Video Log Of The Restomodding Of My '76 RX-5 Cosmo (New Vid Jan 5/2023)
03-14-15, 10:05 AM
#577
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The show seemed less impressive than previous years. Maybe it wasn't, I don't know. Perhaps I've just been to so many of these things that I'm used to it all.
Actually I spent quite a lot of time talking to the owner of the ScramJet Camaro. Good on him that after the show he's going to autox it instead of letting it sit on display.
Actually I spent quite a lot of time talking to the owner of the ScramJet Camaro. Good on him that after the show he's going to autox it instead of letting it sit on display.
05-26-15, 10:15 AM
#578
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Part 40.5: A Whole New World! - My 76 Mazda Cosmo Restoration
Part 40.5 of my '76 Mazda RX-5 Cosmo restoration is here! And you know what that fraction means. Yes, it means I am joined by my dear friend Rose Cora Perry for this special update episode. The changes I mentioned at the end of episode 40 are happening now, so I thought it was time to release a little update as to what's going on and when the next video can be expected. It's still going to be quite some time before the next Cosmo episode but at least now you know why.
05-26-15, 11:19 AM
#579
Rotary Enthusiast
Congratulations on the purchase of the property with the creepy hottub room. You could turn the creepy hottub room into the relaxing cool breakroom/hottub room. You know, sterilize and refurbish the hottub, put in some nice warm lighting, an AV system and a small fridge and microwave and there you are.
Oh, I wish I had a hottub right now. Actually, no, I don't wish--all that fine print just leads you to trouble.
Oh, I wish I had a hottub right now. Actually, no, I don't wish--all that fine print just leads you to trouble.
05-28-15, 01:42 PM
#580
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At the moment, the creepy hot tub room is the creepy hot tub and storage room. It's amazing how all that space can go away when things are disorganized and piled up where they landed during the move. I don't see why in the future it can't be the creepy-storage-hot-tub room if I find some decent wood cabinets for the front of the room. A curtain or something in front.
05-30-15, 09:43 AM
#583
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Funny.
I have a feeling it will take far longer than I estimated. Chose to gut the front bedroom (my bedroom, guess since I'm the only one there by default it's mine...) which is very time consuming when it's mainly weekday evenings, and I'm splitting my time between that and the shop. Spending many of the weekends out at antique shows, thrift stores, garage sales, antique malls getting furniture, housewares, etc.
However, I am still working on the car. Knowing I was about to go through this I picked a project that doesn't involve the resources of a shop. Just a laptop, a clean desk to work on, and some electronics supplies. Right now I'm just waiting for more parts which the electronics store is dragging their feet on.
I have a feeling it will take far longer than I estimated. Chose to gut the front bedroom (my bedroom, guess since I'm the only one there by default it's mine...) which is very time consuming when it's mainly weekday evenings, and I'm splitting my time between that and the shop. Spending many of the weekends out at antique shows, thrift stores, garage sales, antique malls getting furniture, housewares, etc.
However, I am still working on the car. Knowing I was about to go through this I picked a project that doesn't involve the resources of a shop. Just a laptop, a clean desk to work on, and some electronics supplies. Right now I'm just waiting for more parts which the electronics store is dragging their feet on.
09-27-15, 09:41 AM
#585
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I can't believe it's been 4 months either. I've stopped looking at time as a number and instead as the distance between events. There's no 9AM - 6PM and then Saturday & Sunday, it's just the time I'm at work and the time I'm not.
The time I'm not at work I am spending working on the house to get it minimally ready, the shop to get it functional (at the moment I have a somewhat finished work area...just deciding on the floor before I bring ALL the tools in), all the maintenance/upkeep that goes with a house, running my life at my parents house, occasional contact with other living creatures, and when I can, working on the Cosmo.
Making steady but very slow progress on the current Cosmo project. I chose the task wisely because it has worked well as something I can spend a few hours on, then come back to a week later. And plenty of stuff to do when I'm not in front of the actual car and just have a computer available for CAD/design/simulation. The video will suffer though only because I'm not working continuously so what I record is sort of disjointed and I can't seem to work in any dead hooker jokes.
When? I don't know. The next part of the task will involve a lot of repetitive work which doesn't need to be filmed and should happen almost assembly line like. So I should be very productive in the time I have to work. I do hope that means in the next month or two, I'll have finished and can release the video.
The time I'm not at work I am spending working on the house to get it minimally ready, the shop to get it functional (at the moment I have a somewhat finished work area...just deciding on the floor before I bring ALL the tools in), all the maintenance/upkeep that goes with a house, running my life at my parents house, occasional contact with other living creatures, and when I can, working on the Cosmo.
Making steady but very slow progress on the current Cosmo project. I chose the task wisely because it has worked well as something I can spend a few hours on, then come back to a week later. And plenty of stuff to do when I'm not in front of the actual car and just have a computer available for CAD/design/simulation. The video will suffer though only because I'm not working continuously so what I record is sort of disjointed and I can't seem to work in any dead hooker jokes.
When? I don't know. The next part of the task will involve a lot of repetitive work which doesn't need to be filmed and should happen almost assembly line like. So I should be very productive in the time I have to work. I do hope that means in the next month or two, I'll have finished and can release the video.
10-03-15, 10:13 AM
#588
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The main concrete area will get epoxied at some point using the POR-15 system. It's the fab area, with the OSB floor, that I'm figuring out. I don't want to pull up the floor and pouring concrete is out of the question. At the moment I'm thinking aluminium tread plate. Oddly it's both the coolest and most cost effective solution.
Sacrifices must be made I guess.
Sacrifices must be made I guess.
10-30-15, 10:22 AM
#589
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Part 41: LED Tail Light Conversion, Part 1 - My 76 Mazda RX-5 Cosmo Restoration
Surprise! Part 41 of my 76 Mazda Cosmo restoration is here! Part 41 is the first in a two part episode covering the conversion of the unique Cosmo tail lights from outdated incandescent light bulbs to modern LEDs. I decided to pattern my tail lights after those of the 2012 Dodge Charger, creating an outline of large LEDs, and filling the rest of the lights with small LEDs. I know it's been a while since my last episode, mainly because I've been sharing my Cosmo time with the time spent working on my new house, setting up the new shop, getting my RX-7 back on the road, oh and those little things like job, food and sleep. So I chose the tail light project because it was something I could work an hour here and there on, without requiring a fully functional shop. So here, I cover deciding on the LEDs, designing the control circuit based on an Arduino ATTINY85, and then beginning the actual LED'ding of the tail lights starting with the reverse lights. Circuit boards are designed, etched and assembled, then the new LED illumination added to the reverse lights. In the 2nd half of this episode, we'll cover the brake and turn signal lights, building the controller and integrating it all together into a spectacular assembly.
Circuit schematics, source code and PCB designs in this episode can be found at:
Halo Style Arduino Controlled LED Tail Lights Schematics and Source - My 1976 Mazda RX-5 Cosmo Restoration
Circuit schematics, source code and PCB designs in this episode can be found at:
Halo Style Arduino Controlled LED Tail Lights Schematics and Source - My 1976 Mazda RX-5 Cosmo Restoration
11-03-15, 09:58 PM
#591
Fantastic work, as always. As someone who has always liked electronics, but never had the knowledge base you clearly do, this episode fascinated me. Sometimes I'm giddy at my ability to solder and heat shrink a joint correcrtly, so to see something much more complex go from start to finish is amazing.
11-08-15, 10:05 AM
#592
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It's been some years since I have done much in electronics, save for Megasquirt related. So it was nice to get back to my youth a little. But what a change! In the past making this circuit would have been a major pain in the *** with discrete components. The component count would have been 20x and would have involved a LOT of breadboard tweaking. Now doing it in software with a $2 CPU is nothing. Really, the circuit worked first try with me being able to blink LEDs through the MOSFETs. Then it was just writing software. What a world we live in.
Since this video I've completed the turn signal boards and tested them with the breadboard circuit. Very happy with the result. I'll pick up the next video working on the brake light boards.
Since this video I've completed the turn signal boards and tested them with the breadboard circuit. Very happy with the result. I'll pick up the next video working on the brake light boards.
11-08-15, 09:26 PM
#594
You have inspired me to steal your idea, if you don't mind, and make LED tail lights for my 1985 RX-7 and REPU. Which programmer did you use to push the code to the ATTINY85? I've done a little reading on the ATTINY85 and there are several programmers out there. Also, I looked at your page that contains the schematic and code, do you have a parts list other then the schematic?
11-10-15, 04:30 PM
#595
Senior Member
Arduino is programmed thru USB, just plug it in open the Arduino IDE compile your sketch and go 
Btw Aaron, ever thinking of using Eagle from cadsoft or Design spark from RS-online?
Btw Aaron, ever thinking of using Eagle from cadsoft or Design spark from RS-online?
11-10-15, 07:35 PM
#596
Arduino is programmed thru USB, just plug it in open the Arduino IDE compile your sketch and go
Btw Aaron, ever thinking of using Eagle from cadsoft or Design spark from RS-online?
Btw Aaron, ever thinking of using Eagle from cadsoft or Design spark from RS-online?
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11801
11-11-15, 07:35 AM
#597
Rotary Enthusiast
Nice. I was planning on a conversion myself, but using plug-and-play LED bulbs, but this is way cooler. The circuit design seems so clean.
Two questions: what's the legality of running a non-DOT (or whatever certification Canada uses) light source? Also, how do you safely dispose of the chemicals used for the etching and tinning once you're done?
Two questions: what's the legality of running a non-DOT (or whatever certification Canada uses) light source? Also, how do you safely dispose of the chemicals used for the etching and tinning once you're done?
11-13-15, 05:56 AM
#598
Senior Member
Which programmer is a good one? I can handle to C code side, I'm a web desvopler in MVC C# SQL etc, but didn't want to guess at which USB programmer to get. I found this one from SparkFun.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11801
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11801
11-16-15, 09:02 AM
#599
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You have inspired me to steal your idea, if you don't mind, and make LED tail lights for my 1985 RX-7 and REPU. Which programmer did you use to push the code to the ATTINY85? I've done a little reading on the ATTINY85 and there are several programmers out there. Also, I looked at your page that contains the schematic and code, do you have a parts list other then the schematic?
Which programmer is a good one? I can handle to C code side, I'm a web desvopler in MVC C# SQL etc, but didn't want to guess at which USB programmer to get. I found this one from SparkFun.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11801
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11801
That is the exact programmer I use. It does seem to work well except for one issue. I would only get a successful burn about 1 out of 50 attempts using the Arduino IDE. It would complete the build, then the upload, then at the verify it would die with a code mismatch or something (I can't remember the exact error as it has been a while since I used it). After much research and many voodoo solutions I found that I could burn every time by just running the command line generated by the IDE directly at a command prompt and what do you know, it works every time. An extra step, but not the end of the world.
Your mileage may vary. The problem seems to be due to the IDE becoming out of sync with AVRDUDE and likely only happens on certain configurations.
I chose to use multiple ATTINY85s to keep each single purpose and the programming simple. Depending on what you are doing, an ATTINY84 is a 14 pin DIP with a bunch more IO so you could reduce the number of chips used. Also programmable with the above by using a breadboard and some jumpers.
Nice. I was planning on a conversion myself, but using plug-and-play LED bulbs, but this is way cooler. The circuit design seems so clean.
Two questions: what's the legality of running a non-DOT (or whatever certification Canada uses) light source? Also, how do you safely dispose of the chemicals used for the etching and tinning once you're done?
Two questions: what's the legality of running a non-DOT (or whatever certification Canada uses) light source? Also, how do you safely dispose of the chemicals used for the etching and tinning once you're done?
Going non DOT/MOT (Ministry Of Transportation...the Canadian version) basically means collector car insurance only. At least around here. Your mileage may vary. Of course I had always intended to use collector car insurance on the vehicle since the chances of getting a regular policy on it are about zero at the value I want it covered for.
I admit, back when I was a youth, I thought ferric chloride was single use only so I put a fair bit just down the toilet after etching a board. Now I know that it will last until it is so laden with copper it doesn't work. Of course because it is filled with copper, it needs to go to the local hazardous waste disposal center. It's the copper that is the issue, not the ferric chloride itself. The liquid tin is nasty, nasty, nasty. Corrosive, absorbed by the skin, reactive, etc. It can also be used until ineffective (the MSDS contains an actual measurement to determine whether the chemical is depleted, for hobbyists not interested in titrating it I'd think we can just use until it doesn't plate as aggressively as it first did) over and over. Disposal requires neutralizing it, then it can be safely discarded into the sanitary sewer system. But since one is bringing the ferric chloride, then it just makes sense to take both to hazardous waste disposal.
