Saturday Morning Drive

 I recevied an action cam for my birthday and tried it out for the first time today. Drove the car around the Tucson Mountains, which included this stint through the Saguaro National Park (West) and Gates Pass sections. Really fun ride, especially given that I had most of the roads all to myself.

Got fire extinguishers, battery posts, and paint protectors?

A few updates:

First, finally mounted a fire extinguisher. It's kind of baffling why this took so long to implement, as I've been fighting gas fume vapors and even cracks in the fuel tank welds. Long story short, the extinguisher fits really nicely up under the dash on the passenger side. It's very hard to see from outside the car, but once seated in the car, it's really visible and accessible. 

Second, finally got the exterior-mounted battery terminals installed. This became an issue last month when we dyno-tuned the car-- and had no way to connect accessories to the battery, as it's tucked far up under the rear of the car. This will also help with things like jump-starting, etc. Switched to positive terminal shut-off, too, while adding these terminals.

Finally, installed a stainless steel "paint protector" around the exhaust opening in the body. While I think it's kind of cool to see the charring and black smoke stains along the side of the car, this won't do once I paint the car. Ergo, this shiny new plate(s) system. It's currently screwed on, but will probably get tweaked a bit and then permanently riveted in place after painting.

Re-tune!

After a few months of delays and false starts, Joe and I finally managed to installed the larger injectors and get the car (re)tuned. We installed a stronger wastegate spring and had Steve the Tuner do his magic on the dyno.

Long story writ short: I'm now running 12.5psi of boost in the car. RWHP hit 271hp and torque was measured at 219lbf-ft. Assuming a 15% drivetrain loss, this equates to ~320hp and ~260lbf-ft of torque. If I assume 20% drivetrain losses, the numbers jump to 340hp and 275lbf-ft.

Said even more simply: the car is a beast. The only downside is I now need to run octane booster in the car, as we ran into a little detonation at 4500rpm. But that's a small price to pay for incredible performance.

More to come...

Things that make life just a little bit easier....

A few months ago, I received an Amazon gift card that has been languishing unused. Kind of on a whim, I bought a Morrflate 4-wheel inflation/deflation system. Besides sports cars, I'm also a 4x4 enthusiast (2022 Turbo-Diesel Jeep Gladiator Rubicon, in case you're wondering). The off-road guys are always airing down for off-road trails, and then airing back up for the trip home. Getting all the tires to the correct and equal pressures is a pain point for this crowd, and one of the common solutions is a 4-wheel inflate/deflate system.

To use a system like Morrflate, you close the fill valve on the gauge/splitter assembly (via a big green slider valve), and then connect each tire to one of the interconnected hoses. Doing nothing else, you instantly already have each tire equalized in pressure. Want to air down? Open the valve, bleed off some air, and close it when the gauge says you're at the correct pressure. Want to air up? Attach a compressor to the inlet port, open the valve, and adjust the tire pressures to the exact amount you want. Then close the valve, disconnect the tires, and... voilá! Each tire is exactly the same pressure as the others.

Today, I used the system for the first time on the Bugeye. One thing I'm learning about the car as I drive it is how sensitive it is to even modest changes in tire pressure. A few psi too much, and the car feels unstable and "floaty". A few psi too little and the crispness and nimbleness disappear, with the car "wallowing" in corners. Further, the small tires (because of their small air volumes) gain and lose pressure really easily when I'm trying to fill them. Just a brief, inadvertent 1-second bleed when disconnecting the compressor and applying my tire pressure gauge can net/lose 1-2 psi or more. The result is I'm never fully certain what my pressures are, or if I have equal pressures, left-to-right or front-to-rear (And yes, I've found that equal pressures all the way round are currently the best setup for me; typically between 30-31psig).

Is a system like this needed? No, of course not; I've been filling tires for more than half a century the old way. Is it nice to have? Yes, definitely! Is it worth the money? If I had only one car, I'd probably balk at spending this amount of money (~$200 on sale) for something I could keep doing the old-fashioned way, one tire at a time. But given I have two Jeeps, the Bugeye, and a finicky trailer, this little tool seems to be something I wish I'd had years ago. 

All in this morning, it took me about five minutes to connect and use (and that included the brief learning curve of unboxing and setting it up). In that span of time, I had four tires all equally set at 30.5 psig. (Of course, I had to check the gauge accuracy with my high-end Longacre gauge; the Morrflate unit is dead nuts correct). Putting it away took just a couple of minutes, too, using the velcro straps to wrangle the coiled air hoses.

It's always fun to discover a new tool that makes a chore like setting tire pressures a little easier.

Some Updates, Some Not

 We got quite a bit done on the car over the past 3 weeks. Plus one area that we're back to square 1. Let me explain. First, the good news:

First up is a fuel leak issue I was experiencing. The wife was complaining of a faint gasoline smell coming from the garage. Turned out to be a cracked fitting that was seeping gas. Relatively easy fix:

Next was a balky bonnet. More specifically, I was having trouble opening and closing the bonnet consistently, plus we kept shearing off these little rubber bumpers we'd installed to keep the hood from vibrating. Joe had a cool idea of using rollers and machined ramps to help guide the bonnet close, which seems to work really well thus far. The rollers are old skateboard wheels that got turned down on a lathe. They're a little rough, and I'm thinking of upgrading to something made from urethane, but otherwise, this works great:

Another big upgrade we did was install a parking brake. Yes, this is a big deal for me. There have been a half-dozen instances where the car almost rolled away on me, or that it felt really unsecure in a parking lot, or on the trailer, etc., just held in place by keeping it in gear. It was a lot of work, but the results were really worth the money and time. The unit works great and looks even better. The brake lever assembly came from Speedway Motors, whilst the actual brakes are the stock Miata bits. It's almost an OEM result, but cooler. Someone recently remarked that it's got a definite Cobra vibe going on:

Finally, the one thing that didn't get done: the windshield. Had a friend ride in the car a month ago, and despite my warning them not to put weight on the windshield frame, they did. Result: a cracked windshield. Sigh. So, I ordered what I thought was the correct windshield from Moss Motors. Part arrived and.... did not fit. Long story short: my windshield frame is from a Mk2 Spridget, despite the car being a first-gen (1959). Dunno what happened or when, but somewhere in the car's past, someone swapped out the frame. I think. Dunno? Really weird... and a very costly mistake. I've got a lot of money into buying and then returning the wrong part. Worse, the new/correct part is on a month-long back-order from Moss. In Arizona, we can't drive cars without windshields, even if we wear helmets, so I was basically looking at a month or more of non-drive time. But once again, Joe came to the rescue, creating this ridiculous/hilarious/completely-functional windscreen out of plexiglass and a fabricated aluminum mount:

Finally, in related news, I'm considering upgrading my little 1-axle trailer to a heavier duty 2-axle so I can more securely/sanely transport the car when needed, plus a few non-car uses, too (e.g., toting water to our remote family cabin. 

Another Car Show

 Took the Bugeye out to the east side cars and coffee (though, no coffee present). As seems to be the case, the car got a lot of attention. Lots of questions, ranging from "what is it?" to "I had a Bugeye back in the day, but nothing like this!" Also got some attention on the drive home, with lots of thumbs ups from other drivers, a couple of kids who wanted to tangle in their souped up G35 (they didn't stand a chance), to some guy in a custom caddy who took lots of film of me on a long stretch of road. Even had an old homeless guy downtown give me the thumbs up and trucker's salute. I didn't build the car particularly to get attention, but it is nice when it happens. Some pics from the car show:

New Gears! New Seats! Same Old Great Car!

 With its brand new seats and fresh 3.6:1 gears, I took the Bugeye out for its first significant drive this morning. Specifically, I took the car across town to the Tucson British Car Register (TBCR) so-called "Phantom" car show. To get there, I took our city's cross-town "parkway," which is like an unknown secret in Tucson. Hardly anyone uses this 2-3 lane, 65mph throughway, especially on weekends. I basically had the road to myself for-4-5 miles... and boy, it was fun!

The new gearing has really transformed the car. First gear is now fully usable, and I can keep it in 2nd, 3rd, and fourth gears much, much longer than before. I hardly got into fifth at all today, in fact. She pulls just as hard as ever, but for longer. Taller gears were the secret to opening performance up. Love it!

I also really like the new seats. Yes, they're tighter than the old (tattered) seats on this driver's big butt, but ultimately they will stretch with time. And they look great in the car. The only downside now is the rest of the interior (not to mention the whole exterior) seems lacking in comparison. In any case, the car got lots of attention at the show today. All in all, it was a good day.