ModestMotorsport

Right now, I don't like spending a bunch of money of fiberglass panels to make big tires fit. Round two. When the car has been proven, I will get aftermarket fenders but for now, The quick, dirty, and cheap way to fit some big tires up front and get the air out. Pull like hell and then space the bottoms out. The combination of pulling, spacing the front of the fender 1 inch, and the rear 2 inch, net me about and inch of additional room at the top of the fender. This will hopefully swallow a 245 on a 17x9 with plenty of room to spare. Time will tell.

ModestMotorsport

The day job has been slow. So the racecar progress has been slower.

Got some old meats for test fitting and the first test day, whenever that end up being.



Somebody stole my floor... I'm dropping the floor two inches. Cutting the humps out and mounting the seat directly to floor wasn't enough for my taste, so I went more extreme. This is a normal thing in the Miata world; It seems to freak out people race other cars. The new floor pan will be level with where the frame rail was.



Finally, I managed to find a windshield! What journey that was, and unfortunately, only a green tinted one was available. Seemingly the last, new commercially available one in the US. I'll take what I can get. I've also never glued a windshield in without a Milwaukee electric caulking gun before this. What a terrible experience! My forearms are going to hurt for a while. I really hope it seals.

ModestMotorsport

OHHHH! I wish work would pick up. This thing was supposed to be out driving around by now.

$400 in hydraulic hoses and fitting. It feels like it should be more.



- Its cruel that Mazda and Volvo both use m16x1.5 on their high pressure power steering ports, but Mazda used a flare fitting and Volvo an O-ring. So close to being able to use the factory Mazda hose. (Current return hose situation is temporary. I swear!)

-This is something that is often controversial with people that don't build cars to be fixed at the track. This cars braking system is entirely -3an hoses. No hard lines. I've done dozens of cars this way. It doesn't affect braking feel. The other big advantage, if you can swing it, Is that all of the brake hoses are the same. Meaning I only have to bring one size spare to the track. In an ideal world that is. This car required 36" and 44" hoses because of the hand brake. Instead of having a set with one for each wheel, hoses off of each master cylinder, etc. Radioing into the pit to say "Grab a brake hose," and there being no guess work to get the car back on track maximizes on track time.

-That being said, power steering and brakes are bled enough to roll the car around. Hopefully I can get some strong friends to come over push the car inside for the winter.

lca1971

Any update?

ModestMotorsport

Updates? Nothing exciting. Making poor decisions. Getting frustrated. Normal project car things.

I finally sold the original motor and trans, and rather than do the correct thing and order the new transmission, I bought big pretty Gram Lights. :P



So now the wheel and tire combo going on the car, costs more than the car. Maybe the VW boys will adopt me...

I've also mostly finished the floor drop. I'm leaving the front inside corner unfinished because I suspect that the Tremec will need some extra room in that area once its getting shoved into the tunnel.



And against my better judgement, I bought some cheap **** rear over fenders. It just didn't look right with the front so wide. Boy what a nightmare. They fit like someone took a digital picture of an RX7 in 1987, and the people at DuraFlex received that picture and thought "I can work with this," and made some fenders. The fuel door hole isn't even in the correct place. I didn't expect them to be great but I hoped they would at least be reasonably workable. I was wrong. I've got about 8 hours into them at this point with cutting them up and re-glassing them back together. I think I will give it another weekend before I give up on them and just make some metal fenders.







One of my intentions with buying over fenders is incase I get tapped at the track, I can slap another fender on really quick and get back out there. That doesn't work if each side takes 8 hours of work before it will fit.

So yeah. Nothing grand is happening. You didn't miss much.

ModestMotorsport

I got the over fenders fitting well enough to use. Not great, but fine for its intended use.





The whole drivers side of the car is full of failed body filler too! Its 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick from the top of the rear wheel arch to the center of the door with so much rust underneath!







Now the car is ready to get the quarters cut out and sealed.

I'm also trying to make some side skirts/ barge boards out of fiberglass. I fear that these are going to explode the first time I drive the car and if they do, it will get the carbon treatment.