95 GT - Das Llama!

[mcglsr2]

Okay, did some more work today/tonight. Actually, I hit a really big milestone. I got the new battery wired up, finally. I haven't connected the cables yet and actually put power through them, I need to do some double checking first. But all the wires are in place and should be good to go.

Here is the jumper bracket in place:

And with both the ground and battery cables wired up (I used the existing ground cable, cut the battery terminal off and crimped on an eyelet, and ran an extra ground cable from the jumper to the driver side strut tower):

So this may not seem like it, but this is a Big Deal. It's one of those "this is holding up a LOT of other things from getting done" type of things...that is now done. I know it doesn't seem very exciting, but I'm pretty stoked.

While I had the driver side fender off, I also decided to remove the cruise control:

I also removed the side skirts. I ordered new clips from LMR, but it won't get reattached until after paint. So I will be going side-skirt-less for a little bit.

When I move around the passenger side fender, I will remove all the evap stuff. I'm going to do something different with that since I have confirmed that MegaSquirt will not manage the purge solenoid. So out that stuff will come...

 

[mcglsr2]

Uh oh.........

ISH IS GETTIN DONE!!!!!!!!

While I was at it, I ran the passenger bank wideband cable through the firewall along with a silicon vacuum hose and my fan hi switch wire (not visible in the pic). When I go MegaSquirt, I will need to reference a vacuum source and route it to the ECU, so this is some planning ahead since I needed to run the wideband cable anyway. And let me tell you, it was a beotch :angry:

 

[Tally_4.6]

Damn that looks badass, cage should be white too lol

 

[mcglsr2]

Damn that looks badass, cage should be white too lol

Thanks Orange roll bar to match the (as yet unpainted but soon to be) orange wheels.

Edit: and the whole car is going to get a Maaco paint job to Alloy Metallic, so a darker gray. Should contrast nicely with the white interior and orange accents.

 

[Ineedav8]

Thanks Orange roll bar to match the (as yet unpainted but soon to be) orange wheels.

Edit: and the whole car is going to get a Maaco paint job to Alloy Metallic, so a darker gray. Should contrast nicely with the white interior and orange accents.

YESS

 

[g36 monkey]

That interior looks ballinnn

 

[neverenuff]

Huhokay, back to work on the car! Seriously, interruptions and lack of motivation have been killing me. Like fo realz. But I've worked on the car like twice this week so far, that's really good! And I'm making good progress, which is getting me excited again, which will encourage me to work on it more. Anyway, still *lots* to do, but I will get it done.

I decided to do away with the kill switch for now (I might have mentioned this in a previous post, don't remember), I need to focus on getting things done, not adding more to the to-do list. Along with this is the A/C swap thing that was mentioned. While it would be nice to put the gauges up where the A/C is, it's just another distraction right now. Plus the gauges there are my AFR gauges, so it's really not uber important that I see them constantly. So they will stay at the bottom for the time being (but still, thanks for the suggestion!). Once the car is back on the road and I am driving it, then I will consider doing that mod.

The last couple of nights I've been working on the battery wiring. This is a HUGE roadblock to getting the car started, so it gots to get done. I re-wired the starter cable. I used 4 gauge welding cable: here's the original starter cable out of the car and the orange welding cable getting sized up:

After looking at the stock cable, I think it was already 4 gauge - it looks just about as thick as my welding cable. So in retrospect, I probably could have left it, but I didn't know that until after I cut it to remove it. So oh well.

Here's a picture of the driver front fender: I have the 1/0 from the battery going through the firewall near the brake booster, tucking down inside the fender and terminating at a Rockford Fosgate splitter. The other side of the splitter is the smaller 4 gauge that goes directly to the starter, and a 1/0 that will go to the jumper studs under the hood in the front fender. I've got some plastic covering stuffs that I still need to put on, and there's a plastic cover that goes in the splitter. So it's not totally done yet, I'll snap another pic once I get it buttoned up.

Pic of the jumper studs (not mounted yet, just sitting in the place they will go):

From the positive jumper stud, an additional 4 gauge will run to the fuse box, tying everything together. Here's a quick drawing of essentially what things look like:

Oh, and when I start working on the engine for MOAR POWAH, I'm totally going to MegaSquirt this mofo. Long story short (and more exposition later), I've tried the QH in the past and I'm not in love. I've been reading up on MegaSquirt and 99% sure this will the route I take...but that's later down the line.

Not sure if you are mounting the battery in the trunk but I highly recommend upgrading to a higher gauge wire for the starter and your alternator, without a fuse on the starter wire as it can spike over 200 amps. If I remember correctly the alternator is at least 150 amps as well and 6 gauge wire isn't enough. My battery relocation with cut-off switch was a pain in the rear, constantly blowing fuses and what-not. I think my engine swap was easier! Just my $0.02 though. Nice build too, Keep up the great work!

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[mcglsr2]

Not sure if you are mounting the battery in the trunk but I highly recommend upgrading to a higher gauge wire for the starter and your alternator, without a fuse on the starter wire as it can spike over 200 amps. If I remember correctly the alternator is at least 150 amps as well and 6 gauge wire isn't enough. My battery relocation with cut-off switch was a pain in the rear, constantly blowing fuses and what-not. I think my engine swap was easier! Just my $0.02 though. Nice build too, Keep up the great work!

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Well, I hope I have better luck and don't blow a bunch of fuses! And thanks for the info, I appreciate it

The battery is located right behind the passenger seat, on the little bulkhead there:

You'll also notice the fuse block there, which holds a 250 Amp fuse.

For the alternator (which is either a 90 Amp or 130 Amp, not sue) the cable I used was 1 size bigger than stock, I also used larger fusible links (10 gauge, IIRC).

<soapbox, to no one in particular>
So I'm hopping that the cables are big enough. Honestly, I feel like they should be. I could be wrong, of course, and I could get all kinds of problems. Hopefully I don't, and I will find out soon enough. But when I was researching, all of the kits that were supplied had like 2 gauge max. And they expected you to run this from the trunk. One can say "But mcglsr2, these kits are junk!" and that may be true, but some R&D went into them. And people buy them. And install them straight up. And I don't see/hear about fiery deaths from these kits. Or really problems for that matter. These companies must make a profit, so if they get lawsuits and returns and a bad rep from their kits, then that defeats the purpose of making money. I'm sure there can be examples found where these things have happened. But they aren't the norm. So, while these kits may be "junk" I also believe they are "good enough." And just that. Exactly what the OEM does. Good enough...and no more. Because things cost money. My kit I pieced together, I feel, is better then what I would have gotten from a kit. Is it perfect? No, but then perfect is expensive. And since it's better than a kit, it will be a little better than "good enough." I hope. I haven't done this before, so I may eat my words. Which I will do should it come to that.

This is a lot like most car things, I think. People don't really know. We sometimes act like we do, but we don't have the backing of a large OEM and all the money, time, research and equipment that they do. So we throw something together and hope it works. Since we don't know for sure, we tend to err on the side of caution. In this case, that means big effing cables. 1/0 to everything! But that is expensive, and heavy. So we'll see. I might be just fine, or I might not and end up crying. Either way, I'll be sure you fill everyone in on what happens This isn't a high compression big block I'm trying to turn over...

Lastly, for those OEM's that have a battery in the trunk stock, am I to believe they are running 1/0 battery cable to the front of the engine/starter? I don't know. Maybe they are. My wife's Audi has a battery in the trunk, I will take a look at the cable when I get a chance. I think I will be surprised though if the cable is in fact 1/0 or equivalent in size...
</soapbox>

 

[g36 monkey]

It's probably 0000. No problems.

 

[Tally_4.6]

Everything has the battery in the trunk now.

 

[mcglsr2]

It's probably 0000. No problems.

lol

Everything has the battery in the trunk now.

Not surprised. It makes more sense for it to be there, for lots of reasons.

 

[mcglsr2]

Small update, put the racing harnesses in the car. The shoulder straps will stay in the car; the lap belts and sub harness have snap clips on eye bolts for easy removal when I'm not racing (which is like never! :derp. The normal seat belts are still functional, as I need to reach my sunglasses in the glove box. Obviously.

The Scott Rod rear seat delete aluminum panels will get riveted in after I get the tint on the rear window replaced. Not gonna lie, the interior is really starting to look damn good. It's not perfect, there's already scratches and stuff in the white paint on some of the interior trim. But for what this car is.....not bad, not too bad....

Also started working on the driver side door panel. This will be another HUGE milestone when it gets done. And seriously, it's a pain. In. The. Ass. Like fo realz.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand the Cobra front bumper came in! :gasp:

Got a coupon from LMR for spending billions of dollars on the Cobra front bumper, so I'll use it to knock a couple bucks off the millions I have to spend on a rear bumper. I'll order that in a couple days, we'll see if there's a memorial day deal first...

 

[lwarrior1016]

It's probably 0000. No problems.

That stuff isnt easy to work with, let alone hide it. I have a dual run of 4/0 to the trunk of mine.

 

[1998cobrasvt]

Yesss, Great progress! That interior is looking badass!

 

[Tally_4.6]

Whats' wrong with the rear bumper

 

[Tally_4.6]

Not surprised. It makes more sense for it to be there, for lots of reasons.

But i'm the guy replacing it. So i don't care that it makes sense.

 

[mcglsr2]

Whats' wrong with the rear bumper

It's got a sizable tear in it - looks like someone backed into a trailer hitch without first lower the connector part. It punched a flap into the bumper. I have made that flap "flush" with the bumper, but it's still there. And there's gouges and stuff. Things I'm not sure my cheapo Maaco job will really cover. Dunno, maybe I don't care. And when I bought this car, it actually had a hitch receiver thing on it, so that's probably exactly what had happened.

Disclaimer: clearly I know nothing about trailers, as evidenced by my trailer terminology in the above paragraph.


Edit: found a pic of it...

 

[mcglsr2]

But i'm the guy replacing it. So i don't care that it makes sense.

Oh, is it harder to replace or something? You have to dig it out of the wheel well or something? Behind lots of trim? I can see that being a PITA.

 

[Tally_4.6]

Go find the one in your wifes nazi mobile, and let me know what you think lol.

BMWs are particularly shitty.

 

[mcglsr2]

Go find the one in your wifes nazi mobile, and let me know what you think lol.

BMWs are particularly shitty.

Lol. I will. I remember seeing it before, didn't think it looked too bad. But then I didn't actually try to take it out. I will have a peek at that tonight.