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So I've been developing this for awhile now as a back-burner project whenever I needed a break from the Cosmo Manual. It's still in the prototype stage and needs a few tweaks, but at least everyone can see the concept with this mockup.
The plywood bracket need trimmed down a bit to clear the spring clamps on the outer edge. Also, the 4" bar clamps that currently hold the scanner to the bracket need some work due to their bars' sticking out too far to turn the book's page with everything in place. And they contact the framework, preventing full Y-axis travel. After looking at several options and nothing really ticking all the boxes for this, I'll be designing my own.
Other than these minor issues whose solutions are currently in the works, accurate, repeatable scans are now possible on any manual.
Took some brainwork, but I fabricated some new adjustable clamps. Sometimes the perfect solution comes from an unlikely place. New clamps fabricated
Yes, they clear the rails. Also clears the scanning area so I can turn the page with no fuss as seen here Clearance test with Infini 3 Supplement
Since my current geometry leaves a bit to be desired, and it's hard to control the CNC system on-screen AND look 90 degrees to my left at the same time, I needed a camera. A local deal on ebay for $16 got me two Logitech HD cameras with standardized tripod mount provisions. My kitty Savanna couldn't resist the chance to model in the first test run. Add a little linux command line magic and both cameras are running in Cheese Webcam Booth simultaneously. Savanna modeling for the cameras
Time to mount them. Camera 1 is going directly above the scanner Camera 1 (pink dot)
Camera 2 is remotely mounted. The light was the perfect spot for it. Camera 2 (green dot)
Camera 1's viewpoint. The yellow stripe is the edge of the optical pickup on the Scanner, going as close to the binding as possible. Needed to make sure it would track straight and true. Camera 1 view
And a shot from Camera 2. Its job is to show me if anything gets out of alignment. Camera 2 view
I know Camera 1 is held on with a bar clamp in this test. It'll be addressed with a proper thumbscrew when I'm in the mood to do so. Right now, it works and clears everything. Plus, I need some USB extension cables to tidy it up a bit. Maybe I'll break out the dollar store selfie stick for a more permanent mount for Camera 2.
Sorry for the rather short reply. I've been pretty busy as of recently, thanks to some divine intervention which led to this happening... www.jdmlibrary.com
Nearly everything is written in both English and Japanese to enable anyone in Japan with a box of manuals in their closet to reach out if they would like to make a contribution. It's about 50-60% done right now, I still have some work to do on the Store and Library sections so they behave the way I want. Updates will be posted in the News section.
While doing so, I'm filling the virtual shelves with my collection of Rotary-related manuals, organized by application. Since this goes beyond RX7s, someone suggested I do a Kickstarter to help get things rolling. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...market-library
So I am working on something rather interesting. Imagine a database with every Japanese VIN number for both FC and FD, which has their corresponding Paint Code/Color, Interior Code/Color, the build date and MSC/SPC codes. And we can't forget the ever important production number statistics. How many in Vintage Red? Easy. Number of Type S models with manual transmission? Also easy.
Series 4 FC is done. I was halfway through Series 5 FC today when LibreOffice decided to brick out completely and lock progress in an un-openable 500 page long chart in ODT format. It's getting fixed, just a small delay. But until then, here's a little teaser:
The most common S4 in Japan: GT-R with Manual transmission, one step up from the base model GT. 10215 were made.
Least common: Infini 1 with Automatic transmission. 101 built.
Most common color: Dover White, 8601 made.
Least common color: Crystal White, 162 made.
While sifting through the S4 data, I found a few vehicles that didn't fit the known color and spec data from the Japanese parts catalogs. During the production run for S4s, 4 coupes and 1 vert were given one-off colors, "X1" being the only one I could not readily identify. S5 had one coupe and one vert see this treatment, both also in Paint Code X1. I'm guessing these were special order for VIPs.
Plus, three GT, 10 GT-X and three GT-Limited cars received Option Group 9xx instead of their usual 1xx/3xx/4xx Option Groups. I noticed a similar trend starting to appear in Series 5 too, with a few coupes receiving the 6xx Cabriolet Option Group code. Not sure what these denote exactly, My current guess the 9xx cars were sent to Mazdaspeed as test cars for future developments, maybe for the 13B-REW and 20B-REW. The timeline would line up pretty well with the 20B GTU-S Prototype from 1988. Another possibility is Media Vehicles, for use in film/tv/etc such as seen in the Karate Kid Part II (outside Sato's Dojo). KK2 came out in June 1986, so it's hard to say.
As for the 6xx coupes, it's just a hunch but I'm guessing some people could have special ordered a Coupe with a Vert Option package. More mysteries to solve as the database takes shape...
So I finished datamining last night and solved the mystery. The 9xx code appears to be for Special Order vehicles. At least back to 1985, Mazda DID offer custom colors in a manner similar to BMW Individual, hence the odd Paint Codes. There are a few other quirks too, such as some not having front seats. As these were brand new vehicles, my guess is that these cars were sent to Mazdaspeed, or possibly another shop such as RE-Amemiya to be finished to the customer's specifications. Kind of like the B2K RPO code when ordering a C4 Corvette that sends the car directly to Calloway Cars for the Twin Turbo conversion. Who knows, this might have been the idea that eventually became M2...
As for the 6xx MSC-SPC code found in the S5 FC coupe's data, it was for the GT-Limited Special Edition. Was equipped akin to the Cabriolet, just without the headrest speakers.
While sifting through the S4 data, I found a few vehicles that didn't fit the known color and spec data from the Japanese parts catalogs. During the production run for S4s, 4 coupes and 1 vert were given one-off colors, "X1" being the only one I could not readily identify. S5 had one coupe and one vert see this treatment, both also in Paint Code X1. I'm guessing these were special order for VIPs
its really really unusual that Mazda would do a test car AND sell it AND have it be in the US, but i guess there is also that one pearly white 94, which has been verified (if you run the vin it comes up as pearly white)
its really really unusual that Mazda would do a test car AND sell it AND have it be in the US, but i guess there is also that one pearly white 94, which has been verified (if you run the vin it comes up as pearly white)
Wouldn't be the first time I discovered some magic hidden away in Japan for the Japanese Market, which occasionally finds its way to North America later on. Even Takaharu Kobayakawa was surprised when I told him about the 101 Infini 1 Automatics (MSC code F058) back in 2014, and he met Felix Wankel in 1988 right when all of this was going on, right under his nose. As for the remaining Build Codes, I have some theories on what each of the three digits mean, the first digit being tied to the Grade/Trim Level of the car. I saw some similar oddball codes in the Eunos Cosmo catalogs too when I made the Cosmo CCS Vin Database last year, but was too busy with the Workshop Manual at the time to look into it further. It would be an interesting chat to see how close I am vs the factory records.
There is one way to tell if it was sold to the public. There would be Shaken records tied to the VIN number, and I now have a working, searchable database of all of them...
Sorry I haven't checked back for a couple weeks. I've been busy trying out a few different approaches on the site to find the most workable solution for what I'm needing it to do. Had to order some parts for the daily and they're coming from just outside of Warsaw, Poland. Plus a couple parts for the scanner to make it easier to work with. The last few times I messed with it presented a flaw, and these parts will solve it.
Turns out that Ford built RHD Taurus Wagons for Japan. Even found the Japanese-spec tail lights for them too. Turns out they're nearly identical to Series 6 FD tail lights, due to the distinct amber turn signals. "Nani?? Forudo??"
And I found a set of Japanese spec tail lights for my Expedition too. No other JDM goodies for it though.
Anyway, there's still a couple things I need to install on the server but a test build of the Library should be up and running by next week.
My apologies for the lateness of this post, a fuel leak came up on my daily and I've been trying to get the proper information in order to diagnose it properly. Rather annoying that even after 20+ years, half of the fuel tank's openings are undocumented and nobody has a clue when asked "What does this hole do?". One would think that figuring out what goes in every hole is kinda important in a parts catalog or manual, but apparently not when it comes to some German cars. Don't drink and draw...
Right now, I'm waiting on an adapter for my inspection camera/borescope so I can thoroughly assess everything attached to the tank once it's up on jack stands. Leak appears to be related to fuel pressure, but nowhere near the Supply Lines, so many questions abound.
Anyway, the site's test build worked and it is ~90% done. Should be opening in the next few weeks, after beta testing is done to make sure everything is working as intended.
Sorry I've not been about, been trying to get things set up to deal with my daily's fuel leak and it is quite the ordeal as it went from "inspect and fix" to "tank replacement". And we all know what happens when one needs help to get a car project done that requires 2 people, a lift or both. And the exhaust weighs almost as much as a T-56 transmission...
Too many projects and needs, not enough me.
Anyway, I've been doing some background work on the site to get everything set up and sifting through an external drive's contents to get an idea of what 's what after accidentally erasing, then recovering it a few months ago. Splitting up a folder with 430,000 text files in it is no fun at all, but an important step to getting the chaos back to some semblance of order. And finding my vehicle maintenance records.
As for FD manuals, I have the wiring diagram books all cut apart and reorganized by section name. Only issue is that I'm quickly running out of disk space due to the aforementioned external drive being in total chaos and having hordes of duplicate files. What was ~500gb in use before accidentally formatting it is now just shy of 2tb and I found I'm missing quite a few ISO disc images of important things. So before I can recreate those, space has to be made first.
Two tasks remain on the site: setting up the membership portal and writing the site rules/regulations. This is my goal for the week.
And somehow while doing all of this, get a 5/97 or later E38 fuel tank, disassemble it, POR-15 the inside, paint the outside in undercoating and find time and space to swap it in and hope nothing else is leaking too. Anyone near STL got a lift I could borrow for a day or so to make this happen?
Picked up these two beauties of Buyee recently. NM4002 is the manual documenting the transition from FC to FD models. It is full of detailed illustrations and explanations. HJFA06-00 is the initial parts list for the launch of Version 4 in December, 1995, with a publication release period of January, 1996
Last edited by Redbul; 10-19-22 at 01:53 AM.
Reason: spelling correction
Sorry I've been a bit MIA as of recent. While working on the site, I got to sifting through my data-recovered external drive to try and get things back to some semblance of order. In doing so, I rediscovered a bunch of manuals that I completely forgot I had. Digging through 50,000+ pictures in a few days is NOT my idea of a fun time. No clue what the total file count is, probably in the neighborhood of 2 million and duplicates of everything eating up space. It should get a bit easier once the pictures are roughly sorted (working on that right now), so that's where my weekend is going.
So I just got back from the hospital after having a 103 degree fever 3 times. Sorry guys, but I have covid again and in quarantine per doctor's orders. Taking a few days off to rest, recover and let the prescription do it's thing. Hospital wanted to admit me, but couldn't find a spot.
Watch your oxygen levels. Do you have a thumb monitor for O2 levels?
No I don't. This caught me completely by surprise. I'm hanging in here as best I can, despite zero support. Damn near everywhere jacks up the price of anything the second you say you can't pick it up. For example, gatorade and tylenol from Walmart is almost $40 when the in-store price is $12.
Good news. I'm 95% better now and feeling almost normal again. While recovering I got roughly halfway done digging through the external drive and found about 500gb of "junk" that can be axed anytime and there's more to go.
Good news. I'm 95% better now and feeling almost normal again. While recovering I got roughly halfway done digging through the external drive and found about 500gb of "junk" that can be axed anytime and there's more to go.
The goal is conservation and preservation of knowledge. Anyone here who has visited foxed.ca knows the value of such. Unfortunately, Japanese manuals have more specific requirements for this due to the complexity of most Kanji characters. Traditional imaging obliterates all possibility of translation by destroying the details due to the focal distance varying on a single page. Same with phone-based "scanning". only certain parts are legible. The rest just blends into the background, and no amount of Photoshop can correct for this. The Cosmo Manual was a prime example of such, as attempts to repair such in Photoshop resulted in kanji becoming illegible smears to the average person. Such made it extremely difficult and time-consuming to translate as these characters had to be identified manually, then reconstructing the sentence and hoping it makes sense. 90% of the time, it came out as gibberish. Imagine seeing what translates to "I haven't taken a bath" when referring to a headlight not working
So I designed my own hardware to solve this while imaging. Also, sourcing manuals costs money. Plus, labor to archive, process, organize and preserve each one. If each page takes one minute to image, plus another minute between pages to set up, those massive 1200 page Troubleshooting Manuals for the FD and Cosmo end up taking 40 hours. Sounds like a job, right?
And let's not start on some Toyota manuals, the main manual for the T231 Celica is almost 2000 pages...
My apologies for the lack of updates. A few hours after my last post, I got word that my sensei took his own life. A lot of people have been having a hard time coping with all of the emotions surrounding this and I've not been able to focus on the site and manuals very well.
One lesson he taught me was to think about the greater good, especially when it comes to empowering people to take charge of their own lives and be the best version of themselves they can be. In addition to empowering people to not be afraid of a car because it is right-hand drive, being able to verify a car is as advertised before someone buys it strengthens the JDM car community as a whole by preventing upbadging scams from the start. I've caught 4 fake Bathurst FDs already, plus a fake Evo 3 too. And the whole time, what's on my mind is one my sensei asked often.
"How can I do better?" I have the tools and the skills, I just need the means to make it happen. Help me punch through this wall and we can change he world.
Rest in peace sensei
Jason David Frank
1973-2022
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! I'm finishing up with the prep work on the FD Wiring Bible, to make the rest of the process go as smoothly and quickly as possible. Roughly 160ish to go on it. While doing so, a few people have asked me about getting early GPS systems to work outside of Japan. One of which has a HE Sentia with the Car Communication System. Good news is that he's got the Owners Manual Supplement for it. Just waiting on some clear pictures of it right now, and to see if the owner has the navigation disc too.
If the Sentia CCS navigation disc is put together similar to the S150 Toyota Crown, it should be modifiable to work in North America, and possibly be able to backport it to the Eunos Cosmo if needed too. I've dug into the Crown's GPS discs a bit to see how things go together, just waiting on a set of U10 Celsior discs to compare their code structure against. If my hunch is right, there's only minor differences and by logical extension, the early U20 Celsior would probably work the same way too. Taking it a step further, if the later U20 Celsior's hard drive setup works similarly too, I should be able to transplant some code to make it work on earlier CD-based systems. Keyword is SHOULD, this is currently based on theory.
07-05-22, 07:43 PM
