Open track day and parts runner build

[blake4591]

I made up battery cables and got them installed last night. I already did most of the small amount of wiring that is needed for the engine swap so hopefully tonight I will be able to finish getting the harness installed. The only other thing I need to do before starting it is get the half shafts installed and fill the trans with fluid.

[blake4591]

I finally got the car started on Sunday. I blew two fuses before I figured out I had two plugs switched but after I got that figured out it started right up. I also worked on making up a couple of small brackets that still needed fabricated. I'm hoping to finish the car up by the end of the month but there is still a lot that needs put back together.

[blake4591]

I got the dash, drivers fender, radiator, carpet and a few other things reinstalled this weekend. I need to make up the mount for the VAM sometime this week and I'm going to try to get a buddy to come over to help jam the suspension together one day after work. If I have time today I'll post some updated pictures this evening.

[sc72]

blake4591, I like hearing about your progress, some pic's would be nice. keep up the good work.

[blake4591]

Yeah I'm pretty bad about getting pictures posted. This spring and up until the July 4th weekend was extremely busy for me. Several weddings/ out of state vacations and other general life stuff limiting the time I have in the garage. So, the spare time I have had, I have spent trying to get the car together. I have been taking the pictures I just haven't taken the time to upload the pictures. Haha

[Advancedynamix]

I finished up the transmission mounts a couple days ago. I started working through the brakes and found out that the Miata master cylinder that came on my booster is not going to work. I picked up a 94-97 NB booster and master, only the 99-00 master cylinders bolt in, the earlier ones require a banjo bolt connection to hook up correctly. I have to look in some of the parts boxes to see if I have the banjo fitting and how difficult it would be to use. Depending on that I might use the EGT master that I have for now. There are possibilities for some comparisons between the two once the car is working.

I have also got some people rounded up to help knock out a bunch on the car this weekend. Hopefully will have most of the rear of the car together and have the actual engine getting close to going in by Monday.

I used an early miata master on my first build. I'll try to find pictures. I plugged the top hole.

[Advancedynamix]

Here you can see the early miata master cylinder with the plug in the top circuit. I used the banjo on the drivers side. You can get one from a Miata.

[blake4591]

Thanks, I ended up finding the banjo bolt in my parts bin a while ago and made up the lines to use it. I planned to plug the extra port but I don't remember if I ever actually did it or not. Either way I'll find out when I put the master cylinder on the car which should be soon.

[Advancedynamix]

If you have access to a Capri master cylinder, there is a plug in those that works perfectly. If not, there is a facory Volvo brake line plug that works good.
ATE part number 1387506

[blake4591]

I uploaded more pictures of the build to my photobucket. There are also pictures there that I never linked to the thread so if you're interested click through the album.

I made up a new passenger mount by cutting the original and re-welding it. It moves the engine down about a half an inch, forward maybe an 1/8" and to the passenger side about a 1/4"


Made up a clutch cable bracket and new radiator hold downs. I lost my good set of radiator hold downs and wasn't going to put the supper cursty set I have in my nice clean engine bay. The second radiator hold down is already in the car doing it's job.


Engine on the day I had it running. You can see the battery cables I made up and the general positioning of the battery


Cut the rear shims to install the spindles. These will give -1.5° of camber in the rear. I have another set of 1.5 shims and 1.0 shims that I'll add once I start to get used to the rear camber.


Dash and carpet installed. It's starting to look like a car again.


Used and old brass pipe to to make a new clutch cable pull. I wanted to try the brass to get rid of the steel to steel surface I'm going to see how this holds up.

[blake4591]

If you have access to a Capri master cylinder, there is a plug in those that works perfectly. If not, there is a facory Volvo brake line plug that works good.
ATE part number 1387506

Those things aren't cheap. I ordered one off amazon for 9 bucks since it'll save me the trip to the junk yard. In the picture its clearly the master cylinder port plug but it's listed as "Genuine 1387506 Oxygen sensor volvo 740". Haha

[blake4591]

One of my friends came over last night and we put all of the suspension and brakes on the car. The only thing that we didn't get installed was one front brake hose because the rebuilt caliper didn't come with new crush washers. I also realized that I never ordered lug nuts so I have to get some of those on order. I'm hoping to be able to finish the last couple fab things on Sunday. I might actually get to drive this car by the end of the month.

Parts pile when we started yesterday

[Advancedynamix]

That's a beautiful thing!

Tip: Pick up some cheap organic brake pads to use on the street and to break in your rotors. Those PFC pads are awesome on the track, but not good when cold. I like the cheap pads better on street driving.

[blake4591]

Ordered lug nuts and got the crush washers I need to install the brake line.

That's a beautiful thing!

Tip: Pick up some cheap organic brake pads to use on the street and to break in your rotors. Those PFC pads are awesome on the track, but not good when cold. I like the cheap pads better on street driving.

Thanks for the advice. I have at least one set of organic pads setting around that I ordered and never used. I'll have to find those and then swap them in for the break in.

I also was poking around on craigslist and found a set of vw 7 spoke 13"x5.5" aluminum wheels for cheap that I might pick up to run Slicks on.

It's this style of VW wheel.

http://www.wheelcollision.com/store/H69651-69651BXWH-GOLF.htm

[Advancedynamix]

You may want to hold out for atleast a 13x6. I ran my r compound tires on 5.5" wheels for half a season and had problems with uneven wear. The tires lasted longer when I changed to 13x7.
The slicks I ran (20.5x6x13 hoosier R35a) really don't like the narrow rims. The car was really unstable with that combo.
If you look hard, you can find old BMW wheels in a 13x6 fitment. The 4 lug bimmers are 4x100.