Reassembly Underway

Feels like we've turned a corner. After completely stripping the car down to just the shell, mounting it on a rotisserie, tubbing the rear-end, and painting the underside-- reassembly has started. Woo hoo! The rear end is the logical place to begin, so new seals in the diff, new bearings in the uprights, all new bushings, and all new grade-8 hardware. The only things left for the rear end are a) shortening the drive axles (by ~1 inch); b) buying/installing springs and shocks; and c) building a new driveshaft. But none of these remaining elements are actually slowing down the reassembly. Woo hoo! Should have the car back upright withing 1-2 weeks....

Rear Upper & Lower A-Arms Finished

The rear IRS is almost done. The upper and lower A-arms are gusseted and painted. Bushings have been purchased, though some minor surgery may be needed to get a good fit. Otherwise, things are looking beautiful with fresh paint appplied.

Differential (Temporarily) Back Out Of Car....

Joe got the strengthening plates welded into the Miatia diff housing, plus a handful of various other stiffening gussets welded in.

Differential (Temporarily) Back In Car-- And Wiring!

Test fitting the diff back in the car to ensure everything will fit prior to welding in the strenthening plates. Also some more minor gusseting on the frame and A-arms. And the really big news is some of the electronics (ECU, fuse box, relays) are going in. Big, productive week!

Diff Strengthening

I'm using a Torsen LSD-type diff out of a second-generation (NB) Miata. These are pretty stout little rear ends, but they have a known (i.e., "it's a feature, not a bug") weakness, whereby the big mounting arms (or "ears," as they're also known) break under big torque-transfer situations. This problem is exacerbated by removing the rubber bushings at the end of the arms and welding in solid plugs (like've I've done for some long-forgotten reason....). 

Anyway, the solution to this "feature" is to weld in strengthening plates on the arms. Here are a couple of the alumnimun plates being test-fitted prior to welding-in. 

We're going to plate in the front side, too. In this image (and the one above) you can clearly see the OEM "notches" in the top of the arms that encourage breakage at that particular spot under heavy load applications. Supposedly breaking here saves other, more expensive equipment in the drive train by serving as a sacrificial joint. 

Wheel Tubs and Electronics Cubby

The rear underside frame strengthening and wheel tubs are finally done. Much bigger job than I thought it was going to be. The rear.... uh, electronics "cubby" firewall thing is also welded in, followed by a shot of primer on everything. There's still a few minor tweaks to do, plus I want to strengthen the mounting arms on the Miata diff before we put that back in, but otherwise, the rear end is basically ready to be reassembled. The car could then be taken off the rotisserie, but we're thinking of leaving it on for a bit just to make some of the hydraulics and wiring installation a little easier. Dunno. For now, however, I'm really happy with how it's turning out...

Tubs Ready for Paint

We got the last of the tubbing work done. It still needs some sanding, followed by paint.