Mister BEan style

 

When I was about 5 years old, I saw this episode and begged my parents to help me paint my room that way. They sadly did not oblige.

 

A little update...

 

I found the same problem , to many things to do and not enough time . I found I needed a break from my build , went from looking forward to working on it to pushing myself to do more .. Took a break and now looking forward to continuing on this winter and getting ready for the 1/4 mile come spring . I also need to get my shop done ,,it is a big job alone . , happy Birthday

 

So I have a week off next week and intended to spend as much of it as possible working on the shop to get it as finished as I can. Nope, said the universe. At 5PM yesterday the rear brake line blew out on the Insight. Front the front to the back of the car, over the fuel tank, over the exhaust, axle, everything. I'm ignoring it for the next few days and driving the RX-7. Hopefully a reasonably quick repair later in the week if I can just cut the rusted inch off the line, slip on a new flare nut and flare where the line is solid. It's only rusted at the existing fitting. Assuming the bleeders aren't stuck in the rear wheel cylinders...

 

That sucks. I have done numerous repairs like that. The brake lines from the dealer are also obnoxiously expensive and fitting a custom line is such a pain. Cut off a resonably long section so that you spread the stress in the line over a larger area.

 

Ouch. I did have to replace a rear wheel cylinder after I broke off the bleeder fitting, but they're easy to replace and relatively cheap to buy. I really hope I don't have to replace the brake lines on my '01 CVT any time soon. Michigan winters aren't any more forgiving. I haven't spotted any rust on the lines. Maybe it's because of the 2-year fluid change intervals (or because I really haven't looked carefully enough).

 

Well, with my week vacation consisting of basically 1 day where I wasn't at full alert-damage-control mode due to external factors, I left the car until last weekend and just drove the RX-7. Also the only two days which had an acceptable amount of rain for working in the driveway. All was going to plan until I attempted to use my brand new flaring tool to flare the existing line. Nope. About 6 tries on the car resulted in deformations to the end of the line which might be considered to resemble flares if the observer had never seen a flare, was heavily medicated, and the lighting was low. So after trying the tool off the car on a spare bit of brake line resulted in the same thing (that's about 15 attempts and zero success) I just gave up. Pulled the underblody panel off the car on that side just as the rain was starting again.

On Wednesday the car went to the mechanic and it was done Wednesday afternoon. 1 hour of labour, 3 feet of line. Bill less than $130. Their flare tool is a hydraulic job that just grips the line, gets pumped a few times, and done. Researching online has shown that the $40 arbor type flare tool one buys at the parts store basically doesn't work and anything resembling a flare after use is essentially down to luck. It relies so much on the line being perfectly straightly cut, gripped by a flawed clamping bar, and a silly die which isn't even the correct OD for regular 3/16" brake line being pressed perfectly square.

At least the brake bleeders didn't snap off for the mechanics. Perhaps because I had been soaking them in PB Blaster inside and out for 4 days.

I intend to make stainless brake lines for the Cosmo, and when I do, will invest in something like one these bad boys:
https://www.amazon.ca/Mastercool-714.../dp/B007TN15EG

 

I have never had luck with the standard flaring tool you get at Harbor Freight and the like, so I bought one of these.

ATD 5483 Master Inline Flaring Tool Kit


Perfect flares every time, and considerably cheaper than a hydraulic unit. Just lube the flare with a little brake fluid when your press the arbor down.

I have used my tool dozens of times in the shop with great success.

 

That looks like a much better tool design then the standard arbor style. However, doesn't do stainless.

 

I don't think I have ever used mine on stainless, but it doesn't say it can't do stainless. Unless I'm missing something.

The last brake lines I ordered were covered in a dark green coating that makes them rust resistant, so that could be an option.

 

Stainless requires a lot more effort to bend and is much more pone to cracking. Generally means hydraulic assist though on 3/16" line, maybe not. I bent stainless fuel lines by hand for the Cosmo and it was not fun.

Oh, and I might be rendering a video right now...

 

If I had some stainless line hanging around, I would run a test, but sadly I don't. I can look into getting my hands on some and giving it a test run.

A new video is welcome. We, of the masses, are thirsty for more Cosmo news.

 

It's here! Part 42 of my 76 Mazda Cosmo restoration, which finishes off the LED tail light conversion, has finally arrived. It's been a long time since the last episode, so let's make this one long and nicely detailed. As I often say, sit back with a drink and enjoy. Or perhaps several drinks if required. This episode picks up where part 41 left off beginning with mounting up the turn signal boards. Here I cover designing and building the rest of the circuit boards for the brake lights, building and programming the Arduino ATTINY85 powered controllers, modifying the tail light housings and lenses to accept the LEDs then putting it all together for a spectacular demonstration of the completed lights.

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

 

Oh sweet. That was a nice surprise haha. I felt like I had accomplished something when you were nearing completion of them aye. You must of been stoked as!

 

It was indeed a glorious moment to see the lights power up on the car for the first time after spending so long on them.

 

Hard work paying off, kind of like a first date. Well, provided you don't solder them...

Amazing work as always Aaron. Since it's time to change directions and do something more non-electronic, perhaps now's a good time to tackle the interior? Nothing as long and hard (that's what she said) as the taillights, but a quick and fun (also what she said) side project. Maybe do the carpet & dashboard heat shield? It'll let you finally get rid of the moist mess called the originals

 

No, I want to pound something (that's what she...yadda yadda) so I will be moving on to a little metal fab. I can't really work on the interior until I find a set of seats, and weather is rapidly running out to visit a wrecking yard to find them. May have some time in November to spend a day wandering through with a measuring tape and a 12V battery.

 

12V battery sounds like you are on the hunt for power slider seats. I'm sure you know, but most newer ones are controlled by a CAN module, so you would be limited to the mid-2000s and earlier, usually. They are also stupid heavy.

 

Power optioned seats are quite common on most Ford vehicles since the mid 90s. On Japanese cars, it's slightly harder to find, and usually limited to Infiniti i30s and Lexus SC400/LS400s

For my FC, I'm making base adapters to install FD seats on FC rails. The overall dimensions are pretty close, but the bolt holes are set closer together on the FD seat bottom.

 

Yes, I'm aware. That's why I said to look older than mid-2000s. Ford power seats are typically flat bottomed with little lumbar support. You also have to deal with the considerable weight of them.

The Japanese seats may be a much better option, since they typically have better lumbar support and are usually narrower than the domestic units.

 

I'm not too worried about the weight of the seats. It's not the sort of car where weight is a major concern as I won't be driving it the same way as I would an RX-7. Which is also why I did deeply ponder swapping in an FD or FC rear subframe and IRS but ultimately decided against it. Yes, would have been cool, but I think it would have been cool for the sake of being cool.

Anyway, back to the seats. The goal is a modern seat, fully powered, with some silly features like lumbar support, heat, etc. Which generally means an up-market car from the last 10 or so years. A flat bottom works, as I can always cut out the existing Mazda seat mounts and weld in my own. Such is the bonus of the car being in sheet metal. Does mean that the time fixing the seat mounts was wasted, but that's the way things go sometimes.

As for being CAN controlled, that's sort of a bonus. The CAN issue at this point is long solved with CAN interfaces for Arduino and open source libraries. It would be pretty awesome to have selectable presets for seat settings. If for no other reason than when I finish cleaning the car, to have the damn seats end up in the same spot as when I started.

 

As far as seats are concerned, your choices are wide open. Saab, Volvo, Mercedes, BMW, Mazda, Honda and Toyota/Lexus among many others all offer seats that fit your requirements.

Lexus comes to mind as they are comfortable, have the seat controls on the seat base and may not require a module to work; can't be sure though. Earlier seats like from the RX series are heated only but later ones (2010-on, definitely 2013-on) are heated/cooled. The only downside I see is that most seats from ten years or newer have side airbags in them. I doubt that would be much of a problem though.

 

I figured I would just wander through the wrecking yard and find a set which fit in the car, and have the features I want. Didn't think about airbags but I don't see any issues with just removing them. Since I will be reupholstering anyway I'd imagine one just welds up a little frame then replaces the space with foam.

 

Those vids with Lynnette