• Brakes
• So I think I’m finally at the end of the power brakes project. Unfortunately, the MazdaSpeed 3 booster would not fit in the space provided. I actually got a lucky break because the dead Miata forum thread regarding 1″ master cylinder’s came back alive. NC Miata owners found that a G37 brake master cylinder is also a Bosche unit that fits and it has a 1″ bore. Third time is the charm I guess and the G37 master bolted right up to my NC Miata booster.
• I have not evaluated the pedal feel change yet because the G37 master has M12x1.0 inverted flare ports (fairly rare). I had to order the fittings off ebay and I’ll make my own brake lines from the master cylinder to the ABS module that incorporate both M12x1.0 fittings and M10x1.0. Then I should be able to test everything out, but I expect it to at least be a solid improvement.
• Parking brake handle installed. FFR’s mount design is fairly poor and mounts the cable at a weird angle which makes it rub on the mounting panel. I had to modify mine and I will still have to clean it up later to improve the appearance.
• Electrical
• Replaced an engine harness plug that I broke with a connector from iWire. Fairly simple but these connectors are always a pain to deal with. Still glad I didn’t do the whole harness.
• 3D Printed Parts
• Radiator mounts: These replace some pieces I made from aluminum square tubing. Much less likely to puncture the radiator now.
• Intake mounts: The first print mis-printed, but I waited to make another in case I needed to revise the geometry. Which I did! So I will change the design and reprint.
• Future Parts:
• Throttle Pedal Mount: 3D printing will let me easily adapt the existing bolt pattern and angle the pedal how I would like. I can also incorporate a built in pedal-stop.
• Seat brackets reinstalled

The post November 2019 Update #3: G37 Brake Master Cylinder and 3D Prints appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Engine
  • So I spent yet another weekend mostly troubleshooting engine issues. I had hoped that the ECU swap would be a nice 10 min fix-everything solution but that was far from the case. I swapped the ECU’s and everything stayed exactly the same which was quite disappointing. I quadruple checked my AVCS wiring and found that I had switched two of the sensor wires side-side (second time I’ve done a similar thing because the plugs change orientation in the pinout instructions). With that fixed, I still had the check engine light but AVCS was working as it should on the new ECU when I logged. So I logged, looked over the logs, logged some more, looked again, got friends to look, etc. I nearly gave up until I remembered someone casually mentioning that some EJ207’s had a IAT sensor in the throttle body which was redundant when the USDM and other cars had one in the MAF as well. Sure enough, unplugging that allowed the check engine light to go away! With how common this swap is, I’m not sure how that info was so hard to find or diagnose. I still have not determined which versions of the EJ207 have the different IAT sensor and which don’t.
  • The car with full boost is fast, very fast. I never drove the old engine at WOT before it died, but this one is quite the thrill! Should be plenty of power for me.
  • I hope my engine work is wrapped up for a while. Ready to move onto something else, anything really, on the build.
• ABS
  • ABS is fully functioning. Wiring all worked perfectly and I can hear the pump run as it activated. I’ll have to get to some better testing facility than my driveway to really evaluate it.
• Seats
  • Seat brackets were cleaned up and painted. Should be ready to go back in the car soon.
• 3D Printing
  • I’m designing revised radiator mounts and a mount for my airbox using CAD and I’m going to 3D print them. The airbox really needs to be secured before I drive it too much more and my radiator mounts could just use some aesthetic improvements.

The post November 2019 Update #2: No More Check Engine Light! appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Haven’t been able to work on the car in a few weeks due to my college club’s (Georgia Tech Wreck Racing) competition a week ago. We built a turbocharged LS-Swapped BMW E28 for competing in the GRM $2000 Challenge. Now that that’s over I have a few weeks to get some work in before finals come around.
• Exhaust
  • I finished the exhaust modifications needed for the EJ207 swap. I welded the exhaust bracket back together and welded on a secondary O2 sensor bung just before the muffler.
  • Painted in the same silver VHT exhaust paint that I used before. Doesn’t look quite as good as before but still looking pretty nice for an exhaust that won’t be terribly visible with the body on.
• ABS
  • I ran the iWire ABS wiring harness that I’ve been putting off for a while. Thankfully, nothing too complicated to it. Just mounting the small fusebox and routing the wires to their respective destinations. Seems to be hooked up correctly- no ABS warning light- but I have not tested the system yet.
• ECU Issues
  • I’m almost certain that my ECU is no good. The JDM place I bought my engine from said it was not the original one to the engine and I have been unable to fix the flashing CEL issue (no codes displayed though) despite deleting O2 codes, correctly installing both O2 sensors, confirming AVCS wiring is correct, and trying different EJ207 ROMS. Internet says bad ECU is a likely outcome, so I’m going to replace it and see what happens. I did not have any of these issues with the last setup and the only wiring that has changed is the ECU and AVCS wiring.
• Seat Brackets
  • I’m cleaning up and painting the seat brackets for final install this week. Brought them to school with me to work on that. One of the many small things to take care of so I can get the car into a “complete” go-kart status.

The post November 2019 Update: Exhaust finished, ABS Wiring appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Engine
  • I mocked up the exhaust using my existing Boig Motorsports exhaust and a portion of the downpipe from the EJ207. It won’t be as nice as the original Boig exhaust but it’ll do and it didn’t cost me anything extra.
  • A short drive with the exhaust confirmed that all my low-speed engine issues were just caused by atmospheric air interfering with the primary O2 sensor.
  • After the exhaust is finished I should be able to drive the car with full boost and no codes!
• Chassis
  • Fixed my front left upper control arm which was installed with the bushings upside down. I’ve known this for a while but haven’t resolved until now.
  • Tied down the front portions of the coolant pipes.
  • Changed front alignment for less toe in and fixed the positive camber to make it ~2 degrees negative now. Made the car a lot more stable than it was last test drive.

The post October 2019 Update: Exhaust and Continuing The Go Kart Check-List appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Engine
  • I re-shimmed the valves to bring everything back into tolerance on the passenger side head. To my relief, the leak down tests following this were good! I put everything back together and sure enough the car is now firing properly on all cylinders .
  • Dyno tune coming shortly! Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly this time.

• Go-Kart Wrap-Up Items:
  • Brake master/booster swap to a larger master cylinder size. This is to fix the pedal feel issue I have.
  • Parking brake handle mounting.
  • 3D printed throttle pedal mount for better pedal placement.
  • Fix small coolant leaks using new silicon hose couplers.
  • Finish seat mounting on passenger side.
  • A/C component installation.

The post August 2019 Update: Running on all cylinders! appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• It is driving!
• I drove the car for the first time, at parking lot speeds, which was quite satisfying. The brakes are not up to the task of any higher speeds yet and and the engine isn’t tuned so I hope to get both of those solved soon and get a real driving evaluation of the car in.
• Brakes
• I actually managed to install my NC Miata master cylinder. Fit is extremely tight and my plan is to see how this setup works and replace with a RHD NC Miata master if I like it and decide to keep it. 
• However…brakes currently feel like mush and I hope it’s only because I did not do the most thorough bleeding job. They are barely functional at the bottom of the travel of the pedal.
• Georgia Tech Auto Show
• I brought the car to its first auto show a Georgia Tech. Got tons of questions, met a couple other FFR owners, and besides getting covered in pollen everything survived the trip :). It was a good photo opportunity for this stage of the build.
• Tiny website update: Google Sites now lets you map a custom URL without forwarding. Good option if anyone is looking for a cheap way to build a simple website. This plus Blogger has ended up being a very good and simple way for me to document the whole build. I pay just $12 a year for the domain with no other costs.

The post April 2019 Update #1: It Drives! appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Brakes
  • Lines plumbed to all 4 wheels. Master cylinder lines waiting for a new MC.
  • ABS sensors installed and wiring secured.
  • My NC miata master cylinder didn’t work out… :(. Couldn’t get the front line to clear the frame. Another guy on the forum bought a RHD miata booster+master which I would say is a much better move but I hadn’t thought of that. RHD NC masters are hard to find so I got a mazdaspeed 3 master cylinder for $20. It has a 1″ bore rather than 7/8″ but maybe that’s better for my larger brakes vs the Miata. We shall see. It’s the price to pay for trying new solutions.
• Engine
  • Dyno tuning planned as soon as I get the car go karting and tested a little. Hopefully in a couple weeks or so.
  • BOV fixed- it was missing it’s vacuum port connection so I installed one from a hardware store.
  • Cooling leaks continue (at a decreasing rate at least)! I fixed the coolant pipe adapters except for the one on the water pump. It has a very slow drip still. I also have a mystery coolant drip from somewhere near the oil pump area but I can’t pinpoint where it’s dripping from.
• Small Items
  • E-brake handle partially installed. I appear to be missing the rear tunnel cover from FFR to finish the install. I dug through ALL of my aluminum panels, which there were many.
  • Sealed the passenger side of the firewall and installed the center panel. Driver’s side is staying bolted in but unsealed for a while until everything mechanical is sorted.
  • Seatbelt mounted on the driver’s side. I went through the lower frame rail for the outside attachment and attached the buckle to my seat bracket.

The post March 2019 Update #3: Brake plumbing, seatbelts, still leaking coolant… appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Engine
• Yet more leaks! It’s become like a game to fix the new coolant leaks every start-up. This time it was the water pump clamp, which hasn’t leaked before, but I tightened it and it stopped. The driver’s side coolant pipe was leaking a little still so I adjusted the adapter and re-clamped.
• Seats
• Finally got the seat brackets finished and fitted in the car (with some help from a friend). For the time being, I have only fit the driver’s seat but the brackets worked nicely. A couple small changes to the release lever need to be made but otherwise everything is good.
• Seat is barely low enough for me to pass broomstick test, but if I adjust the seat correctly then I do fit. My head is below the rollbar in any position, but not quite enough for broomstick test unless I move the seat forward a bit and recline.
• Seat belt attachment is next on the to-do list. I was waiting until I had the seats in the car so I could be sure that the belts are routed in a safe manner. 
• Brakes
• All of the soft lines are mounted to the body.
• I’ve routed a single line from the master to the ABS module, but I decided to wait to do the others because I need to use adapter-less metric lines in order to fit in the tight space around the front of the master cylinder and the FL brake line.
• Vacuum line for the booster is ordered and I have a check valve to install in the line as well.
• Firewall
• Left and right firewall panels are installed. Just installed temporarily at the moment without any silicon. I’m nut sure how I’m going to seal the panels completely because there are some significant gaps around the edges. I plan to look into what others have done for this.

The post March 2019 Update #2: Seat Install, Firewall, Brake Lines appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Drove the car out of the garage! Only about 10 ft because the brakes are still MIA.
• Rear brake stainless lines installed and mounted to the chassis.
• Cleaned up some loose wiring and such to prepare for go-karting.

• I made some minor changes to these small front supports I have for the seat brackets. They should be welded up this week and hopefully I can finally do a full test fit in the car this coming weekend.

The post March 2019 Update #1: Moving under power, brake lines, leaky coolant connectors appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Shifter
• I installed the aluminum K-Tuned shifter and the shift cables. The shifter looks awesome, but there’s still some work to do to make it feel great. I can currently get every gear though so I’m leave it as “good enough” for the moment.
• I cycled through all the gears and they all work
• Exhaust
• I got my exhaust from Boig Motorsports. It’s just their basic 2.5″ single exit with a muffler. I painted it silver with VHT exhaust paint so it won’t rust. It fit well and sounds pretty good.
• I had to run the engine for about 40 min total to go through the paint curing process. No new leaks this time though! Everything engine-wise appears to be doing well right now.
• Wheel Spacers
• I installed longer lug studs and my 12mm wheel spacers in the rear to provide better clearance to the trailing arms. I used the ABS sensor hole in the mounting plate to get the longer lug studs through. Installing them really wasn’t too bad though.
• Things left before go-kart
• Seat brackets, seat-belt mounting
• Brake Plumbing
• Rear firewall
• E-Brake

The post February 2019 Update #2: Shifter, Exhaust, Wheel Spacers appeared first on Lawson's 818C.