Some updates...

Finished the fuel tank cover a while back.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-q...922_214909.jpg

Been racking my brain on mounting locations for the ignition coils and vacuum manifold. Got the latter sorted But the coils are an issue. Most people put them on the driver's frame rail but with my side-mounted alternator this is difficult. It's possible, but tight. I toyed with the idea of mounting them like FDs do:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-f...925_194501.jpg

...but obviously I forgot about the clutch master cylinder so that doesn't work. The only way this setup work is if the coils are split in groups of two with two on the fender side and two on the strut tower.

...and I bought I bunch of stuff. Iron Canyon Motorsports fuel level sending unit (coverts resistance-based signal to 0-5V):

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-G...921_202959.jpg

Speedometer Solutions digital speedometer conversion:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A...921_203018.jpg

SakeBomb Garage IGN-1A coil brackets:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-1...921_203131.jpg

Haltech PS1000 (old Sprint RE is for sale):

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-H...007_193732.jpg

RacePak/Haltech IQ3 display dash:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-h...007_193830.jpg

Too much money spent; not enough progress...

this is good stuff. working on and off really sucks.

between the red car and the work you've done to this one, how much time have you spent building this thing. i'm just curious ....

I have no idea - way too much time. Most of it's my fault due for changing plans or increasing the scope. I made a lot of progress initially in 2011 but things kind of fell apart mid-2012 and I haven't been able to keep the same rhythm.

FFE trigger kit:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_...014_221011.jpg

Turn signal and high beam indicators for the new display.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-i...014_221043.jpg

They're incandescent but at least they have the typical arrow and high beam shapes. I think they're aftermarket OEM parts for a Harley Davidson.

Two 2' x 4' sheets of 1/16" ABS for the door panels and a small 12" x 24" sheet of .040" aluminum to finish off the ducting.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2...014_221247.jpg

Got the door panels completed. I bought some knock-off Recaro fabric on eBay and covered the ABS and picked up some red nylon straps to use as pulls.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-g..._160904158.jpg

I had enough leftover fabric to cover the headliner, which turned out better than painted ever would have.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N..._161919689.jpg

Got my custom-made harness from Chris at LMS-EFI.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w..._194312209.jpg

I've got a few more things to take care of and the body will be ready for paint. Trying to work out a plan with a local body shop to get that done in early 2015.

Heh, two months since my last update.

The car is completely stripped and at the body shop. The first order of business is a full sand blast to figure out what needs to be fixed, patched, or replaced.

Before I dropped the car off I took some final measurements so I could finish the radiator/oil cooler duct and with the car gone, I finally had some room to work to finish it. The finished product:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-v..._195429428.jpg

I split the inlet for dedicated flow to the oil cooler:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-O..._195641517.jpg

Removable side plates allow the duct to seal to the oil cooler but also be removed separately, if needed:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-C..._195851248.jpg

What it looks like with the oil cooler installed:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-c..._200320457.jpg

The remaining round holes allow everything to fit around that inconvenient front bar the FC has. I decided to leave the back of the oil cooler open to the radiator because I'm concerned the radiator wouldn't get enough flow if they were completely separate.

It's not perfect - I used what I had available. I'll probably add some weatherstripping to the edges that'll contact the body, oil cooler, and radiator to protect them and maybe seal a little better.

That's some piece of work!

You'd be amazed at how much more efficient everything cools now...
If anything, it might be too cold!

Pat yourself on the back for a job well done...


-Ted

Nice job! :cheers2:

Is your radiator & oil cooler still located in the stock locations, using the stock brackets? Too lazy to back-read, but I seem to recall you're using an aftermarket AL radiator & stock oil cooler in stock locations, but probably yanked out the A/C condensor?

If you drew up a diagram for cutting out the sheet metal pieces, please post it up!

That's damn nice work. It looks really good, especially if it's just what you had laying around haha. Might wanna wait on the weatherstripping. Ted is right, it might get too cold. Although it's probably much easier to add right now rather than once it's installed.

Everything is still in its stock location. It's a Koyo OEM-replacement Al radiator and I've ripped out everything else. I even relocated the wiring harness so it runs underneath the upper radiator support instead of along that cross member.

I have some of the templates I used but it wouldn't be too hard to take measurements off the duct itself since it's a bunch of rectangles and triangles.

Too cold, huh? That's not a problem I figured I'd have. My first engine fell victim to overheating so I want to make sure that never happens again. If it becomes an issue I can make some plates to restrict the inlet area.

I would be more worried about the oil (cooling)...

With very minimal ducting - a LOT less that what you have - we got our race-track FC from normal oil temps during street driving down to under 160F.
This same FC with no ducting was hitting 250F on track with ambients over 100F.
Normally, the thermo-pellet would kick in, but we replaced that with a nut + bolt to have oil flowing through the core full-time.
Don't quote me on this, but that thermo-pellet triggers at around 190F?
Not really a good thing to be cycling the thermo-pellet like that if temps get below...

I believe you're also streeting this FC?


-Ted

My situation is a little different...mine is an FD, dual oil coolers, VMIC and in Colorado LOL. Very dry climate, a little less air density at 6000ft, and summer days are usually between 70-90F, sometimes 100F, and winter days are between 20-60F with the occasional 80F day.

I think even without ducting my coolant is around 180F and oil around 130F while driving in the summer, and in the winter I've seen my coolant at 165F and the oil at 109F. My water temp sensor is behind the thermostat, which should be the hottest point, and the oil temp sensor is at the filter, so that one is going to read cold anyway. Granted you have a different setup, but still something to think about. It's better to err on the side of caution though, and if you need to you can go back and block some like you said. My buddy has a hard time cooling his FC down too.

It'll only see the street for things like break-in, tuning, trouble-shooting, and driving to/from local meets. It's mostly going to be a weekend track day fun car and will be towed to events (like DGRR, if I ever go) more than about an hour away since it has no A/C, heat, or radio and will be obnoxiously loud.

I also have the thermo-pellet delete but I left the thermostat in the oil cooler. I figure if anything that will be what gets a workout. If that ends up failing I can look into removing it and adding a restrictor to the oil cooler or an aftermarket thermostat.

My setup is similar in regards to location of the sensors but yeah, no turbo so no IC and just the one, big FC oil cooler. I remember reading about the old SCCA IT7 guys using two FC oil coolers in series or parallel without the thermostats to keep temperatures down. I can't remember if they were allowed ducting though so that may be why.

Sorry for the confusion.
Any reference I use to "therm-pellet" in this thread is in reference to the one located in the oil cooler.
I am NOT talking about the one located in the nose of the e-shaft; all our engine have deleted that stupid Mazda design to run oil full-time through the e-shaft, and we don't live in freezing regions.


-Ted

Snapped a couple pics when I stopped by the shop yesterday to drop off the roll bar.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S..._160959431.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S..._161011384.jpg

The pieces of tape everywhere are holes that are going to be filled in.

The shop has some interesting ideas about the roll bar. I need to look into the NASA and SCCA rulebooks to see if it's legal, but maybe someone here knows. I want to keep the bar bolt-in but I wanted more strength at the attachment points so I asked the shop to weld some 3/16" or 1/4" plates to the car. They came up with a neat idea to build little boxes at the attachment points with welded nuts inside. This way the attachment points should be much stronger and I won't have bolts going through the body of the car. Legal?

Spent the weekend getting rid of crap in the garage - made $50 in scrap. After that it was too cold to spend more than 15 min. in the garage at one time. Organized wire harness crap and started working on the plate for mounting the RacePak.

Not bad for using only a Dremel, a file, and some sandpaper:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n..._210321769.jpg

Backside with Racepak mounted and all my construction lines:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y..._210512760.jpg

Front and in the bezel:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-H..._210458873.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-y..._210537961.jpg

Still need to drill holes for the indicators, attach the plate to the bezel, and paint.

The SCCA rule book is available for free download and the cage rules are pretty well defined. NASA basically copies SCCA safety rules. I think, kind of like ASSuming, you need backing plates on the underside of the floorpan for bolt-in cages. The lay-engineer in me likes your idea but I don't know if it will pass tech.

Jealous of a clean FC shell. Makes me want to build another ITS car. :(

Damn, nice work on the RacePak mount! Especially with the tools you used, like you mentioned. My work never comes out that clean with a Dremel, even after cleaning it up with a file lol.

So, the question of legal or not relies on what you intend to do. You mentioned NASA events, but what kind of events? I hopefully don't offend, but if you are not TT licensed yet or higher, your car isn't even required to have the roll bar. You can run through the HPDE groups and even run around in HPDE 4 when you get there and the roll bar is just added safety for yourself. The question here shouldn't be if it is legal or not, but if you feel like that design would be safe. Generally, bolt in bars for convertibles (or coupes) need to have at least an 1/8" foot mounted to a plate no thinner then .120" covering 18sq/inches attached (welded) to the body. Now for some, that .120" surface IS the floorpan, etc. I don't personally trust it, but hey.. that's what is considered 'legal' and it does work ok for rollover protection.

That being said, if your body shop fabs a box (very common in weld in cages) that is 1/8" thick, the mounting foot on the roll bar is 1/8" thick and the hardware being used is all Metric 10.9 or SAE grade 5 or 8... I'd say you would pass any visual tech inspection. The entire idea is so that the bolt in cage/bar doesn't punch through the floor of the car in a roll over.

On another topic... if you're serious about track use, weld it in. You can even just weld in the bolt in cage/bar w/ the proper footing/reinforcements. We used an autopower 4pt bolt in roll bar in a NASA ESRC rally B-stock FC a long time ago. When we started competing, we just welded in the cage and added the appropriate additional points of attachment per ESRC rules.

The bolt in roll bars are good for mounting a harness to, and if properly installed, can be ok during a rollover, but they are not something I would trust for side impacts (going off, hitting a tree, concrete wall, another car, etc). Those bolts will just snap off.. what's worse still, say you go off.. have a hard lateral impact and THEN flip over... not good my friend. This just happened to a ford at Summit Point last year.. his bolt in cage snapped at the attachment when he went off before the bridge and hit a tree and proceeded to roll around (he lived, FWIW)...

I'm not trying to be a downer, I've used bolt in cages/bars and am even considering adding one to my RX8 now but I think it's important you really consider what you want to do with the car. If its getting added protection, chassis stiffening, harness mounts, etc then a properly installed bolt in is ok. If its serious motorsports (PT/TT), weld that guy in there and put it out of your mind.

Hope this helps... nice build so far man... I've always liked your updates!

Yep, read through both the NASA CCR and SCCA GCR and came to the same conclusion. The mechanical engineer in me agrees with you but you can't argue with the rules. While the regulations are for "competition" and I don't plan on going any higher than TT I'd rather conform to the competition rules than do my own thing and get constantly questioned about it.

The shell is pretty clean - definitely better than I though it would be considering it spent it's life in WI! Next time I'm at the shop I'll snap some pics of the trouble spots.

See above. I was progressing through HPDE when the red car blew up back in '11. I don't plan on building this to be competitive in any particular class but I'll likely do a TT every now and then to compete with friends. This will be a "weekend fun car" only. Otherwise, I understand where you're coming from completely.

The roll bar I have (Kirk Racing), when used as intended, conforms to all SCCA and NASA regulations. I understand it won't ever be as strong as a welded-in cage but I'll still have some semblance of an interior and want the convenience of being able to remove the bar as needed. Since I plan on taking this to the occasional meet (e.g. DGRR) I don't want to have to climb over/around bars ever time I get into/out of the car.

I asked the shop to weld 1/8" plates to the floor pan and rockers to strengthen the mounting points and they came up with the idea I described above (basically a plinth box for a bolt-in cage). A quick Google search didn't find anything similar but the CCR and GCR were both pretty clear about the need for backing plates.

Worked on some more block-off plates last night since it's been so cold. Played with .025 in. Al and the leftover .063 in. ABS I had leftover from my door project.

Al plate for the radio delete:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-M..._211155506.jpg

ABS delete for the center console:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1..._211140731.jpg

I made two of everything, even the Racepak plate. One out of Al and one out of ABS. I'm not sure which I want to use. The ABS is lighter and looks better, but I think that's just because it's black already. I'm leaning toward the Al because it's stiffer. I plan to mount USB ports for the display and Haltech in one of these panels so the extra stiffness is better.

Roll bar is going to stay bolt-in. At least for a little while longer. Stopped by the shop on Wednesday and we worked out a plan.

I decided to go a different direction with the radio delete panel. I just sold my "1FASTT2" (?) gauge panel/pod, but not before I pulled a bunch of dimensions off it. Last night I decided I'd try to replicate it in .025" Al without the holes.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-P..._215706674.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0..._215922460.jpg

Not bad. Not perfect but okay considering I used only tin snips, a vice, some wood, and sand paper. Not a perfect copy because I couldn't recreate all the bends but it's stiffer than my previous idea and avoid permanently altering the radio surround. The current plan is to mount two USB ports for the display and ECU but I can add any combination of gauges, switches, and whatever in the future.

^Much better than previous version. Plus added benefit that you can R&R whatever you eventually mount to it just like you would the stock radio - just pull out the whole unit.

I finished some of my interior projects. Radio delete plate with USB ports for the Haltech and RacePak:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-q..._202809752.jpg

That blank space in front of the console:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3..._203055339.jpg

The switch is a double pole, momentary switch for the Racepak. Last is the instrument cluster:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5..._202901702.jpg

Can't really see but I shaved off the holes for the rear defroster, cruise control, and rear wiper.

That's pretty slick.

Snapped a few pictures at the body shop. My project got pushed back so they've only just started working on filling in holes in the engine bay.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W..._160915103.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-z..._161006719.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I..._161013626.jpg

With the exception of most threaded holes, I had everything that's no longer needed shaved. Why leave the threaded holes? I figure it's best to allow for the most adjustability in the future. I'm not going for a tucked/shaved look anyway.

I just finished doing this for the first time. Good luck with it. After the fact I regret spending so much time on it, but I guess it was kind of worth it. I'm sure yours will turn out better than mine did.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...pshojnpfhh.jpg

You definitely took it further than I am. For the most part I'm leaving all the threaded holes in case I want to move things around in the future.

Update on my silly bolt-in roll bar ideas:

3/16" plates are welded to the main bulkhead on two faces. I think this is one of the strongest points on the car and is inches away from where the rear sub-frame bolts.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3..._154648654.jpg

Closer views:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h..._154016760.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-U..._154248841.jpg

Yes, the plates are on an angle because I didn't like how the bar sat with them being flat.

Nice progress looking good, any idea when it'll be done?

The body work should be done by June then there's a few other things I need to finish before I build the engine. The target to fire is August/September but who knows.

The body shop is prepping for paint so they needed all the body parts. I stopped by yesterday to drop everything off and took some pictures:

The body is sealed inside and out.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U..._151028001.jpg

The engine compartment needs a little more seam sealer before any color is sprayed.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J..._151037662.jpg

I had them bang in one area of the passenger's side of the transmission tunnel. I didn't like how close the Defined Autoworks exhaust manifold was to the body. This won't be noticeable under the carpet.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K..._151107354.jpg

The shop recommended was bedliner on the bottom of the car. It's thicker and heavier but is MUCH more durable than traditional rubberized coating.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m..._151527335.jpg

I'm not having the interior painted so it'll stay the dark gray/black of the sealer. This won't be noticeable with the interior put back together.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d..._151540541.jpg

It's hard to tell from this angle the fenders have been rolled and pulled 1 in. This looks much better than the roll/pull I did on the red car.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2..._151549815.jpg

The colors is going to be Magma Orange, color code LD2C. It's the VW/Audi color used on the Fahrenheit edition Golf GTi's.

No real updates since last time. Got the intake and exhaust manifolds coated by Swain Tech since they sit so close to each other:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_..._171410736.jpg

I'm going to put a layer of high-temp. paint over the TBC on the intake manifold.

Kid #2 was born back on 5/15 so not much time to work on anything. I did manage to find a couple hours yesterday to work on patching up the stock front wiring harness. Since I've removed so many wires I have to redo just about every stock splice. Replacing the crimp splices and covering with heat shrink tubing looks much nicer than covering everything with electrical tape...

Life does seem to get in the way of completing projects. Keep plugging away at it, we want to see this one when you get her done. :biggthumpup:

Congrads!
Everything else should be put on the backburner for such reasons!


Since you're going through all this trouble...
And I believe you're building a "race car"...?
Secure your wiring as much as possible.
If you don't like drilling more holes into the car - understandable - to add wiring clips, then you can always use glued or adhesive anchors.
This minimizes the shaking and vibration of the wiring, which WILL eventually fail at one point.
Concentrate especially at connectors and plugs which add more mass to increase the shaking and vibration and are natural fail points.


-Ted

That is good advice, I never thought about securing the wiring harness better than stock for that reason, but it makes perfect sense.

That SwainTech coating supposedly works very well, but it wouldn't hurt to add a physical heat shield between the header and the LIM also. Sorta like the ones RB makes for the carbureted 12A's.

Thanks! Things are settling down into a routine again so I should be able to get back to work soon.

Not a pure "race car" by any means. I really don't know what to call it. I'm building it the way I want to. But I get what you're saying. This is one of the reasons I didn't have any of the threaded holes plugged. There will be Adel clamps everywhere I can use one.

Progress is being made at the body shop once again. Teaser pics:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W..._104857378.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l..._104932037.jpg

Getting there. The shop estimates about 2 more weeks and that's mostly due to waiting for a new rear window.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h..._110533087.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L..._110551699.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b..._110611663.jpg

Posted a couple more pictures up on Facebook. Figured I should share them here as well. Not too much longer. Need to finish the rear window and waiting on some clips to install the sides.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U..._152742754.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F..._152649899.jpg

Few more with the rear window complete and the TII sides installed. Last item is the OEM option TII front lip and it's done.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4..._154439555.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h..._154510600.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S..._154545104.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r..._154529970.jpg

My only gripe is the alignment of the side skirt and front fender on the passenger's side. I'm going to ask the shop get it as good as possible but I've come to realize perfection isn't attainable for what I'm willing to spend with aftermarket/used parts.

Its looking good. I like the orange.. any shots of the engine bay painted up? Did you make the rear hatch?