i built a car

[alex.s]

i made shift linkage and welded on the shift mount and shifted through the gears.

i also reinforced the engine mounts. but they aren't done yet.


i also spent time on one of the main joins



when it is done it will look smooth and you hopefully wont notice the transition

[alex.s]

did the other main join. much better this time.




added an up-tube for the right-side engine(trans) mount



did lots and lots of welding and added some of the trellis work




made brackets for the rear suspension top mount



here it is just put in place. i need to drill holes in the bracket



the suspension i'm using right now is the rear shock from the ninja 250. i have a few laying around.

[alex.s]

[alex.s]

so right now... what's left...

need to mount the steering rack and radiator as well as make and mount the front suspension arm brackets. need to cut out 4 more of the side spar braces also. and a few cross-bars in the front and back. also need the braces in the 'firewall' that will support roll hoops. i'm going to have two hoops over each seat instead of one single big hoop over the air intake.

right now it's not on the table except for the very front end, so i'm going to move the table out from under it and then hopefully with the help of two strong lads, or maybe a couple jacks and cinderblocks, i'll lower it down onto the ground. the project needs to move about 20 feet.
i also need to make some tie rods and bracket mounts for the rear end to set the toe.
i'm also going to remake the uca mounts. i cut out the uca mounts from the civic previously but they aren't worth their weight. so i'll cut them off and make new ones with better steel.

i really haven't even begun the brakes. i'll be using the stock civic fronts in the rear. they will go into a wilwood adjustable proportioning valve on the dash. i currently have the stock civic MC on the pedal but that will get replaced by a wilwood MC. i'll be using miata hubs and brakes so i'll be using the stock miata brakes at first but i'll upgrade later to 4 pot dynalites and some nicer rotors. the parking brake will just be a line-lock brake on the normal hydraulic lines. no separate "emergency brake".

[alex.s]

making brackets...

draw the plan


cut it out


bend along the edges

[alex.s]

[csmith12]

Saweeettttt!

Nice progress man, been lurking up in here to see how things are progressing. Been riding any lately?

[alex.s]

just commuting on the bike :/ haven't got much pleasure riding in since my last track day a few months back

[alex.s]

a pair of miata spindles are on their way to me! tomorrow morning i'll be picking up some 1" 14ga steel tube for the front control arms as well as pushrods. hoping to have most of the work done this weekend so that when the spindles come in i can just throw them on and mount up some wheels.

the inboard mounting will be nylon bushed single axis hinges instead of heim joints. outboard mounts will be 5/8" heim joints. the UCA will have a 7 degree slope for anti-dive. no anti-sway in front for now. i'll probably have a stiff anti-sway bar on the rear end.

need to get my hands on a few more moto shocks for the front end. i want to try to "finish" the frame in the sense that all the individual links are cut and at least tacked on. (minus roll hoops and firewalls)

[alex.s]

happy labor day.

[alex.s]

UPS says i'm now a proud owner of a pair of miata spindles. yay.

i also filed my paperwork with the DMV today. it still needs to pass smog inspection. and i have to get another piece of paperwork from an old lein holder on the civic to get their name off the title. but aside from that, she's a street legal road monster. guy at the DMV said you no longer have to file statement of facts for bodywork changes. as long as the vin is welded on proper.

[csmith12]

Success!

[alex.s]

now i just need to build a trailer so i can tow her to a smog place....... hmmm......

[alex.s]

this is hillarious to me... i added another vehicle to my insurance policy and the annual rate increased by "-$0.90"

yep. adding more cars to the stable means you pay less. ****ed up.

[alex.s]

[alex.s]

[alex.s]

i cut off one of the terrible old rear UCA mounts. they came from the civic but that metal they make the civic with is complete ****. absolutely terrible. so its cut off. for now the uca is mounted to bolts that are welded on with thin alignment brackets but eventually i will cut those off too and replace them with flat brackets and i will flip the heim joints around so they are screwed into the UCA (and adjustable) and then will bolt to the brackets on the frame. that has to wait until i go buy 1" tube

my brother made me a bunch of suspension brackets. i welded one on, unfortunately i welded it on in slightly the wrong position so i will need to cut it off and use another. he's pretty good at making them. it's like origami. i will probably tack up all the front suspension brackets and measure all my holes up and drill them on the car to make sure everything is lining up. once i have front control arms i can weld the brackets on fully.

i also made one of the mounts for the rear toe adjust bars. the toe-adjust bars will actually be a modified pair of adjustable dog bones i used to use on the ninja 250.

i'm also going in for a root canal tomorrow morning. so that should feel better afterward. damn tooth is driving me nuts!

i need to build a new tube bender. a pull-type mandrel bender. once i build that i can bend the tubes for the roll bar.

i also need to shorten the steering rack a bit more, and relocate it down a few inches.

as for the frame, the outside trusses are almost done- two more struts and some reinforcing. then two more cross bars in the very rear. there's about 5 small links that need to be made in the engine box to add reinforcement between parts that will be receiving high loads. the front box needs cross bars still. and it needs a roll cage. i also need to put in the front roll bar which is a "low-type" front bar, and sits right at the back of the atoms little black windshield dome thinggy.

electrical... what a nightmare.

[alex.s]

got rid of the old steel single-stack radiator from the civic that was too tall and wide anyway and replaced it with a double-stack half-size hand made aluminum radiator from china. it wont cool as well but the engine won't stay as hot being so exposed. but it looks WAY better. and i will add an additional oil cooler as well to help keep things nice and thick. i need to get a long roll of radiator/heater hose to run through the center column to plumb the coolant.

made more progress on the front end. i have two UCA mounts tacked on to the driver front of the susp box. it's about a 8 degree slope up top for some mechanical anti-dive. less than i was planning due to realization that there is much less weight up front than i had originally expected. my brother has been cutting out the brackets for me. very helpful! i will still need to do some finishing (rounding) work once they are all welded up and everything is correct.

i made an adjustable toe-bar and mounting for the passenger rear. need to make another for driver rear. and i need to remake the upper control arms so they are adjustable. once those tasks are done, the rear end arm setup will be "done" (not including suspension) and i will have full 2d adjustable rear-end. the 3rd dimension of adjust will come from the suspension push-rods for ride-height. but recently i found cheap high torque electric linear actuators that can handle 3k lbs... so i was thinking of having electric ride height adjust. we will see.

[alex.s]

[csmith12]

[alex.s]

remade one of the rear uca's to be adjustable. now the passy rear is 2d adjustable.


made the first front uca.


i'm using oem type bolt on ball joints to be replaceable/serviceable to improve the lifetime of the vehicle. the guy at autozone was pretty helpful finding ones that worked. if i remember right the bottom is from a toyota carolla and the top was from some kia... i forget... i have the part numbers written down though.


bonus cockpit view

[sharky nrk]

subscribed. ..... how did I miss this thread

[alex.s]

my heim joints are supposed to arrive tomorrow. tonight i will try to make a front Lower Control Arm. then tomorrow when the rodends come in i can just put them on the control arms and bolt them up to the frame.

i'm planning a sort of elaborate suspension setup compared to the ariel... each LCA mounts a pushrod that goes through a cantilever (triangle shock knuckle) over to the center of the car... to the shock which is mounted directly next to the other sides shock... the opposite end of the shocks mount together onto the end of an electric linear actuator. it's basically a ripoff of koenigsegg's first active suspension. except mine will be static, based on a ride-height dial instead of active/dynamic. on the sprung side of the shocks, there will be a small 3 inch rod mounted to both shock ends... this will be the anti-sway bar. it will need to be made from spring steel

[EternalNewb]

Niiiiice!

[alex.s]

[alex.s]

rough cut of the lower balljoint mounting bracket. this gets welded to some tubes which get welded to other tubes which will have nuts welded into them and heim joints screwed into those nuts... ie- the lower a-arm. once the arm is all correct and welded up i will use the bench grinder to smooth out the bracket cuts.

[mr2peak]

Just finished the Melee and met your uncle

[alex.s]

awesome! he mentioned meeting someone at the melee that had seen the build. hope he didn't tell too many stories

[alex.s]

[alex.s]

i think i'm going to go the route of a specially constructed vehicle. i'm going to try to get a hold of the bar ref guy and see if i can pick his brain. i have been reading a lot of guides about this stuff from like sema. i dont really plan to drive the car on the road much. maybe just driving it to local ax places but otherwise it will be towed everywhere. so maybe i just wont bother finishing registering it and instead just junk out the civic vin and only tow it everywhere. i need to talk to some people.

i ordered gsxr shocks for the front. 2001s off of 750s for about $25 each with free shipping. i'm hoping they'll be here saturday. last night i was making brackets for the lower suspension. i've changed the suspension design about 20 times in the past few days. i guess we'll see where things land. i think i'm doing away with ride height adjust for now outside of the pushrod length. i should be getting the correct nuts tonight so i can actually attach my heim joints to the control arms. so hopefully tonight the front right wheel/hub/CAs will be firmly attached. my current control arm design is setup for about 5 degrees max vehicle roll and has a FSA at resting near the opposite tire. it is setup with a few degrees tilt in the top for some mechanical anti-dive... it will be setup more for cornering than it will be for straight line braking. there is very little weight in the front right now.

[alex.s]

so i changed a bunch of things, basically making it more like the real atom. im making plates that fit on the miata hubs to make them rear-arm hubs so the steering rack will be in the same place as the atom which will simplify a lot of things. i'm also going back to the atom's suspension style of pushrod to a lever on the top spar to the shock mounted on the front roll bar. i'll be using gsxr shock knuckles in front i think. i'm also getting things setup to make the floor. it will be a big fiberglass piece that drops down and loops over the center channel with a cutout for the shifter. then it bolts up all around. it's not strong enough to support someone standing on it with their full weight though so it will get sprayed with big warning signs all over it that read "no step" except where the foot stays are-- located near the front. i will make the floor in-place. i'm not planning on making a huge production run, so i will not be making a plug to make a mold so i can make a trim piece from the mold. instead i will build a basic mould in wood and cardboard and tape, then covered in release before i lay down the glass by hand from the inside. once its cured i'll redo the outside with a thick coat and then bondo and lots of sanding. the inside wont have a fancy finish like the outside. i've only done fiberglass a few times before but hopefully it doesn't go terribly rough.

[nickjpass]

what do you think the final weight will be ?

[alex.s]

im not sure.

the engine and trans is 450 dry
the running gear and susp will be about 135lbs in the front and about 100lbs in the back. plus i have 4 heavy steel wheels and crap tyres on right now that weigh about 45lbs combined each.
i would estimate that the frame is around 150-200lbs.
all the fiberglass should be under 50lbs.
the cooling system weighs about 25lbs dry

so we're already over 1100 when its on 4 wheels... dry... wet should take it up to at least 1200... probably more... but i'll get about 7-10 lbs back per wheel once i switch to aluminum wheels with some new tires.

[alex.s]

i had forgotten about some things. i'm gonna guestimate it'll end up at 1300 wet.

[alex.s]

[alex.s]

tonight mr. mantis brought a friend. two mantises decided i was in their territory, so i was forced to move a few feet to the left

i have one side of the front "done". i am actually planning on remaking the a-arms i have, but the current ones are usable for now. i setup a pushrod and mount to the lower. have the frame mount for the lever ready to weld in. i was going to use gsxr knuckles but i am not sure they will be long enough or with big enough holes for me to really use.

for the right side, here's the vague plan:
first i need to make 5 mounts from sheet with the grinder... 2 upper and 2 lower type... and i'll make an extra upper type mount that i'll use for the lower pushrod mount on the lca.
tack them into place on the frame.
chalk out the existing a-arms onto some wood
cut out the tube to the same size as the existing a-arms
cut out the plate for the upper and lower ball joint mounts
drill the ball joint mount plates
drill the miata hub top ball joint to 5/8"
tack together the a-arms and the mounts and bolt them to the ball joints and bolt the ball joints into the hub and get everything aligned just right.
then put down some thicker welds before pulling everything off again to do full welds.
after that it needs to get cleaned up on the bench grinder and then
weld on the heim joint nuts
then bolt it on

the shocks got delayed because usps until wednesday.

i need to get a big spool of hydraulic line and start running brake lines and the clutch

the cooling system is almost ready to be completed. i need a few fittings and i'll be good to go... the radiator is rubber mounted, i have hoses routed through the center channel back to the engine... i even have a new thermostat!

electrical is... nightmareish. i might soon break down and buy a nicer ecu just to have access to accurate wiring diagrams.

[Singh2jz]

Can't. Wait. Until. It's. On. The. Road.

And and and and I see that Rnickeymouse guy upload a video of ur creation on Mulholland..lol

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by alex.s

tonight mr. mantis brought a friend. two mantises decided i was in their territory, so i was forced to move a few feet to the left

No worries... there will only be one mantis tonight (the female) as the male is most likely headless by now.

The Mantis; mother natures original femme fatale

[alex.s]

[alex.s]

Link to original page on YouTube.