Category: Interior

The post Resuming Work and Interior Finishing appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• General Update: Have been driving the car for a month now, here’s how it’s gone. Mostly good, with the exception of 1 breakdown…the car sprung a coolant leak on the way back from the alignment shop and required a tow. It was the upper radiator hose, which is a pain to get to, but I got it fixed and the car was back driving around the same day (good because it was my only car in ATL). 
• Ongoing Work
• Installed oil temp and oil pressure gauges in preparation for some track driving later this year. My engine thankfully already had the adapter on the oil cooler which made my job easier. I also had the foresight a year or so ago to run 2 extra wires between the dash and engine bay which worked perfectly to run to the gauges.
• Still diagnosing my ABS issues. I replaced the control module, but not the pump. The issue continues…so verdict is the pump is bad. I forgot to double check the fuses were still good as the last setup was blowing the ABS fuse. Assuming the fuse is not blown, then I will probably have to buy a new ABS pump to install. 
• Found out my fuel gauge’s lowest reading is a little under 1/4 tank…engine cut out as I pulled into the gas station and I had to coast to the pump.

The post November 2020 Update: Breakdown, Driving, Tweaks appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Small update, but really only fairly small things left on the build with the exception of bodywork. Drove the car back to Atlanta for the next few weeks. Attended a big monthly car show called Caffeine and Octane. Had to park in the boonies of the parking lot because I left from 1.5hrs away and didn’t get there before 7 to make the “main” lot. Still got quite a few people asking about it as I came/left. I think it intrigues people because they generally have no idea what it is.
• Bug fixes
• Hopefully fixed the leaky gas filler neck.
• Changed the wiper sweep to not hit the hood.
• Fixed the passenger door. Had two issues there, the lock mechanism needed to be adjusted to not interfere with the interior door release. The interior door handle cable was also getting caught by the window regulator which was bad so I fixed that as well.
• Cut a section of the rear driver’s wheel well out so I could adjust it higher so it doesn’t rub. I need to clean this up a bit but it seems my fix is working.
• Little improvements
• Cupholder installed
• e-brake handle boot installed
• Dashcam via my head unit and usb camera is setup.  Can also do track footage with it.

The post October 2020 Update: On The Road Again appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

The post September 2020 Update #2: Sound Insulation and Daily Review appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Test Drive: Took the car for its first adventure of my own street. I had to squeeze the drive in between some scattered showers- it’s definitely not waterproof – but the trip went great! Definitely things to fix on the car, but nothing new found on the drive :). I drove about 50 miles round trip on two lane back roads.
• Observations:
• The car is loud! I think this will get significantly better than when I finish sealing off the cabin from the engine bay, but right now it definitely makes longer drives uncomfortable at speed. Makes very good turbocharger noises though.
• Alignment definitely makes the car super darty at the moment. Better than it used to be but it’s very much a two hands on the wheel at all times experience at the moment.
• A/C needs to be charged soon, it gets toasty in the cabin.
• Even after raising the rear ride height a bit, the driver side rear wheel well rubs the tire on big bumps. The passenger side wheel liner sits a bit higher so it does not. Trying to think of ways to get the wheel liner to move up a bit to fix this.

• Dash installation
• Finished riveting in the front cabin corner aluminum pieces. I used rivnuts to install them because they will have to be removed any time the doors need to come off or any changes need to be made to door/speaker wiring.
• I used some leftover plastic trim that FFR provides to cover the metal edge of the cutout I ran the wires through. Help from a heat gun made this trim really easy to mold to the right shape.
• Plumbed the air conditioning vents.
• Installed an AM/FM antenna that I forgot I needed previously…
• Installed the dash in the car 
• This was pretty difficult! Reaching underneath and connecting all the wiring for the AC controls as well as the vent plumbing was really a challenge. Hopefully I don’t have to do this again for a while – I intend this to be the final install of the dash.

• Front wheel well aluminum
• Finished installing the last couple pieces of the wheel well aluminum. There are two pieces directly in front and behind the tires that protect the headlights and the doors. These pieces will likely have to be removed for things in the future such as taking off the fenders so I installed them with rivnuts.

The post August 2020 Update #2: 50 Mile Test Drive and Final Dash Install appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

The post August 2020 Update: Stereo, Center Console, Dash Install appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• I spent HOURS sanding the body seams on the side of the car. And…it still looks meh. You can tell where I had to add gel coat paste to repair the thin areas or big voids. It’s better than it was though for sure and once polished it looks fine. It’ll certainly look just fine from a few feet/in photos. I haven’t finished the passenger side yet because I got tired of sanding but will return to it and also fix the seams on the front fenders. Bodywork is indeed as bad as other builders say it is.
• I had to re-fit the front fenders at the a-pillar since I’ve moved my top. Required a good bit of extra trimming
• Shimmed the rear fender area to make it fit better.
• Doors still need some fitment help in a couple areas. I think I’m going to switch to countersunk screws for the whole door area because of clearance issues. My passenger door also has a habit of locking people in when you use the inside handle. The inside handle doesn’t release all the way sometimes which causes the door to get stuck closed.

• Starting to work on the interior now as something to allow me to go back and forth on the bodywork sanding. Used some time the last couple days to work on electrical items as well as plan out some of the upcoming work for the center console.
• Installed my keyless entry controller (Amazon chinesium part for $20). Works great! The instructions were next to useless but thankfully I’m good enough with a multimeter to figure it out. For $20 this is worthwhile for any 818C/S build since they’ve already got the actuators.
• Installed 3/4 of my vintage air vents. Waiting on the placement of the last one because it will depend on if a radio screen goes in the dash or the A/C controls do. I don’t really understand how these are supposed to be held in place securely…may need to give Vintage Air a call.
• Installed my backup camera. Haven’t run the RCA wire for it yet because that’s going to be a pain.
• Trying to decide whether to mount the radio in the dash or in front of the shifter. Dash has better visibility but might interfere with A/C ducting. Shifter area is harder to see and reach but a little easier to fit. If you’re a builder and have already tackled this issue let me know what you did.

• My ABS system continues to have issues that confuse me. It sets a code as soon as I drive forwards at any speed. Code is for motor/relay failure. It’s also blown a fuse in the past, but it’s not blown right now. I honestly can’t remember if the ABS system worked with the current pump in the past. I know my last pump, that had some messed up threads, worked with the same wiring setup. I may try to re-read my older updates to see if I ever had ABS working with the new pump because if not my issue is likely that the pump is bad. 
• The only other diagnosis I have is that there is a capacitor wired into my iWire ABS harness and it seems to be open-circuit so possibly bad as well? Not sure if it is the cause of the issue, or like the blown fuse, is a result of a pump issue.

The post July 2020 Update: It’s Road Legal! appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

The post May 2020 Update #2: Continuing the bodywork appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• Bodywork
• I installed the tail lights into the rear bumper and cut out the lower bumper vent.
• Drilled and cleco’d the side panels in place. I will probably rivet them after I fit and check the rear bumper alignment. I want to keep them easy to remove for the time being in case something needs to be changed.
• Cut the vent holes in the hood, but these took much longer than the other cuts! These vents have stamped mesh and are not designed to have a trim piece so the cutout is actually a cosmetic part of the car and it has to fit the mesh perfectly. So I did a rough undersized cut with the saber saw and then did a dremel-fit-repeat process to work my way from there. It still needs some sanding by hand to finish it off but I will do that later when I fix fiberglass defects and install the mesh. The build manual included no instructions for the updated version of the hood mesh so that was a bit confusing but fairly simple after asking FFR.
• I had planned to fit the bumper and roof this last weekend, but it takes at least two people to install the roof and my help had to cancel. Still plenty of items to work on such as the headlights, front bumper vent, rear bumper mounting, etc. I’ll get the roof on there sometime in the next couple weeks.
• Stereo
• Made a bench setup to mess with my Pumpkin Android head unit. Just wired up enough to turn on. It’s a pretty sweet device and has pretty much any capability you can think of if you have the time to mess with it and set it up. The way the cameras work with it is pretty weird but overall I’m happy with it.
• I’m using a Verizon 4G USB modem to give it internet connectivity in the car. Bought the dongle for about $20 off Ebay. Internet connectivity is pretty much a requirement for any of the features and I did not want to mess with always using my phone’s hotspot to provide that.
• A/C
• Did a vacuum check on the A/C system. Seems to hold vacuum fine! I’ll probably wait a while to charge it since I have no need for A/C in a non-driving car. I’m pretty confident it will all work if it’s not leaking and I finish running the wire to the ECU from iWire.

The post January 2020 Update #2: Bodywork and Stereo appeared first on Lawson's 818C.

• 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.