Midlana: First "Book" Build

YAY! I had not caught sight of this when you started updating it again. Love the fire video.

Now please make some grommets for those cables going through the shifter bracket.

tuna55 said:

YAY! I had not caught sight of this when you started updating it again. Love the fire video.

 

Now please make some grommets for those cables going through the shifter bracket.

+1 on the above.  Also, I'll ping you back about the LC-1.

It's been far too long since my last post, and not as much progress since then as I would like.  I had to re-work my center tunnel brackets to be removable, as I discovered that the cross bracing in the front of the chassis would prevent me from sliding the coolant tubes into place.

I modified the inlet tube on the engine that feeds the water pump to give it a better angle and make it 1.5 inches like the rest of the cooling system, and made templates for the coolant hoses from the engine to the tunnel tubes. 

With my wire templates of the coolant hose routing I went hose shopping at NAPA.  After several tries, hose 8807 for a 1995 Buick turned out to be the perfect fit for most of the engine hoses.

At the front hoses for a 1971 and 1989 Ford Bronco fit up great. The lower hose has an extra jog in it, but that is where my electric water pump will sit if I need to add one.

I cut and beaded the aluminum coolant lines that run through the tunnel using a new tool. I had previously tired to make a similar tool for my intercooler piping using cheap off-brand vice grips, but it broke the first time I used it. This one worked great, and it has an awesome name.

I found some grommets that fit the brackets I made for the tunnel on McMaster Carr. It took some more KY lube and a bit of doing, but I got the assembly put together and in the car. Don't worry Tuna, grommets for the battery cable are coming!

I also got the hand-brake mounted up. The tunnel area was getting too cramped so I put it to the left of the driver's seat. Call it a nod to the Porsche 928 my Dad used to have.

Awesome! Always like seeing this build at the top. Question and maybe you've said it already and my readingless comprehension strikes again, but are those coolant lines going to be covered up? 

In reply to Scotty Con Queso :

Yes, there will be a stainless steel or aluminum tunnel cover down the center of the car.

The cooling system is all done and sealed up!

I decided to use OEM style spring clamps for most of the system because they clamp well, are inexpensive, don't cut up the hose, and I like to live dangerously hoping that they don't shoot off and hit me in the face while expanding them. I used T style clamps on the ends of the tunnel tubes due to the lack of clearance. For the heater core bypass I was happy to find that a U tube for an GM LS engine fit the different sized heater core lines on the SRT-4 engine like it was designed to be there.

All new brake parts are on order and starting to arrive. In the mean-time I've been playing around with the styling of the rear end. I got the idea to use PVC pipe as a quick mock-up tool from B is for Build on youtube.

Version 1.0

Variation using arcs for the headrest fairing shape rather than trapezoids (this was the original plan)

V2.0: Less "Junk in the trunk" 

So far I'm liking V1.0 better. I think it needs a bit of a butt on it. I may refine it some more with a bit more rake to the bump section (which will be filled in with a mesh vent when done), maybe push it forward slightly, and raise up the center section between the bumps for more engine clearance. Still undecided on trapezoids vs arcs.

No work on the car this week because we are on spring break. When we return I should have all of the stuff I need to get started plumbing the brakes.

After several months of no progress due to the tree house project, working on my MBA and work I finally got back to working on the car.  Brake line plumbing is next on the agenda so I put my nice flairing tool and my 3D printer tube straightener to work.

It flairs the nicopp tubing almost too easily, you need to stop pumping as soon as there is some resistance or else it mushrooms the end of the tubing. A few practice flairs and it was on to the real thing.

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So far I have run line to the front and rear Ts, and am pretty happy how it's turning out.

Also the Midlana got a garage mate last weekend. You know in the first post how I said I had always wanted an Elise...

Surprisingly it is shorter than the Midlana by a few inches in length and wheelbase!

Brake lines looking good.

How do you like the Elise ?

Looking good! Glad to see progress. 

That mastercool flare tool is amazing. 100% worth every penny 

Stumbled onto this build early this morning. Took the whole day to read through, in between daddy and husband duties. 

Really love se7en's, Locost ect, but like the idea of a mid engine one. 

Also read your linked thread on the torque mounts, as I am struggling with my FOX's engine torqueing to much and having the header rap the steering rack brace on up or downshifts(3speed auto). 

So I am contemplating the idea of custom stiffer front and rear mounts

The Elise is phenomenal, the feel through the steering wheel is WAY beyond any other car I have ever driven. I hope that the Midlana matches it. I did some side by side comparisons and surprisingly the passenger compartment is within 1/2 of an inch in width at the shoulders and at the steering wheel between the two cars. 

One more shot of the two of them. The Elise has an evil grin and the Midlana looks startled!

In reply to StripesSA1 :

If your mounts have hollow spaces in them it's worth a few bucks to try to fill them with some urethane like I did on page 15

In reply to bgkast :

If only. It is the standard VW Mk1 front and rear mounts

Top left and bottom right in the below photo

The bottom right is part of this:

The other two are the cambelt(right handside) and gearbox(left handside) mount inserts for manual MK1's. 

My FOX is an auto and although the mounts looks the same, they are not and are already urethane filled

StripesSA1 said:

In reply to bgkast :

If only. It is the standard VW Mk1 front and rear mounts

Top left and bottom right in the below photo

The bottom right is part of this:

The other two are the cambelt(right handside) and gearbox(left handside) mount inserts for manual MK1's. 

My FOX is an auto and although the mounts looks the same, they are not and are already urethane filled

There are, or at least were, VW Motorsport engine mounts for the MKI.  Look at Techtonics Tuning's website to see if they still offer them.  And you only need the front (snubber) and rear (at the steering rack) motorsport mounts; the left and right mounts only add noise.  

I had grand plans to finish up the brake plumbing over the long new years weekend, but my booster shot had me achy and tired all day Friday and Saturday. I felt better Sunday and did finish up the fronts at least.

This evening I decided to assemble my replacement wideband controller, an SLC2 from 14Point7. My 10 year old daughter helped me solder it up and I pulled the bad innovate LC1 controller out of the car. I need to wire in the new controller and test it.

Brakes are all plumbed! 

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It's a very tight squeeze between the outside edges of the fuel tank and the chassis but I made it work.

On the driver's side I also have to squeeze the parking brake cable and clutch hydraulic line through this area. I spent a bunch of time looking a through the Raybestos catalog for parking brake cables that were close to the right length of 52 inches. I have a cable from a 2013 suburban and a 77 El Camino on order to see how they will work. 

Next order of business after hydraulic plumbing and brakes is the body work. I'm planning on starting with the rear crash structure, making it as a removable piece like I did at the front that can be unbolted and replaced in case of an accident.

I've been working on building the back "bumper". I could use some input on the rear light treatment. I have two 4-inch round tail/brake lights that I bought for the project in 2014 (!), but still need to figure out something for reverse lights and turn signals. The area above the horizontal square tube will be mesh for venting the engine bay. Please pay no mind to my photoshoped bluetooth exhaust. 

Option 1: 4-inch round and 6-inch oval

Option 2: 4-inch round and sequential turn signals/reverse lights. Turn signal lights would be "hidden" behind the mesh.

Option 3: Dual 4-inch round. The second round light could have a center reverse light, or I could have quad brake/tail/turn lights and add a small clear light above them for reverse. This was the original design I was planning.

What say the Hive?

Two round is my vote. 

Can you get a flexible strip LED?   Run the round brake lights inset of the back of the car in a housing and have a flexible strip along the top that matches the curve?  Thick McLaren P1 but with the round light inside.  Yes it will look like eyes with eyebrows but that's fine it would also be cool eyes with eyebrows.  

Also are you doing anything with rear fenders?  It may make sense to run a horizontal element across the back of the car at the top of the fenders.  

java230 said:

Two round is my vote. 

+1

In reply to nocones :

I had considered something like that, but have not found any LED strips that can flex in the "vertical" plane like that.   I  plan to run rear cycle fenders, so I could do a 6-inch wide strip light or similar on them as an option.

Thanks for the input so far!

Option 1.  Round and oval gets my vote.

Also going to say Option one

I like the 2 rou d per side.

Option two