Large Numbers of Small Jobs

The Most Recent Big Thing

Not recent at all, but I realized I haven't yet posted a picture of the chassis + skate union. My wife and kids commented that "it looks like a car now" and have the impression it will be done soon. I think they are underestimating the large number of small jobs that need to be done before this project hits the road. For that matter, I am probably underestimating the large number of small jobs still to do.

Regardless, this felt like a major accomplishment at the time.

Chassis hanging on the crane getting ready for union with powerplant skate.

Chassis and skate together, and my lovely and long-suffering wife's van back in its rightful place. Both nontrivial accomplishments.

So, yeah, most of the big pieces are together. But that leaves literally hundreds and hundreds of small jobs yet to do.

Deconstipation

If the reader will forgive my clinical terminology, it's a pretty good metaphor for what sometimes happens in a big project like this: you have one job waiting on another job, but you can't do that job until the third and fourth jobs are done. So sometimes it feels like the whole project is backed up and clogged up in a massive logjam, waiting for that one log to break loose and set all the others upstream in motion. So, yeah, constipation - deconstipation.

The main obstruction was my discovery that the US-LHD pedal assemblies and steering column are not really compatible with right hand drive. At a glance they look very similar, but there are just enough differences to make me spend an hour convincing myself I was terminally stupid before eventually realizing it wasn't me, it was the parts. Fortunately, Sir John of the Imperial Order of British Kit Car Templars heroically completed his Holy Quest and the parts showed up in my doorstep in a time frame that defied the laws of Postal Time and Space. It is rumored that the Kit Car Templar Knights have Jedi-like powers, and the mysterious journey of these parts from Surrey to Indiana in a mere 3 days is further testament to their ability to alter time, space, and perception. 

Right Hand Drive: The throttle and brake pedal pivots are right next to each other, and the brake pedal arm goes straight down. The steering column straddles the brake/throttle assembly and the clutch pedal assembly.

Left Hand Drive: There is a big gap between the pivots of the brake and throttle pedals to accommodate the steering column, with the throttle pedal pivot displaced way off to the right. The brake pedal arm bends rightward around the steering column. The clutch pedal does not have a stud to mount the steering column. The clutch pedal arm is bent differently. I do think the clutch pedal assembly could probably be made to work with some moderately firm persuasion, but the brake/throttle pedal assembly and steering column were not going to work without major rebuilding.

Until I got the steering and pedal assemblies sorted a lot of other jobs were on hold, like the hydraulic lines, seat positioning, mounting the steering wheel, and sorting the positioning of the gauges. A classic example of process constipation.

Right hand drive parts, courtesy of Sir John, de-rusted and prepped for painting.

After shooting two part epoxy primer and tractor enamel on the RHD parts. Some people claim that it is possible for skilled painters to paint small parts without painting their hands. I am not able to confirm this wild rumor.

Kit Car Mutual Support

Sir John had kind words to say about my valve cover re-branding (see previous post Progress on Various Fronts). He's a big Lotus fan. UK readers will be familiar, but US folk may not be aware that in Europe, 'Eunos' is the upscale Mazda brand (I gather this is much the same as Honda-Acura, Nissan-Lexus, etc). So we were playing around with EUNOS rendered in the typeface used by Lotus and eventually came up with a pretty nice brand-mixing result. Pops Racer graciously made his expertise and CNC mill available to render the final product.

How Many Apps in All? After using Corel Draw to match the typeface and tweak the sizing and spacing, I imported that file into SolidWorks to make a machine drawing. Then Pops and I imported the .dwg file into BobCAD to translate it into CNC machine instructions. Here's BobCAD's simulation of the mill job. The fine lines between the letters are where the mill raises the tool to move between cuts.

Final Product

Another Compatibility Challenge

According to the compatibility guides, Mk1/NA exhaust parts are not compatible with the Mk2/NB rear subframe. Since my power plant is from a 1992 Miata and my subframes, differential, brakes, and suspension are from a 1999, I ran in to this problem. Fortunately I found that it was solve-able without exceeding the limits of acceptable contraptioneering.

Left Side: I brazed in a piece of steel tube to extend the subframe's exhaust hanger toward the right side of the car, so it lined up with the hanger on the muffler.

Right side was trickier. I found an aftermarket exhaust hanger that fit the chassis above, but the hanger on the muffler was pointing the wrong direction (toward the left). So I heated it up to glowing with the torch and bent it around to the right side. In this picture, I had already bent the hanger about 70% of the way, but had to re-heat it before bending it the rest of the way 'round.

Aftermarket hanger painted to match the frame, muffler hanger bent 180 degrees, rubber hanger installed.

Final result not too shabby. The secondhand muffler has some surface rust, but it's surprisingly thick metal and overall very sound. The stainless steel tip (bottom right corner of picture) is the only part that will show when the bodywork is on, and it took a nice shine with some metal polish. 

Gifts of our Forefathers

In another super gracious offer, Pops offered his spare drill press for extended loan. So of course the first thing I do when I get it into my garage is contraptioneer it into a makeshift wood lathe.

Needs to be a bit smaller yet, and the shape still needs work, but I think this is well on the way to being a nice shift knob. Did I mention cherry is my favorite wood?

And There Was Great Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth

The kitchen job is still interfering with my True Vocation of making elaborate toys. Here's part of the back splash, which is coming along nicely. Unfortunately the new dishwasher has been a disaster of epic proportions. Started leaking on day 1, causing massive water damage to the floor. We bought the protection plan so called right away. 6 weeks later the GE guy shows up and says it was assembled incorrectly at the factory, which caused the leaking and also caused the pump housing to break. He hopes to get the necessary parts by the end of the month and maybe get it fixed sometime in September. So basically GE's business model amounts to: I buy a dishwasher in June. My floor is destroyed immediately. I might have a working dishwasher 3-4 months after the original purchase. Oh, and by the way, the floor is my problem.

A Different Kind of Hot Water Challenge

Back to kit car jobs, I need lower radiator mounts. Starting with a cardboard mock-up. I have some heavy gauge aluminum and hope to fabricate these parts over the weekend. This will mostly be cutting a strange shape and a lot of bending, and just a little bit of welding.

Bottom view. The hole will be larger to accommodate a rubber bushing that goes between the radiator stud and the radiator mount.

This is how it sits in the frame. Could either be bolted or riveted in place. Will obviously need a mirror image twin on the opposite side. Not easy to see in this picture, but the edges are bent toward the camera. This will provide some stiffness to the bracket as well as a channel for the radiator. 

Signing Out for Now

That's all I have to report at this moment. Well, I guess I have been doing a bit of work on the wiring schematics - but not really picture-worthy at this point.

Hopefully now that things are deconstipated, my next post will be soon, with much progress to report.