martian_mirage
New Member
Thanks Christine, SRS bulb has gone bye bye
chowetime said:
4G93 into Mirage, now 4G94 into Mirage
- Thread starter martian_mirage
- Start date
martian_mirage
New Member
Greetings Earthlings 
Yesterday was a BIG day for yours truly.
After 2+ years of much interrupted part time tinkering my oddball lighweight 2 litre Mirage project, known to us as the MUTANT was driven for the first time, YAY!
I'm not sure if a project like this is ever 100% finished but in this last chapter I'm calling it job done.
I can report that its a VERY pleasant surprise to have a small cheap hatchback that willingly accelerates up a steep hill in top gear.
Its only travelled a handful of kays and no attempt made at tuning or even new plugs but early signs of effortless torquey performance are promising.
First gear is not really needed. I even did a painless rolling start in 3rd (thought it was in first silly me).
Must get it weighed ASAP as I'm hoping my efforts pulled the finished weight down to around 850kg which is close to that achieved by the pioneer of the hot hatch class the Peugeot GTI 1.9
Since my last report a few important items were sorted.
Special thanks go to Ron Black of Exhaust Fix Croydon Melbourne for my custom exhaust. He did a modified 4G94 engine pipe/cat with a new custom 2" catback for what I call crazy money $350!
New aftermarket carpets were thrown in and were a swine of a job but look nice.
CE dash, CH instruments and steering column/steering wheel went together with minor trimming of plastic parts as CH column shroud is wider than CE type. See pic link
https://www.flickr.com/photos/93358098@ ... 993115080/
Final electrical job was hooking up the wipers.
Plan A called for me to connect stock CE wiper motor to CH loom. I studied wiper diagrams for CE & CH and spliced the 4/5 wires the only way that made sense to me, the fuse blew! bugger :?:
A spoke to a sparkie and he suggested I tow the car in and he would spend a few days to see if he could get the wipers wiping, expect a LARGE bill because home built project cars are always a prick to work on, terrific..........
Plan B called for me to mechanically adapt the CH wiper motor to the CE.
Firstly I yanked off the CE wiper motor, linkages, scuttle plastic moulding and wiper arms.
The scuttle interior was given a thorough scrub to get rid of 12 years of crud, no rust found fortunately.
I yanked off the big steel mounting plate from the CH wiper motor and fitted it with a CE crank arm.
The CH motor was offered up to the bean shaped hole in the scuttle.
Although the CE and CH wiper motors are very different animals the CH has three cast alloy threaded posts that sort of naturally found a home around the bean hole perimeter.
Three carefully drilled holes in the scuttle and three cup head screws inserted from inside the scuttle had the CH wiper motor mounted. No rubber mounts so it whirs a little louder than usual. Pic shows CH wiper motor fitted with stock CE type sitting above.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/93358098@ ... 2993115080
As part of my war against weight I plan to swap the stock battery for a motorcycle type and possibly a light fibreglass bonnet but that is a big deal, not sure.
Thats all folks. One more way to skin a cat, not the most popular way but suits my priorities.
Flickr folder has all the important pics of my build.
Thanks to all who offered encouragement and tips along the way.
Cheers.
Yesterday was a BIG day for yours truly.
After 2+ years of much interrupted part time tinkering my oddball lighweight 2 litre Mirage project, known to us as the MUTANT was driven for the first time, YAY!
I'm not sure if a project like this is ever 100% finished but in this last chapter I'm calling it job done.
I can report that its a VERY pleasant surprise to have a small cheap hatchback that willingly accelerates up a steep hill in top gear.
Its only travelled a handful of kays and no attempt made at tuning or even new plugs but early signs of effortless torquey performance are promising.
First gear is not really needed. I even did a painless rolling start in 3rd (thought it was in first silly me).
Must get it weighed ASAP as I'm hoping my efforts pulled the finished weight down to around 850kg which is close to that achieved by the pioneer of the hot hatch class the Peugeot GTI 1.9
Since my last report a few important items were sorted.
Special thanks go to Ron Black of Exhaust Fix Croydon Melbourne for my custom exhaust. He did a modified 4G94 engine pipe/cat with a new custom 2" catback for what I call crazy money $350!
New aftermarket carpets were thrown in and were a swine of a job but look nice.
CE dash, CH instruments and steering column/steering wheel went together with minor trimming of plastic parts as CH column shroud is wider than CE type. See pic link
https://www.flickr.com/photos/93358098@ ... 993115080/
Final electrical job was hooking up the wipers.
Plan A called for me to connect stock CE wiper motor to CH loom. I studied wiper diagrams for CE & CH and spliced the 4/5 wires the only way that made sense to me, the fuse blew! bugger :?:
A spoke to a sparkie and he suggested I tow the car in and he would spend a few days to see if he could get the wipers wiping, expect a LARGE bill because home built project cars are always a prick to work on, terrific..........
Plan B called for me to mechanically adapt the CH wiper motor to the CE.
Firstly I yanked off the CE wiper motor, linkages, scuttle plastic moulding and wiper arms.
The scuttle interior was given a thorough scrub to get rid of 12 years of crud, no rust found fortunately.
I yanked off the big steel mounting plate from the CH wiper motor and fitted it with a CE crank arm.
The CH motor was offered up to the bean shaped hole in the scuttle.
Although the CE and CH wiper motors are very different animals the CH has three cast alloy threaded posts that sort of naturally found a home around the bean hole perimeter.
Three carefully drilled holes in the scuttle and three cup head screws inserted from inside the scuttle had the CH wiper motor mounted. No rubber mounts so it whirs a little louder than usual. Pic shows CH wiper motor fitted with stock CE type sitting above.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/93358098@ ... 2993115080
As part of my war against weight I plan to swap the stock battery for a motorcycle type and possibly a light fibreglass bonnet but that is a big deal, not sure.
Thats all folks. One more way to skin a cat, not the most popular way but suits my priorities.
Flickr folder has all the important pics of my build.
Thanks to all who offered encouragement and tips along the way.
Cheers.
chowetime
Active Member
wow great job there I do like what you have done with the dash - Gauge cluster very impressive and how you blanked off the clock etc in the centre console
Onto the engine bay very tidy and well done on getting around those obsticals the work looks very pro glad that you got it finished and dont be feeling bad about the time frame I just got mine sort of finished I have two electrical items to do on mine RPM gauge is not working and I dont think the radiator fan is working either...
now go out and enjoy it
Onto the engine bay very tidy and well done on getting around those obsticals the work looks very pro glad that you got it finished and dont be feeling bad about the time frame I just got mine sort of finished I have two electrical items to do on mine RPM gauge is not working and I dont think the radiator fan is working either...
now go out and enjoy it
martian_mirage
New Member
Thanks Christine, coming from you that means a LOT
I'm really slow doing any DIY jobs but I think if I'd not had to fuss over a fixerupper house and the injuries that thing caused my Mirage project could have been done in 9 months approx.
Of course a person with your talent and energy could have done it in a fraction of the time LOL
Cheers and best of luck with your latest creation.
I'm really slow doing any DIY jobs but I think if I'd not had to fuss over a fixerupper house and the injuries that thing caused my Mirage project could have been done in 9 months approx.
Of course a person with your talent and energy could have done it in a fraction of the time LOL
Cheers and best of luck with your latest creation.
chowetime said:
Yeah nice mate! Cudos on CH cluster swap.
martian_mirage
New Member
Very kind of you donki and you are welcome
Yes the Mutant is Melbourne based.
I took the Mutant to get it weighed and got a rude shock. With a nearly full gas tank it came to 920 kilos.
I know I have removed 115 kilos so using the factory kerb weight of 935 and assuming I added 30 for the 2 litre motor I was hoping for 850 so where the mystery 70 kilos came from I can't imagine???
Even if the factory weight is minus fluids I don't get the figure they quote unless they are talking about a very early series Mirage that was in theory available without air, power steer sound system rear wiper/wash etc??
Of course that particular weighbridge might be outa wack too.........hmmm
The Mutant deserves a tune I think.
Cheers
Yes the Mutant is Melbourne based.
I took the Mutant to get it weighed and got a rude shock. With a nearly full gas tank it came to 920 kilos.
I know I have removed 115 kilos so using the factory kerb weight of 935 and assuming I added 30 for the 2 litre motor I was hoping for 850 so where the mystery 70 kilos came from I can't imagine???
Even if the factory weight is minus fluids I don't get the figure they quote unless they are talking about a very early series Mirage that was in theory available without air, power steer sound system rear wiper/wash etc??
Of course that particular weighbridge might be outa wack too.........hmmm
The Mutant deserves a tune I think.
Cheers
donki said:I think a bloody well documented job youve done! There are less than a handful of people here that seem to know and share as much as you have
And rereading, you're melbourne based?
martian_mirage
New Member
Thankyou, glad you like it. I specialise in the weird LOL
You may have noticed the Mutant is a single seater.
I actually toyed with the idea of rebuilding the Mutant with a central seating position/full custom dash but of course Big Brother would have sentenced me to the salt mines for such wrong thinking.
Quite a tragedy really that Australia is nowadays ruled by an army of mindless bureaucrats whose only purpose is to crush the life out of anybody with an imagination.
We therefore do what we hope will not be noticed by the government drones.
You may have noticed the Mutant is a single seater.
I actually toyed with the idea of rebuilding the Mutant with a central seating position/full custom dash but of course Big Brother would have sentenced me to the salt mines for such wrong thinking.
Quite a tragedy really that Australia is nowadays ruled by an army of mindless bureaucrats whose only purpose is to crush the life out of anybody with an imagination.
We therefore do what we hope will not be noticed by the government drones.
Trondabron said:
chowetime
Active Member
I am very curious with the CH cluster build I have a BN in the Factory box a CH mivec cluster that I want to convert to the CE dash loom they are both different in so many ways that I kind of only gave it a fleeting thought... but looks like it is all possible now so maybe I might just have to look at it again
martian_mirage
New Member
I had it "easy" because my adapted CH cluster just plugged into the transplanted CH dash loom but if anybody can figure out the 30 odd wires that will need cutting and splicing you can Christine!
A few clues that might help-
You know how on the stock dash the cluster plugs are locked into the back of the instrument cavity?, means you just slide the cluster in and the plugs are automatically plugged in?
Well my plugs are not anchored into the cavity, they are free floating so must be plugged in individually then the cluster secured.
I had just barely enough slack in the cluster plug wires to make this possible so when you are cutting and splicing go for long wires.
The CH cluster plugs, like most box plugs, have a locking tooth that prevents the plug coming undone accidentally but I actually disabled this tooth to make the plugs easier to unplug.
My plugs were very tight once inserted, quite difficult to remove even with the locking tooth disabled.
Because my wires were short it was going to be impossible to get two hands onto the box plug to remove it if it locked into place within the confined space of the instrument cluster dash cavity.
You will find the CH cluster is about the same width as the CE cluster but not as tall nor as deep.
The curve on the CH cluster clear shield is similar to the CE shield so the CE binacle follows the curve of the CH shield fairly well.
Because the CH cluster is not as tall you will see beyond where the top edge of the clear shield finishes, an "ugly" strip which I dressed up the best way I could think of.
I probably went overboard trying to hide the ugly strip because on my finished installation I'm not seeing much beyond the edge of the clear shield.
By going overboard I mean I carved off the locking lugs along the top edge of the clear shield then made a crescent shaped piece of MDF to fill the ugly strip which I matte blacked and stuck on with double sided tape. As it turned out the MDF strip got in the way and made screwing the upper mounts more difficult so probably a waste of effort.
Mountings on mine consisted of a block of MDF about 70mm square (sorry its hidden now) approx 6mm thick which I secured to the floor of the instrument cavity to raise the cluster to the right height.
On top of this block I have screwed a flat strip metal bracket that grabs the central lower mounting lug on the cluster. My cluster is mostly located by the block/strip bracket.
Upper corner mounts one per corner were made from a universal bracket material I got from Bunnings. This bracket product, lots of different shapes is called Make-a-Bracket. Mine are made from 20mm wide 1mm thick perforated strip which has handy holes every 25mm and notches every 25mm which makes bending easier. My corner mounts are flexible not rigid and work in co-operation with the lower rigid mount and the binnacle itself also helps to locate the cluster but I'm sure there are other ways to skin this cat LOL.
Have fun with it
A few clues that might help-
You know how on the stock dash the cluster plugs are locked into the back of the instrument cavity?, means you just slide the cluster in and the plugs are automatically plugged in?
Well my plugs are not anchored into the cavity, they are free floating so must be plugged in individually then the cluster secured.
I had just barely enough slack in the cluster plug wires to make this possible so when you are cutting and splicing go for long wires.
The CH cluster plugs, like most box plugs, have a locking tooth that prevents the plug coming undone accidentally but I actually disabled this tooth to make the plugs easier to unplug.
My plugs were very tight once inserted, quite difficult to remove even with the locking tooth disabled.
Because my wires were short it was going to be impossible to get two hands onto the box plug to remove it if it locked into place within the confined space of the instrument cluster dash cavity.
You will find the CH cluster is about the same width as the CE cluster but not as tall nor as deep.
The curve on the CH cluster clear shield is similar to the CE shield so the CE binacle follows the curve of the CH shield fairly well.
Because the CH cluster is not as tall you will see beyond where the top edge of the clear shield finishes, an "ugly" strip which I dressed up the best way I could think of.
I probably went overboard trying to hide the ugly strip because on my finished installation I'm not seeing much beyond the edge of the clear shield.
By going overboard I mean I carved off the locking lugs along the top edge of the clear shield then made a crescent shaped piece of MDF to fill the ugly strip which I matte blacked and stuck on with double sided tape. As it turned out the MDF strip got in the way and made screwing the upper mounts more difficult so probably a waste of effort.
Mountings on mine consisted of a block of MDF about 70mm square (sorry its hidden now) approx 6mm thick which I secured to the floor of the instrument cavity to raise the cluster to the right height.
On top of this block I have screwed a flat strip metal bracket that grabs the central lower mounting lug on the cluster. My cluster is mostly located by the block/strip bracket.
Upper corner mounts one per corner were made from a universal bracket material I got from Bunnings. This bracket product, lots of different shapes is called Make-a-Bracket. Mine are made from 20mm wide 1mm thick perforated strip which has handy holes every 25mm and notches every 25mm which makes bending easier. My corner mounts are flexible not rigid and work in co-operation with the lower rigid mount and the binnacle itself also helps to locate the cluster but I'm sure there are other ways to skin this cat LOL.
Have fun with it
chowetime said: