A Snail's Pace....
I've been busting my hump and really haven't seemed to accomplish much. I still haven't solved the FR axle issue, I still don't have a drive shaft, and now it turns out that the trailing arm bolt receiver on the rear left knuckle is severely stripped. Apparently, some schmoe at some time decided to drive the the bolt in with an impact wrench. I attempted to re-tap it tonight only to actually strip the tap. How does that happen? Thankfully it didn't break. Regardless, I'll try again with a new tap. The previous owner of the GTX swore that the car was cursed. With the parts and problems I'm moving over, I'm starting to believe him.
Aside from the frustration, some progress has been made. I've completed the rack/frame for the fuel cell. It turns out that the cell came with an internal fuel pump of unknown flow rate. Upon disassembly, I found that it was seized. A couple of taps on the floor and the pump spun again. I'll recondition it with a bit of injector cleaner and hope for the best....it'll be one less thing I have to add to the budget.
In other news, I have fitted an Aspire front spindle into the GTX rear left hub to allow for the 4x100 wheel bolt pattern. As I'd hoped, the spindles, bearings, and axles mated perfectly. However, the Tracer's rotors don't sit as far back as the GTX's. I attempted to fit the Tracer caliper and bracket to the GTX knuckle but the mounting spacing doesn't properly align. Overall, the Tracer's caliper just wouldn't work out. Of course, the GTX caliper and bracket fit, but it didn't clear the Tracer's rotor. To remedy the situation, I'm currently using a 1.6L Miata rotor and had to fabricate a spacer to move the caliper outward about 3/8. Sadly, the Miata rotor is about 1/4 too small in diameter to use the entire brake pad surface. I'll have to investigate junkyard rotors and hope I find something that works out.
Sadly, I won't have much time in the upcoming weeks to progress as I have a business trip, vacation, and a 24 Hours of Lemons race scheduled. I'm booked solid to say the least. I hope August yields good results
.
I've been busting my hump and really haven't seemed to accomplish much. I still haven't solved the FR axle issue, I still don't have a drive shaft, and now it turns out that the trailing arm bolt receiver on the rear left knuckle is severely stripped. Apparently, some schmoe at some time decided to drive the the bolt in with an impact wrench. I attempted to re-tap it tonight only to actually strip the tap. How does that happen? Thankfully it didn't break. Regardless, I'll try again with a new tap. The previous owner of the GTX swore that the car was cursed. With the parts and problems I'm moving over, I'm starting to believe him.
Aside from the frustration, some progress has been made. I've completed the rack/frame for the fuel cell. It turns out that the cell came with an internal fuel pump of unknown flow rate. Upon disassembly, I found that it was seized. A couple of taps on the floor and the pump spun again. I'll recondition it with a bit of injector cleaner and hope for the best....it'll be one less thing I have to add to the budget.
In other news, I have fitted an Aspire front spindle into the GTX rear left hub to allow for the 4x100 wheel bolt pattern. As I'd hoped, the spindles, bearings, and axles mated perfectly. However, the Tracer's rotors don't sit as far back as the GTX's. I attempted to fit the Tracer caliper and bracket to the GTX knuckle but the mounting spacing doesn't properly align. Overall, the Tracer's caliper just wouldn't work out. Of course, the GTX caliper and bracket fit, but it didn't clear the Tracer's rotor. To remedy the situation, I'm currently using a 1.6L Miata rotor and had to fabricate a spacer to move the caliper outward about 3/8. Sadly, the Miata rotor is about 1/4 too small in diameter to use the entire brake pad surface. I'll have to investigate junkyard rotors and hope I find something that works out.
Sadly, I won't have much time in the upcoming weeks to progress as I have a business trip, vacation, and a 24 Hours of Lemons race scheduled. I'm booked solid to say the least. I hope August yields good results
.
.
