Wow, that is beautiful.
Wow, that is beautiful.
In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :
What are the dimensions on that intercooler?I measured the stock Mustang one with a core of 23 x 6 x 4, and those guys say it's inadequate even for stock. My testing of a 15 Mustang confirmed that, after ten 0-60 runs I went from a best time of 6.4 on the first one to 8.1 on the last, and that was with progressively better launches as I got used to the car.
I just got done reading through all 66 pages and this is some seriously amazing work congratulations on the progress that you made so far.
Really loving the one-off pieces with the 3D printing and machining and also the very unconventional swap
In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :
I've seen good things from the Vibrant cores. My friend uses them in his SFWD builds with custom end tanks on a forward facing manifold.
I ended up going with a Speedfactory HP dual backdoor which uses csf cores but I was considering these for quite a while as well since I know for a fact that they have louvered fins
In reply to ChrisLS8 (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks for chiming and I'm glad to have you following along!
The promised blizzard finally hit overnight. Got maybe 10" on the ground right now, and it's coming down hard.
I got a bit more done today. I never got the final location for the fuel filter/regulator, so that was today's task. Jacked the driver's side up, and fitted the fuel lines from the tank. Then I had to measure the line to the engine and put the fitting on.
Something like two years ago, I made these super advanced tools for pressing on "impossible hose-barbs". This method is so easy - literally 5 minutes to press on a fitting. I'll admit the elbow-mandrel is a little fancy pants, but otherwise anyone with a drill press or arbor press could do this.
Filter is in, though not yet mounted. I'll have to do that next time the body comes off. But the position looks perfect.
Heading back out shortly. I'm going see about mounting up the coolant expansion tank. Some bracketeering is in order.
Did a bit more yesterday. Pressure test on the header tank:
Held 20 psi for over an hour, so I'm calling it good.
I pulled off the shifter, since the position needs to come forward about 1-1/2" or so.
Question: will this whole assembly come apart? From what I can tell, the whole sliding reverse-lockout mechanism is permanently swaged onto the shift lever. Is this true?
I'll probably post that question on the main forum too.
Also, does the 6 spd NC transmission need gear oil in the shifter tower like the earlier Miata? Info is spotty on the NC.
TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) said:
Also, does the 6 spd NC transmission need gear oil in the shifter tower like the earlier Miata? Info is spotty on the NC.
IIRC I did read that it does need it. Mine had oil in it when I popped the tower off.
I hacked up my shift lever today. The construction wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I can work with it.
I'm getting to the battery cables now - temporary ones, at least. I need to land a couple big cables to each terminal - one for the ECU/Engine Harness, and then one for the body harness/chassis ground.
I got some 2 ga battery cable from the flaps and a pack of terminals. How does everyone like this connection? That gonna fly?
The terminal is made to clamp down the bare wire, as you can better see here:
In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :
You have made a vast improvement on the dreaded universal battery cable repair end.
I see nothing wrong with that. Matter of fact, ive run same/similar for many years with no issues.
Good deal. Thanks, guys.
Next battery cable question - are the hammer-to-crimp tools any good, or should I try to work with entirely pre-crimped cables?
We have a hammer to crimp we got at napa hears ago. Never had an issue!
Last night I totally struck out at the three auto parts stores near me. No smash-and-crimp tool to be found anywhere.
More battery cable questions:
The + side of the control pack runs two cables to a two-fuse 60A splitter. Big cable straight to the battery from there. Easy.
The + side of the engine harness is coming from the starter/alternator with a big fat cable and ring terminal. Should I be putting a fuse between this and the battery?
Grounds:
The control pack is pretty easy - there's just a big wire coming off the harness for the - side.
I found a ground terminal on the engine harness, but it's not especially big. Is the assumption that the primary ground will go from the engine block to the chassis?
If so, is there a designated spot on the block for the ground, or will any old bolt do?
There is a common ground point on the chassis, though at the moment I don't have anything running to it.
What else am I missing?
I'm messing with the shifter modifications. I printed an offset bracket - this one is 2-1/2" forward.
I set up my sweet racing seat, and checked the ergonomics:
It's pretty good. This is about where the factory shifter was. I could see pushing it forward just a little bit more, but it'll probably work fine here. The shifter clonks against the body going into reverse if the position gets too far left. I thought 5th and 6th were going to be a problem, but they're fine with the parking brake down.
Today was the first time I've sat in the driver's "seat" in a really long time. Interesting to do that. The foot-well is offset left a fair bit, but not terrible. I should have room for good pedal spacing and a dead pedal, though it'll take some careful thought.
TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) said:I found a ground terminal on the engine harness, but it's not especially big. Is the assumption that the primary ground will go from the engine block to the chassis?
If so, is there a designated spot on the block for the ground, or will any old bolt do?
There is a common ground point on the chassis, though at the moment I don't have anything running to it.
What else am I missing?
You can't have too many connections between the engine block and the frame. 
As an example, my '61 Pontiac came from the factory with four braided ground straps between the engine and frame - one on each side at the front and one on each side at the rear. Like this - a look online shows they're available from many sources.
TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) said:Last night I totally struck out at the three auto parts stores near me. No smash-and-crimp tool to be found anywhere.
More battery cable questions:
The + side of the control pack runs two cables to a two-fuse 60A splitter. Big cable straight to the battery from there. Easy.
The + side of the engine harness is coming from the starter/alternator with a big fat cable and ring terminal. Should I be putting a fuse between this and the battery?
Grounds:
The control pack is pretty easy - there's just a big wire coming off the harness for the - side.
I found a ground terminal on the engine harness, but it's not especially big. Is the assumption that the primary ground will go from the engine block to the chassis?
If so, is there a designated spot on the block for the ground, or will any old bolt do?
There is a common ground point on the chassis, though at the moment I don't have anything running to it.
What else am I missing?
As far as grounding the motor, I ran a braided ground strap from the start bolt (mine came with a bolt that is threaded on both sides of the hex) to the chassis.
I had to make a shifter extension as well, mine had to come back rather than forward. I ended up welding directly to the sliding portion of the shifter. Need to keep an eye on how hot it gets as there appears to be a plastic bushing inside.
I'm considering making a "remote shifter". I always envision something like the first image below, but would likely be closer to the second image...
I did pick up a "quick shifter" for a Fox body mustang from ebay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Racing-Short-Throw-Quick-Shifter-For-83-04-FORD-MUSTANG-THUNDERBIRD-T5-T45/254728056583?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649) that I think could be used as the remote portion once the bottom of the shift shaft is removed.
Quick update here. Got the shifter modifications transformed into metal:
Just needed to figure out the shift knob height. First, Drift Boi Spec:
Yeah, that was about 2" too long.
Better:
I'm not sure why they made the transmission tunnel so tall. Looks like they could have easily made it an inch or two lower. Maybe they just liked the look.
All welded up:
That's it for the moment. Lots of engine wiring going on.
I had always figured the tunnel was tall enough to clear the frame, didn't realize it was a couple of inches taller than necessary. Of course, that clearance may vary from one frame/body to the next. I think the shifter could be a couple of inches shorter still, but with your remote shifter throw that may not give you the leverage you need for effective shifting. Looking good there, Scott!
Nice work as always, you'll be driving it in no time!
TVR used a bunch of engines from a bunch of different manufacturers. Maybe much clearance for you, maybe not so much for a different manufacturer?
Did some more wiring the other day. Grounds and battery cables. It's all temporary right now, since I don't know exactly how I'm going to package everything.
This fuse holder goes to the control pack and to the fan relay. A fat cable on the input side will run straight to the battery.
A bit hard to see, but I cleaned up one of the original grounding straps and ran that from the engine lift-point to a post on the chassis. I ran all over the engine bay checking ground continuity, and it seems really good. Even one of my coolant pipes had a ground connection! (It was touching the frame in one spot - will need to isolate...)
I added another ground point up front for the fans to connect to. There was originally a stud at this location that got broken off.
On to the engine harness. As far as I can tell, this is a ground connection:
Unwrapped, it's a big bundle of solid green wires - says ground to me. What's weird is that it doesn't ring out as a ground. Could it be switched???
That is probably a ground wire, but I'd hate to think what would happen if that's wrong. Maybe leave it isolated for now and see if there's voltage once the battery is hooked up. But if it's not a ground, where would it go? Can you trace the wires to anything else?
In reply to JoeTR6 :
I traced into that bundle when I removed a sensor. The sensor had a green wire that connected in there. I'll try probing it a bit more and see what I can find.
This is definitely the part I'm least comfortable with.
More cleaning up of small details today.
I had to rearrange a couple plugs and such on the cooling system, and then I filled it up with almost two gallons of distilled water:
I doubt the hose from the radiator to the thermostat housing is full, but I don't really have a good way to check it. I think I'll just be ready to add more.
I also found out that the squeeze clamp on the coolant hose going into the turbo was not sealing properly. Replaced that with a worm clamp.
On to electrical. Connected the hots to the hot-side battery cable and the grounds to the ground side. Man, I hope I got it all right:
Got the fuse holder from the control pack connected to its battery cable, and the big fan wires connected as well:
Once I'm happy that everything works, I'll be doing quite a bit of cable shortening and dressing. Permanent mounting of all the controls is still on the table as well.
I still need to get the fuel tank wiring and fill-neck plumbing connected. Still need to get some switches mocked up for power and start. But I'm feeling good enough about everything that I did pick up 2 gallons of the good stuff:
Maybe I'll push GO tomorrow. Second pfizer shot goes in tomorrow at 9:00 am, so we'll see how I'm feeling after that.
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