New addition to the Atomic Hairball R&D Center --- Rotary content

So, the car has been sitting in my friend John's shop since I got it back to Ohio. After getting it started and running well a couple Sundays ago, it developed what I initially thought was a bad starter. Could hear the Bendix kick-out, but no spinnage.

This past Sunday, replaced the starter, only to be greeted by the same symptom, with interspersed episodes of absolutely NOTHING when turning the key... Damn!!!

Finally, I started cycling the battery cutoff switch on and off, and the car fired right up. Let it run for a bit, then shut it down. Tried to restart, and again, nothing. Played with the cutoff, but no work this time.

So, we hacked and spliced to bypass the battery cutoff, and the car fired right up. Drove the car 8 miles to my shop, but not without issues...

.ore to come.

Been kinda slow on updates, because, ummm... Not much to update. After successfully driving the car to its new home, it died as soon as I pulled in the driveway. Absitively, posilutely dead. Think a fuse or three may have burnt due to our splice-job to make the drive.

So after pushing the x1/9 against the wall, and pushing the Atomic Hairball against the FIAT, we pushed the '7 into its space.

Haven't had much time to do anything with it lately, other than to do a bit of cleaning and planning. I've also spent a bit of time figuring out how to climb in and out of it without looking like a dork, or injuring myself.

I was also able to score a couple nice deals on some spare parts. A few years ago, the owner of the shop where a friend of mine works mentioned that he had a set of tail-light assemblies from an '85 sitting on a shelf in one of the storage rooms, since I was a "Mazda Guy". One of them was missing the clear plastic piece that covers the lenses. Hmmm. My car is missing one of those, as well...

What are the odds?

$30 for both taillights, with the plastic finish-panel between them thrown-in, as well.

After those were procured, my friend who works there GAVE me his pickled 12a and 5-speed. He rebuilt the engine several years ago with the Atkins kit, and put it into one of his tr7's. A couple thousand miles later, he pulled it in favor of a SBF. Not a bad day of "picking", IMHO

More info on the FIAT please... My first road race car was an X1/9, yellow too!

jgrewe wrote: More info on the FIAT please... My first road race car was an X1/9, yellow too!

Bought the FIAT off the $201x classifieds a few months back, for $500, I think. It was going to be my Challenge car, with a 2.0 twin-cam out of a fwd Lancia Zagato swapped in. I dropped the idea because I don't have the time available to make it happen.

Lets see some interior pics.

Am I driving that front airdam up to you yahoos? I had to move it four times in the last two days. It would look pretty on your car.

mazdeuce wrote: Am I driving that front airdam up to you yahoos? I had to move it four times in the last two days. It would look pretty on your car.

If you're willing to pack it up when you head to Michigan, I would definitely love to have it!!!

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you about it.

In reply to grafmiata:

It will be easier to make it fit in my truck than it will be to move it around the garage for the next decade. Besides, race parts should be on race cars, not just hanging out collecting dust.

I was working on building my FIAT for ITC when I got a phone call from a guy offering to help, said he knew a lot about them. "I don't know if you've heard of me, I'm Jim Susko". I was making the shift from auto-x to road racing so I knew NWOR had a couple really fast drivers that were regulars at Nationals. We ended up using a bunch of his cast off parts to put together a suspension.

Just closed the deal on this one. RX2 driveline plan is in motion!

jgrewe wrote: I was working on building my FIAT for ITC when I got a phone call from a guy offering to help, said he knew a lot about them. "I don't know if you've heard of me, I'm Jim Susko". I was making the shift from auto-x to road racing so I knew NWOR had a couple really fast drivers that were regulars at Nationals. We ended up using a bunch of his cast off parts to put together a suspension. Just closed the deal on this one. RX2 driveline plan is in motion!

Ooohh, pretty!!! Please put up a build-thread for it. This is my first fb, so I would like to glean as much knowledge as possible from others.

Some crappy cellphone pix of the interior...

My car has the same suck ass cage, but your seat is way nicer. Mine runs though.

Yeah, the seat is actually pretty decent. For the near-term, I'm going to keep the current cage, but make a few additions to it.

Next year, provided I haven't destroyed the car in a crash, I will have John build a new cage for it.

And my car runs... When it starts.

grafmiata wrote:

jgrewe wrote:

Ooohh, pretty!!! Please put up a build-thread for it. This is my first fb, so I would like to glean as much knowledge as possible from others.

That car is going to start life with me as an organ donor. I'm taking the engine and trans out of it for my RX2 with IMSA RS/B Sedan history. It's restoration was on a back burner while I was deciding what to do for the engine. I've maintained the RX7 for a friend for a few years and built the engine for it. With all the parts I got with it I pretty much got the RX7 chassis for free. It cost me half of a spec Miata which isn't a big deal because I already have a '99 chassis, torsen, and a hard top to build another.

I may do a combo build thread with RX2 and RX7 content. Both are headed for vintage racing, the 7 is getting a 13B P-Port

I'll help any way I can. Like I said, Jim Susko and I were racing/business partners when he started GForce Eng. It was separate from our race car rental business but we used our cars to develop the suspension he sold for years. The red and yellow company car he ran is one of our old cars. I built the cage in it.

In reply to jgrewe:I will be picking your brain in the near future...

Oh, I had a couple beers with Mills earlier today. He says "Hey!!!".

Any chance of you having a spare copy of Jim's fb suspension manual?

I have a copy of the suspension manual though I'm not sure how legitimately legal it is. Are they still for sale or they old enough now that we're passing around copies?

In reply to mazdeuce:No longer in-print, since Jim retired. This is kind of a gray-area to me, since the "purchase-price" of buying the book thru GForce Engineering included over-the-phone consultations with Jim.

Now, neither the book or consultation are available, so the book itself at this point is probably public-domain.

I personally wouldn't pass it around, but I wouldn't throw rocks at people who did. Most of it I was around for the design and testing so there wasn't much in it for me except refreshing memory. I got mine free from Jim, wonder if that means I can pass things on like a torrent file, little pieces at a time.Jim really enjoyed the writing, even threatened to write a broader spectrum book on suspension and shock set up. New wife and fresh family made him change his focus a bit.

Small world on J. Mills! Another friend that runs an FP Miata down here had met him somehow and I had a good laugh when I said, "Yea, I know him". I remember when John set the lap record at Mid Ohio in ITB in his Opel Manta. See if he even remembers that.

In reply to jgrewe:

I know what you're sayin. I feel a little uneasy making copies of it and sending those away, but I'm more comfortable sending my copy to someone who will utilize it.

As far as Jim's book, yeah, I would like to find a copy to buy. Even though buying a used copy won't put money in Jim's pocket, I would still kinda feel like I was screwing him if I just made a copy of it...

Now, back to my car... I'm taking Saturday off of work, so I will have a rare two-day weekend. But I will probably not even touch the Mazda.

Saturday, I will be heading to Aussiesmg's compound to deliver a couple transmissions, eat Brats, and drink beer. At some point Sunday, I will wake up, and drive a couple hours back to my shop.

Then I will cut a "slightly larger than a FIAT"-sized hole in the wall of the shop.

jgrewe wrote: Small world on J. Mills! Another friend that runs an FP Miata down here had met him somehow and I had a good laugh when I said, "Yea, I know him". I remember when John set the lap record at Mid Ohio in ITB in his Opel Manta. See if he even remembers that.

Is your F-Prod friend by chance named Sean?

No, Paul Kuhlman. He has taken a year or so off while building a new car around the new radials. Its really close to being done, I think it may make it on track for the Turkey Trot at Sebring. I also handle one of the cars for him at Chumpcar events under the No' Mo' Money banner.