Road Test #2 - V8 Miata Autocross Racing!

No trip home on a trailer -YAHOO!  But do have a couple if issues I need to fix... 

In a 65 second autocross the temp gauge goes from 195 to 225 and after the 3rd run in 20 minutes it was at 250. The other thing is she developed pretty significant power steering leak on the last run.  I think it was damage from when I dropped the engine that came to light under the stress of the day.

OK this is raw video with no enhancements to the audio or speed of it. Obviously there is no image stabilization either!  My friend Steve is doing the driving so crank up your speakers and enjoy the ride!  Click the pic below 

LS1 Miata 1st Road Test!

I thought the most exciting part of the build would be the first drive, but due to fear of explosions and lack of brakes it turned out calling the insurance company to put it the policy generated more excitement.

Not that she's a snooze to dive though!  My first impressions are l have never felt a convertible chassis this stable, it's more solid than the T top Camaro was for sure.  The spec Miata suspension is certainly track orientated and not for the faint of heart or date cars.  It is very firm!  And it didn't take long for me to believe the claims guys make of these cars doing 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds.  Let me give you a word picture:

Imagine the engine is a runaway stallion at full gallop rocketing across an open field.  Now picture a little gal (Jenna) with her arms wrapped tightly around his neck hanging on for dear life.  She can't control him and even though she is terrified she can't let go. 

That is what it feels like to drive the car!  She bucks and snorts and longs to bust out of the gate in a dead run. And keep in mind with the new gears in the trans and diff I am totally babying her! I truly don't know if it will be thrilling or terrifying to open it up... probably both!

I do have a number of issues to work out not the least of which is no brakes.  The way the lines run it's really hard to get the air out of them and I have a couple of stubborn leaks I'm struggeling to seal up.  It did not stop me from driving her though!

Another big issue is very low ground clearence. 

On second thought make that NO ground clearence! 

I just left the coil overs the way they were when I got them as a starting point and she is a bit on the low side especially in the back.  And yeah the poor dear needs a bath! 

I raised the rears up 2 full turns for the rest of the photos but she still has a bit of a rear squat.

The way Flyin Miata had the cats in the exhaust I knew it was going to be low when I put it in but I wanted to try it as it was before I changed it.   

I’m going to rework the exhaust to move the catalytic converters forward of the trans mount where there is more room for them to tuck up tighter.  I’m also going to modify the trans mount to move it up so the entire exhaust can move up.  This should gain me about an inch more of clearance in the center which should be good enough.



I have lots of other bugs to work out too.  Little stuff like the gas tank seal on the top of the tank is leaking, no parking lights, and the check engine light is on.  The bigger problem is for some reason both my scanners are not connecting to the computer to find out why the check engine light is on. 



So the list of things to do seems to be growing rather than shrinking!  But with it now being on the road I can work as I go and enjoy the car.  I was going to drive it to work today but we are expecting storms.  Funny how no brakes and no front end is no big deal but the possibilty of hail leaves her in the garage!

The Big Gap

I finally got the computer back but my dad un-expectantly passed away the day I got it so I have not done much on the car. 

It's really weird because while I do feel a loss I don't feel very much sorrow like I thought I would.  I think it's because my dad was so close to the Lord I doubt he noticed much of a change when he died.  I guess it's hard to feel too bad when it was probably the best day of his life!  

This is my dad, my brother in the wheel chair and me. 

Dad was an outstanding craftsman, builder and problem solver and I know I owe whatever talent I have building this car to him.  He followed this blog and while he thought I was a bit nuts he was very proud of the build.  I sure do miss him!  

Well, I have a few things to get done but will probably get back to the car this weekend. I just wanted you to know why I have not posted in a while. 

The answer to one of life’s most difficult questions

From where we sit is it easy to see luck as good or bad or even nonexistent so that stuff just happens at random.  So as "luck" goes when I made a mental picture of where the clutch master cylinder goes I had plenty of space to clear the corner brace I put in.

Thing is that mental picture was the stock Miata master cylinder not the much larger V8 one.

So was this my lucky day or did God guide my hand in measuring to allow just enough room for the bigger part?  Furthermore if I had put the brace 1/8^th farther rearward would it have been my unlucky day or would it still be God guiding my hand to teach me to be more careful with details?

Well to draw from about 150 verses it is clear that God is in control of all of his creation and delighted to take what seem to be random acts of both good and evil people to accomplish his plan.  Even if only to show me how lucky I am that he IS in control of ALL things!

 Including the slip of the grinder that cut the wiring in the right of the photo!  LOL! 
So the answer is God is good all the time and all "luck" good or bad is his to give as a blessing or a challange. So you see this really is your lucky day!! 

Elijah visits my garage…

This was indeed a strange, but good weekend.  Friday night I was welding on the last shock tower when I ran out of wire.  I changed rolls - #4 for those who are counting – and when I turned the gas back on the needle on the tank did not move.  Bummer I was out of gas on a Friday night which means no welding till Monday night.  The regulator needle still showed 15psi still so I welded a couple inches and just as expected it started splattering and the weld turned black like all welds do with no gas. 

So with no gas it was on to the next step which is test fitting the engine to be sure the tunnel is right before welding.  I unwrapped the Camaro engine and got it ready.  

I put in a new rear main seal and checked the new oil pan and pick up tube for proper fit.  Since this is a baffled pan with doors it cannot be installed upside down.

This is the V8 Roadsters engine mount. 

It is very well made but I can see why a lot of guys make their own mounts.  It’s not very complicated and a stretch to justify $1200 for.  I am glad I bought it though because it saved much time and engineering and if nothing else I have a pattern for the next build now…J

Up she goes headers and all!

Fits like a glove!

It’s surprising how well the V8 fits in the engine bay.  Why didn’t Mazda think of this??

The new oil pan works great.  The mounts on the frame under the front of the pan are for the steering rack.  I didn't check it but it should fit fine.

I messed up on the tunnel though.

 The side walls of the tunnel should not be pushed back at the bottom like they are.  The gas pedal hit the tunnel and would not work like this.  The bottom of the tunnel should be about the same width as the top so I was way off. I didn’t take any photos but I did beat the lower part back in nearly 2 inches on each side.  For you folks trying this at home don’t make the same mistake.  Follow the measurements in the instructions closely because it is really a pain to beat it back out.

Happy Jim!

OK so it’s Sunday night at supper time and I went to unhook the gas tank from the welder.  Both gauges said 0 but there was a hiss when I took the tank loose.  I turned the valve on the tank and again hisssss.  OK so I hooked it back up and cranked the regulator and up the needle went to 20 psi.  The tank still showed 0 psi, humm.

With the price of gas I figured I would weld out what little must be in the tank.  So I fired it up and started on the floor frame rail.  At the end I looked at the tank gauge and it showed 0 but the regulator was at 25 psi.  Hummm.   OK I backed the regulator down to 15 and welded the other frame rail.  I looked at again and the tank gauge and it showed 0 but the regulator was at 20.  I had now welded 6 feet of frame with no gas in the tank but the regulator kept going up!  I looked around, scratched my head and said "Excuse me Lord, what cha doing?"  Supper was now out of the question!   So I kept on going. 

Remember the frame rails I added last winter? Click HERE if you don't.

Well after burning so many holes in things it dawned on me that I could weld these to the floor from the top really easy.  

The factory frame rails have a flange that is spot welded to the floor and that flange is between the frame I added and the floor.  This is a cross view of how it is made.

I took my grinder and cut a slot through the floor then welded all 3 layers together.  

Well even though I was totally jazzed by welding for 3 hours with no gas by 8:30 I had to call it a day.  Near as I could tell I have had plenty of gas even though the tank gage says 0...

As Elijah came to the entrance of the village he met a widow, gathering firewood. He asked her, “Please, would you bring me something to eat?”

She said, “I swear, as surely as God lives I don’t have so much as a biscuit. I have a handful of flour and a little oil; you found me scratching together just enough firewood to make a last meal for my son and me. After we eat it, we’ll die.”

Elijah said to her, “Don’t worry about a thing. Go ahead and do what you’ve said. But first make a small biscuit for me and bring it back here. Then go ahead and make a meal from what’s left for you and your son. This is the word of God:‘The flour will not run out and the oil will not become empty before God sends rain on the land and ends this drought.’”

And she went and did it did just as Elijah asked. And it turned out as he said—daily food for her and her family. The flour didn’t run out and the bottle of oil didn’t become empty: God’s promise fulfilled to the letter, exactly as Elijah had delivered it.

1 Kings 17

Interesting it was raining last night as I was welding with no gas. I wonder if I'll have any gas to weld with tonight...:-)

Youtube welding school pays off!

 

With a glorious sunny 52 degree day on Saturday I was thrilled to be able to open the garage door and seam weld the car. But after my disastrous attempt at welding the frame rails to the floor I decided I must have some help in the welding department.

I looked at taking a class at the college but the timing is not right to make that work. So the next best thing is a 2 minute youtube video right? LOL! Well it very effectively pointed out I was doing EVERYTHING wrong. The video was certainly helpful but as usual experience turned out to be the best teacher and this is what I learned at my 2nd attempt at welding:

1 it takes about 1/2 second to set the cardboard and blankets covering things on fire

2 if the weld is on fire as it cools you did not clean the seam well enough.
3 keep the air hose handy, it is great at putting out fires.
4 lack of hair on your left hand means welding gloves do not make you superman.
5 the video was right, if you weld for more than 1/2 a second or a 1/4 inch at a time you WILL burn a hole in the floor.
6 it takes more than 3 minutes for a weld to cool and if you sit on it you will fry your butt.
7 the air hose is much less effective at cooling a fired butt in coveralls than it is putting out a blanket on fire.

I think I am SLOWLY starting to get the hang of it!

If you don’t know what seam welding is I’ll explain it quick. All cars are spot welded or tack welded together and of course the manufactures try to use the least amount of welds as possible to hold the car together. So they leave gaps from 1 to 3 inches between the welds which is fine for puttin over to grandmas house but under high G loads on the track those spaces between welds flex and make the chassis mushy. The fix is easy you just weld between the factory welds and it firms things up. So here is a shot of the passenger side corner gusset before welding:

I put arrows to the little factory tack welds every inch or so around the gusset.

This is a shot of the drivers side after welding:

No my welds are still not pretty (yet) but this fully welded corner will not flex or move at all.

It would be too much work and not necessary to weld every single seam on the car but there are a number of key stress places that welding makes a big difference in the performance of the chassis. Even not doing the whole car it is still a huge job to remove the paint and seam sealer from the seams, weld them, then prime, seal and paint them again. By the time I am done I will have welded about 85 feet of seams on the car. Unfortunately I only got about 15 feet done and ran out of argon so my beautiful sunny day was missed. This is what a weld looks like with no gas:

Looks like a bunch of decayed teeth or something. The good news is there is NEVER any lack of things to do on the build! So with no welding gas I continued work on the rear end.

 

Over all it was an outstanding weekend but not for the car work. It was for the joy of blowing the roof off the church Easter Sunday with a kick butt worship band and exceptional preaching of the word. For sure the best weekend in the build and I hardly got anything done!

So I'll leave you with the words of a great song by Tim Huges we did yesterday to enjoy. This is the good Stuff!!

 

The greatest day in history, Death is beaten
You have rescued me
Sing it out Jesus is alive
The empty cross, The empty grave
Life eternal You have won the day
Shout it out Jesus is alive
He's alive

Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

When I stand, in that place
Free at last, meeting face to face
I am Yours Jesus You are mine
Endless joy, perfect peace
Earthly pain finally will cease
Celebrate Jesus is alive
He's alive

Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed!

Obituary of a good friend - one of GMs finest

Chevy Camaro SS, born in 2002, died in 2013, aged 49,856 miles, survived by a 1996 Miata.

Her life started well enough but a serious accident at age 3 that left her parked behind a body shop for 6 years unloved, and forgotten.

Later in life she had a good home…

But it was too late. With ailing health from years of mistreatment she registered as an organ donor and died peacefully in her garage.

As we commit her body to the crusher let us remember that as bad as it looks on Friday, Sunday IS coming.

 

It was Friday when this Camaro gave her all as a sacrifice just like it was Friday when Jesus hung on the cross.

 

But when all hope was gone Sunday came and Christ defeated the grave and God’s grace was given for all who would receive it.

 

Just like Christs trip to the cross todays trip in the hearse is not the end of the story.

Sunday is at hand for our dearly departed Camaro and a new resurrection Miata body is being prepared for her spirit to live on!

John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."

Happy Easter!

Gods providence = ebay. Gods over the top blessing = Flyin Miata.

Yesterday was the best day yet in my build and I just have to tell you about it! I have been researching and analyzing to death the best way (read that cheapest) to build a V8 Miata for over 3 months and yesterday much of it fell into place. I am so excited I can barely write! 

OK there are 3 companies that make engine cradles to put V8s in Miatas and they all cost the same. However my top choice requires an $850 oil pan which is just impossible for me to do. The other 2 options need a $450 pan which is still a budget busting insane amount of money for an oil pan.

In my daily search for a solution I came across the racing version of the $850 oil pan on ebay. The guy bought it but never built the car so it is new. After a quick note to be sure it was the right pan I clicked buy it now for $363. YES SIR $363 FOR AN $850 PAN!!! What followed was a full blown end zone victory dance around my desk lasting a good 10 minutes. YAHOO!!!

With the oil pan issue solved I called FlyinMiata to order the engine cradle. Jeremy asked if I wanted to order headers too and I said no, I wasn't sure what I was going to do for exhaust but could not afford $550 just for headers. He said hold on a sec. He comes back on the phone and said they had a customer in last week that they put a full stainless exhaust in his car and would I be interested in a used ceramic coated system complete for 500 bucks.

Now wait a just a dog gone minute here. Are you telling me that out of the maaaaaybe 150 LS Miatas in the world someone just happened to want to swap out his entire exhaust system, and that just happened to happen a few days before I called, and it just happened to be the entire exhaust system for exact price that I had budgeted for exhaust?? Seriously how can anyone be an atheist???

So after recovering from the shock I verified it includes catalytic converters and did another happy dance around the desk.

Considering how rare these parts are there can be no doubt that a $850 pan for $363, and a $1200 exhaust system for 500 bucks did not just randomly happen in the same day.  I am indeed humbled, honored and blessed.

Eph 3:20-21 says:

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."