montgom
Full
Love Exocet
Posts: 274
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Post by montgom on Jun 8, 2015 18:23:34 GMT
Nice update! Robert
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Post by jwagner on Jun 20, 2015 17:12:59 GMT
Moving into wiring now and I want to get the steering wheel mounted so we can get the dash pod mounted. The intermediate steering shaft is too long. It's supposed to telescope, but I can't move it in or out. Am I just being too timid with the hammer?
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Post by jwagner on Jul 20, 2015 2:08:42 GMT
Well into wiring now, and we had to do a bunch of stuff along the way before we could turn the key for the first time. The cooling system, intake, exhaust + O2 sensors, fuel system, etc. obviously need to be in place. Having all that done, figured that the best way to proceed would be to put the entire harness in temporarily, get the car to run, cut out what isn't needed, and then clean it up and mount permanently. Started with this rat's nest before adding the intake, etc..  Anyway, we did turn the key this afternoon for the first time, not expecting much. It was encouraging to see some lights on the instrument panel for belts and air bags, but there's no fuel pump, no indication that the ECU is live (check engine light), and no starter. I'm starting to think that I'll have do dig into the wiring diagrams to sort through every connector that isn't connected to something and make sure it shouldn't be, and I might as well cut it out at the same time. Next time we will label better, including everything that isn't connected. |
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Post by tonysoprano on Jul 20, 2015 6:06:29 GMT
I'm starting to think that I'll have do dig into the wiring diagrams to sort through every connector that isn't connected to something and make sure it shouldn't be, and I might as well cut it out at the same time. Next time we will label better, including everything that isn't connected. I feel your pain. During my donor disassembly I got tired of stopping to label connections about 10 connections in. It was towards the end of a long day and I wanted to get the entire wiring harness out before I quit for the day. After about the 10th connector I stopped labeling so I could make my self imposed deadline. I am not looking forward to putting the harness back in.  |
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Post by ImprobableConstruct on Jul 20, 2015 13:52:46 GMT
Make sure all of your ground points are grounded. I used a piece of copper ground wire from some leftover romex and clamped all the grounds to it with vicegrips just to see if it would start. Miatas are very sensitive to missing ground points.
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Post by jmills on Jul 21, 2015 2:03:42 GMT
What year is your donor? If close to 95 you have a reference car relatively nearby. I ran a bunch of 12 gauge grounds to various points on the harness that took me a while to find. Hopefully you find a missing connection or ground and it all comes to life soon. If you have questions on any specific connectors post a pic and folks here can tell what they are pretty quickly.
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Post by jwagner on Jul 21, 2015 3:51:16 GMT
jmills - car is '96, so should be pretty close - thanks. I went after the harness with the Mitchell wiring diagram tonight. This is going to take a while, it would have been easier to lay it out on the floor and then trace wires and start cutting as opposed to doing it on the car. Started with the heater fan/switch stuff, then power windows. Next went after the radio, which is pretty straightforward save for one of these Y's in the power feed, which I found AFTER I cut the wire out of the connector.  I know that Mazda did this in the harness so I pulled the wire on each end to make sure it went straight through before I cut the wire at the connector. It wasn't. There's two other connections coming off this Y which I think are power mirrors and cig lighter so I think it's OK, but need to be more careful.  Looks like there's a couple days of sorting out the harness before I turn the key again. Anyone know of a connector reference? It would be nice to know what the ABS connectors, cruise connectors, and other unused stuff looks like. |
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Post by jmills on Jul 21, 2015 11:02:50 GMT
I'll be back at the car this weekend, can take pics of the ABS and cruise connectors then. I had a number of unused ones that I wish I had labeled as such. I can take pics of these, but my car harness had been modified for the turbo and new ECU install, so rather far from stock.
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Post by Exo81 on Jul 22, 2015 0:12:19 GMT
I have a 92 so I'd imagine the 1.8 harness is a little different from mine. With that said, I would make sure you plug in the white connector wrapped in foam that is in the middle of your first picture. It took me a month to figure out that this was the reason my tach wasn't working. I have no idea why I labeled it as part of the HVAC system.
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Post by jwagner on Jul 23, 2015 4:34:40 GMT
It just got real. Started to cut out unused connectors and wiring and found a ground we missed right next to a grounding rivnut.   Added that to the ground and found a connector pair that I thought were unused. Plugged those together. The car didn't turn over until we found the spade connector on the starter that I missed. This motor was apart to have the head done, so we ran the starter without the plugs and made sure the oil pressure pumped up and that nothing obviously bad would happen. The oil press came right up and my son noticed gas spraying out of the plugs, so we had fuel. So we threw the plugs and wires on, plugged the coils on, and this: How cool is that? After a bit of sorting out grounds and connectors it fired right up. Now we need seats, brake and clutch fluids and bleeds, etc. and it should be ready for a first drive. |
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Post by einy on Jul 23, 2015 11:33:46 GMT
Having done the same "first start in a long time" recently myself, I can attest that is a REALLY great feeling!! It's even better when the first ride down the street comes!
My bodywork is due to ship late this month ... there is an outside chance I MAY have time after installation of that, Ohio inspection, licensing, etc. make a run up to see family in the Green Bay area with mine yet this year, Jim. If so, I'll drop you a PM to see if you'd be around and plan a stop by your place if your up for seeing another Exocet.
Congrats,
John
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Post by jwagner on Jul 23, 2015 13:59:24 GMT
... there is an outside chance I MAY have time after installation of that, Ohio inspection, licensing, etc. make a run up to see family in the Green Bay area with mine yet this year, Jim. If so, I'll drop you a PM to see if you'd be around and plan a stop by your place if your up for seeing another Exocet. Congrats, John Yes, do that. I should be on the road by then, but not sure how the Wisconsin registration thing will go, so our car might be a trailer queen for a while. |
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Post by jmills on Jul 24, 2015 15:08:17 GMT
Congrats!! Such a great feeling.
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Post by jwagner on Sept 3, 2015 16:21:27 GMT
The car is running well enough that we autocrossed it last weekend and had a blast. It's not fast (yet) but it's a ton of fun. Since the last update - Seats and harnesses are in. We went with Sparco Sprint Vs and Simpson belts. Had to return the pull-up lap belts and get pull-downs since there's nearly no clearance between the seat sides and car. Seat mounts:  - Got the plumbing mostly right. The brakes flares needed some additional torque and I had to re-flare one line, fortunately it was the short line down to the driver front flex line. Have to fix a slow drip under pressure on the lower radiator hose but I aimed the clamp screw directly at the fan so it will take some playing. Aside from that we are drip free. - Got lights on the car, at least temporarily. Found this adapter at the local Autozone and it works but there's a faint flash on the opposite side turn signal. (LED tail lights). Might need to play with a resistor load, although it's not a priority.  Took the car to get aligned. The rear of the car is higher than the front so the max camber was 1.2 degrees. More on the suspension later.  As you can see in the pic above, the exhaust is just the Racing Beat midpipe tied up with some 12ga wire. There's a high flow cat in there as well, and I think it's easily quiet enough to pass a 100db sound check so at some point I need to get into an exhaust shop and have them fab a straight through pipe extending out the back to replace the RB. - Bought a Walmart ES14BS battery and mounted it. We used a ES9BS in our '07 MX-5 without any problems and this battery has nearly twice the cranking amps so it should be fine. It's strapped to the bulkhead behind the driver seat so I won't bother with a pic. |
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Post by jwagner on Sept 3, 2015 16:37:57 GMT
Took the car to a local SCCA event. Passed tech with some racer's tape to hold the wiring in place. Expectations were pretty low - the car had a total of about five minutes of run time on it, so we were just hoping to get around the course a couple of times to see how it felt and to be able to claim that it actually ran. The car ran flawlessly through a dozen runs and is an absolute blast to drive. There's a bunch of stuff that need to be done to make it fast (er), but it was a great debut.  The wheels are RPF-1 15x7 +35mm offset. They rub.  The donor had HR Race springs, Koni yellows and stock sways, which I figured would be a good starting point but they are too soft. Several people commented that the car rolled a lot. I got a little aggressive in the final slalom and got the rear inside wheel up in the air before looping it. V Maxx coilovers are on the way, with both sport and race springs. We'll throw a set of RB sways on it too. The next task is to sort out the idle, which is lopey and inconsistent, and tends to trend down until the car dies. I'm pretty sure the brake booster has a leak so that's where we'll start. |
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