The Mite
Speedometer speed sensor and stabbing in the engine!
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I picked up a nice set of Dolphin electronic gages for the Mite and the speedometer uses electronic pulses to display the speed, like almost all new cars. The Miata used a cable-driven speedo, so i needed to adapt a 'universal' speed-pulse generator to the tranny. The pulse generator is on the left, and the stock Miata speedo gear that bolts into the tranny is on the left |
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The 'universal' pulse generator has threads on both sides and a square drive hole, the Miata speedometer output has a round hole with a keyway to drive the cable |
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Here's the stock Miata Speedometer cable. |
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So, to mate the two parts together, I cut the speedo cable and took everything apart |
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On the left is the square drive for the pulse generator, on the right is the round-keyed driver for the speedometer cable after removal. |
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I drilled out the speedometer drive that was on the stock cable and soldered the square drive shaft into the hole, resulting in this nifty adapter. Now, the speedometer gear on the left can connect to the speed pulse generator on the right and send pulses to the Speedometer in the cockpit |
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The arrow shows where the speedo pulse generator goes on the tranny. |
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The tailshaft of the tranny needs a new oil seal |
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Here's the aluminum tube that I used to tap the oil seal into place |
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The Reverse and Neutral switches need to have longer wires attached before the tranny is in the car. I used a nice ratcheting insulated wire crimper. If you have any automotive wiring to do, you need one of these crimpers. They make a strong crimp - it's almost impossible to pull the crimped joint apart by hand! It makes a much better and stronger connection than the non-ratcheting crimpers |
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Butt connectors were used to add some wire to the neutral and reverse switches |
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Then, a heat gun was used to shrink the heat-shrink tubing on the butt connectors to create an insulated and waterproof connection |
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I made new motor mounts because the other ones I had used allowed too much engine movement in the engine compartment. I had to trim the corner of this mount to allow for the starter motor. |
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Here's the motor being stabbed into the Mite! |
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And, after a little cursing and wiggling...it fits! Note the new red valve cover with no cam gear covers. Cool. |
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Here's the front of the engine. |
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The top |
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In the lower right of the picture you can see the new motor mounts. I borrowed the idea from the engine and tranny mounts seen on sand cars |
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Next: bolt in the rear tranny mount, get the throttle body and IAC motor mated together and installed, etc..... |