I'm heading down to the Catfish bodywork tomorrow, and I'm bringing some tools.

L to R

--Milton universal-use blower.

--In-line blower--use with grinder to instantly clean off your project, without having to stop and change tools. It's got a quick-disconnect on top (grinder on top) and a 1/4" male connector below for hose connection.

--soft tip--great for extracting composite parts from molds without damage.

 

I've got a lot on my plate in order to have a complete car at Miatas at Mazda Raceway.

Roll hoops can be crossed off the list. They're meant as "placeholders" until we get back, but are more than enough for a track day. Roman is the guinea pig, and at 6+ feet tall, he easily clears the broomstick.

We decided to install a 1.8 instead of a hotted up 1.6, mainly because this car will be going to the DMV (hopefully) soon after Laguna Seca, and the 1.6 in the shop is race-only. The 1.8 will be nothing fancy; no FI (yet) or billet internals, but it should be about 40 ponies more than our stock little 1.6 that we used in first testing.

Sooo, engine swap, all new wiring, transmission(?), hubs/brakes/wheels, tuning, and re-fitting/re-painting/re-re-fitting the bodywork are in our future. This month.

OH, and since the officials at Laguna Seca likes their horsepower quiet, a new exhaust design may be in order...

 

The main changes being made to the body are to make the one-off design production-ready. All the bodywork needed to be turned into something that we could make more than once.

Aside from that, the big difference is the size of the cockpit. The sides and rear deck were pushed out in order to offer more room for racing seats with shoulder "wings". This is a normal complaint with Miatas, as entire racing cages need to be bulged around the driver seat.

This bodywork change also necessitated moving the upper frame bars out, which will have the added effect of a stiffer frame and will allow the bodywork to nest with the frame right at the cockpit. Any type of "Dukes of Hazzard" antics will be performed on bodywork that is fully supported by a steel tube.

If you look closely at the included pictures, you'll note that the interior aluminum comes up and out to meet the bodywork. In the new version it comes up flush with the bodywork, giving more elbow room. Behind the driver, the body has been removed back to the roll hoop. This will give more seat recline space, and allow the rear trunk to more easily be removed.

 

I like the GT6 in the background of your first picture!

 

Good eye! That's owned by Jean-Louis Schlesser, racer extraordinaire.

Jean-Louis Schlesser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are a few rats that are currently claiming ownership, but I'm confident that the car will get a proper race-restoration...

 

The first Catfish with a body is a great car, and it keeps on giving! We're stripping it in order to update some parts for the Miatas at Mazda Raceway event, and for further customization later.

Updates include:

--Four point roll hoops (temporary mounting system just for Laguna)
--1.6 swapped for 1999 1.8
--MSPNP2
--17 x 9 Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.3 rims
--5 speed swapped for 6 speed
--5 lug prototype hubs swapped for 4 lug standard
--Exhaust modifications to make us quiet enough for Laguna Seca
--Seats--still haven't figured this one out
--5 point safety harnesses
--Clean up paint
--other...

I'm really looking forward to the weekend, and to actually being able to drive my own car! We'll plaster the car with GoPro cameras, so any off-track excursions are sure to be immortalized.

 

After working on the car all of yesterday, the 1.8 swap was just too much work in too short a time. It meant a whole new wiring harness and fabricating a new exhaust. Too much. We stuffed a 1.6 short nose into the car today, and think we'll have a fun power plant for Miatas at Mazda Raceway.

So the crazy thing is that the car will still have the 1.6 engine like the SEMA show car, but we've managed to remove the engine/trans/wiring/hubs/seats/body/exhaust/interior in order to make the change. Phew.

The nice part is that we already have a game plan for the next frame (being built now), which will have a fresh 1.8 mated to a 6 speed transmission and a MegaSquirt PNP2 controlling it. This engine will be going in the first PRODUCTION frame, which will mark our transition from r&d to manufacturing. FINALLY!

 

Here are a few pictures from today. We started with a bare frame with suspension. Only the brake lines remained. We ended up with the engine/trans/driveline installed, and a plan to put everything else together and test prior to Laguna Seca. Funny thing about the driveline--it installed from the top.

This is only a little bit of a franken-build. The short-nose is mated to a six speed transmission and a Torsen differential, and AWR motor mounts complete the install.

 

No reroute booooooo.

I'm assuming there's plenty of room for one though?

 

Good LORD! We just got the engine installed! The car will very definitely have a coolant reroute. We discussed that at length on Friday, and have come up with an option that I haven't seen used before. Now, my first inclination is to think that doing something differently on an engine that's been around for 23 years is dumb--all the big brains have already figured out the best way to re-route. We'll see...spare your scorn and derision until after you see it...

 

Holy grail reroute?

 

Well, it uses plugs and hoses and it reroutes the water, so it's not that revolutionary....

 

where is the turbo?

 

cordy you should post some pictures from your epic MRLS weekend!

 

 

I like pics so props on that.

You didnt tape the event by any chance did you?

 

WTF is the pic of that round thing by your feet?

 

Nice to see that it still runs after I was down there hacking up your nice, retro Motec harness.

Someday I hope to be in the same location as the car at a time when it actually has a seat and a steering wheel installed in it.

 

That's a picture of the baffle we made just for Laguna Seca. They have some rich neighbors there who have been trying to close down the track since 1978. Really. So you've got a track that generates tens of millions of dollars for the local economy, allowing them to offer services to everyone, and a couple of jackasses with AlGore complex want to ruin it for the rest of us...

 

After all your work Joe, the data acquisition didn't. Could be the TPS, could be the MSD box, could be that little green gremlin I saw skulking behind the car...