dhanisch
10-29-2013, 07:22 PM
So I finally got the cable setup from Jim Brandwood. Luckily he is local to me and I was able to go pick it up from him on Saturday. Took me a couple days to get the car apart. Of course, not having built the car, it was a bit of a challenge to figure out where everything was secured, but it's not too bad. It probably was more work getting the old linkage out than it was to put the new setup in. I have some specialty slip on heat shields being made by the company I used to work for which specialize in heat and cable management. For now it have it wrapped in foil/fiberglass insulation, but it will be silicon-impregnated fiberglass mesh with an aluminized outer coating. I'm anxious to see how it turns out, but so far the fiberglass/foil tape appears to be working.
The result though is amazing! Shifting was probably one of the worst things I could have said about the car. My arm hurt at the end of the drive home, it was hard to get into reverse, it was sloppy. Now with the shifter, reverse is easy as can be and finding the 1-6 gears actually makes sense now. For anyone wanting to do the upgrade, I highly suggest doing it. Putting it into a previously assembled car was a bit of a chore, but not as bad as I thought. Part of my problem is that I hadn't built the car originally, so it was also a learning process for me.
I had a question though about what people did for the exhaust bracket? It doesn't go on the transaxle bolt any more with the Brandwood bracket attached to it. I am on the waiting list for a Kooks exhaust, so it will eventually be a moot point, but in the meantime, I was curious if anyone had any suggestions? Is there a way to put in a longer threaded stud into the transaxle? I'm going to bring up the issue to Jim soon. He wanted me to provide him feedback since I was local and did the upgrade.
I also put in a push-button start conversion to get rid of the key start. All in all, that wasn't too bad either. I was able to mount the push button right on top of the key so if the push button setup ever fails, I can just pull the button out of the dash and put the key in to start it. Seemed like the best option.
As a result of the new goodies added, I was wondering if anyone offered a carbon fiber center console plate? I might go with Shane's aluminum piece, but I would like to continue the carbon fiber theme since I not only have the dash piece, but also the engine cover. I was thinking an alternative to painting Shane's piece would be to have it hydro-dipped in faux carbon fiber. Not quite the same, but is an option.
Thanks everyone.
The result though is amazing! Shifting was probably one of the worst things I could have said about the car. My arm hurt at the end of the drive home, it was hard to get into reverse, it was sloppy. Now with the shifter, reverse is easy as can be and finding the 1-6 gears actually makes sense now. For anyone wanting to do the upgrade, I highly suggest doing it. Putting it into a previously assembled car was a bit of a chore, but not as bad as I thought. Part of my problem is that I hadn't built the car originally, so it was also a learning process for me.
I had a question though about what people did for the exhaust bracket? It doesn't go on the transaxle bolt any more with the Brandwood bracket attached to it. I am on the waiting list for a Kooks exhaust, so it will eventually be a moot point, but in the meantime, I was curious if anyone had any suggestions? Is there a way to put in a longer threaded stud into the transaxle? I'm going to bring up the issue to Jim soon. He wanted me to provide him feedback since I was local and did the upgrade.
I also put in a push-button start conversion to get rid of the key start. All in all, that wasn't too bad either. I was able to mount the push button right on top of the key so if the push button setup ever fails, I can just pull the button out of the dash and put the key in to start it. Seemed like the best option.
As a result of the new goodies added, I was wondering if anyone offered a carbon fiber center console plate? I might go with Shane's aluminum piece, but I would like to continue the carbon fiber theme since I not only have the dash piece, but also the engine cover. I was thinking an alternative to painting Shane's piece would be to have it hydro-dipped in faux carbon fiber. Not quite the same, but is an option.
Thanks everyone.