its about time

:tup:

 

I think the summary idea for the sheet metal is a good idea. Some of it I'd like to see personally is when you get to working on the uni-body areas but, that's just me personally. I must say you do great work for a shade tree mechanic Aaron.

 

Shade tree mechanic there that otta do it ..

 

Any updates? I'm ready to see this thing with some paint on it!!

 

Common Aaron, put that clunker back together!
Or I will make the hour drive to see it myself,

 

I have to admit that I have not touched the car in two weeks. Two weekends ago my brother got married, which sucked up my weekend. And the Monday after, I was sick as someone at the wedding infected me. Spent 4 days at home watching TV and coughing up various fluids. Only one evening at the shop last week (and that nearly killed me) just to clear space beside the Cosmo so that I could bring in my Insight. The Insight has been in the shop since last weekend as before the winter I need to to replace the brakes, rebuild the transmission (input shaft bearing ate itself) and replace the clutch. My hope is that all of that will be completed by the end of the upcoming 3 day weekend and then I can get back on the Cosmo.

As for paint, it will be a while before I start thinking about painting the exterior. Best to keep it in primer as long as possible while the major mechanical work is completed because if you bang a tool against some old primer, it's a lot less annoying than against a fresh paint job. Painting the exterior will likely be one of the last steps I take.

 

I mean this with the highest regard as he is a hobbyist after all but,Aaron is most defiantly a talented fabricator and mechanic and I respect his work as a fellow mechanic.

 

those little circle patch panels you did you could have taken any electrical box from an outlet they have the same size holes that you need to punch out for running the conduit they are like 2$ would have cut out some work but you are pretty good at what you do just thought i'd throw that out there for next time if you need to do that again on anything

 

Coming along well, Aaron. Looks great so far!

With respect to the comment about not having a sheet metal brake... I do; as well as cnc laser and plasma cutters, punch presses, lathes, etc shoot me a PM or an email.

 

Amazing restoration work, extremely detailed as well. Can't wait to see the next update, seems like it's going to be another year before it's running. What's the plan for the suspension components? Painting yourself or powder coating?

 

Hey everyone,

Just a small update because it's been a while since I posted a new video, and it will be a little while longer. Now that I'm through with weddings, being sick, and all the work on my Insight I have finally been able to work on the Cosmo a little. I'm still repairing sheet metal and as such, don't really have a lot of footage. So it's taking some time to get enough content for the next episode. My next task after I finish the repair I am currently doing (that rust gash near the rear passenger I pointed out last episode) is to sand blast the front end. But it's going to be at least two weeks before I can get to that as I'm tied up on the weekends (plus it makes a mess and I don't want to do it when others are in the shop).


I didn't even think of that. I'll have to pick a few up to have on hand just in case. A quick blasting would take the paint or galvanizing off and they'd be ready to use.

I appreciate the offer. I have access to all of those in town and suspect I'll be making use of them as necessary. However not having a sheet metal brake (as well as a shrinker and stretcher) in the shop is a bit inconvenient. So far I've worked around it, but the next patch I make would be much easier. I'm going to have to make it out of about 4 pieces welded together where 2 probably would have sufficed if I had the equipment.

The suspension stuff will be painted in POR-15.

 

I was wondering what ECU you were planning on running, I believe I read somewhere that you were going to use Megasquirt. Which version and modifications are you going to use? Are you going to do something similar to your write up on your website? Could you explain why you would go with the one your going with and not going with another version?

BTW, I ended up printing almost the whole thing, I plan to use Megasquirt myself one day, most likely a MS2 V3 with Zeal daughterboard.

 

I'm going to run MS3X using the V 3.57 main board, MS3 daughter card and MS3X expander. This will be unlike my past Megasquirt builds in that all the MS3 stuff is all prebuilt and requires few modifications. No need to use a Zeal, or build a 2nd VR circuit, or modify the board for BAC, boost, relay and solenoid control (all that is on the expander).

At the same time I setup the Megasquirt for the Cosmo I'll use that opportunity to take pictures to update my website writeup for MS3.

The reason I'm going with MS3 is that it is the newest version and offers full sequential EFI support. Plus, moving forward, software support will begin to concentrate on MS3. At this point the firmware is basically stable and when I finally get around to setting it up in the Cosmo, we should be several more revisions ahead.

For now though, I'm finally getting back on the car constantly after about a month of hardly being able to do any work. Sheet metal for now and the foreseeable future. What I need to do is get the engine bay blasted and repaired so that it can be painted and I can start the fun stuff.

 

Would you be willing to post pictures of the progress, before and after pictures would be fine by me.

Any news on the pieces that you need for under the fenders?

 

I'm planning to put one in my FC. The rough schedule is to purchase the kit and diagnostic/assembly tools in January, assembly from January to April (practicing my soldering one more time with a learning kit), installation in April, rough tuning in May. Upgrades (from narrow to wide-band O2, additional sensors) and final tuning (I might use the autotune function on TunerStudioMS) take place from May onwards.

Just to illustrate how universal parts, even stand-alones, need work to fit and work with the intended application, I have a few little issues that have to be worked out (and still researching and taking notes). I want to use my glove box, so the MS3 will go in the stock location. Due to case height, I may need to modify the ECU bracket with a "dip" to clear the ECU shield or use spacers for more room. I have a GM CS130 alternator with a small pulley. There's no dual-rib pulley of the same size (needed to run a second belt to prevent slippage on the water pump), and I'm running a cat, so I'll probably end up keeping my air pump, air control valve, and some of the solenoids. Because I have low-impedance injectors, I'm also going to build a new resistor block.

I'm also going to be using the input and output to control the A/C, and perhaps nitrous later (although that's years away and only after the engine is tuned and working correctly).

What's cool about the MS3 is that you can configure the i/o using engine parameters. So if you ran nitrous, you can not only set it up to turn solenoids on and off, but build in a safety cut-off using nitrous and fuel pressure values using a second output driving a relay. Or run auxiliary port activation from the ECU instead of an external RPM switch.

The biggest advantage over older factory systems is ease of access to real-time sensor data, crucial when you want to diagnose an engine problem. Older factory ECUs require proprietary cables, software, tools (Mazda tools are expensive or not easy to find). Modern stand-alones require a cheap RS-232 or USB cable and a laptop.

I'm really looking forward to putting one together, as well as your experiences with the MS3.

 

I'll be covering the entire Megasquirt setup on video. However it will be a long while before that is done. Before the EFI is wired, most of the engine bay needs to be set up and that can only happen after the sheet metal.

I currently have a lead on the inner fender pieces, I'm just waiting for a reply to my PM. I've sent pictures to the seller indicating what I want. He has a Cosmo that took a minor front end hit which is now being parted out.

I think you'll find assembly will take a lot less time than you assume. MS3X requires very few actual mods to run the 2nd gen so ECU wise, it is mainly plugging a few boards together and putting them in the case. Wiring/installation is probably a two-weekend thing, maybe 3 weeks if this is your first job.

It's best to install the wideband immediately and don't bother with the narrowband. Make it part of the initial wiring because it will make all parts of the tuning better. Assuming you lean it out to reasonable ratios a short time after it is started, you won't foul out the wideband sensor.

You don't need the resistor block with the Megasquirt. It will run both high and low impedance injectors.

Running a cat also won't require the air pump and all the solenoids. You can use a universal metal grid cat which will have no problems handling the rotary. This is in fact what I'm doing on the Cosmo. I think I'll be the first person in history to actually add a cat to a rotary car. You'll need to do the initial tuning without the cat in the exhaust to avoid fouling it out, then put the cat back in place once the tune is complete. Then make any fine tuning changes necessary due to installation of the cat. This is basically what I'm doing with the Cosmo.

 

Actually, the injector drivers on the main board will drive either impedance injector. However, the MS3x board will only run the high-z--you'll need resistors in line to run low-z. It's in the manual.

I've noted everything else; that'll simply assembly; gives me more outputs. I'm running a Bonez cat and RB header, so swapping it out for a pre-silencer during isn't going to be a problem.

 

Oops, yep, my mistake on the impedance. That being the case, why not go to a much more modern high impedance injector with a better pintle design than the 40+ year old EV1 style that came in the 2nd gen? There are the "boutique" injectors like the ID injectors, but I really question how good they are compared to say, just a properly matched set of off the shelf units. Resistors are best avoided as they slow injector response.

I'm currently deciding on injectors for the Cosmo. Going with a smaller ~450CC primary, and a ~800CC secondary. Just looking at several more modern options. Hard to find large high impedance units.

 

I'm sticking with the existing 460cc injectors for a few reasons:

1. Budget--I'm spreading out purchases from January to August to keep from maxing out my credit card.
2. Existing components. Last summer, I replaced most of the ECU wiring harness (including grounds, with a proper isolated ECU ground for the sensors, and a new CAS cable) in a last-ditch effort to fix an secondary injector issue, after checking the ECU (and swapping with another one), the sensors, and looking for any vacuum leaks. During which I replaced almost most of the engine-siide connectors including the injector and coolant sensor ones. The engine still started on the first try, but the issue remained.
3. I see no real-world advantage to replacing them if they're working perfectly.

If slow response time becomes an issue, I'll swap them for high-impedance ones (I already have two on hand). This car is a bit weird in that someone mixed high and low-z ones at some point prior to the engine rebuild (I only found out after I sent out the injectors for cleaning).

 

Having read up on the Injector Dynamics injectors I can see some advantages that could improve efficiency and flexibility. You planted the seed, I'm upgrading everything else (GM sensors, wideband), why not the injectors. But, 750cc seems overkill for a street-ported non-turbo 13B.

 

Makes perfect sense. Yeah, 750CC is going to be a bit big. In that case, the 460CCs with resistors are probably the best bet.

There are cheaper low impedance 460CC injectors than the ID such as the Delphi injectors DIY sells:
http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/d...hiz-p-275.html

That's basically what I'm going to do. Run 2 42LB Delphis as primary, then the 885CC or 1015CC IDs as secondaries. Nice fine control down low for the primaries, then stage in the secondaries are required (because of course, the stage point is configurable). It's an approach I've taken a few times with 13Bs in the past (actually downgrading the 550CC primaries to 460CC) and it has worked well. My goal with the Cosmo is that it drive better than a modern car, which is a tall order considering the progress EFI systems and piston engines have made in the last 5 years or so.

 

I just read up a bit more and found that the modern Densos on the RX8s, yellow body, part number 195500-4450, are high impedance, can flow 450cc and are a direct fit in stock RX7 fuel rails; a connector change to EV6 is required. That could work for your primary injector. If you shop around, you could find them for a decent price.

 

That actually sounds like an exellent idea. Easy to find at any auto parts store.

 

Aaron have you worked with chassis saver , paint shop said they have better results Nd is alot less steps I've looked up some reviews and it looks great .

 

I may be wrong on the RX8 Denso fuel injector connector type. It could be Sumitomo female. I'm also thinking of the Bosch EV14; fiveomotorsport.com has them in varying capacities and are cheaper than the IDs. Basically, anything swappable into the Miata (as far as can tell) should physically fit in an RX7's stock fuel rails.