When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Well, the car finally made it into the garage and I finally got the trailer to the house.
It took a while. Moving my household goods took less than a day with one truck and two professional movers. Moving the garage contents took me a week and part of my soul. I have way too much stuff and it's way disorganized. Everything is in the new garage and it's better organized, but I still have boxes marked "unsorted" that I need to go through.
The trailer sticks into the sidewalk by a few inches. I mentioned this to the neighbors I've connected with already and none gave a flip. I'm going to see how long I can get away with this.
Also, unloading the Miata from the trailer, uphill into the garage, by myself, was not fun. Do not recommend.
I think I'll take the Monday holiday and make a plan of attack for finishing the swap. I'm thinking I need to choose a small next step and just knock it out in order to put something in the win/done column. There's a lot to do...
For unloading: put a winch in the trailer (you're going to want one anyway), and put an eye ring on the wall in the garage, or attached to a bench on back wall so you can hook up a ****** block. Make an extra length of cable to hook to the winch cable to reach, run it under the car, through the ****** block and back to the rear tow points. Winch the car up the driveway and into the garage. Easy peasy!
For unloading: put a winch in the trailer (you're going to want one anyway), and put an eye ring on the wall in the garage, or attached to a bench on back wall so you can hook up a ****** block. Make an extra length of cable to hook to the winch cable to reach, run it under the car, through the ****** block and back to the rear tow points. Winch the car up the driveway and into the garage. Easy peasy!
Thanks! My dog and I are quite happy in the new place. I have a winch in the trailer, but I didn't like the idea of pulling sideways on the garage/bedroom wall. Maybe I'll sink some anchors into the garage floor for future use. My back hurts today.
Check why stock hardlines don't seem to be held down
Decide how to bridge between stock lines and FPR
Measure for hose and order
Assemble and fit
Tank vent
Check rules, implement
Cockpit
Dashboard
Order IC-7
Design bracket
Switch Panel
Layout in CAD
Order parts
Assemble
Drivetrain
Order replacement driveshaft
Order clutch
Order slave seal replacement and re-check for leaks
Gearbox
Check and order rear seal if necessary
Order new shifter bushings
Drill for slave lines
Clearance for starter
Wiring
Fuse/Relay panel
Make decisions
Order parts
Install
Master cut-off
Order E-stop switches
Order connectors
Mount
Throttle pedal
Figure out bracket
Find connector
Everything else...
Engine
Cooling System
Order parts
Intake
Design + fab
Clearances (with engine out)
Subframe
Shelf next to exhaust
Right next to stock fuel lines ...
So, not all these items are at the same level of detail, but it's a list that I can work from. I'm going to go order the dash, driveshaft, and clutch since those are "low hanging fruit".
Last edited by thebeerbaron; 02-16-2021 at 05:32 PM.
Reason: Ordered parts
OK, wow do I have a lot of stuff to go on the car. I have a new drive shaft, KPower flywheel, SuperMiata clutch, a PDM, a 8x2 CAN keypd, a **** ton of AN fittings, braided fuel hose, and a fuel filter.
I've decided to tackle the fuel system and get it to done before moving on to the next thing. FOCUS.
First off, I decided that I'm done hating the way that I've had to mount the fuel/brake lines with the FM frame rails. And I don't like them being on the wrong (hot) side of the car. So it's time for new lines. First though, I need to mount the filter, flex fuel sensor, and pressure regulator. Tonite/tomorrow is bracket-making time. (Cue Project Binky theme song).
Does anyone think it's a particularly bad idea to mount the flex fuel sensor to the bottom of the intake manifold? I'm running low on room on the driver's side of the engine bay due to my ABS system and this area is unused. I need to make a blanking plate for the IAC valve anyhow since I'm running DBW instead.
Mount the flex sensor to something that doesn't vibrate like crazy and get hot. Firewall would be good, that's what I'm planning on doing. I'm also in the same boat as far as wanting to relocate the lines to the other side so I'm doing all new ones.
I'm also in the same boat as far as wanting to relocate the lines to the other side so I'm doing all new ones.
Just last night I started unbolting things to drop the rear subframe, in order to drop the gas tank, so I can properly route and secure the stainless braided lines.
Sometimes I really hate myself, but I’m convinced this is “do it once, the right way” situation.
I did end up dropping the rear subframe in order to drop the gas tank and route new fuel lines down the "cold" side of the car, which is how "scrub rear subframe" got added to the "todo" list. Somewhere.
Here's the stainless-braided PTFE fuel line running through my custom-made HDPE clamps that screw into M6 riv-nuts on the bottom of the car. Where the riv-nut can be accessed from inside the car, it's set so that the nut actually protrudes to the outside, not inside. This is very useful for locating the clamps. I stole this idea from the Bad Obsession Motorsports / Project Binky. Their version is even more clever, but requires welding.
The FM butterfly brace will fit over these lines, with some careful fettling. This way the lines are not the lowest thing on the car and are protected by the brace through most of the length of the car.
I didn't want to chance the braided line eating away at the nut that holds my seat in place, so I put two rivnuts in the backing plate such that they protect the nut. Just a little bit neurotic.
Here's the engine bay fuel situation. Fuel comes in to the filter, then through the ethanol sensor, and off to the engine. Return fuel enters the FPR from above/left, exits below. Pressure sensor will go in the port on the right side of the FPR.
I'm not thrilled with the filter mount. It rocks end-to-end since there's only one clamp. I think I'll just order another clamp and re-make the bracket.
And then this happened
As you can see, my engine bay has suffered from neglect and too much carelessness. I got pissed off and since the engine had to come out anyhow... so did everything else. It's getting new paint. I'm only going to spray-bomb it, but it's already been vacuumed out and is getting scuffed up. I've got some TSP ready to go, then primer and paint. I'm going with Rustoleum Professional Dark Machine Gray. Hopefully it's not too dark, but it's what was available. Anything is better than black.
Not pictured - I cleaned up the 6-speed and removed the clutch slave so I could replace the leaking input shaft seal. I used the authentic Mazda part this time and I think the seal looks much better. I've heard of others having an issue with this seal, hopefully this is the fix. I also notched for the starter, drilled for the clutch lines, broke the 24mm fill plug free, and replaced the lower bits of the shifter turret. Once everything is in the car for the last time, I'll throw in the rest of the replacement stuff. The only thing not being replaced is the shift lever.
TODO List
Fuel
Rail spacers - order
FPR bracket - make
Lines
Check why stock hardlines don't seem to be held down
Decide how to bridge between stock lines and FPR
Measure for hose and order
Assemble and fit
Tank vent
Check rules, implement
Cockpit
Dashboard
Order IC-7
Design bracket
Switch Panel
Layout in CAD
Order parts
Assemble
Drivetrain
Order replacement driveshaft
Order clutch
Order slave seal replacement and re-check for leaks
Painted the engine bay. The finish did not come out well - it's pretty rough in places, but it's got enough gloss to it that I'm confident it won't attract/trap dirt. Good enough for me!
Here's the fuel situation: new filter bracket, new ethanol sensor bracket. Fuel pressure sensor installed. All lines complete and pressure tested.
At the tank end, I scratched my head for a bit and then looked at what FM does on their V8 conversions. Short 5/16" hose runs to barb fittings on the AN lines. I still have to add some padding so that the AN hose ends don't bash against things, but they're pretty well constrained.
My lathe is down at the moment, so in order to make the 3/8" barbs into 5/16" barbs, I put them in a collet and spun them on my mill. Some judicious use of a file and they are good to go.
Now it's time to re-plumb the ABS. I've removed the rear proportioning valve and will let the MK60 have complete authority over brake proportioning. I've also moved the pressure sensors to be more accessible.
If anyone is wondering, I used Fragola parts exclusively for the AN system. I'm very pleased with the quality and the results I've gotten. I did order one Summit brand fitting for my pressure testing setup, since a failure there is no big deal. The part I received had the threaded hole for the NPT port drilled into the AN threads. Zero quality control!
I put the gas tank back in the car and connected all the filler plumbing. I still need to do a little futzing with how the lines arrive above the tank, but basically the fuel system is buttoned up, except for the fuel rail.
I also put the rear subframe back in the car. That was not actually as difficult as I expected. Much less cursing than expected.
I spent the rest of the weekend cursing my decision to put ABS into this car.
I've never really liked the welding rod approach to prototyping tube. It doesn't bend the same way and the amount it flops around in the source/destination fittings really screws up any prototyping value. I also can't 100% visualize what I want to do here. There are basically too many unknowns and I couldn't figure out a way to start solving the equation.
Finally, late Sunday afternoon, I just said screw it and started bending some tube. It didn't go well, which was a good lesson that even if I was able to create a perfect plan for all these tubes, I wouldn't necessarily be able to implement it. Bends too close together, bends that needed to be made before other bends.. you name it. It ended up being pretty decent practice. I got one entire line complete, but it doesn't fit well and somewhere in the process I took a gouge out of the tubing, so it's scrap.
Needless to say, I'm very frustrated.
I came in from the garage on Sunday and decided to do even more searching for help designing the lines. I finally came across a post in the HAMB, of all places, where a guy mentioned that his fabricator used 3/16" aluminum armature wire (artists use it to support sculptures, etc). Brilliant! I bought a 10' roll off of Amazon for $10. I can probably do better on price by buying more, but I'm going to give this a shot. It'll let me bend and re-bend until I get things right, and I'll use my bending tool so I'll know how to make the lines...
The lines you made look great / professional. I think it's the nature of the beast for brake lines to look like spaghetti, especially putting in the ABS.
I had a real hard time mimicking the lines I made as a template. In the end, they ended up more as a general idea / gave me an idea on length when I ran mine. Hopefully the 3/16" aluminum armature wire works for you. That's an awesome idea.
Anyway, not sure if this is any help or not, but I normally try to do the longest run/s first (this comes more from wood working) this way if you cut something short, bend something wrong, forget the nut after you flare it, (SMH...I think everyone does it at least once.) you can reuse part of the piece for a shorter piece later.
The aluminum armature wire has proven to be awesome. I used it to prototype the 9.5 foot long left rear brake line the other weekend and it was a simple job to turn that prototype into the finished line. It is not self-supporting, so it's not perfect for such long lengths, but it was invaluable none the less.
I straightened and re-used that template wire for all the rest of the lines at the front of the car.
Tonite I finished up the rest of the prototypes. Here's what nearly 10 feet of wire look like. I'm re-using the right side lines because there's really no reason not to, other than the fact they nearly interfere with the one pressure sensor. You can't really see the left-front line from this vantage point, but I assure you it's there and was a pain.
The result isn't beautiful, concentric-bent, or anything like that, but it is efficient and something that I think I can make.
For some reason, I had the impression that the K24 swap wouldn't put as much heat into the driver's footwell as I got with the BP. A recent FB thread says different. I was looking for the Koolmat solution that Supermiata sells, but couldn't think of the name and came across this thread. https://www.miataturbo.net/race-prep...shields-90059/
The price on the ND part hasn't come down much, but the Mazda 3 part is still super cheap, especially through Mazda Motorsports, and unlike the various dealer parts sites, the shipping was completely reasonable. I ordered two. My plan is to install it using rivnuts poking into the transmission tunnel, which should give me about 1/4" or so gap between the shield and the body. That's one of the activities slated for the 4th of July weekend.
Just a heads up from a fellow engineer. You will want to either support those long straight or put some bends in them to reduce the stress on them. As they are, they could turn in to "guitar strings" with engine vibration and increase the stress on them which may lead to failure.
Just a heads up from a fellow engineer. You will want to either support those long straight or put some bends in them to reduce the stress on them. As they are, they could turn in to "guitar strings" with engine vibration and increase the stress on them which may lead to failure.
You ever do something and think "this isn't quite right, but I can't think of why"? Yep, those lines seemed too simple.
I guess you could say that those runs are the result of ... cutting corners.
I finished up the brake lines, now with 100% more support. I call these the "midtenn" brackets. One bracket not pictured, it holds the two vertical runs coming up from the frame rail. Also trimmed and de-burred the prototypes seen here. I guess I should have taken a picture at the end.
Sunday was dedicated to insulating the tunnel. I ended up turning the U shaped Mazda part into an L. Much fiddling, trimming, and the like. It's held to the tunnel by M5 rivnuts which extend into the tunnel, providing a 1/4" or so gap in places. I folded over as many edges as I could, which improved the overall stiffness. No way I could have done this with the transmission in the car. Not sure how much it'll do to keep temps down, but it's worth a shot.
I reconnected the steering shaft and that's about it. Next up is the engine.
02-15-2021, 02:23 AM
0
