The Roadster NA Journey Begins

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Fri Nov 01, 2013 9:21 am

Well, to quote from a very inspirational website of mine (I have his book, the Art of Demotivation) "The journey of a thousand miles sometimes ends very, very badly."

Car will not be ready to be dríven on 07/11/13 (it starts/idels), however I will get it home (by trailer) and do the rest of the data logging stuff before I drop it back to MX5 Plus for the final tune when I have to fly back to work. I may also have to put on holds any track plans for 2013 until such time as it can be tested, therefore the journey still continues.

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 8:36 pm

Well the car is at home, at least till next Wednesday when I fly back to work. It starts and whilst it is a bit rough it is still worth the wait.

I have been getting all the sensor wiring done and other wiring jobs so it is slow but making progress. Almost all the Innovate is now linked up and ready to start recording, VBox is getting slowly installed, intercom/PTT/UHF on the drawing board to get working on the weekend.

ITB's

COPs

Exhaust, Coolant re-route and Exhaust gas temp sensors

Remote oil filter

Patterson remote oil pressure

Oil lines

Accusump

Cabin

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Fri Nov 08, 2013 7:27 pm

Almost all the Innovate hooked up, just 3 more sensors to go (steering, brake pressure, fuel pressure). However, the RPM still needs to be done and it looks like the oil/water temps may not be working, however I'm not running the car for very long.

Also the VBox is almost all installed, it will now be easier to take it out and put it back in when needed. Tomorrow is some of the single warning alarms to be installed, more wiring...

charlie_91 · Postby **charlie_91** » Sat Nov 09, 2013 7:40 am

Cool to see it finally together! Question though, what's the point in the intercom/UHF? Isn't that for trucks? Being n/a I thought it would be best to strip weight out instead of putting it back in haha

Jason and the team have done great work but, awesome to see the little details custom to this build. Keen to see this at lakeside !

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sat Nov 09, 2013 6:03 pm

Charlie if I wanted to lighten the car I would reduce my personal weight

The UHF/Terraphone is so that if somebody in the pits has a UHF radio you can transmit and talk via the Terraphone (intercom). I gave up trying to get it work, the PTT works, you can hear incoming, but, you can not transmit. A job for another day.

I appreciate the comments Charlie. Plan is to test it at he Paul Stokell day at QR on 28/11. Do you still want to take it for a spin?

Well today most of the wiring is done. Low or no coolant will trigger a 100 db alarm as well as a warning light. Oil/water temp, set to trip at 120c have been wired up, however not sure if they work... Also installed 2 air temp sensors, one in the mouth of the car and another on the air filter. So all the innovate ports used once the last 4 sensors are installed (steering, brake/fuel pressure and TPS).

Tomorrow is clean/tidy up and possibly install a high brake/rain light.

charlie_91 · Postby **charlie_91** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 9:41 pm

would love to drive this haha. would be an awesome perspective compared to my old car

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:28 pm

Well Charlie we will have to find a date that suits!

Well a new splitter was on the agenda today. The first, made of 2 layers of 5mm ABS plastic, glued and riveted together weighted in at 9.7 kgs. This version is a little shorter, so that the jack point is no longer covered and is made of 9mm ply and fiberglass.

The first version.

Traced out on to a sheet of 9mm ply

Version II cut out

First layer of fibreglass on the bottom

Second Layer on bottom (first coat left to cure for about 30 mins)

Third layer on top (not in contact with the road)

Finished, painted and holes drilled for mounting hardware and ride height sensor. Weights 7.2 kgs. I allowed about 30 mins between fibreglass layers and it took about 15 mins per layer so all up about 4 hours work.

Full size images here https://plus.google.com/photos/115769813738304087848/albums/5945265928899849505

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:51 am

Small update. The car now has brakes and clutch (thanks Jason) and is off to get a tune today

So by Friday there should be an indication of what its torque curve is. Then it is back to MX5 Plus for some final touches ready for me to pick it up on Tuesday. Wednesday will be getting it ready for a test day at QR on the Thursday (Paul Stokell track day), albiet RPM limited. A shame I have I have to fly back to work on the Friday, but hopefully the smile will not have faded

Its been a journey!

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:38 am

Well a great conversation with Jason from MX5 Plus this morning, late yesterday, with a basic tune the car made 160 hp at 7,500 on the GT dyno.

The journey is nearing its end...

speed freak · Postby **speed freak** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 12:01 pm

Magpie wrote:Well a great conversation with Jason from MX5 Plus this morning, late yesterday, with a basic tune the car made 160 hp at 7,500 on the GT dyno.

The journey is nearing its end...

That's awesome, is that figure around what you guys were expecting?

Journey of the build might be almost over but a new journey will start when you get to drive it and enjoy it after all this time of it being in the build process

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 12:06 pm

speed freak wrote: That's awesome, is that figure around what you guys were expecting?

Journey of the build might be almost over but a new journey will start when you get to drive it and enjoy it after all this time of it being in the build process

When we get to see the torque curve I will be able to answer if it is what we were expecting. This build was about a flat torque curve not really about the final HP, but it is better than expected especially when it is still a very very safe tune. It can only get better.

Yep I'm looking to enjoy driving the car. Hopefully there will be a coffee meet at the southbound BP on the 21/12 so I can take a slow drive up from the coast.

speed freak · Postby **speed freak** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 12:17 pm

Magpie wrote:
speed freak wrote: That's awesome, is that figure around what you guys were expecting?

Journey of the build might be almost over but a new journey will start when you get to drive it and enjoy it after all this time of it being in the build process

When we get to see the torque curve I will be able to answer if it is what we were expecting. This build was about a flat torque curve not really about the final HP, but it is better than expected especially when it is still a very very safe tune. It can only get better.

Yep I'm looking to enjoy driving the car. Hopefully there will be a coffee meet at the southbound BP on the 21/12 so I can take a slow drive up from the coast.

That's great, would only be a run in sort of tune yea? Sounds great cant wait to see it. If you do head up for coffee that morning let me know and Ill cruise up too

plohl · Postby **plohl** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 4:07 pm

Awesome news dude. Keen to see how it runs next year.

It was done on gt's hub dyno right?

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Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 5:27 pm

plohl wrote:It was done on gt's hub dyno right?

Yep on their hub dyno. From my understanding the 160 hp was with the cams set at zero deg, with a very safe tune. Another bit of good news is the idle. In addition, the EGT's are also helping and providing very good data for the tuners, however they probably would have also wanted an AFR with each EGT as well (like Danny's build).

Jason will spend the weekend running it in (as well as collecting data via the data logger) and then it is back on the dyno Monday for some more tuning.