Joe's '94GT money pit

joemomma · Mar 14, 2023

Got the Summit aluminum driveshaft installed, and good news, no vibrations of any sort (up through typical interstate speeds). Win.

Started cleaning on the Cobra calipers to prep for a fresh coat of caliper paint (sticking with satin black). I was using brake cleaner, and Dawn dish soap with a brass wire brush. They cleaned up nice and should look good with a fresh paint job. While cleaning I did notice that a couple of the boots were worn/damaged, so I ordered a refresh kit from LMR with all new boots/seals.

I got the aerocatch hood latches in, I'll get to work on those this weekend hopefully. Hopefully, I'm not buying a new hood at the end of the process. I also ordered new bulbs for the map and dome lights - I went with Wagner HD, for whatever that is worth. Just standard incandescent.

joemomma · Jul 31, 2023

Hood latches were installed, not a terrible job although it was kind of scary cutting in to my hood. Also got the the Cobra brakes installed this past weekend, they turned out nice. I ended up doing new O-rings, boots, and pistons on the calipers. The boots were shot, and I marred up the pistons trying to get them out. Plan for now is to just drive the car as-is for a while. At some point I'll throw some real go-fast parts at it, but that's not in the budget right now.

Musturd · Jul 31, 2023

Cutting holes in the hood is never easy. I’m always scared to do it

ttocs · Jul 31, 2023

I remember the one and only time I did it. It doesn't help when it is a carbon fiber hood....

joemomma · Sep 5, 2023

Replaced the worn speedo gear, but still no speedo/odo/trip. I'm thinking either the replacement speed sensor is shot or it is the pigtail. I managed to snap a retention clip off the last time I replaced the speedo gear, and it was loose. I'm think water got in it and ruined either the pigtail or the speed sensor (which I replaced when I did the gear last time). I thought I had an Abbott ERA lined up as my anniversary present, but we decided to get a TV for the back porch instead of presents, so there's that. A new speed sensor and pigtail isn't much, so I'll likely just get those and slap it in there. I'll also probably go ahead and wire it for the Abbott when I do it to save a trip under the car.

joemomma · Jan 2, 2024

New goodies, yet to be installed:

Abbott ERA
New speed sensor/speed sensor pig tail
Stock speedo gear (hopefully it will last longer than two weeks)
Steeda cable, quadrant, firewall adjuster

Hoping I can shake this flu and have some time to get all this installed over the winter. Right now, I don't feel like crawling under the car for anything, despite my excitement with the new goodies.

joemomma · Feb 13, 2024

I now have a working (and correct!) speedometer. I installed the Abbott ERA, new speed sensor, speed sensor pigtail, and speedo gear over the weekend. Happy to report the speedo is spot on per GPS.

First order of business was to get the speedometer working: I replaced the pigtail and speed sensor along with a new gear. I just loosely installed the pigtail as I needed to get a baseline measurement of how far things would be off with the 17T speedo gear. I didn't want to hardwire it only to have to take it back apart to install the Abbott. So, I got those installed and went for a test drive. Speedo was reading 85MPH at 60MPH per GPS app. So, that lead to a correction factor of .705 (60/85 = .705). I adjusted the dip switches in the Abbott per the included chart, and got the car back up on jack stands. I also crimped/heat shrink wire extensions to the Abbott in/out wires and ran those down through the rubber shift boot to connect to the speed sensor pigtail. I tied the Abbott power/ground in to the radio harness and left it loose behind the radio. It's pretty tight in there so it isn't going anywhere. Back under the car, I did final install for one of the wires on the SS pigtail (orange and I think it had a white tracer). The signal wire (the one you want to tap into) is gray with a black tracer. So, before I completed that connection I ran the loose end of that IN to the wire coming from the Abbott IN. Then, I connected the wire coming from the Abbott OUT to the gray/black SS signal wire going IN to the car harness. I crimped/heat shrink all connections, and wrapped the two wires coming down to the SS pigtail in Tessa tape. Then, I zip tied everything up nice and neat. The heat shrink probably wasn't necessary, as the the car rarely if ever sees rain, but it isn't something I want to do again. Working under the car wasn't terrible, as there was enough room but it's tight. I did as much prep work as I could out from under the car. I did read that you can pull the harness loose but I didn't want to mess with all that.

Also, one thing to note: the replacement pigtail only had two plain white wires on it, they were not color coded like the factory one. I had to match/mark which was signal by comparing the factory with the replacement. One side of the pigtail is round, and the other flat. Just mark it after you remove the factory one. I also marked the wires coming down under the car from the Abbott, as all I had was some length of the same color wire and they were wrapped in Tessa tape.

joemomma · Mar 1, 2024

Alternator shit the bed yesterday, got the 130A SVE on order from LMR. I also have an IAC restrictor plate in hand that I'm going to install in hopes of solving the hanging rev between shift issue.

joemomma · Mar 5, 2024

Alternator should be here tomorrow per tracking, and I have ordered some Fel-Pro gasket material sheets which should be here Thursday. The instructions for the IAC restrictor plate recommend gasket on either side of the plate, and it didn't come with one. I'll reuse the factory gasket and make one with the Fel-Pro sheets.

badass98svt · Mar 5, 2024

I have tried multiple sizes of restrictor plates (make my own). They seem to only be temporary and then the ECU seems to compensate.

Musturd · Mar 5, 2024

I also had the same experience with the restrictor plate . When my car had the stock ecu the idle always came down a bit slower then I liked . Installed one and it temporarily fixed the issue .

joemomma · Mar 18, 2024

It seems to be improving, at least on the couple of drives I've had with it installed. If the ECU figures out what's up, I may have to reset it occasionally? What's the long-term fix if the plates aren't the answer?

CobraRGuy · Apr 10, 2024

joemomma said:
I added 17" Cobra Rs and Nitto NT555G2. 17x9 with 245/45/17 and 17x10.5 with 315/35/17 for the rear. I also installed Eibach Sportlines and KYB Gas-A-Just shocks/struts with SVE CC plates. The Sportlines didn't quite give me the 2" advertised drop, but they've since settled some and it's close...maybe 1/4" off. I still haven't got it aligned yet. I need to get that taken care of before I ruin these tires.

New shoes!
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Before shocks/springs/CC plate install:
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After:
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SVE camber plates
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Sportlines
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KYB
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So you were able to fit 17x10.5 wheels with 305 tires in back with no issues? Can you tell us what the offset of those are?
I'm running the original 17x9 wheels up front with 275 wide tires with no rubbing, so I'm wondering if anyone has been able to run 17x10.5 with 305 wide tires in front. If not, where did the fitment problems show up?

Thanks, CobraRGuy

joemomma · Monday at 11:47 AM

Sorry just seeing this, been busy....

Yes, 17x10.5 in the rear with 315 Nittos. I did flip the quad shocks, but no fitment issues. It will rub ever so slightly if I take an uphill turn too quickly, but there's only one spot on my typical drive where that's an issue and I just remember to take it slow there. I don't remember the specs on the wheels, I got them from Jegs, the brand is OE Wheels.