Miatas are fat
Miatas are fat
Love the cleco!
buttoning things up and I noticed a gassy smell. Turns out the fuel cell bracket had some welds that weren't ground down and were rubbing on the cell. Ungood.
New cell emergency ordered. Welds ground down. Things about trusting others to do a thing the right way muttered.
Today was a busy day.
I did my first string alignment. Not super fun, but I think I got it in the ballpark. At least the rear end is straight in the chassis I can tell you that.
Proof that SWMBO is a good sport. She came down to help me bleed the brakes, and didn't know how to get out of the car so she chose to go out two different directions at once. She found this to be quite funny, which made it even harder to get out.
After that it was time to make the final large piece of interior sheet metal. I've had the pattern sitting on the shelf for weeks, I just didn't want to get all the sheet metal stuff back out. There are a couple small bits and bobs left, but she's nearly done - for now. Yes the piece will be getting the zinc oxide treatment tomorrow before it gets installed for good.
Oh yeah, new fuel cell is in and I transferred the Holley Hydramat etc over from the failed cell. Ground down the offending welds and added rubber cushions as a further precaution. I'll get an FIA cell once prices normalize again.
Coming along nicely.
Got a good cascade effect. The car is ready for tomorrow at the track. I think.
Here's a rundown of what happened today in photos.
Continued
The body is looking fairly shabby now, which feels like a shame when I did all that hard work underneat. Body is a next offseason project.
Yep, body hides all the good below! Have fun. It's been a ton of work.
So uh, shakedown went well. It's very fast.
The body refuses to set square on the chassis so it looks like I'm about to take off.
Motorcycle engines are wondrous things, but also hit harmonics that shake EVERY. SINGLE. FASTENER. LOOSE. I'm going to be loctiting and safety wiring everything I think. Loose bolts caused an oil leak, but it was more mess than a concern.
I was hand shifting and the system worked great. The brake pedal is a little long, but it sheds speed well - I need to adjust the masters a little. A friend shot a bad cellphone video of the car, but I have no idea how to post it up here.
The car is incredibly loud and I will need to put a better muffler on it for sure. Over 9k rpm was painful.
Shakedown pace had me matching a C7 ZO6 on slicks piloted by a guy who knew what he was doing, so I'm feeling hopeful about the overall pace of the Busa Grande.
I still hate the way the body looks.
Body doesn't effect performance (much?) deal with it next year. Looks like it's working damn good.
that thing looks like it pull HARD. Congrats man, must have been a very 'proud papa' moment after a winter of thrashing.
In reply to DaveEstey :
CONGRATS! She rips!!
Fantastic!!
Having a one-piece body is handy for some things, but I haven't found what. Getting at things with the body on is like working on a ship in a bottle, but removing the body is a pain with one person.
So I got creative.
6 pulleys and a hand-crank winch later, I have full access underneath and can drive in and out with the body suspended.
I meant it as a working concept, but it worked too well so now it's permanent.
With the car in the trailer for now I decided it was prime time for a cleanup. The basement looked like the set for a natural disaster movie and it was wearing on me.
The epoxy floor makes cleanup so much easier. I do need a new mop though before I give it the deep clean it deserves.
Did a nut and bolt check - found a lot. Also found some oil seeping (understatement) from the valve cover gasket so I got a fresh one and switched to my nicer valve cover while I was at it.
Having the lift is SO handy for thorough bolt checks.
Well overdue for an update - I was busy going off and getting married.
The car wasn't running quite right - seemingly on 3 cylinders and it was more apparent in the last autocross than any other time. I'm out of my element for figuring it out so I'll be seeking professional assistance with it.
Until then I'm moving forward on my plans to replace the for the following reasons:
1: It's very heavy for what it is
2: Unpretty
3: doesn't really fit right
4: Unpretty
5: Ugly
6: ???
7: Profit
So with that goal in line I had to consider how to make a proper nice body, which lead to this purchase.
This is a Maslow CNC from MakerMade. It's a large scale CNC router that should be just the ticket for cutting wood and foam into large moulds. This photo is just after I finished getting it together and I've now run into an issue with it.
The issue: The router, a Rigid 22002, has a built in depth setting screw that is utilized for the Z axis. The issue is that it's not really up to the task because the plastic piece that engages with the screw (Rigid design) is essentially a mechanical fuse and doesn't really even properly engage with the screw, which leads to some wonky Z axis actions. Frequently while trying to calibrate the machine I was able to drill a hole, but not retract from the hole again before moving.
I've source some pieces to attempt a cheap fix, but I already have a feeling that I'll be upgrading to an aftermarket Z axis drive that eliminates all the Rigid stuff outside of the motor/spindle.
Are you going to keep it open top, or build a coupe body?
In reply to TurnerX19 :
Definitely going sports racer type of body. I'll continue to eat bugs like a man.
MAY have my Z axis issue fixed or at least improved. I'll know more tomorrow night after the epoxy finishes curing.
A brass bushing the keep the unit square to the screw, a reshaped plastic piece so it will engage more deeply with the screw and an elongated spring to force it into the screw harder. We'll see how it goes. If it goes poorly I'm upgrading the whole damn thing.
Oh yeah I added a second E clip to take slack out of the assembly.
A dedicated acme screw bushing would be the way to go there. That would give you a much stiffer and smoother action.
What size is the acme screw?
In reply to TVR Scott :
I definitely agree. That's next step if this doesn't work well enough. I won't be using Z that much outside of alignment holes, but I would like it to be "nicer". If working well it can do quite a bit of 3d sculpting depending on material thickness.
I haven't measured the TPI, but it's 1/2"
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