weekend (though I have to help the kids move...) After this I'm looking forward to doing the hood - that's be much more fun (and new) than the cowl.
Did the rough-cut on the air filter hole on the engine cover. The filter housing cover itself will take a bit of doing and I got distracted and did the screen on the intercooler inlet instead. I'm not to thrilled how it turned out but it's a case of functionality. It was tempting to do big louvers to match those at the front, but the trouble is, being where it's located, it's going to take a lot of hits from rocks kicked up by the front tires. If the louvers point forward, they'd catch the rocks directly which will then bounce off the louvers and hit the intercooler fins. If the louvers point aft, they'd then catch the rocks bouncing off the fender... it's always something. The screen will actually do well to deflect the stones coming in at a angle, and if everything behind it is painted black I think it'll end up looking okay. Some of the panel visible now will be trimmed back to increase the surface area of the inlet, which should also help improve the look. Another is also needed for the other side.
During a garage clean-up last week I found my 30-yr old Datsun 1200 fuel injection intake manifold. I had big plans to make my own EFI engine computer - from scratch - but after realizing how big a job it was, twin side-draft Dellortos were used instead.
The air-cleaner assembly is now complete, at least the portion under the engine cover. It's mounted parallel to the cover and a foam gasket will keep it from sucking in hot air from the engine compartment. A reverse-pointing scoop will pick up air from atop the engine cover, and is needed to keep rain from getting into the inlet.
Finished up the exhaust. Couldn't help but spend some time on the trim ring due to how visible it is. Came out really nice :)
My brother bought an upgrade for his Super Stalker... a brand-new 430 hp LS-3 engine. He's not the first to do such a conversion, and the guys who've done it say they get wheelspin up to about 80 mph, so I "probably" will have him on traction, but the torque curves of a V8 vs a turbo-4 are different so it'll be interesting.
Regarding Midlana, while the distractions continue, I'll be working on it all next week, and may have a surprise in store ;)
Amazing accurate, the farmer that told me years ago that the hottest week of the year is the first week of September is right on track to be very close if not flat-out right again. It's too hot to be in the garage so the book is being worked on.
Received all the Mcmaster parts this week (see last update.) Also received a different third-taillight blinker. I've never been happy with the slow-blinking units that are so common---I wanted something like what ambulances have, 5-10 flashes per second. To me, that's far more attention-getting than the slow half-second-on, half-second-off units. I like that both the number of flashes and blink rate is adjustable. This particular unit is from xdponline.com.
Typical Mcmaster order. What I ordered is in the foreground and came in the box behind. I'm convinced their shipping department does its part to increase profits. The actual shipping fees aren't shown up-front either, and are added after it's gone out the door. They're a great place to deal with and have fantastic service, but who would have thought that they're also doing their part to clean up Los Angeles smog... by shipping it elsewhere, four cubic feet at a time...
Lots of odds and ends. Rerouted the turbo oil supply and return lines. Welded in mounting studs for hose clamps. Made an adaptor for the coolant overflow tank; its plastic outlet is larger than the inlet to my coolant header tank. Welded a V-band flange on the outlet of the muffler (and am still wondering why I did.) Punched a rough hole in the lower rear panel for the exhaust; it'll have a trim ring. There'll also be a swappable straight-through pipe to replace the muffler for certain track events.
Last picture, a baby lizard in our back yard, about 1" long and they move quick! I've managed to feed them out of my hand by holding a small worm real still and when they see it, zip! Speaking of worms, last week there was a baby bird sitting in the street so I moved him into a bush. Coming back from our walk I saw him again... in the street. No mother around but there were crows so I brough him home. He was making noises the whole way home and when we got there, we fed him a couple tiny worms and some water. He was chirping away and seemed content, and when we put a towel over his cage he quieted down and went to sleep. The next morning - dead. That sucks. You're born, and get one day out of the nest and... "Nope, sorry, rides over, you're done." He may have been sick before I got to him because it isn't normal that I should be able to pick him up, though he "seemed" okay. Some things just aren't meant to be. That's too bad; I was looking forward to letting him go and hearing him sing in our trees :(
Welding an aluminum bend onto the airbox, which is now complete other than the support rods. Every now and then, usually toward the end of a bunch of welding, my aluminum welds look presentable - you only get to see the pretty ones!
Next was finally cutting the side panel for the air inlet path to the intercooler. I stopped here because it's kind of up in the air how to make it more finished. A trim frame and screen is very likely, though several forward-facing louvers would look fitting. The trouble with them is that they'll bounce rocks kicked up by the front tires directly into the intercooler core - the screen would not. Also, I'm counting on the high-pressure air piled up in front of the fender as motivation for making the air turn inboard. The louvers, because they'd point forward, would somewhat shield the inlet from that air, so it needs some more thought.
There are a few nagging plumbing issues that will get resolved this week. Everytime I look at the turbo, the oil supply and oil return lines looked less and less "right", so they'll be rerouted. Also, I'd used plastic quick-disconnect lines for all the vacuum lines. However, when the car was dyno'd by Daniel at Church Automotive (who's seen 100s of good - and bad - turbo setups) he said the hoses will melt. They'll be replaced with proper AN-3 or -4 lines, not cheap but an absolute avoidance of potential trouble.
The last picture shows why thoroughness, responsibility, and care is important. As-mounted, the Honda ECU has an upward-facing USB port which, if left uncovered, can collect whatever happens to bounce inside. A few months ago I was drilling in that area and later realized that I hadn't covered the USB connector, but figured, "Meh, how much could have gotten in there?" Over the following weeks I've had time to think about the potential for trouble, and the more I thought about it, the worse it seemed, with possibly very expensive repercussions. Because the Honda ECU circuitry is surface-mount, some the pins on the various parts are as close as 0.020" apart. It would only take a very small bit of metal to cause all sorts of big trouble, so I forced my lazy-self to take out the ECU, remove the lid, and what's shown here is what came out. Probably the worst aspect of this would be how intermittiant a failure it could have caused, likely occurring miles from anywhere half way round a bend due to the stuff sliding around. It's a very good thing the ECU wasn't powered up!
This reminds me of a story from when I was in high school. We'd made a big rocket using steel pipe and our own propellant (obviously pre-9/11.) We took it out to the desert to launch, and at some point, "someone" had to get down under it and connect the two electrical wires to the ignitor. I connected one, and came right up to the ignitor lead with the other wire when the voice in my head said, "are you SURE it's not hot?" I remembered thinking, being young and immortal, "Meh, the chances of that are about zero, it's fine." For some reason though, I reluctantly wasted the time to touch the leads together and was very surprised to see it spark (due to an electical problem at the launcher-end.) I think about that day every now and then, wondering how different my life - if I'd lived - would have been.
Good progress. The airbox is coming along nicely and the pictures pretty much show the process. There's replacing the 90-deg steel inlet bend with aluminum, adding support struts, and making a proper for the filter element to keep rain out of it. The last picture is preparation for cutting the side air inlet. Not sure whether to try and form the entire intake plenum from the side sheet itself or make it a separate assembly. Either way it'll be covered with mesh. Doing it this way keeps the option open of later adding the big flared-in fenders discussed a year or so ago.
The more I work with aluminum the better I like it. Someone once suggested that I should make the next car (if there is one) panels solely from aluminum - no composite. Yeah I could see doing that. A few more tools are needed for that though, the proper hammers, shot back, English wheel and maybe planishing hammer. Meh, that's all a ways off.
Drove my wife to a business meeting up in the mountains, and on the way there a new Mini passed us in the twisties. A moment later my wife asked if the sudden increase in speed was me trying to keep up with the Mini in her car. "Huh, what?" It was just as well, as some serious thrashing would have been in order to try and even then I'm not sure our 2001 IS300 (RWD) could have done it (serious up-hill twisties.) Anyhow, 180 miles later we stopped for dinner near home and, coming out to the car, the low sun had lit up the front tires... uh oh. The inside edge of both tires were down to the threads! The car's dead-stock, stock tires, normal tire pressure... so what's with that? It's as if it has a lot of negative camber (very doubtful stock) or a lot of toe-out, yet the steering wheel doesn't pull. Anyhow, it's going in for tires and an alignment pronto. It made me realize that my casual mountain road antics could have turned out a whole lot different...
On the way home we came up behind a Maserati Granturismo S at a light. From the rear it was rather non-discript, a plain-looking yet obviously-overpriced car that looked surprisingly like the Lincoln in the lane next to it. Then the light turned green. What can best be described as music came out of the dual exhausts, as it should for a $122K car, and strangly, the sound was such that the price suddenly seemed much more reasonable. We switched lanes to get a look at it from the side, and it's an awesome looking car. Black, black wheels, rad brake calipers, with very nice styling, and I immediately felt bad for comparing it to the Lincoln... well, from any angle any except the rear. But that exhaust note, oh my, but $122K, right now? In this economy? Well, I guess at least one guy didn't care. Here's a clip that illustrates its great exhaust note.
It's late, I'll post pictures later. Made the frame for the air-filter, fixed it in place to ease mock-up, then set into some real metalworking, hammering out four segments that'll form the housing leading from the rectangular filter element to a smoothly-curved transition tube leading into the turbo.
Picked up a largish flat-element K&N air-filter which will provide plenty to do this weekend.
So our 4 1/2 yr old granddaughter, Lana, was being taken to school by her mom when this happened:
Lana: "Did you know grandpa is making a car for me?"
Mom: "But grandpa already got you a really nice car. it's silver and it's in our garage remember?"
Lana: "No! I want a big car, not a little car!"
She saw the car once about 3 weeks ago and I never mentioned building it for anyone. How she come up with that we don't know. Kids are amazing.
About the air-cleaner, after being prodded regarding the inlet tubing and air-cleaner, I've changed plans and will go with a flat-element. It "should" integrate better than the round one and be simpler to build.
Redid the engine cover because several of the Dzus mounting holes were off and it bugged me everything I looked at it. It's being done now because the air-cleaner design has started. No pictures yet because the day was spent mostly thinking about it and trying out various locations for the filter. While a flat filter element packages okay, geometrically, nothing beats a cylindrical air-cleaner element for surface area. And being that my too-much-for-my-own-good engine puts out 400-ish hp, it needs a big filter. A large cylindrical K&N unit will be used on a 90-deg fitting straight into the turbo, with an outer housing around the filter butting up against the engine cover. The engine cover will have a low profile raised section pointing rearward to point the sound away, and also lessen the chances of water intrusion. There's a couple of other tricks to make sure that if the car's caught in the rain that no water ingestion will occur.
The picture here is of our Fugi apple tree, which has done surprisingly well in Southern California. It's located at the base of a slope to maximize the number of chilling days it sees (a requirement for fruiting) and it's been very productive every year... until the rats eat them. Last year I had enough and part way through their carnage, opted for the nuclear solution - bait stations. They've apparently broken the rat's social structure to the point that their local community (in a neighbor's yard) has been "solved." That said, I hate using poison on anything, but so far so good, with no bite marks found. Fugi apples are the best apples I've found (try them out, they're in most stores now.) Now if only the darn avocado would fruit...
It was all going fine...
Until I decided to trim back the big side panel since it no longer needs to turn inboard at the front - the "gills" now cover that area. Since there was already a bend crease where it turned inboard, it was easy to know where to cut... not.
I forgot that the bend line isn't where the chassis tube is behind it and so it got cut wrong. "Wrong" is okay if it means too long, but of course in this case it meant too short and suddenly the rest of the day was planned for me. Either do nothing more with it, buy another 8'-sheet of aluminum next week ($$$) and trace the old one onto the new sheet, or, weld the cut-off piece back on. Being a cheapskate by nature and somewhat pissed at myself, it was welded back on which went about as expected, with weld distortion and my dusty aluminum-welding skills doing a barely-acceptable job. Then out came the files, die-grinder and sandpaper to try and erase the ugly weld bead, which cracked whenever it was bent even slightly. At the end of the day it was fixed "good enough" though it'll still need a touch of - ugh - Bondo before painting. If there's a good side to this it's that only one side was cut wrong before catching the mistake.
Besides that, all that was accomplished was closing up the gills just slightly and squaring up the edges so they're both straight and parallel to each other.
Speaking of paint, the time to choose is getting short. Two colors popped up this week with one being a sea-foam sort of color seen on a Jaguar ("Botanical Green"... I think); very nice though a bit on the light side. Another was - once again - a metallic burnt-orange. The trick is spotting the "right" color, noting the make and model of the car it's on, having some clue about what year it is, and all before it gets too far away. Midlana's chassis will probably be navy-gray just like Kimini (not a lot of colors in powdercoat can handle full sun and UV.) Whatever color's chosen for the panels needs to complement a gray chassis, probably red suspension tubes, and some black inner panels. Both the above colors do this.
And finally, work is resuming on the book manuscript. It slowed down but never really stopped, with notes about what to include added nearly everyday. There's plenty to do.
The gills/louvers seem to be a hit, guess they're staying :)... and thanks for the encouragement!
BTW, someone asked why the louvers can't all be made from one panel. It's because the A-arms have to snake their way through, and be able to tighten the inboard A-arm mounting bolts. Also, the assembly has to be removable even with the A-arms in place, which isn't possible if it's one assembly. For that reason each will be its own little dealeo, perhaps with, as suggested, screen on the outlets to further clean up the look, but that can be added later.
Presto, one cubical quad antenna centered on 95 MHz. The good news is that it pulls in many Los Angeles stations that were marginal or nonexistent. The bad news is that it also brings many additional stations "almost" up out of the noise. It's tempting to put it up into a nearby tree (instead of the attic) to further improve gain, but then it would have to be rebuilt for weather. Eh, later, there be a car to build.
It became apparent that the panel and splitter assembly above the radiator isn't necessary if (a much simpler) partition is added just aft of the shocks (yes, DP, you were right...) Changing it avoids a fair bit of work for builders, plus some weight and material. It also makes accessing the shocks, hoses, and wires much easier, so I guess that's that. Sigh, nothing worse than wasted work, but oh well, it only has to be fixed once. That came up as these really big louvers ("gills", even) were being mocked-up. The trick was placing them so the A-arms could get through while retaining some level of dignity. They turned out okay but took an incredibly long time to fabricate the mockup. I like them, functional yet quirky.
Just got done watching the extra material from the the Extraordinary Deluxe Edition of Monty Python's "The Holy Grail." The original came out when I was in high school - a long time ago. We loved it then and it's still great; even today quotes from it pop up now and then. If you've not seen it, shame on you. Go right out and buy or rent it, silly English-Type Person.
Typical of me obsessing, while the new dipole FM antenna has markedly improved reception over a simple wire for the garage receiver, there's always the "I bet it's not hard to do better." Doing some digging and talking to the RF guys at work led to a cubical quad antenna design, which when sized for the FM band should fit up above the garage rafters. The plan is to use PVC pipe and fittings and see how it turns out :)
Fabricated the radiator splitter. The whole deal's not done yet as there'll be another panel left and right of it that are installed from the sides. This way, the inner section can be lifted out separately for easy access to the shocks without having to remove both coolant lines and the steering shaft, or the paneling at the bottom of the footwell, which can be tough to reach in any small sports car.
Today was the last "work day" on the car; tomorrow is clean-up, both for the garage and the house, having been through a week-long batchelor-lifestyle. Then it's off to pick up the wife, and back to the regular work week. Actually, working in an air-conditioned office sounds okay right now.
In the last picture, Midi is finally comfortable enough to take a nap in the garage, though I think the cool concrete floor overrode his discomfort with the loud noises of fabrication. I make sure the floor's clean and that he stays outside when welding's going on. The big I-beam at left is the "sheet metal brake" on which all paneling is bent.
Mocked-up and fabricated the top radiator panel, and 0.040" 3003 aluminum is a joy to work with, about as easy to cut as cardboard and easy to bend. Anyway, between the heat, figuring out the panel and fabricating it, somehow the entire day disappeared. The rear cardboard cut-outs for the springs was done away with as I couldn't justify it other than looks; it's just going to get in the way when needing to access the front area.
Part of the staring-at-things included how - styling-wise - to treat the hot air exiting between the body and front tires. It'll probably be a bolt-in affair that is easily removable yet is hopefully good-looking. It'll probably be mesh which will match the front and rear grills, but it would might look good with large louvers. Might have to try it in cardboard first.
Half the year gone... hmmm.
It took several hours to figure out how to set up the too-fancy-for-my-own-good AV receiver - as a simple receiver. If I were buying one today for the garage it sure wouldn't be this Denon. Anyway, it's in and working and it sounds great, and thanks to Carl for reminding me that a simple dipole antenna works much better than just a piece of wire, and it does, no more listening to only 3-4 stations.
Anyway, spent the rest of the hot day drilling the panels and in general, finishing up loose ends. There's nothing worse than leaving stuff 95% done such that nothing's really finished, so this was an effort to fix that and provide a good sense of progress. Nothing to show since the panels look the same except for mounting holes. Did I mention that it was hot? Time for a cool shower, I'm beat.
It's amazing just how long it takes to really finish panels beyond the basic cutting. Anyway, they're in, then there was properly mounting the throttle cable termination. This wasn't possible to do up until now since there wasn't much to mount it to. For the first time I found myself working the pedals and thought, "this thing's getting there." The gas pedal has the proper feel and good travel, so with that done (the Clecos get replaced only after paint) there's still more panel work. Oh, and there'll be a dead pedal off to the left as there's plenty of room to do so - eat your hearts out, Locost builders :P
In other news, I've had the same beat-up boom-box in the garage ever since starting work on Kimini. Separately, we finally upgraded to a flat-screen TV (and Blu-ray... and AV receiver) about three years ago. Ever since then there's been an annoying - and intermittent - problem with the picture and audio dropping out. The frustration was trying to figure out which unit was failing, but it would never stay failed long enough to find out which one. Even replacing both HDMI cables didn't help, but the problem seemed to be something mechanically intermittent within the AV receiver (wriggle things around and it might start working, sometimes.) It's been a growing annoyance because it'll happen about 4-8 times during a movie, lasting anywhere from 1-20 seconds, and usually during some key scene, then we have to back up and see what we missed. I finally had enough of it this week and replaced the receiver (the nearest service facility was too far away to bother repairing it.) Anyway, got the new one installed and could finally enjoy a movie all the way... not. Yup, the problem was still there, dang it. After more messing about, it appears that I had bought TWO defective (and brand new) HDMI cables, each one purchased about a year apart. What are the chances of that?!
Anyway, this set the stage for ending up with a (probably) perfectly good receiver (with perhaps its HDMI issue) it'll work perfectly fine as a receiver only. It could be sold, given away, or, moved to the garage, hah! The old boom-box, with its sucky reception and poor speakers is being replaced with this receiver along with some proper speakers. We'll see how a simple piece of wire works as an FM antenna or if a real unit is necessary. Even though we're not far from San Diego, we're on the far side of some local mountains and it's a struggle to receive much. We can pick up Los Angeles stations better, but they fade in and out. So, after 16 years, hopefully the garage will be getting some decent music. Amazing how quickly things can get upgraded when the wife's out of town... :)
The last two tunnel panels are in but rough-cut, still needing mounting holes, but the long mental slog is coming to an end. After these panels are sorted, next up are the panels behind the radiator. The nuisance with those panels is that the radiator tubes - full of water - are right in the way. Either the panels can be built around the tubes piecemeal, or just suck it up, roll the car out, drain the coolant (which is just tap water) and do it the right way. Hmmm, why is that such a hard decision...
In other news, building the car means getting in and out of it about a thousand times, often with the seat temporarily in-place. Over time I've found that I now get in by stepping on the seat and sliding in, then install the steering wheel. Getting out is the reverse, which means the optional side-triangulation tube is looking more possible (as in: it doesn't inhibit getting in and out, at least the way I do it.) It has the benefits of: keeping the front upper corner of the windscreen from folding down in a roll-over. It prevents rocks kicked up by the front tires from having a line-of-sight impact with my face..., and it'll keep the wind from whipping around the sides of the windscreen - a real problem with Seven-type cars - making for a more pleasant ride. It'll also very likely provide convenient hard-points for side mirrors.
In other news, my brother had another trackday event with his Super Stalker, this one at both Streets of Willow and the big track next door, Willow Springs. He said the notables were a 600-whp Nissan GTR that got beat fair and square by a Spec Miata racer (meaning that the engine was virtually stock.) There was a Porsche GT3 which wasn't running well, had poor tires, a poor driver, or some combination thereof. He said the other real competition was an old Honda CRX, and it was nearly equivalent performance-wise to his car. He didn't find out what the guy had under the hood, but the owner claimed >300 whp... normally-aspirated! That's doable with a K-series for a whole lot of money as it usually entails running it at >10,000 rpm. No kidding.
Yesterday was spend drilling mounting holes for the existing center tunnel, so there wasn't much point in posting. Today the storage tray was mocked up then fabricated. Wasn't sure whether to bother beading the base of it but it made a huge difference in stiffness. Also not so sure about the brake lines and reservoirs inside the storage compartment - I can imagine a helmet, jacket, and sweater getting soaked in leaking brake fluid. I suppose if there's a brake leak there's bigger things to worry about so I'm not going to worry about it.
One other thing that's needed is a small cover over the throttle pivot shaft. Don't want something someday dialing up 400 hp unexpectedly by wedging itself behind the throttle...
While the tray's not yet drilled, all the hard work's done. Next are the last two tunnel panels next to the occupants' feet, then it's on to the paneling behind the radiator which will be a lot easier to fab since they're easy to get to.
So, where have I been and what have I been up to? Still here, just been distracted by several new hobbies and, things. Here's what's been going on:
1. The second hummingbird nest - and babies - came to a sad end. Unfortunately the mother picked a bad place for the nest, up at the top of our fishpond shading. A crow apparently saw the nest from above, came down and tried to grab the babies through the shade cloth, but got both in his mouth. He wasn't able to fly off because the shade cloth was anchored, so he dropped both. Their poor little tiny bodies were found on the ground, 10 feet below the nest; I buried them side by side in a grave - nature is harsh :(
2. Days later, Midi got all excited to go outside, which usually means there's something running around in the yard. This time it was a baby possum, and - good thing for him - he hid under a raised planter pot. After fishing him out I briefly thought of trying to domesticate him as a slightly unusual pet (imagining what it would be like to walk around with him on my shoulder - I'm weird that way.) I thought better of it and tried to let him go, but of course he was doing the "playing possum" thing, and doing a fine impersonation of being dead - they don't even breath. Anyway, this picture was taken as he was waking up, sort of grinning/growling/drooling at me. He was so small though that he wasn't fooling anyone. (It's almost eerie how human-like their hands are.) I hope he has a good life and doesn't get eaten or run-over anytime soon.
3. My old aviation snips finally worn out so I went to pick up new ones at Home Depot. Boy, things have changed in the last 16-years. They have a much wider selection of cutters, including these offset versions (on the right) that weren't available before. Man, I wish I had these back when making Kimini; they're MUCH better for cutting panels. The offset design completely avoids the panel distortion caused by the non-offset version (at left.) This tip's definitely going in the book.
4. And then there's the solar oven. Yes, that's right, I've always wanted to build one and when I get interested in something new, I obsess over it until I've learned the design, then I have to build one. Of course I couldn't just build a "normal" one, as they all have various short-comings. This one's got a stainless inner cooker box, double-pane glass, a heck of a lot of insulation, and a real oven door. Spent the last couple weeks on that, and today was the big day to try it out, my wife prepared a pot of beans for its inauguration.
It worked awesome! The highest temperature (in the bottom of the box) was 266 deg F - not bad. It was very neat to lift the lid and in fact see the beans simmering and boiling, all for free. Pretty cool. Then there's the vague pull toward building an ice-maker which uses no electricity, no moving parts, and makes 10-20 lbs of ice every day, and makes double that in the summer. On the other hand, so it gets built... then what? Not much point, though it does spawn bigger ideas of home air-conditioning using no electricity, but I digress. I love building stuff, so maybe that'll happen sometime in the future.
So, yeah, the car... Well, I've been thinking through over the last few weeks why nothing's been happening - besides the above distractions. It's because I built a car before! I figured out that the reason why the paneling was such a mental drag is that, having already done a set of panels for Kimini, the exciting newness of learning a skill is gone... now it's just... work. It's the same with other projects I've done. First time I built a chain link fence it was very interesting. The second fence I had to make was... work. First time I painted the house it was really interesting; the next time I'll hire painters, it's not fun any more.
Anyway, now that that's understood and having come to terms with it (and coincidentally, finished up the backpacking equipment buying and oven designing), it's time to get back to the car. I have next week off so you'll start seeing updates again.
Another week and two more panels. The trick with the footwell panels was to retain access to the suspension bolt on the lower A-arm. These panels go on one side of the suspension bracket and a cover goes on the other side due to it being in the radiator outlet stream. This is so the bolt can be accessed after it's all buttoned up, and also so hot or cold air doesn't sneak in through the A-arm pass-through port. After drilling them for screws or rivets (haven't decided which) there's two more panels needed to finish up the center tunnel, then after that there's the storage tray bottom to do. Easy compared to the curved stuff!
I'm still around; just taking a step back from pushing so hard, and have actually been spending more time with the wife. Have done a few new things, like going to a minerals exhibition where we saw some incredible rocks that have come out of the earth. Then there's a growing interest/distraction in backpacking - and I thought that there were a million choices in car stuff... Then there was the first gun show we ever went to, where my wife said it was like going back in time, walking through the open marketplace in Vietnam where you could buy virtually any pistol, rifle, machine gun, or grenade-launcher you wanted. I said while some might wish it was still that way, it's not quite the same as it was there. In backyard news, there's another hummingbird nest not 50 ft from the first :)
And then there's the car. The next panel - the last of the pain-in-the-ass panels - is finished other than fasteners, the one surrounding the shifter. I was going to leave the shifter open to show it off, but if and when the car gets rained on, water will run into the shifter and into the center tunnel and cause mischief (rust.) There'll either be a leather shifter boot over the whole cutout as-shown, or as my buddy, Ron, suggested, a plexiglas box show-casing the mechanism, plus a small shifter boot. Regardless, having a 2"-wide center "tunnel" goes a long way to freeing up legroom.
Speaking of such, Ron stopped by in his authentic 1961 right-hand drive Lotus Seven. He twisted my arm (I hate driving other people's stuff) until I gave in, and man is it elemental. It was amazing how tight the steering is; sneeze and the car will be in the next lane Right Now. It was hard to believe it only has a 1.3 liter engine, as 1000 lbs does wonders for performance; mine's going to be something of a tank in comparison. I can't imagine driving his car at the autocross, as the performance it so far up the scale it'll really lay out the driver's ability - or lack thereof. Driving on the right-hand side takes some getting used to but I guess I should just be happy I didn't also have to drive on the left side of the road, too!
Gave up on getting carried away with the foot well paneling. It'll just be made removable one way or another so that the shocks can be accessed.
Welded in the "divot" to the curved section of the center panel so the driver's seat now misses it. No comments on the welding, please.
Before the panels on each side of the center "tunnel" can be done, the panel at the forward end of the footwell needs to be addressed. At first I started with a flat panel across the bay immediately forward of the pedals but then backed off. The issue is once the car's buttoned up, how are the inboard springs going to be adjusted? Not just valving, but especially ride height could be a real pain if they're way down in triangular bay. So after staring at it for a while, the panels on each side of the center tunnel can extend forward and curve outward. This keeps the shocks accessible from above and behind their position. The bottom panel of the storage compartment will have to be removable to get at the shocks (and battery) but no problem there. The panels are needed to keep coolant from ever spraying on the occupants. That's the trick about designing a car; not only is it deciding where stuff has to go, but how it'll be accessible once it's in-place.
The only issue is whether the heater doors will still work... Running the panels forward makes the shocks visible from the passenger compartment which is kinda cool, but the fact is lost because the dash completely blocks the view - unless someone puts their head down into the seat cushion.
Nothing accomplished on the car, but rewarding nevertheless.
As you know, a mother hummingbird had set up nest near our back window so we've been keeping an eye on her and her kids, watching nature at work. The babies have gotten huge (relatively speaking) and barely fit in their nest. Yesterday one was perched on the edge of the nest preening and flapping his/her wings, so we realized the time was near for them to leave. This morning, sure enough, one was already out of the nest, perching in a nearby tree. Went out to take a few pictures and not five minutes later, the second one flew out into the same tree. Mom kept visiting them for feedings, the babies calling to her with a very high squeak - and then they were gone.
Went and visited my mom and got back mid-afternoon, wondering if the baby birds might still be around. Went into the backyard and just sat quietly and waited, and, like right out of a movie, the two of them came flying extremely fast out of the far trees, slowed, and landed side-by-side on a branch near me. It was almost as if they were saying "don't worry, we'll be okay", and by the time I thought it would make a cool picture, they blasted off again and vanished. It's amazing how a young bird can just "know" how to fly, and I'd have thought that mastering hovering, never mind moving in six-degrees of freedom, would take a while to figure out, but nope, they already looked like pros. I wish them a happy life. Happy Mother's Day.
Don't worry, I'm still here. Being on-call means getting calls at any hour, including right in the middle of working on the car. That means cleaning up early, driving to work, figuring out what's going on and writing a report for the field users, and by that time it was 11 PM... :( Next time my boss asks "car done yet?," I can say "well it would be if it wasn't for the weekend interruptions."
Before the interruption, the last nasty panel was finished, the last panel of several having caused a huge mental drag for some reason. I mean, they really weren't that difficult, just very time consuming. Anyhow, after it was welded and beaten back into shape, the assembly was put back in position and the driver's seat installed. It was already known that it was probably going to interfere with the center metalwork, and it didn't disappoint. The area was traced out and removed. Not shown is a section of aluminum pipe trimmed to fit the hole to form a recessed area to miss the seat's shoulder bolster. While the seat could have been trimmed instead of the center cover, it seemed better to go this route since the seat is stressed a lot more with me sliding around in it than the center cover.
The last picture? Yeah well sometimes it's nice to just sit back and think about what's been done and what's left to do, all with a bottle of Costco's finest!
More glacial progress on the paneling. Got distracted by the side paneling that extend forward on each side of the shifter toward the footwell panel. That then led to thinking about how to make the storage section, which will live above the passenger's feet and attaches to one of the panels. After staring at that a while, decided to go back and work on the next panel down on the center tunnel cover (the loose cardboard piece seen between the seats. Note how the driver's seat is touching the cover - that'll be "adjusted" once all the rest is done. This part of the car is a bit fussy but that's what it takes to look okay and have access.
We're parents! Hummingbird mom had her babies hatch yesterday or today (taking 16-18 days to hatch.) The inside of the nest is about 1" across; I wonder how they're going to fit as they get bigger.
In other news, when I hurt myself, it never seems to be in a normal way. Saturday I was leaning over the car, and as you know I have carpet on the floor to make it more comfortable to work on down low. During the paneling sessions there's a lot of cardboard scraps laying around, one of which I happened to be standing on. Leaned over just enough and presto, my feet slid out from under me on that cardboard. This caused a somewhat-surprised me to fall onto the front outboard corner of the windscreen frame before I could catch myself (my hands were full, probably with scissors and a marker.) I landed on that frame corner with most of my weight on what I think is my top-most left rib. Ouch. I suspect it might be cracked because it really lets me know when I sneeze or cough. I'm seeing the doctor in three weeks anyway so I'll see how it is by then. Getting old sucks.
Not much to show for working all weekend, but aluminum paneling, especially curved contours, takes a lot of time to get right. The two panels behind the seats may or may not be riveted in, haven't decided. The center portion (of which three segments are in-place) will have at least one more section added down toward the shifter, then it'll all be welded together because it's how I deal with not having an English Wheel. It'll attach with rivnuts (learned my lesson on Kimini about designing myself into a corner and being unable to access parts of the car after it was done.) After that's done another couple of panels will extend forward to protect the occupants from any broken coolant lines spewing hot water everywhere. It also keeps people from getting burns, as well as cleaning up the internal appearance. Not sure how a cover around the shifter will be handled but this sort of stuff seems to design itself.
This is the most difficult item remaining in the project. The reason for the drama is simply because it'll be very visible and I want it to look nice, and be functional. As mentioned, the cowl will probably be redone, but it won't be as tough as this is/was. Getting this panel done goes a fair way toward getting the car done, at least mentally, which counts for a lot.
This is what happens when I lose my temper, in this case with a Harbor Freight sheet metal nibbler. It kept jamming and refusing to move through the metal even though it appeared to be working fine. With growing frustration, and after examining the tool several times to figure out was wrong, and after trying to push it through the ridiculously thin 0.050" 3003 aluminum, I snapped, slamming it down on the floor. So now I get to buy a new one, and had to cut out the panels with snips. Why show this? Just to show that not everything always goes smoothly in Self-Builder Land.
It was hard to get a shot that showed the 3-D nature of the outer firewall panels. The remaining center panel that connects the two is going to be a bit tricky, and already several cardboard models have been discarded. Then there's the question of whether or not to weld all three pieces together (but then it may be hard to get it in and out.) Or, flange the outside parts and have the center panel bolt to them.
Mentally, these three panels - for whatever reason - have been a real drag. I think once it's dealt I'll be over the hump, though there's still the dash cover. It was made once before but it's been decided that it can be done better, and since it's right up there where I'll be second-guessing it every time I drive the car, may as well deal with it sooner rather than later.
Just weighed the seatbelts and it's surprising how heavy they are, 11-lbs for both 6-pt sets - not that anything can be done about it. It's just another reminder how the total car weight sneaks its way higher.
Decided to do the fuel filler on a whim. This little biotch took literally all day, mostly due to the complex curve the outer ring had to form to. It isn't a single-plane bend, but a decreasing radius bend toward the front. However, because the assembly is so visible it had to be "right", so there was no hesitation to proceed. It'll likely be painted red, along with the suspension arms (and no, this doesn't mean I know what color the rest of the car will be, but I'm circling in :) Or if the car is dark maybe it'll be clear-coated.
Did a bit more on the center tunnel/firewall interface. It's still designing itself but seems to be settling down.
As I was typing this I heard an odd-sounding helicopter, like the rotors were spinning 2-3 times normal speed. Went out and looked and it was a V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft flying over. Pretty cool, as would be expected for around $67 million.
With spring comes all sorts of interesting critters around here. During our morning walks lately we've been seeing quail and a couple of roadrunners. Then recently in our yard, Mother Hummingbird built a nest not five feet from our kitchen window (she's right in the center of the first picture.) The closeup of the nest doesn't do it justice, as it's about 1.5" across! Unfortunately putting the nest there means that every time we open the door she flies off. At night she seems to know to sit tight when I let out Midi, so that's good.
Then, yesterday I was putting in an avocado tree and saw this little guy in the mulch I gathered. He's either a skink or a salamander, pretty cool either way because they're fairly rare due to SoCal being semi-arid.
Oh yeah, then there's Midlana. Made a goofy-looking brace to hold the very stiff shifter cables where they need to be, to stay away from the firewall panel. Next was starting in on the firewall interface to the center tunnel, which might mean replacing the existing lower stainless firewall, but no biggy.
In other news, there's a magazine sniffing around for an article... more news on that as it develops.
Fab'd and mounted the seatbelt shoulder mounts and main lap mounts. The submarine belt mounts have to wait until the belts are on-hand (this week) because it's unclear where exactly the ends go. There's little room under the seats so the brackets need to be "aimed right" so that the belts pass properly through the seat frame cutouts. Also mounted the fire extingusher - under the front edge of the passenger seat. It't a good place for it, virtually on the floor for low CG, opposite me to help balance out the weight, and best of all, it's out of sight from passerbys who might have sticky fingers.
Whittling away at the list of odds and ends: mounted the loud-as-hell horn (130 dB!) It has a really odd mounting point and it was tempting to just tie-wrap it to a tube. However, vibration would just wear off the powdercoat, I didn't want it blocking hot air exiting the radiator, and since it's kind of heavy, it deserved a robust mount out where it can direct all its noise out the front grill. Also added a terminal strip in the area above the fuel tank where a bunch of odds-and-ends come together. The third brake light blinker, fuel sender, and spares for whatever's being forgotten, so there's spare +12V and Gnd connections. The entire harness will be properly wrapped once the electrical system is fully vetted.
Absolutely incredible. Japan's earthquake and the breathing earth.. One of the most remarkable videos I've ever seen of the earth. Keep in mind this is in Tokyo, 200 miles away from the worst of it. Be sure to select 1080p resolution.
The lighting system is done - finally. Used a headlamp with an internal turn and park bulb, a neat assembly though not real cheap. However, it avoids trying to figure out where to mount separate parking lights. A number of Locost builders have tried using modern-looking headlights, but after all the work they don't look any better to me, so Midlana gets the traditional look. Besides, it helps the car look like a Seven and less like something where the DMV might start asking questions. As always, you're free do as you wish on your car ;)
Connecting the lamp assemblies to the chassis was a combination of practicality with a sensitive to to it being out where everyone can see it, or just call it my OCD thing of deciding something has to be a certain way. The setup allows the lamps to be quickly removed for track use, unlike how the lamps were originally, with the wires running down through the hollow mounting bolt that prevented their removal altogether.
Done. Middle picture is running lights only, right-hand picture is with the brakes on, which sort of shouts, "Stop - bitch!" Actually the red is over-exposed; they aren't as bright as they look, like they could burn the paint off the side of the neighbor's house. This task seemed to take forever, welding on a flange for the chassis connector, then wiring it all up, made more awkward since the lamps install from the outside, necessitating secondary connectors.
Very glad to have this done because for some reason, lately things seem like disproportionately-large mental blocks to a feeling of finishing the car. Ever since the great progress over the holidays came to an end, there's been this malaise because there's no immediate goal, just a long list of nagging tasks.
Still need to connect the third brake light, and at some point wire in the brake-blinker thingy, but they aren't on the Nag List.
Visited the kids, did shopping, and Saturday plus half of Sunday were gone. Figured I could at least get the taillight connector wired up, until I was out by the fishpond and noticed something. The shading is held up by wood and steel trusses, forced upon me by the city Civil Engineer. I say "forced" because back then I knew it was only a matter of time before the wood rotted. So looking at the one truss closer, it was pretty scary, looking like it could buckle at any moment, and definitely not something to be standing under.
I'm notorious for putting off yard work, but this was was one of those pay-me-now-or-pay-me-a-lot-more-later things. Okay, welded up a secondary truss out of spare 2" square tubing to back up the original. Getting it in place was interesting, using the floor jack to force the entire assembly back straight, no comments on the C-clamps, please. This temporary setup will do until a replacement truss design is done. Pricewise I'm thinking that chainlink fence tubing and wire cable is about the cheapest way to pull it off, and might even look somewhat-elegant if done right. More on that later, hopefully much later. (Some trusses span the fishpond, which made fixing this one all the more important - having it crash into the water and puncturing the liner would bad news, never mind possibly taking the trusses to either side with it.)
Anyhow, the last shot shows the rear engine screen which looks (to me) a lot better.
Went to install the taillight connector but had the wrong parts... doh! Not willing to waste the day, the wire screen in the rear engine vent was cut out, the frame filed smooth, and the denser material welded in (yup, welded it again.) Also cut out holes for the four LED taillights, and the whole ordeal took all day but it's good to have something that can finally be checked off as really finished.
In other news, we just heard Midi's dog dish rattle around out in the patio, which means only one time: Mr. Possum is visiting. He's about the size of a big cat, and reminded us of how we raised one years ago before before letting that one go back into the wild. Got to learn all about them and what they eat; they're very cool animals and don't bother anyone. If you have a snail problem in your yard, a possum can be your best friend, though it's pretty gross watching him eat one!
Finally broke up the mostly one-piece wire harness, adding two bulkhead connectors to it in the area of the fuel tank. Still need one more near the rear of the car so that the lights can be disconnected when removing the rear frame. Multipin military-type circular connectors are perfect for this but are both expensive and not real easy to find. However, a few vendors do carry them, such as Trigger-wheels.com. They also carry parts for custom EFI and ECU installations, including Megasquirt and Megajolt setups, so if you're fortunate to be on the other side of the pond, near Sports-car Heaven (Britain) they can help you out.
Change of topic: I'm currently struggling through the "90%-done syndrome", where most of the car seems finished yet there are lots of loose ends, making it so they can't really be crossed off the mental list as truly finished. The only way through these doldrums is to just keep at it; if a little is done every week the project has no choice but to get done. This malady shouldn't have been a surprise since it happened when building Kimini, and seems to affect many Locost builders, too.
Passenger seat mounts are in, just need to get the proper grip-length bolts.
A nagging issue has been the wire harness; it needs a couple connectors mid-harness so that the front-half can be disconnected from the back. As it is, there are wires that run from the ECU all the way to the front dash, but other wires on the same ECU connector that also go to the engine. So as it stands, the fuse block can't be removed from the front of the car without also having to remove the harness off the engine - and the taillights. No, no, no... So connectors will be added in the center tunnel, along with another near the rear taillights so the rear subframe can be removed without pulling the ECU, fusebox, and headlights along with them!
And that's about all that got done today. The reason is that over the last few weeks I have to admit I've been distracted, fixating on choosing a new cellphone. When I set out to get something new like this, I tend to completely over-analyze the situation, reading endless reviews and forums, and doing lots of comparison research. Anyhow, that search is finally over, finally choosing an HTC Inspire 4G. Moving to a high-end Android phone from just about anything else is kinda like owning a 1982 Honda and being tossed the keys to a new Ferrari. So with that time-sink out of my head, it's back to thinking about the car at all hours of the day. Sorry about the diversion.
Received the more-dense wire mesh for the engine vent, that'll get swapped-in when I get the strength to cut out the old one, grrr.
It was correctly pointed out that the front shocks were inverted (adding unsprung inertia) and once they were flipped over, the brake lines interfered. Sigh - out came the hammer and the existing mounting studs were knocked off and relocated.
A stainless foot tray was fabricated. Its purpose is to keep the driver's feet from scratching up the painted aluminum panels, and to keep said feet inboard if a nasty off-road excursion rips off the floor. It was made now because I need a floor(!) and driving the car down the street with nothing could end very badly.
The passenger seat mounts were dealt with next; the seat's just been sitting in there loose. This seat sits more upright than the driver's seat, it's larger, and is shifted forward to miss the driver's seat shoulder bolsters. For that reason the seatback brace has to reach further forward and is triangulated to keep the seat from moving laterally as well as fore/aft. The lingering concern is the image of the bracket getting shoved through the seatback in a rear-end accident, so a spreader plate was added to distribute the load. There will be two more mounts at the front bottom corners to handle flexing in the other directions.
I suspect some readers are wondering, "Why do all that unnecessary stuff when you could be working to drive it down the street?" True, but there's still the long list of tasks to be completed, and everything has to be done before it gets taken apart for paint. Yes, driving the car down the street would help build interest, though that same interest would bleed off once people realize there's still dozens of odds and ends left to do. That said, first drive will happen sooner rather than later :)
A number of people asked what the heck's going on with the gas pedal. Yes it looks massive but it's just been boxed-in so there's no concern about the pedal twisting. Granted, some holes would look nice and would lighten the appearance.
Installed both front calipers, with the proper hardware this time. Plumbed the system, added rubber-lined hold-down clamps, and filled and bled the system - good to have a firm brake pedal now. Knowing now where the brake pedal gets firm meant that the position of the heel-stop could finally be set. Next was finished up the gas pedal (that broke due to having it tacked-together and because the guy doing the dyno run was pushing on it off-axis - it's not coming apart now. Don't worry about the cheezy throttle cable mount, it's that way only until the center tunnel side panels are fabricated.
Measured out the front brake lines, which should be done by the weekend and with the correct hardware on-hand, should finish up the front brakes. Next will be an inner floor panel in the pedal area. The real reason to have it is in case the car rolls and the floor panel rips off, the inner panel keeps the driver's feet in-board. The immediate reason to have it is... well, there is no floor yet; something has to be there for first-drive, and since it's needed anyway it's not wasted effort.
In other news, my brother's considering an LS-2 V8 for his Super Stalker, 400 hp and 20 lbs lighter than the supercharged V6.
The brake caliper brackets were iridite coated and the helicoils installed. Had to ask a few buddies about the consequences of using stainless hardware to mount the calipers; I think I suspected they weren't a good idea due to the chance of galling. Galling is where metal (particularly stainless) gets "smeared" off one fastener and onto the mating part (made worse when that part is stainless, too, like stainless helicoils.) Galling can effectively weld fasteners together before they're fully tightened, making it impossible to screw them together the rest of the way or even get them apart. Anti-seize compound works - sort of - but it's best to just stay away from the combination altogether. It was good to get that straight before potentially ruining the caliper adaptors that took so long to make. Ordinary steel bolts will be used, and this tip was added to the book.
And yes, the brakes do look small and lost inside those big 17" wheels, but the Miata Sport brake rotors are a lot heavier and very likely unnecessary - looks aside. If there's any fade, air will be ducted to them before considering larger rotors.
The suspense was killing me; so working on the front brakes were pushed off and the car was weighed first. Left out of the total is several aluminum panels, which aren't much, though the missing stainless firewall is probably 20 lbs easy. Then there's the windscreen but heck, I'm happy. First picture is the setup, second is the weight of the car alone, with oil and coolant but no gas. Third is with me in the car - note how the weight distribution changed very little, due to the seat being near the CG. The rear weight bias is at the upper limit of what I wanted to see and it remains to be seen how steering will be under throttle; will it understeer like crazy or not?
A couple things are affecting the weights: two of the scales are half on the carpet that's under the car so aren't evenly loaded, and the garage floor is tipped toward the door by about 2 deg. It's hard to say how much the final reading will differ, but I'm extremely happy with the weight! Use a slightly smaller normally-aspirated engine with smaller 15" tires and racing wheels, and the dry weight could easily be in the 1300s. Don't worry about the variations in corner weight; the spring seats haven't be adjusted at all, it's the weight total and weight distribution that's important right now.
The power-to-weight ratio, which is always calculated without driver or gas (totally unrealistic, but it's how it's always done) and it works out to 3.6 lbs / hp. A real-world ratio is the car with driver and half a tank of gas, adding a bit more for parts left out, it works out to about 4 lbs / hp. That'll do!
Also shown is the rear with (finally) all four taillights. Still don't like the screen...
To hard-anodize the aluminum brake caliper brackets carries a batch charge of $110, whether I do one or 100 pieces. So the interim plan is to iridite coat them, wait until the car is done, then decide what to do with them. Perhaps there'll be enough other aluminum bits and pieces that the entire batch can be done at once. If not, they can either be left as-is, or more likely, be powdercoated (basically for free) along with all the other parts (though this time, masking the mating surfaces - lesson learned there!)
After that's done, add the helicoils, bolt them on, then face reality: the car's true weight. It's complete enough now that it's time to learn what it really weighs, not what I want or hope it to be. Some time back I weighed the bare chassis, and it was no accident you didn't read about it, because it was very humbling to see the scale spin to 275 lbs. Granted it consists of basically a full SCCA roll-cage, but still, it's a tank, at probably twice the weight of a Locost, but far safer and 3-4 stiffer in torsion.
My brother's Super Stalker weighed in at 1600 lbs, and Kimini weighed in at about 1580 lbs, basically the same. Leading up to this weighing, my brother asked "So how is Midlana going to way sooo much less like you say it will" - good question. The differences in favor of a lighter car include: lighter drivetrain (-70 lbs), no doors (-60 lbs), no large composite shell (-50lbs), aluminum floor versus stainless, and no side or rear windows (makes up for Midlana not having a windscreen yet), and that's about it. Differences in favor of a heavier car include: a turbocharger system (+50 lbs), heavier wheels and tires (+50 lbs) - with all weights being off the top of my head so they're give or take.
So what's your guess? I'm guessing 1600 lbs if expecting the worse, 1500 lbs if hoping for the best. Stick in a 1600 cc engine and 15" wheels and tire and it would be probably 150 lbs lighter, but I didn't want to go that way for mine!
Several people wrote about the picture of the brazed tubes. I double-checked and the proper term is "bronze welding." And yes, the welds shown really were made with a gas torch - by an incredibly talented craftsman. The full explanation:
The heat source for all high strength brazing must be gas as there is no high strength alloy that survives in the heat of an electric arc. Tig brazing rod only has about 30,000 psi. The classic filler rod is Sifbronze No 1 (about 62,000 psi) manufactured by Sif welding products in England and a bit of a bother to get in the USA. Here, the answer is Eutectic Castolin, a developer and supplier of high performance welding and brazing alloys. Their filler is Eutectic Castolin Xuper 18 XFC® (about 70,000 psi) a bit stronger but a bit less ductile. All the normal caveats apply, you must have clean well fitted joints and you must form an adequate bead. These fillers will not work if you just flow the rod into the joint as though you are soldering. You must have a bead that looks the same as a weld bead only larger, hence the name “bronze welding”.That said, the SCCA reportedly does not recognize a brazed (or likely, bronze) welded chassis as legal.
Brake caliper adaptor brackets are done. Of course there's pressure to install helicoils and get the brackets on the uprights so the brakes can be mounted and plumbed, all so that the "first drive" can happen. If that's done though, the helicoils will have to be removed before they're hard-anodized because there can't be any steel on the part when it goes through the process. The second picture shows the bracket setting in the upright loose - don't be concerned, it'll square-up after the bolts are tightened.
In the last picture, ever see such wide and oddly-colored TIG welds? Nope, it's actually brazed! This is what's possible when a pro does it, and is proof that an expensive TIG welder isn't needed to make a chassis, just lots and lots of skill.
I was given some good-natured ribbing about the dome light, how a $3 LED flashlight would work just as well, point taken. And then there was, "I can't wait to see the pictures of the five cup-holders!" You know, we'll see who's laughing after a hot double soy latte dumps in someone's lap - yes there will be cup-holders! Just because it's a homebuilt car doesn't mean it has to be a knuckle-dragger as far as being civilized go.
Gave the vendor (and UPS) until the next morning to post that the package was in their system - nothing. Called the credit card company and learned about how this sort of thing works (though I complain a lot, I've never actually canceled an order this way.) Turns out unless my card had already been charged, there's nothing they can do before it occurs. The only out was to get a new card... ugh. So instead I wrote yet another e-mail to the vendor and surprisingly, he called back this time. After a long civil conversation, the parts (including a substitute lamp for the one still on back-order) was shipped off.
Sure enough the order arrived and was everything was as-ordered. One of the items was a dome light, useful when messing about in the car on a dark night. The vendor had a white-LED unit with a built-in on/off switch, listing its size as 11 X 4.5 X 1.5. I briefly wondered what the units of measure were (none were listed) but it was pretty obvious it was centimeters...
Wrong.
It was inches! Click on the picture to see what must be the world's biggest dome light! Incredible... gigantic would be more appropriate to the point of laughter. Thankfully the relationship at this point has been straightened out so there's no hard feelings, which is a good thing. Have to see if we can work an exchange for something more appropriately-sized for Midlana. At this point I think I might just go with a white-LED strip light on an overhead tube.
Surprise, another vendor rant!
12/01/10: Ordered the amber taillights, dome light, and a couple white interior lights, and was told by the owner, "These'll go out today." I did not ask when they'd ship, he volunteered the information.
12/20/10: Receiving nothing, and their website showed it hadn't shipped, wrote polite e-mail requesting status.
12/31/10: No product or e-mail received, wrote another polite e-mail requesting status.
01/05/11: Received nothing, wrote another polite e-mail requesting status.
01/07/11; Received nothing, left voice message.
01/09/11; Received nothing, left another voice message.
01/11/11; Heard nothing, left voice message saying if I heard nothing, I'd cancel order via credit card.
01/12/11; Received nothing, heard nothing, called again, owner picks up phone.
Me: Hi, I'd like to know my order status please. I've sent three e-mails and several voice messages.
Him: I don't have any record of your e-mails or messages, but we just got these in and they'll go out today.
Me: When I ordered these back on December 1, that's exactly what you said then, that they'll "go out today."
Him: Well, I have them in stock and they'll go out today. I need your credit card info again because our server deletes it after 30 days.
Me: When were you planning to call and ask for my credit card information?
Him: Well I have your information now so these can go out today.
Me: So when I check your website for order status this evening, I'll see the UPS tracking number, correct?
Him: Yes.
I'll give this until 8 pm (two hours from now) before I call my credit card company. Canceling this is going to suck because I really wanted the clear-lens look for all the taillights, but I'm not sure which is worse, being blatantly lied to or never receiving anything. He doesn't even have the excuse of not knowing status or not knowing what the boss/owner is doing - he is the owner. This reminds me of a car salesman who asks what color car you want and you say "black", and then he says, "we have an orange one here..." WTF, are you not hearing me? On the other hand, the passive/aggressive part of me would take a bit of pleasure in knowing he'll be screwed out of profiting off me with that behavior if he ship's later than when he promised.
Is it really that hard to be a good business owner - real life says yes it is. Why is it so very rare to find a business that's on the ball, straight forward, honest, and up-front? Do these people go into business with the best of intentions, then have their morals and ethics worn down over time, ending up like this guy? Or do they go into business with this weasel attitude right from the start? I don't know, but an awful lot of businesses operate just like this bozo, stringing customers along by saying whatever it takes until the parts eventually come in. I didn't demand that the parts ship now, I simply wanted to know an estimate of when they'll ship. This is extremely frustrating, and it was hard to not lose my temper with him, but that wouldn't solve anything. There's a saying that goes something like, "It's not what people do to you that's important, but how you react that matters." I'll just have to find what I'm looking for elsewhere.
Learned a lot about making parts on a CNC mill, where design and setup are necessary regardless whether making one part or 10000, and using it for just one or two of anything doesn't make economic sense if paying someone, unless it has to be very precise. In my case it may have been faster to use a manual mill, but then I wouldn't have learned anything, the sexy curves would look like crap, and it's much easier to goof up and ruin a part. That became apparent part way through making one of them, that as each operation is performed, the component gets more and more expensive in terms of invested labor.
After about 12-hrs of work saw caliper-adaptor brackets transformed from billet to 80% done, though a couple more holes and a machined step is still needed, plus helicoils. Since the brackets are aluminum it's best to helicoil the holes (though OEMs hardly ever bother for cost reasons.) Hopefully they'll get finished next weekend and then the front brakes can be plumbed. After that, more brackets and clamps for wires, cables, and hoses, then there's nothing to prevent driving down the street and back :)
In other news, a question that's been eating at me is whether the SB100 California smog exemption number (that I stood in the cold for hours to get) ever expires - no one seemed to know. To clear it up for sure required another visit to the DMV, and the official answer is yes, the issued number is good forever regardless how long it takes to finish the car - as long as the registration fees are paid in full each year. So that's a big item crossed off The List of Concerns.
Carefully measured and drew up the front brake adaptors for the Wilwood calipers. Hopefully they'll get fabricated within the next week. Tomorrow it's back to work :( but it was a good vacation, which included the birth of a second granddaughter!
The 2010 Diary has been transferred to Old Diaries.