Horry sheet, i want this. Please keep making these for a while, I really want this to be my old man sports car one day.

Here's a short video of the engine start-up for our in-house build. It's a stock 1.8 with our side resonator exhaust. It's raucous with NA's and perfect with a turbo.

The milestone is that it's the first in-house customer build, and the first start using our custom wiring harness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr_g...ature=youtu.be

Paging OLDERGUY

SEMA prep
 

Sorry, no pictures today.

We're doing the usual SEMA thrash this week. It would have been a lot easier if our engine didn't crap out on us at Laguna Seca. So to get ready we've got the following planned:

--WINDSHIELD add--this is the big one. It was painted today and I hope to install the custom glass tomorrow.
--COWL--this is a stiffened portion that used to be the extended hood. It's now a separate piece where the hood rests.
--HOOD--shorter, and with new mounts
--Aluminum Roll hoop covers--these look cool. I just hope we can put them on without screwing up the fresh paint.
--PAINT--just to mix things up, we're running silver sides with a black hood, cowl and trunk. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.

Besides that, I think it's pretty surprising that we installed a rebuilt 1.8 in place of the 1.6 with very few problems. We followed the basic guidelines that Flyin' Miata listed on their website, swapped the 1.6 log for a FM 1.8, and then updated the information in the MSPNP2. The new 1.8 worked right out of the box with the 1.6 tune, and has a great idle even with no IACV. Extra added bonus...this engine seems like a big jump in performance in the 1.6, just from a light break-in drive around the neighborhood. :bigtu:

That cutting tape stuff makes it soooo much easier to do vinyl wraps. Lookin good.

I'd sell my hardtop/shell in a heart beat if it could get me the money for a catfish shell.

+1 (oh - and the possibility to make a TÜV approval for the car... :vash: )

Oof you guys have got it rough over there.

Yepp, even the whole Westfield/Super Seven DIY kits are not allowed anymore, due to having no electrical emissions tests etc. of the car... so sad - would have loved to build a Westfield/Seven with my son in the near future (he is 8 now - nice age to start working on cars...)

What if you add an engine from an OBD2 and have it tested? That wont work?

TÜV is a whole different animal in Germany. Completely separate and more strict certification standards.

No, the car has to be street legalized as a package according to a shitload of rules. Noise and electrical emissions, engine emissions, brake system, safety system and about a quadrillion more...

Even Westfield had to stop selling kit cars therefore in Germany.

Caterham.de is the only option for a new Sevens in Germany.
UK have the SVA , we have "amateur built vehicles", and every EU country have their own exempts (or none).
Importing these exempted cars between countries is tricky if possibly at all.

Random pictures
 

What's new...

Beside's my engine builder putting the cam journals on willy nilly, which caused the intake cam to seize up, there's been some good progress.

The windscreen is done and looks awesome. There's a fair amount of brackets and bracing that goes on under the frame, including brackets that will hold the wiper arms and motor.

Some other fun stuff includes an aluminum battery box that mounts to the back center of the frame and some nice aluminum seat brackets for the Lotus Exige seats. They include a flat aluminum bracket underneath that fit both the driver and passenger sliders. The design is still being tweaked, but gets the seat about as low as it can go.

The car is due to be finished Friday, which gives me a couple of days to tune it before taking off with the family for Thanksgiving. I'm really looking forward to getting used to the new 1.8 power. :)

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That windscreen looks so incredibly fantastic. Great job on that Cordy.

Thanks Tim! It's based off a Miata screen but has been cut down so the mid-section is only 14" tall and the rake is 30 degrees. I designed it so that the bulk of the frame is behind glass so that the front face is completely smooth. There are no rubber bulges or trim pieces. The actual frame only sits out 1/4" from the edge of the glass. The frame weighs in at around 4lbs. Pretty happy with the color scheme too.

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Every addition to this masterpiece makes me want one more and more. Stop tempting me!

Where did the glass come from.

Definitely like it much better with the windshield. Well done.

The glass--believe it or not--is Miata. It's raked far more than the stock screen and has had the bottom cut out of it.

A custom screen mold based on this one is in the works...