Back From Holidays.

After the last update, we went for a short trip. Then there was the house move.... So not a whole lot has happened with the build, but still some steps closer to start up :).

I finally received my laser cutting order, the original holes for the wiring have been blocked up and the bulk head panel is done too. All three pieces were painted with a clear-over-base rattle can paint system. Turned out pretty good 🙂

Would also like to look at redoing my brake lines at some stage.

This is the Jass Performance shifter boot. They're a direct bolt in part with a much more durable boot than the Mazda item. My brand new Mazda replacement lasted just over a year. Will be doing a group buy soon for these 🙂

Interior back together.

Borrowed a friend's Pipercross air filter for testing fitting. These have an internal height of 120mm I believe, more than suitable for my 75mm velocity stacks.

But the problem is that it doesn't clear the clutch master cylinder and reservoir. I'm currently talking to a few people with some possible solutions, more info when that's sorted.

And had my HKS headers ceramic coated by Thermal Edge Coatings.

Door Cards & Other Bits

 

Some more progress over the last few weeks.

I installed new door cards and door pull. The door cards are by CarbonMiata and door pulls by Jass Performance, both products available through my store. I also went with some larger diameter speaker grills, I think it works well with the rest of the interior.

• http://omgpham.com/store/interior/carbonmiata-plain-door-cards
• http://omgpham.com/store/interior/vintage-door-pulls

The interior wiring is now completed.

Rear lip was painted gloss black and finished mounting that up.

I used some rubber sheeting to make a gasket for the bulk head connector panel, cost a couple dollars off eBay. Than used some spray on glue to position it on the panel.

In a previous post I mentioned I had to make a jig to mount my throttle bodies, well below are more details on this. Quality of the T3 manifold isn't the greatest. Basically because the T3 manifold doesn't have dowels and the throttle body mounting holes aren't in the correct positions, the throttle bodies were never perfectly aligned. This misalignment results in the butterflies not opening evenly. I confirmed this with a spare set of throttle bodies.

No matter what adjustments were made, the butterflies would either be out of sync at closed throttle or part/full throttle. Even adjusting the bypass screws wouldn't help.

Not too sure how important it is to have them open evenly, but it can't be a good thing if they're not...

Below shows a factory Toyota manifold with two locating dowels on each throttle body.

Throttle bodies mounted to the Toyota manifold and everything dialed in.

The jig mounted to the throttle bodies using the top holes.

Throttle bodies unbolted from the Toyota manifold and transferred to the T3 manifold. The threaded holes in the T3 manifold were not spaced correctly so I had to drill out the holes in the throttle bodies to get everything to bolt down.

Jig plate removed from the throttle bodies and trumpets installed.

Intake mounted up and injectors connected.

Wiring Complete!

So here we are, all done.. All those early mornings before work and late nights after work building the engine harness and tucking the body wiring. Pretty happy overall with the finish product, just a few changes I will make later. Just want to get the car running for now.

The 3D printed plate will be replaced with a laser cut stainless steel piece.

Engine harness complete!

Dummy fitted the intake so I could cut the injector wiring to length.

The start of the ECU side of the engine harness. All this is being recycled from the previous wiring setup. So handy having everything done with Deutsch connectors.

Terminating the shielded wires for the crank, cam and TPS sensors.

Completed!

The washer bottle has been relocated to under the guard, I think it should clear everything on full lock and compression. It's a bit awkward to refill, but probably only needs to be topped up once a year. This washer bottle is from a Holden HQ I believe.

LOTS OF PHOTOS. Wire Tuck.

 

OK, a decent update. Lot's of photos.

Because I'm planning to use bulkhead connectors on the firewall for the engine harness, I drew up this plate to mount the connectors. It allows easy disassembly if any changes need to be made or replacing connectors etc. Because I'm recycling parts for this section, the connectors used are Deutsch 12-way DT and Deutsch 31-way HDP.

Had it 3D printed so I could start the wiring while I wait for the real thing to get laser cut from stainless steel.

Headlight assemblies in.

Brake booster, clutch master and radiator in.

Installed these Garage Star Fender Braces too. Pretty straight forward, comes with all new stainless steel bolts.

Because I had the valve cover sandblasted and painted, all the baffles need to be removed so the blast media can be cleaned out. Garage Star machined stainless steel valve cover bolts. I've got a whole engine bay dress up bolt kit to go on too.

Started on the body wiring tuck, wires are coming out of the side behind the front guards. This has been drilled, painted and sealed to keep moisture out.

Slowly cleaning it up and routing. I've used loom tubing for exterior sections, they provide more protection than just braided sleeving alone.

The wires re-enter the body from the side, drilled a 24mm hole and than sealed any bare metal. Ideally I should have done all the cutting/drilling before paint, lesson learned. I also picked up these wiring grommets from Clark Rubber.

I've had to make a few extensions to tuck the body wiring. Instead of soldering, I've been using these uninsulated butt-splice crimps and than heat-shrinking over it.

Using a factory hole to tuck the wiper motor wiring. I think the hole is normally used for the washer hose, but I'm relocating the washer bottle... More details on that later.

These exposed wires have been wrapped and loom tubed now. Interior sections are covered in a braided sleeving with heat-shrink on the ends.

The headlight assemblies back in, most of the wires are out of sight.

The dual horns installed, and the body harness is done!

Just so everyone knows, this part of the build is on a strict on budget, won't be MIL Spec or anything like that. Every part was either given to me for free or simply re-used from my old harness. It'll do for now, and I'll look into doing a concentric twisted MIL Spec harness later.

Below is the wiring for the coils, it is being terminated into a Deutsch 12-way DT connector. This connector contains wiring for the coil triggers (x4), coil power (x4) and the ECU grounds (x4).

For shielded wires (TPS, crank and cam sensors), what I did was strip the cable further back and unbraided the shield. I than twisted it up and heat-shrinked. It gets terminated into the bulk-head connector and continues onto the other side.

Finished the crank and cam sensors. This is all a dry fit, once I have it mostly sorted, the wires will be sleeved and heat-shrinked.

To tuck the starter and charge wires, I had to a slight extraction and feed them through the tunnel.

So my ITB manifold is shit... The factory Toyota manifold has two dowels per throttle body to locate everything into perfect alignment. If the throttle bodies aren't correctly aligned than they don't open equally no matter how many linkage adjustments are made, not great at all!

Below is my solution. I mounted my throttle bodies to the Toyota manifold, adjust everything and confirm their alignment. I than bolt the tops of the throttle bodies to a thick plate of steel. The throttle bodies are removed from the Toyota manifold and transferred to my Techno Toy Tuning manifold. DONE! Everything is spot on now.

Many late nights...

Paint Shop Update 7

 

Awesome day today!

Most of the panels are secured onto the body now but only a few things have been gapped properly. I just really wanted the panels back on so they could be towed home securely on the body instead of strapped down behind a ute.

The flow coat came out amazing! The guys at J&D Quality Smash Repairs usually give it a polish too, but I figure it would be best to do that after I finish assembly. A few little extra bits need to painted and both windscreens need to be fitted up, but that's about it and I should have the car back mid-next week.

A pretty cool Lotus Elise was in the shop too 🙂

Installed the boot lid, rear bar and than rear garnish. These panels have been gapped properly.

Using brand new bolts and flanged nuts with washers wherever I can.

New rubbers 🙂

The doors/rocker panel have had their rock-guard removed and everything smoothed out. I've kept the black section though, it's gloss black and will go well with the lips/sideskirts that will also be gloss black.

Bonnet and front guards are on but not gapped yet. These panels will be removed as soon as I get the car back though, keep them safe while I get the engine and wiring done.

Starting to look something like a car now!

Paint Shop Update 6

 

Paint has cured and the boys at J&D Quality Smash got straight onto it. The first coats of clear were blocked flat, weird seeing the car in a matte finish. Looks pretty cool but it would be a pain to keep it in good condition, so yeah nah.

The guys will be painting the rocker panels black and a couple more coats of clear will go over everything.

Not much else to say, so here are the photos I took today.

Paint Shop Update 5

 

OK! We're reaching towards the end now, base and clear coats are on every panel now. Next will be to paint the black areas, this will include: front and rear lips, side skirts, front quarter window frame, and the rocker panels. Everything will need to be fully cured before the guys block/sand everything flat. Than comes the flow coat...

The panels and doors are painted first. The guards and bonnet are secured on the mounting frame, this improves the overall finish by increasing the paint consistency from panel to panel.

Doors and rear bar. The front quarter window frames are masked off because they'll be painted black later.

Base and clear coats.

Front and rear bars.

Doors, hardtop and boot lid.

YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

And the engine bay! It's painted with Audi's Aviator Grey, I think it goes well with the theme of my car. A lot of people ask me why I didn't shave the bay, and it's simply because I prefer the look of the standard bay. Has more character 🙂

So shiny and bright!

The money shot.

Rest of the other parts sitting in storage to fully cure.

Paint Shop Update 4

 

This will be the last paint-prep update! All panels have primer and sanded flat ready for base/clear coats.

My rear garnish used to be black, going back to white this time around. The shop also fixed up my radiator support, which was all hacked up by the previous owner.

Boot lid all prepped, it was initially in really bad shape. The frame was pulling down the outer skin and causing a lot of low spots. So the glue between the frame and outer skin was removed to allow everything to be flat, new adhesive will be applied.

Front and rear bars done.

Bonnet and hardtop.

I also ordered brand new rubbers from Mazda 🙂