Building a CSP Race Car (Blueiii build #2)

[Blueiii]

The one I was thinking of is on the driver's side, underneath the brake booster. I ended up removing it and making a ground wire, then attached it to the CAS.

Ooh! A Box!


A secret box... filled with death-metal!

[Blueiii]

My OTHER package arrived! Got some more work done today!!





Need to figure out the ISC wiring, fuel lines and button some stuff up... then order more parts!

[NCGreasemonkey]

1) You need to give a fellow some warning. They might be eating cheese popcorn nude when you post. And that is not a good thing. LOL Nice looking install! 2) You about to order parts? Cyber Monday Homey! Rush!!! 3) Just remount that ground to the bell housing bolt. Engine / Tranny main ground. Too close to the CAS may pick-up feedback if another sensor is weak. Think shielded wires for the CAS.

Peace

[Blueiii]

It just dawned on me... does that strap go to the bolt that attaches the dipstick tube? I didn't have mine in until last night. I ordered my "sale" parts on Friday.

Also, the valve cover carnage is the result of forgetting to unbolt the driver's side motor mount and jack the car up. Let that be a lesson to you boys and girls with dreams of pretty things - just because you've done it before doesn't mean you can't make mistakes. . .

Another larger box arrived yesterday along with my rx-8 injectors, but I'll save that for another time.

Wait a minute... those aren't just fancy schmancy yellow eBay injectors??? Why no, those are from our Miata cousin!

[Blueiii]

Got a few more things done...

1.) Wired up TPS (more than once. Thanks, interwebs, for providing incorrect wiring diagrams and then later providing correct!) I hate wiring, however its because I discovered I've been soldering incorrectly for years. Unfortunately I discovered this after wiring was complete.

The Trick (from what I saw) is to strip the wire, twist each end individually, apply solder to each wire end and then hold the two ends next to one another. By doing this you can touch the solder and viola' - they are now connected (and rather well, based on my "practice before wiring other more difficult things."



2.) routed my fuel lines, then decided I didn't like how they were routed and had to buy a longer one.


And... apparently I didn't take any pictures of it after re-routing.

Other stuff wasn't so picture worthy. For example... the new dispstick tube, the re-wired ground (thanks NCGreaseMonkey) the coolant hoses that are now hooked up. We're getting close to firing - just need to cover a few bases and determine what to do about break-in with an untuned motor with RX-8 injectors... and exhaust. Need to figure out what I want to do for a lightweight exhaust. (ie: 10 lbs or less preferably.)

Oh! And I won the MazdaRoadster parts raffle! I'm not 100% sure what to do for gauges, as I have a set of Warbird gauges I was planning to install in one of the cars. Given that the other miata is going to be more "driver" I might look for something more vintage.

[NCGreasemonkey]

Congrats on the gauges! And glad I could help.

Peace my fellow Miata-nut!

[Greasemonkey2000]

Motor is looking mighty spiffy! Congrats on the gauges, post them up whrn you get them!

[Blueiii]

Christmas?
CHRISTMAS!! Not one, but TWO boxes arrived!!



We'll save the CarbonMiata box for another time, as it will be a while before I'm ready to use that one...

In the other box... intake components! I'm using 2.75 piping (although 2.5 might have fit better.)


I'll have to cut the end down, and I had ordered a mushroom style filter with the piping however it doesn't fit with the windshield washer bottle in place. For CSP, I can't just remove it. The first option I considered was to swap it for a washer bottle from a car with ABS that sits in the bumper.

I happen to have an old DDM intake sitting around and something dawned on me... a canister style filter might just be the ticket, especially if this one fits!
Well, sure enough....


This filter was rather nasty so I spent some time researching and found AEM-21-202D-AK, an AEM dry filter.
If anyone is looking to duplicate this setup in the future, SiliconeIntakes.com had all the tubing but not the filter I landed on. More info once I get it together!

[NCGreasemonkey]

Carbon. Carbon.. Carbon!!

Thanks for the info on the filter!

[Blueiii]

I'll have complete details on the filter and tubing hopefully on Monday.

I teach (economics) part-time in the evenings to help fund my car habit. (That's actually "side hustle #1," as I've been taking the money from teaching and day trading oil futures on top of it and have gotten lucky on a few well-timed investments.) Classes are now over and I spent a few evenings in the garage fiddling with things, although I had a very long week with the day job.

I ended up being a guinea pig for Flyin' miata with their latest part, a thermostat housing designed to make a motor swap easier. That said, I was stumped. Notice how the outer diameter of the radiator hose is the same size as the o.d. of the waterneck on the thermostat housing?



A couple of chats with FM tech and we identified that their design was defective, so I won't be using the coolant sensor at the front of the engine to turn on my fans. I have a solution, though...

I went to the mailbox early this morning (since my wife forgot to check the mail yesterday and I didn't get home until almost 1:00 AM) and found my 5x Racing shifter rebuild kit, so with a few hours to work on the car today I picked up my transmission fluid and some break-in oil, then rebuilt the shifter.

The seller indicated that this particular miata had a "short throw" shifter. I figured he just wasn't used to the fact that the NAs naturally have a very short throw. That said, I might have been proven wrong. Both sides of the shifter look like this, with no place for the cup bushing.



In any event, the shifter is now back in and I realized I still need to get a gaiter as mine is pretty gross.

The wife commented today, "Is it like Christmas for you every day when you start building a car? You've literally had packages arriving almost every day."
I'll make you wait to see what one of them was (and its half-opened already), but I can show you this:



I have a set of Warbird gauges already that I was planning to install and I had been coveting a Warbird HVAC panel. Since I won the parts raffle I asked Adam if he would be willing to let me get a HVAC panel and a keychain instead. (I told him he could pick the keychain as I already have one of his for the other car.)

In any event, Adam even threw in the nose badge!

Looking forward to buttoning some things up over the next 2 weeks and set my "strive" date to have this thing race-ready by April 28th for a national level SCCA event in Pittsburgh, PA.

[MiataQuest]

Hello Blueiii,

I have been following your build with interest, especially since I am fairly close.
I am on an island in the Detroit river at the mouth of lake Erie about perpendicular to exit 32 on I-75.
So about 30 or so minutes away.

I will need to drop by next summer when I start driving my Miata.
My progress has been slow because of my work and finishing/fixing the other 4 cars.
I hope that will situation will change next spring.

I trend trade the S&P 500 (VOO) over longer periods of time just doing "round trips". I find this lower risk especially since I am getting older. I can usually beat the market in a volatile year and match returns in a good year. I also get some dividends at the same time.

Good luck to both of us. We need success so we can support our Miata addiction!

[Blueiii]

Definitely stop by any time!

My trading style has been to play the volatility in the oil market with leveraged etf/etns. I'm holding a long leveraged etf from before the weekend and non-opec producing countries announced yesterday they agreed to a freeze. With any luck I'll see a nice uptick tomorrow morning since leveraging adds more volatility.

[Blueiii]

With any luck I'll see a nice uptick tomorrow morning since leveraging adds more volatility.

Looks like "Nopec" just bought me a set of wheels. Thanks, guys!

[Blueiii]

More Intake design stuff!!

First, this will only work if you do not have a/c and can remove the evaporator from behind the glovebox. (Its not that hard, but you'll need to source a heater box that I do not yet have a p/n for.)

In this case, the two holes are much more visible since I painted my engine bay...




Filter fits like a glove...


After drilling the silicone tube for a sensor bung, I realized I probably didn't want to have silicone bits sucked into my engine. Simple solution happened to be at my feat....


And the final, very annoying discovery...


The sensor is 3/8" male, but the female.... maybe she got around, maybe the male is just "too small," but in any event I ordered another fitting for the sensor. (1" OD to 3/8 NPT.)

The keen observer may pick up on some hints for parts to come from this post....

[Blueiii]

Something else I forgot to mention.

During the few weeks I had the car running I drove it to work periodically, although thought it better to not push it. (It appeared to have a cracked head gasket and a bad crank.) During this time I noticed that shifting felt REALLY vague, but I assumed it just needed a shifter rebuild. Having rebuilt the shifter after bleeding the clutch I decided to run through the gears just for fun. It feels like 4th gear isn't really there, which concerns me that it might not be a mis-aligned shifter (thanks to no bushings) and rather bad synchros. Our snow season has officially started, though, and there's no way to really be able to tell for several months. Needless to say its a bit frustrating. . .