Debugging the little bugger

I’m starting to feel like Ender battling the buggers in the classic novel Enders Game!  The good news is the bugs list is getting shorter. 

 

I finally got the brakes bled by bleeding them backwards.  I took off a rear brake hose and stuck it in a jug of brake fluid then put the vaccume pump at the line on the master cylinder to beed them from the bottom up rather than the top down.  It worked!  It sure feels good to have a firm pedal again! 

I tried everything to get my lovely purple brake proportioning valve to stop leaking at the housing seal and finally replaced it with a boring silver one.  Sad day because it’s only a year old and worked fine in the Camaro.  Another $50 over budget too!

 

I pulled the exhaust system out to rework it for more ground clearance.  I had to wait till Saturday for parts and since it was a payday Friday I decided to drive it to work.  So I shoved the catalytic converters on the headers and had an extremely noisy commute!  She got me there in fine style don't you think?

 

After my fix of feeling like a highschool kid was done I pulled the transmission mount and reworked it to be 7/16” higher in the middle of the car than it was. I left the corner braces hang down because they are so close to the wheels they will not be a problem.

I moved the Catalytic converters from the center of the car to the headers and gained about 3/4" of clearance in the middle of the car from that. They do hang down off the headers but since it is near the front wheels it should not be a problem hitting things. Finally I put in new pipes that are bent to tuck up higher in the car and I made them slightly oval shaped at the trans mount to gain another 3/8” or so in the center.

 

 

Before:

After:

The pipes are almost flush with the frame now.  



 

After adjusting the coil overs up 1 turn in the front and 3 in the back I have a total additional clearance about 1 3/4" right in the center of the car where it is needed the most.

 

More before and after shots:

It has about the same amount of clearence as the Camaro did and I can live with that but I think it will be better due to the shorter wheel base. 

I put the hood and bumper cover back on and remembered thinking as I took it apart and the rusted bolts broke off, "I have a long way to go here so I'll worry about these bolts later".  Well as later came I figured my bumper cover is such a mess it needs to be replaced so I’ll deal with the broken bolts when I find one...:-)

I still have not washed it yet...  What do you think turn signals in or not?

For you kids trying this at home the Flyin Miata hood supports work pretty good.  See in the above photo they do tend to push the hood up in the back when it is closed due to the pressure they put on it.  I have a set of Areo latches going on this weekend that will help that.

I have my door bars in and roll bar bolted down now. 

 

By the way in case you are wondering if seam welding and all the braces I put in are worth it check out this shot.  See the gap between the front wheel and the ramp?  With the front wheels up on the ramps I jacked up the right rear and the chassis is so solid the right front went up with it!  

 And that was before the door bars and roll bar was in!

 

I still some bugs to work out and no doubt when I start pushing the car will find more.  (Grandma if you are reading this skip to the end now cuz the rest is really boring)  I do have a slight driveline vibration between 93 and 100 but it's smooth after that so I'm not sure if I am going to mess with the diff angle or not.  I know I threw it off when I raised the trans mount 7/16" but I didn't measure it before or after the change to know if I am in spec or not.  I figured I'd just wing it and see if it is smooth or not! 

 

Well I hope this post finds you happy, healthy and living in the joy of the Lord! 

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Hood strut update!  I talked to Keith at Flyin Miata and he said if you turn the struts around they don't push the hood up when it is closed. 

He was right it is much better. Now if they would just change their instructions!!