V8MiataMike

You are a very patient person! I would be camping out at the exhaust shop by now finding out why it is taking so long and getting it done! (and done right!)

MX-Brad

Finally!!!!
The guy called friday to tell me he's done. Went and drove the 15 minute drive home today without incident.
I do have some issues to work out:
I have a small coolant leak at the joiner hose on Martin's coolant fill.
Temp guage stayed at halfway for the trip home but started to rise quickly when idling in the driveway, fans did not come on. I think it may be a bad sensor as when I ground the wire the fans come on.
Speedo bounces....may have to reroute cable?
I still have to calibrate the tach.
I can hear the puft puft of loose header bolts.
Tranny grinds going into reverse most times. Will have to adjust the slave.
Pretty minor stuff that a couple evenings of work should remedy.

Car sounds good if a bit loud.
I'm happy to have it home,but I'll admit I'm a bit disappointed with the guys work around the front frame. it's quite low especially on the pass side, and around the diff. But it's drivable and I will do the upgrades I want to do first and revisit the exhaust system in the future (at a different place). Will hit a few cruises this fall and get some recommendations from some of the rodders.
Feeling pretty good now.

5.0 Miata

Congrats, at least its back and you can get chipping away at those gremlins.

Den

MX-Brad

Worked on it tonight for a bit after a short drive. Retightened the header bolts, tightened up the hose clamp at the coolant fill...it was seeping a bit there. Looks like it might still be leaking slightly....will keep an eye on it. Coolant fans came on. Maybe the connector wasn't on tight before, but after I confirmed the fans kick on after grounding the wire- the fans will now kick on when the gauge shows a little above halfway. I'm still going to wire up an override. I bought a cheap switch at the parts store to use for now, but am going to use an OEM foglight switch once I find a deal on one. Also tonight I cut the rear lower lip spoiler for the drivers side tip. Turned out pretty good.
Tomorrow i have the day off, so may try to locate a cheap tach so I can calibrate the dash tach. Will install fan override switch, and give it a good cleaning. Going to a local cruise night tomorrow to show it off.
The suspension is settling down a bit. Rear is at a tad over 14", front is at 14 1/2". Talked to Martin and he suggested putting a few hundred miles on before considering cutting springs. Or go with a coilover sleeve kit. Maybe I'll just run it as is for this season, and kill the stock shocks, then do a Vmaxx or similar in the spring.

MX-Brad

Chased my tail a bit today. Installed a toggle switch in the center console to override the fan switch, hooked up battery, turned key on, hit toggle switch......no fan. crap.
So, I rechecked my wiring, unhooked the toggle switch, tried grounding out the sensor wire, heard the relays click, but no fans...wtf? I hooked the toggle switch back up and confirmed the relays clicked, so I know I had a good ground going to the switch. Took a break and came back to it. Now the fans came on for a coupke seconds, then shut off, then would come back on etc....so I figured a bad wire leading to the fans. I start jiggling wires and fans kick on....and I get sparks at the ground lug the fans are bolted to. Tighten that down and all is good. Easy to fix but took a while to diagnose.
Got the car all cleaned up and took it to the local cruise. It made quite a favourable inpression on several folks. Fun night.
Still have to calibrate the tach and set the timing. And my exhaust sucks...it's scraping on everything. What a waste of 3 months.

charchri4

Sounds like you are hitting burnout / builder fatigue mode and it's easy to see why. Being in the north country with the end of the season pressing ever closer puts even more pressure to get it out and have some fun. My first start was Aug 5th when my goal for that was June 15th. I remember thinking if I can just get it on the road I can work out the details as I go but reworks on stuff like exhaust burn up a lot of time and mental energy. It's easy to get to the point where you just can't face one more bug.

I just want you to know from the perspective of 3 years and 18,000 miles down the road from where you are now, you will pretty much have forgotten all these little bugs and frustrations. Even just a year from now after spending most of next summer with your build todays frustrations will have been mitigated by many miles and smiles of fun.

In a nutshell hang in there I promise you the struggle is worth it!

5.0 Miata

Hey Brad, I am very curious to see how your tach calibration turns out. That is still on my list as well. It's not a huge priority as my EFI system came with a handheld that displays RPM's (the Miata tach is roughly double). Please let me know if you run into any "situations" that give you any headaches.

Thanks,
Den

MX-Brad

I thought I may be able to borrow a handheld tach from someone around here, but no one seems to have one. I may have to buy one off amazon or somewhere, doesn't look like Summit has them. I can get a cheap tach for around $35 but it's very small and I think having something with a digital readout would be easier to use.
What are some of you guys using?

V8MiataMike

I adjusted mine by "ear". Initially adjusted to idle RPM (figured appx 900 RPM so set it to that) and then of course my rev limiter is at 6,200 RPMs so when I hit it (smoking the tires in 1st gear) it reads about right there.

Without changing the face of the tach, my understanding is that it will never be accurate across the dial so to speak. So it is a "guideline"

cvx_20

Adjustable timing light with tach feature. Comes in handy about once a year.

Mike

tbone heller

I use the tach on my Snap-On advance timing light.

MX-Brad

Turns out a neighbour car guy has an old tach he just lent me. If it doesn't work out I'll buy a timing light w/ tach.
AND big news. My car goes in for exhaust Monday morning lol. Found a shop recommended by some local car guys. Shop has been doing custom exhaust for over 40yrs. A call to the owner left me with a good feeling. $1500 out the window for the first system, at least the next guy said he will use as many of the components (cats, mufflers etc) as he can. Usually same day service, but I won't have time to pick up till Wednesday morning.

MX-Brad

And strike 2 for new exhaust. Called this morning to make sure it was ok to pick up the car this aft, only to be told that the guy that does the exhaust bending quit about a month ago and the new guy will be in to get trained later this week. Really. Well **** that, I got a ride and drove the car back home. Not sure why they couldn't have told me that on Monday.
Made a couple inquiries and got a hold of a guy who is a one man shop about 40 minutes north, well known around here for his exhaust work. He seemed to ask all the right questions and I have to call him early next week to set up a time for him to look at it. JHC i hope it works out this time. I really hate relying on other people to do things they are supposed to be able to do but can't seem to accomplish.

MX-Brad

Well, now i'm beginnng to take this personally. Several calls over the last 2 weeks to the third exhaust guy have gotten me nowhere. There are a couple reputable shops in a city about an hr away I will be calling on tomorrow. arrrg!

5.0MX5

"Several calls over the last 2 weeks to the third exhaust guy have gotten me nowhere"

Wow, that really is unbelievable. I must have burned up all the conversion exhaust shop good luck. I stopped at a small local (but never used by me) exhaust shop that had a couple old school hot rods in front. My car was on a trailer, asked the 30ish year old owner if he could do the exhaust. Well, a couple hours later the car was off the rack with a shop built x-pipe, a couple generic stock type mufflers mounted and everything tucked up nice and tight. As I recall, total cost was just under $200.

I'm very happy with the sound, sort of a muted old school, stock performance engine sound. No drone but just enough rumble to get a double take from the unsuspecting. One thing that likely kept cost down was I spec'd 2 1/4" duels. With only 310 cubic inches and a max of 300 hp (?) I felt anything larger was overkill.

Good Luck!

MX-Brad

Wow, sweet deal.
I actually tried one more time with this last guy. Car goes in for a look over this afternoon. I'm swamped with work for the next 2 weeks, so hopefully it'll be done by then. Installed hood struts and calibrated the tach. Pretty easy.

MX-Brad

Hey Den,
If you haven't done so already, the tach calibration is easy. I didn't realize the lens had to come off the cluster and the pot is actually accessed from the front. I had it in my mind that the adjustment was at the rear. Anyways, the instructions are pretty concise. Took about a half hr total.

5.0 Miata

Thanks Brad. Sorry to hear about your further delays, its got to be getting to you by now! Going to try and find the time this weekend to take care of that little gem. (I'm having too much fun though...)

Den

MX-Brad

Today was fun. Got the hood struts sitting properly, got the tach mostly calibrated...may have to tweak again but it's much better, and went for a nice drive. Even opened it up a little and left a nice 11 on the pavement. Drove out to the exhaust shop and the guy had a good look. He'll come up with a game plan and then get ahold of me. If it's over his head he'll let me know. I may have to find a shop in the states that's done one of these before. Not having the greatest luck.
Too bad Martin doesn't offer a solution like FM has for the LS's

V8MiataMike

I remember years ago paying a lot of money for a dual exhaust on a Ford F150. A place that came highly recommended. I watched as they used that bending machine to form the shape (which squishes the tub diameter down to 2 inches from the 2 1/2 it is supposed to be...) and then bend it back in another section cause it was not exactly right. After it was all done, the axle would hit the pipes when I loaded the truck. Horrible job that I paid a lot of money for (and had to pay for again to fix the axle banging problem).

Since then I bought a MIG welder and use mandrel bent sections to create exhaust. I get it done my way and no excuses. So, maybe it is time to DIY your exhaust?

MX-Brad

Got a call from my exhaust guy. Car is done and he says I will be blown away when I see it. Sounds promising. Hopefully can find time to pick up tomorrow.

5.0 Miata

Here is to hoping you get blown...(away that is)...Good luck...

MX-Brad

Also ordered the DSD coil overs from V8R today. They wanted my $$ more than FM did. Should be able to get them on next week then in for a much needed alignment. That'll be it for this year, I'll get about another month of driving and then it'll go away for the winter. I'm putting the '96 away tomorrow.

MX-Brad

Picked up the car. The guy did a great job.
Noticed my coolant leak is back. Seeping at the tmos housing to coolant fill hose. And sounds like I need to reset my base idle again. It drops way low when warmed up. Easy stuff when I have time.

MX-Brad

This car is a blast. Runs great and really strong. Installed my coil overs. Off to get an alignment next week.