The control arms were extended 2". This helps by allowing you to maintain grip in a corner. As you turn the wheel, the camber changes drastically. Literally standind the tire up on the edge. Giving it negative camber allows the tire to ride flatter as the wheel is turned giving more grip because the tire is standing up straight. It also changed the castor quite a bit giving me a lot more positive castor and making it so much easier to steer. It literally felt like I have power steering. It was so light, making transitions so smooth.

 

I'm not sure I follow the logic that it would be better not to have a rev limiter than to run into one... Is this some rotary specific tip that I am unaware of? I would think I'd rather hit a limiter than risk over revving. That engine failure is impressive but I have a hard time believing that the rev limiter was the sole cause of that failure, not due to somethign else. A rev limiter shouldnt cause extra stress on the engine that I am aware of from the start/stop action on the ignition... Care to elaborate on the reasoning? I dont want to have an issue if I can learn something else to do instead. I was just thinking that limiting the leading only could cause serious problems so I was better of the stagger the approach and cut trailing plugs first and then limit the leading plugs last. Again, total rotary rookie here so I appreciate the input and I'm just trying to undertsand more. Thanks

Sounds reasonable to me. I doubt the small elevation changes in wisconsin would be enough to cause a reference issue on a sealed system but regardless just leaving it open to atmosphere should effectively disable it. Maybe I'll pull off the bowls completely. Thanks for the tip!

 

Thats interesting. I understand the relationship between steering angle and camber. Wouldnt you have had a similar effect by using camber adjustment plates? Are you trying to increase track width as well or are the extended control arms just a way to increase camber? 2" extension of the lower control arm seems like you would have quite a camber angle.

 

this is rotary specific, no logic, just experience with a dustpan and a broom. hitting the rev limiter here and there is totally fine, but hitting it for long periods, and you run the risk of having the engine come apart. the rotary is more tolerant of over revving than it is the rev limiter.

cutting either the leading or trailing isn't a bad idea though, i'd think as a driver you'd notice a drop in power, and react?

you will have to see which side works, a stock port engine barely needs the trailings, but a high power engine has a more even split.

 

You still won't get the amount of camber needed to get the tire straight while at lock with camber plates. I'm getting camber plates as well to help with the adjustment.

 

Not sure how I missed this thread, but just wanted to say I'm really liking the work you're doing. Great fab work and an overall cool vibe to the car. Can't wait to see it all done and sliding!

 

Ha! Finding someone this local is kinda hilarious. Whereabouts are you? My folks shop is out in Ottawa. We have a few spare 1st gen parts if you need, plus I'm working on some strut options for the 1st gen once we get our testbed / roadrace car back up and running.

... plus the Lotus 7 clone...

... plus the casting...

... ugh, too many projects.

 

Thank you! Appreciate it

Very cool. I'm just down the road from Ottawa. Pretty close to the intersection of Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive (GG) and county GE. Not far from Waterville rd.

I'd love to see that Lotus 7 clone! Sounds great


Here's the most recent progress on the car. Made a little sheet metal bracket for the ignition coils (and a bracket for that bracket to bolt too haha) and made up a custom spark plug wire set.


As you can see I went with the blaster coil SS from MSD. Should be quite the zap for the leading plugs after the Mallory box gets hooked up to them...

Next up is figuring out/drawing the wiring harness and then ordering stuff to make that. I think I am going to use weather pack connectors for the first time as a buddy has the crimpers he will let me use. Stay tuned

 

You need to move the trailing wires to the leading side of the cap. It's better.

 

Oh, ok, I know where that is (well, everyone in the area should know Waterville/Piper) My folks shop is over by School Section Lake, ish, though I'm in an apartment in Waukesha. No way to work on stuff out there though.

... it's been so long since I've seen an FB without dual master cylinders, I was confused what that big round thing was, heh.

Hm. I should take some other stuff to PM; that just gave me an idea.

 

After watching my crappy rattle can paint job flaking off while I assembled the engine bay of the car I decided it was time to get a paint job worthy of the time I've spent on this car. So I took a few steps backwards and stripped the whole car down and sent it off to a friends body shop.

Few progress pics:

Blocking 4 layers of paint


Shaved the corner signals and took off the rear molding trim to help the flares 'pop' a little more


Kept with the same color scheme just executed alot better this time:

Gloss white on the inside




And the epoxy satin black on the outside with gloss back flares





Now its back home and starting to put everything back together



I'll be working on it quite a bit over the next few weeks to try and push through everything and get it running. Updates soon

 

Man, a bit jealous of actually nice bodywork, thing looks great. Makes me want to do a better job on the next shell; you saw the current one when you were out.

 

Seconded!

The car is looking AWESOME! Can't wait to see it shred some tires.

 

Nice!

 

Thanks man! Yeah its nice to have nice for now, we will see how it lasts aha

Thanks again for the steering column, got that one rebuilt (matched the steering column to my old gear box) and painted it so it should make it's way into the car shortly.

Been working on the wiring, built a main wiring panel and have it mocked up behind the dash so I can start hooking things up. Relays, ignition and positive busses are working, still have to route accesory power and grounds but its a start

 

Almost done with the wiring, fixed a few mistakes I found when I misread the relay instructions and wired the wrong pin out....

One question I need help with please:

Here's a diagram of the alternator wiring


I have a wire off ignition 12V power to serve as the exciter circuit for pin "R". Does "L" need to be wired at all? I'm not using a ammeter or charging indicator so I think I just need the main battery feed and the 12V exciter circuit. Am I reading that correctly?

 

Correct, L doesn't need to be wired at all.

 

Finished wiring the dash and electrical panel


Heres a better view of the bracket I built to sit the electrical panel onto. Vibration isolators mount it to the trans tunnel


Put the steering column and dash back in


Then got to wiring



Turned down my generic solid engine mounts that were too tall, comparison with stock mount side by side


and then finally put the engine back for hopefully the last time for a while


Still landing wires but making good progress, you can see the general idea. I hope to have it running this week if all goes to plan, been working on it alot

 

What steering column are you using?

 

Damn that's some quality work there. Really liking how neat you're keeping everything

 

Factory manual steering column. Nothing fancy

Thank you!

Got the car started and running this week! Very exciting! Started alot easier than I thought, only a few minor teething issues. Cranked and fired almost right away! I must have a bad oil temp sensor because it was leaking around the probe, not the threads... so a replacement is on order. Also have a dead water temp gage but other than that everything is pretty good! Heres a video my friend took (actually the second start.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibnq...ature=youtu.be
Still on a straight pipe until monday when all the pieces for the exhaust come in, going to build a stainless 2.5" system, so loud right now even at idle.

I'm working steady on this car all week, hoping to have it driving by next weekend.

 

This is getting exciting!!! Congrats on starting!

 

Thanks man. It's seeming very real now after a couple years of staring at parts haha

Worked on plumbing today, still have to land all the brake lines to the calipers but most are routed. Here's what I did for the handbrake, hardline to these neat little frame tab adapters from Longacre that convert easily from AN-3 to 3/16" SAE thread brake line. Pretty handy for a clean install. Stainless flex line should allow me a small amount of position adjustment for the lever if i need it.


Here's what the engine bay looks like now that it's starting to fill up with all the extra lines/wires/plumbing


Also got a harness bar welded into my existing Autopower roll cage for a better harness position. Unfortunately I will only be using the back roll hoop portion for now because I dont fit in the car with the cage the way it is. So I'll be working on the exhaust next and then hope to get the seats/harnesses in it.

 

holy crap, this is such a nice project. i really dig the work you're doing with the car. it's come quite a long way.

 

this thing looks great, looks very clean and simple