Midgetec

Wow, it's amazing how good it feels when you finally get to drive something that you've been working on for three years!  The Midgetec is on the road.  And it is SWEET!  We had a breakthrough on the Megasquirt, which some cold rainy day I'll write up, but once we got the ignition problem sorted out, I was shocked at how close the tune was.  In no time at all we went from easy, low-load neighborhood cruises a couple of weeks ago to an agressive romp today where we tested the rev-limiter.

...

Even though the Ford Duratec 2.0 is still in stock tune, it's amazing how this little car gets up and goes.  It doesn't hurt that it weighs in about 1600 lbs, and I can't even imagine what it would (will!) be like if (when!) we turboed it.

Here's what's been done in the last month:

• Shimmed the rear spring perches to raise the back end about 1" to prevent tire rub on 'launch'.
• Built a signal conditioner for the tach to convert the low voltage pulse to something that approximates a coil - tach works great now.
• Cut a hole in the hood to accomodate the much taller DOHC engine.
• Aligned the front end.
• Removed all the old numbers and stripes from its racing days.
• Got the passenger seat belt installed.
• Got all but the front left lights terminated and working, as well as the horn.
• Put the bumpers back on, as well as the grill.
• Put the old 'street' roll bar in.

And, there are still a whole lot of things left to do:

• Close in the transmission tunnel.
• Install the acoustic dampening material
• Install carpet
• Recover the Fiat X1/9 seats.
• Fabricate the hood bulge and install it
• Clean up the engine compartment
• Install the front sway bar
• Install the panhard rod
• Replace the T5 tailshaft seal (leaking)
• Hook up the speedometer and calibrate
• Plumb the oil pressure gauge
• Install door windows and regulators
• Replace top
• I'll stop here.   I'm getting depressed.

Well, hope you enjoyed the pix.  It's only going to get better from here.