Shoeless GTM #501 Here we go!!!

[Shoeless]

Thank you guys!! We missed most of the storm this time, but just can’t get over the devastation in the Bahamas. We have so many Bahamians we see year in and year out on our trips and I hope them the best. There are several organizations putting together private support to include a Blackhawk running full loads of supplies to West End, Grand Cay, and the Abacos. The devastation is endless.

[Shoeless]

Been way too long since I have been in the garage, I've been focusing on the wiring diagram for the engine. Since I have that knocked out, I'll need to start sourcing all the tools, mil spec connectors, and power supply items to eventually start building it. If I pick up a few tools and connectors here and there the sticker shock shouldn't hit to too hard buying it all at once.:p.

I needed to modify my ECU/Power Cell/Fuel Filter bracket I originally had Shane build for me. Going from the mistake on thinking the AEM Infinity Series 5 ECU would do what I want, I need to modify it for the Series 7 ECU that will really do what I want. Started out modifying my CAD file and then plotting out at work 1:1 scale and cutting out of poster board. I need to make a couple more mods to make room for the wires to clear the frame and fuel tank coming out of the connector, but I'm getting close. I should be able to have Shane just cut out the bottom and side section that I'm changing and get it all welded up.

https://i.imgur.com/XMbUuMl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/im8mL3p.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HNLMOrj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/24LBwp4.jpg

[Shoeless]

I also took some time to play around with a design for a carbon fiber steering wheel button plate. Now time to narrow down the 4 buttons for the top pieces. There are tons of options out there, so I may just pick up a few designs to play with and see what I like best.

https://i.imgur.com/gF6NHFM.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/subrcF7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/wPb3tDG.jpg

[Shoeless]

I sourced some momentary green LED pushbuttons for the steering wheel plate and adjusted the spacing a bit. V2 looks much better and I must say thank you to Derek Kochan from the Factory Five Builder Facebook page who hooked me up with a piece of carbon fiber. Time to reach out to my CNC router guy who did some CF work for my boat and get a test piece made out of wood to check all final fitment.

Once I get the panel made up, I'll source some wiring, shrink moldable boots, potting compound, and mil-spec connector to plug everything in. Only downside is once I install a connector on the clock spring, I won't be able to remove the Momo steering wheel adapter. So I may wait a while before hooking this all up.

https://i.imgur.com/fY8xlfj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/rCk6obC.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bra3wRS.jpg

[KGTM]

what is that to the right of the picture? USB toaster!

[Shoeless]

what is that to the right of the picture? USB toaster!

:D HAHA that's a charging station. Between work cells, ipads, and personal phones, we have too many things to plug in.

[beeman]

Looking great, Sean. I wish they still made RaceLogic TC!

[Shoeless]

Looking great, Sean. I wish they still made RaceLogic TC!

Thanks Dave!! Traction control was in the top two to three reasons why I went with the AEM Infinity ECU. There are other aftermarket ECUs that offer it, I just spent most of my time researching and learning the AEM.

[jamesfr58]

Looking Good Sean kind of wish I had done something like this after seeing a few done and in progress but gone far enough going to stick with what I have working for the interior.

[Shoeless]

Hey guys,

Been enjoying my vacation for the rest of the year as I have been in the garage for at least a little bit every day for the last week. I've done a little heat management on the AC Blower Relocation Kit from Shane that fits perfectly. I was able to get the front piece covered in one single sheet of heat reflective film, no easy task, just took it slow and methodically.

I'm moving on to the Heater Bypass valve next. I've done some searching, found a couple pics of the locations that people have done in the past, but wondering if anyone can tell me if I'm going to have any issues mounting the valve on the passenger side tunnel frame rail and just letting the value itself sit on top of the cooling lines. What do you think? Any issues I'm not seeing 20 steps ahead of where I'm at?

https://i.imgur.com/dluS6xi.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/xyajspP.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/qlpOZfL.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/xH8QmAn.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/nvkoKJv.jpg

[kabacj]

Hey guys,

I've done some searching, found a couple pics of the locations that people have done in the past, but wondering if anyone can tell me if I'm going to have any issues mounting the valve on the passenger side tunnel frame rail and just letting the value itself sit on top of the cooling lines. What do you think? Any issues I'm not seeing 20 steps ahead of where I'm am

]

That’s generally where I have my bypass. Just remember that you will have some other wiring for the engine and other things in there too. I put my bypass up a bit higher so it was above the wiring and easily visible and easily changed. It’s going to to be closed in and only visible from the top.

[Shoeless]

That’s generally where I have my bypass. Just remember that you will have some other wiring for the engine and other things in there too. I put my bypass up a bit higher so it was above the wiring and easily visible and easily changed. It’s going to to be closed in and only visible from the top.

Thanks for the quick reply kabacj!!! I figured this was the best spot Incase I ever needed to service it.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of that bypass. Just seems like a ton of unnecessary "stuff" going on, and out of 2 that I've installed, one of them leaked.....yeah....after spending hours getting all of the air out of the cooling system, nothing like draining it all out, trying to get all 4 hoses off of the hose barbs on the valve, getting a replacement valve and doing everything all over again. Also, you end up with heater hoses looped all over the place. On the car I'm currently building, I ended up installing a $5 manual inline shutoff valve in the hose going into the heater core (installed right in the hose next to the batter so you can easily get to it) and then simply T'd in a short length of 3/8" hose between the 5/8 and 3/4" heater hoses out of the WP. That way, whether the manual shut off is open or closed, there is always coolant circulating between the inlet and outlet heater hose connections at the WP to avoid the overheating problem. Not saying that this is the perfect or ultimate solution.....I just prefer simple over complicated.

[Shoeless]

I like simple and if these have issues, I might have to switch this up. Especially me being in S FL, we hardly ever need heat.

Do you have any pics you can throw up Shane? I think I have the idea from your post, but would love to see it.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Here are a couple pics. This is with the reservoir tank mounted above the LH fuel tank....

119263119264

[Shoeless]

Here are a couple pics. This is with the reservoir tank mounted above the LH fuel tank....

119263119264

Very nice, thanks for posting Shane!!! This makes perfect sense now. Thinking this over again and knowing this car will live its life in S FL, I think i'm going to go this path.

[Shoeless]

Been bouncing around on a number of small projects. This morning was focused on the steering wheel button plate. Ran a couple test pieces and then finally the CF plate. Ended up snapping one bit while cutting it, but turned out perfect. My guy will clean this up for me and give it a final gloss clear coat to seal it up and make it look nice.

While we were working on this, my guy informed me that he actually does classes on CF skinning, epoxy projects, and some general artsy kind of stuff. He really is a jack of all trades and does some amazing work creating wood slab tables and projects with epoxy in them.

https://i.imgur.com/ZuQUKEL.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uNp6S5m.jpg

[beeman]

Looks great, Sean! Love the CF!

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

That's going to look really nice!

[Shoeless]

Thank you gentlemen!!! I'm all about tastefully incorporating CF accents throughout the engine bay, interior, and exterior on this project. This one was a no brainer and needed to be custom made to my design :cool:

[jamesfr58]

Looks really good and very nice work building the whole works, going to look really great when done.

[Shoeless]

I took James' idea and Shane's test of the manual heater shutoff valve and implemented it on my build. I picked up 135 deg bent tubes from Vintage Air to come out of the heater core and keep the lines tucked up real nicely out of the way, put in the manual shut off, then secured all the hoses low and out of the way in the back. Thankfully I didn't cut the hoses too short before I secured them all, ended up with a perfect fit.

I'll be dropping off my clutch stop, ECU bracket, and rear wing mount at my welder tomorrow morning and he should have them finished up over the weekend. Then waiting on a few deliveries before I modify another Wilwood M/C for my Mendy setup, then off to the powder coater with a full load of parts.

https://i.imgur.com/SmboG5G.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/v4O9ba5.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/A9bjlBP.jpg

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

That turned out really nice!

[beeman]

Yeah thanks for posting pics of the bypass! Where did you buy the T's?

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I got my T's from Napa.....one is 5/8" and the other is 3/4"...both with a 3/8" T.

[Shoeless]

That turned out really nice!


Yeah thanks for posting pics of the bypass! Where did you buy the T's?


I got my T's from Napa.....one is 5/8" and the other is 3/4"...both with a 3/8" T.

Thank you gentlemen!!!!

I, like Shane, was able to pick up the T's and the manual shutoff valve from my local NAPA.

[Shoeless]

Picked up my CF steering wheel plate earlier today. Did a little filling to knock back some of the gloss coat and all the buttons fit perfectly. I'm waiting on one more trim pot switch and wiring supplies, and will then wire it all up. Enjoy the eye candy.

https://i.imgur.com/qUKn8f5.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/NAmtMhV.jpg

[crash]

BEAUTIFUL!

It was a bit of work but turned out so nice.

So many people take for granted just how cool some stuff in modern production cars are...kit car builders are not those people! :)

[beeman]

Really really cool

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

BEAUTIFUL!

It was a bit of work but turned out so nice.

So many people take for granted just how cool some stuff in modern production cars are...kit car builders are not those people! :)

Nailed it!!

[Shoeless]

Thank you fellas!!! Means a lot coming from the super talented regulars on the group here.

It was great to cut my teeth so to speak on this fairly straight forward CF project as my first one. So far it is turning out exactly how I imagined it in my head and I can't wait to start wiring it up. Waiting on orders from Prowire (Crash's recommendation, thank you by the way) and racespeconline.com and I should have most of what I need to wire this up.

Still need to settle on how to connect the wires to the clock spring. I need to see if a Deutsch AutoSports connector will fit inside the Momo adapter or I'll just have to butt-splice everything and make it permanent. I'd prefer to have a Deutsch AS connector so I can take it on and off for maintenance and build purposes, but it may be too darn tight.

[KGTM]

Looks great.

Well time to finish next year.

Happy new year to everyone.

Mostafa

[jamesfr58]

Looking good, really like the way it came out. Your bypass looks great also, I am still using the heater control valve with the vintage air unit but if I have any problem I am going to switch it out for a manual valve. The issue for me was living in Wyoming, I can have the air on during the hot part of the day hen the heater later on at night all in the same day so was hoping the heater control valve would do its job so I did not have to manually open and close everyday. Again, one nice job on both the bypass and the CF switches and plate fore the wheel.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

The AC works just fine....even with full flow to the heater core.....there would be no real reason to open and close the valve every day. The biggest advantage is going to be on cars like the one I'm building that is going to CA...or like Shoeless which is in FL. Hardly a need for heat the vast majority of the time the car is going to be used and you want the most cooling you can get. For Wyoming weather, I'm guessing you could just leave the heater core hooked up year round and be fine.

[beeman]

The AC works just fine....even with full flow to the heater core.....there would be no real reason to open and close the valve every day. The biggest advantage is going to be on cars like the one I'm building that is going to CA...or like Shoeless which is in FL. Hardly a need for heat the vast majority of the time the car is going to be used and you want the most cooling you can get. For Wyoming weather, I'm guessing you could just leave the heater core hooked up year round and be fine.

I plan to have a mechanical valve with an actuator cable like this, easy to hide under the dash...

http://classicfordradiator.com/heatercontrolcable-1.aspx

[crash]

Remember, the issue that the heater control valve addresses is not only cutting flow to the heater core when max A/C is needed, that is what is accomplished with the standard VA control valve. The issue is maintaining flow when the heater core is shut off so that the thermostat works properly. From what I understand by reading and looking at the pictures, Shane's solution will bypass fluid 100% of the time. The upgraded heater control valve from My Race Shop does not work like this. It only bypasses when the heater core is shut off. If you wanted to do what Shane is doing you could just drill a hole in the thermostat and achieve the same constant bypass, no tees and tubing required.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Any idea of how many/what size holes would have to be drilled in order to prevent the engine from overheating and also still provide proper t-stat operation? I guess I never really understood the design of the t-stat/WP in that regard....what is the purpose of having the t-stat seal off that other part of the WP? Why not just make that a solid casting?.....or make the proper sized opening/bypass there in the first place to always provide enough flow so that engine doesn't overheat? I've always viewed the whole thing as completely bass-ackwards from what it should be.....which is why this whole thing is such an issue in the first place. One of those things that GM should have used 100 years worth of "this is what works" and stuck with it instead of making some thing so simple into something that doesn't work right.

[beeman]

One of those things that GM should have used 100 years worth of "this is what works" and stuck with it instead of making some thing so simple into something that doesn't work right.

Don't get me started on the suspension geometry!

[crash]

Any idea of how many/what size holes would have to be drilled in order to prevent the engine from overheating and also still provide proper t-stat operation? I guess I never really understood the design of the t-stat/WP in that regard....what is the purpose of having the t-stat seal off that other part of the WP? Why not just make that a solid casting?.....or make the proper sized opening/bypass there in the first place to always provide enough flow so that engine doesn't overheat? I've always viewed the whole thing as completely bass-ackwards from what it should be.....which is why this whole thing is such an issue in the first place. One of those things that GM should have used 100 years worth of "this is what works" and stuck with it instead of making some thing so simple into something that doesn't work right.

I think the problem was likely packaging once the fuel injection throttle body was put where the thermostat housing was on a small block Chevy. It should be noted that the stock thermostats DO have a small hole in them, presumably to keep water flowing in slight amounts to the other side of the thermostat, and to also keep air from being trapped as the proper placement of the stock thermostat is to place that hole at the top of the housing. That said, it is important to note that the original design of the LS engine always, as far as I know, incorporates the use of a heater bypass valve. It is simply part of the systems design. You can find cheaper and easier ways around the problem, heck I tell people constantly that a heater bypass valve really isn't needed, and neither would your solution be for that matter, if they just want to pay attention to what they are doing and make sure that the Vintage Air control valve is not closed during a warm up cycle. Simple as that.

If you don't want to go to that trouble, and you want the solution that the OEM designed into the system, then that is the use of the correct heater bypass valve components.

[Shoeless]

Thanks for the discussion on the bypass topic fellas, that's what makes this forum great, we have very talented and knowledgable builders/racers to discuss items just like this.

I'm going to give it a shot as is. Once I get #501 to the go cart stage there will be plenty of road tuning, since I will be attempting all the tuning myself and will be able to really flex this and test it out. If I see unusual signs (higher temps, odd V/A functioning,...whatever) I'll be able to adjust. It will be a bit of a pain to change later, but since I live in S FL, I'll hardly ever use the heat anyways. Maybe I'll just hold onto the bypass valve just in case.

[KGTM]

Here is old and the way I have done mine, used a 12V, 3 way valve.

119871

[crash]

Here is old and the way I have done mine, used a 12V, 3 way valve.

119871

That looks good. I have been wanting to simplify the kit and wanting to use a 12V valve instead of the two valve vacuum system. Unfortunately all the electric valves I have tried had various issues. What valve are you using, specifically?

[KGTM]

I did this a long time ago, the valve by vintageair was made by Horton and I they have the 3 way version of the same part, they told me they only sell to OEM, so I could not get the part, but what she did for me was send me the third port that is missing on the valve and I just attached it and made the 2 way to 3 way, it screws to the back, so may be since you are a vender/OEM call them up and buy it from them or just get the third port and sell that.

Since I am home today got a picture.

119934

Hope this helps.

Mostafa

[LCD Gauges]

Great work! Are you using spacers for the screws, or does the wheel clamp down on the CF?




Picked up my CF steering wheel plate earlier today. Did a little filling to knock back some of the gloss coat and all the buttons fit perfectly. I'm waiting on one more trim pot switch and wiring supplies, and will then wire it all up. Enjoy the eye candy.

https://i.imgur.com/qUKn8f5.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/NAmtMhV.jpg

[Shoeless]

Great work! Are you using spacers for the screws, or does the wheel clamp down on the CF?

Thank you Sir. I’m going to go with the wheel clamping down on the CF. I figure the more surface area clamping it down the better.

[RR46]

Nice CF steering wheel setup! Looking fwd to checking in on this build!

[Shoeless]

Nice CF steering wheel setup! Looking fwd to checking in on this build!

Thank you Sir!!

[Shoeless]

Hey guys,

Been a bit since an update and in normal fashion, I'm jumping around knocking a few things out here and there. I got in my new e-brake cables as I just didn't like any of the OEM solutions. I threw in a strip of aluminum to hold the distribution block and shortened the front cable to 5 1/4" from the handle. I then routed the rear cables outside of the motor mounts, added some heat shielding, and ran to the spindles. I ordered up some more p clips to secure the cables in place and made sure they will clear the rear rims. As soon as the clips come in I'll secure these in place and check that off my list finally.

https://i.imgur.com/PKtW03x.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/wQRZB5W.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/NwdMSAR.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/EfO6Srq.jpg

I also had the wife help me drop the motor back in, this is the first time she has helped on the car at all in the 2 year process so far LOL. Little does she know, I'll need her help today to install the floor AC vents, there is no way I can put them in and secure them by myself.

I threw the headers on and dang there is no space whatsoever in there. Glad I threw the AC compressor line on before I tried to put the headers on as that would have been impossible with them in place. Off to the garage to see what I can knock out today. I've got some family in town next weekend so I'll be running down to Key West then CT for a business trip, so maybe no so much getting done over the next couple of weeks.

https://i.imgur.com/ydL5D3C.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/i7gtahw.jpg

[Shoeless]

Also finished up mocking up the radiator hoses in the front. I always liked the look of the all black silicone hoses and this turned out just like I wanted. The hoses sit naturally just to the left of the battery box.

https://i.imgur.com/7Zqb8u9.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/g3QnQzL.jpg

[RR46]

While you're at this stage, before it's "too late". Have you considered routing the radiator pipes on the outside of the cockpit?

121315

[cob427sc]

I second the idea of routing the cooling pipes outside the cockpit. I built an early GTM and the heat inside from the cooling pipes was unbearable! Heavily insulated the pipes and left the closing panel off the bottom to make it acceptable. Prior to those changes the tunnel became so hot you couldn't rest your hand on it. If I built another, I would route the pipes through the rocker panel/ door sill area and then foam the pipes in place.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I second the idea of routing the cooling pipes outside the cockpit. I built an early GTM and the heat inside from the cooling pipes was unbearable! Heavily insulated the pipes and left the closing panel off the bottom to make it acceptable. Prior to those changes the tunnel became so hot you couldn't rest your hand on it. If I built another, I would route the pipes through the rocker panel/ door sill area and then foam the pipes in place.

IMO, the tunnel heat has very little to do with the coolant pipes....especially if you have them insulated. All of the heat in the tunnel is from the engine bay. If the engine bay is unbearably hot, the tunnel will be unbearably hot. The heat from the engine bay gets pulled forward into the tunnel and exits out the front. This is why it is absolutely critical to provide as much air flow thru your engine bay as possible with multiple paths for fresh air to get in and multiple ways for the hot air to be evacuated.

[Shoeless]

I'm taking Shane's approach on this, airflow in and out of the engine pay in order to cut it down as much as possible. I'll have the roof scoop and side 1/4 window scoops for airflow in. Then I plan on attempting to make my own carbon fiber louvered/open hear hatch to replace the glass. Probably add a few others when I get to that stage of the build, but I think I have my bases covered.

Regardless, I've got my coolant pipes insulated with 300 deg. foam tube insulation and all panels in this area are coated with Lizard Skin heat insulation.

[Edgeman]

Just a heads up on the foam insulation, I also used this and it did end up melting. Ended up making a big mess and then trying to get it off the lines was impossible.

[beeman]

I'd be interested in what the temps are measuring in the tunnel. The foam shouldn't be melting at coolant temps, and probably much higher than that. As Shane suggests, header heat must be coming forward...but how much?

[Shoeless]

Just a heads up on the foam insulation, I also used this and it did end up melting. Ended up making a big mess and then trying to get it off the lines was impossible.

Hey Edgeman,

Did you get the standard insulation, which I think is good to 210 deg or so, or did you go with an increased temp product? I went out of the way to get the increased temp stuff for my build. Add to this Shane's louver parts and I should have some airflow in there to keep heat going out the back.

It wouldn't surprise me if some header heat is moving forward causing issues, but as Beeman states, how much?

[crash]

Something like this...

[crash]

That made a SERIOUS difference in the cockpit temps. Granted we don't have the tunnel to begin with on this car, but moving two tubes that run around 200 degrees out of the inside of the car made a HUGE difference in driver comfort. I would HIGHLY recommend this mod.

[beeman]

Crash's setup is ideal with the coolant line running behind the firewall but you can't do that without moving the fuel tanks. So you have the option of routing behind the seats in front of the firewall (like I am doing through an insulated tunnel) or a longer less efficient route over or around the fuel tanks... Or if you make custom aluminum tanks, have your fabricator make a 2x2" channel in the front lower corners of the tanks.

http://fs5.directupload.net/images/180827/uco8qpmj.jpg

[Shoeless]

I wish my fab skills were half of what you guys can do :cool:

[Edgeman]

Hey Edgeman,

Did you get the standard insulation, which I think is good to 210 deg or so, or did you go with an increased temp product? I went out of the way to get the increased temp stuff for my build. Add to this Shane's louver parts and I should have some airflow in there to keep heat going out the back.

It wouldn't surprise me if some header heat is moving forward causing issues, but as Beeman states, how much?

It must have been the lower temp stuff because it did not take long before it melted. Just a heads up and hope it works out for you.

[jamesfr58]

Back from out trip and trying to get caught up on things, so though I would add to the discussion on insulation for the hard lines in the tunnel. I used a ceramic tape like header tape and covered it with reflective aluminum tape. I looking at the foam or soft type of insulation for the coolant lines the specifications for this type of insulation indicate it will melt at around 210 degrees F for most of this type of insulation but there are some forms that say they will reach a higher temperature before melting. There is also the issue of the gas produced if it burns or melts that can be hazardous to breath, so I opted for the different way to insulate the lines. I insulated both radiator supply and return lines and the heater lines supply and return in the same manner, the gold covered lines are the A/C hard lines insulated with refrigerant line insulation and covered with reflective film. Below is a picture of how I insulated the hard lines in the tunnel.

121460

And agreed the key to keeping the header heat from migrating back up the tunnel is good air flow through the engine compartment to remove heat via the rear of the car.

[Shoeless]

Hope you enjoyed your trip James and thanks for the additional feedback. that's what makes this group of builders great, we all have creative solutions to the known problems at hand.

[Shoeless]

Would you look at what showed up today. Its nice to finally have all the big ticket items.

https://i.imgur.com/6eVKSjP.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/KBT32KK.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/KZfotmD.jpg

[crash]

WOOHOO! Major progress coming soon.

[Shoeless]

woohoo! Major progress coming soon.

hells yea!!!!

[beeman]

Nice, I'm a little jealous of your Mendeola...

[jamesfr58]

Bet that made your day, now you really can get it moving along with all the big ticket items delivered, major milestone for sure. Looking good !!

[KGTM]

looks so shiny:p
This is the fun part.

Enjoy.

Mostafa

[Shoeless]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. This day has been long overdue, but she’s here now, so time to get back in the garage :cool:

[Edgeman]

I remember that day like it was yesterday. Sure makes you want to getter done now and take that first test drive. Have Fun!

[Shoeless]

I remember that day like it was yesterday. Sure makes you want to getter done now and take that first test drive. Have Fun!

You are absolutely right. I woke up way to damn early for a weekend this morning being overly excited to get to work. A little too early to start making noise in the garage so I put a couple orders together for more wiring supplies.

Man I can't wait to get this bad boy up and running :cool:

[Shoeless]

Hey guys,

Couple small items knocked off the list. I've picked the final location of the mega fuses, following some other builds as it makes sense for me, and have the bracket all fitted up nicely and test fitted. I picked up an additional mega fuse holder for the stereo I plan to add so everything matches nicely. Broke this down and a few other items and dropped them off at the powder coated. I'll stick with the theme of Silver Hammertone for accent pieces.

https://i.imgur.com/DD48AqE.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ierYFjN.jpg

Also got the ever important clutch stop welded, painted, and fit up in place. I didn't like the angle with a regular bolt head so I opted for a rounded head large bolt and it looks like this will fit the bill perfectly.

https://i.imgur.com/1X5e5Wj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Qp6uoJd.jpg

Also got the rear wing mocked up. I think I have a little more work to do in order to get everything squared up to compensate for a bit of distortion that showed up when welding the mount to the trans bracket, but overall I'm very pleased with the results so far. Thanks again Shane for the great products and a couple pointers over the weekend.

https://i.imgur.com/YYc6jyn.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4NzdsQN.jpg

[KGTM]

I am sure you know but just in case, there is a panel that mount there where fuses are ( I see the holes for it) and has angle and help support the the hood and also move air up and out from radiators fans., may be the fuses clear it.

Mostata

[Shoeless]

It will most certainly clear :cool:, but thank you for the reminder.

[Shoeless]

I think I'll be tackling the flywheel, clutch plate, and Mendy install this weekend.

Any tips or tricks you guys can share?

I'll likely be going at this venture alone so I think ratchet straps and my engine hoist are going to be my best friends LOL. I've still got my lift plate on the motor and have discovered a ratchet strap over the roll cage allows me to easily change the angle of the motor easily.

[crash]

Don't know if it is the same on the SDR as the S5 but we frequently have to adjust the throughout arm position so that there isn't pre tension on the pressure plate when we get our transaxles back from Mendeola. They can sometimes get them a spline off when putting them back together. Minor issue, but something to double check when installing. Shifter adjustments can be maddening and time consuming, but that is the same for all mid engine transaxles.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I find it handy to throw a thin board of piece of plywood down on the bottom of the chassis, so that as you're guiding the trans under the X in the chassis, you can set the transaxle down on that board and take a rest or slide the trans across the board and up tight to the engine without scraping the chassis up. Once you have the trans bolted up tight to the the engine, you can lift the rear of the trans up into position and slide the board out the back.

[Shoeless]

Thanks for the pointers fellas!!! This things starting to really come together.

[Shoeless]

Had a great day in the garage today and got the Mendy Stage 2 installed and everything mocked up. Pretty straight forward and I was glad I was able to knock this out by myself. I've pulled the trans mount parts off to run to the powder coater before I take a cruse down to Mexico next week with the wife.

https://i.imgur.com/GFx3bEV.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8FyRgRG.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uw8liFZ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/hTpOamN.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/NPHdn7h.jpg

[beeman]

Nice to see the gearbox in there!

[Shoeless]

Nice to see the gearbox in there!

Its a great feeling for sure!!! I can't wait to get the parts all powder coated an installed for hopefully the last time :cool:

[Shoeless]

Picked up and dropped off some parts at the powder coater today. I'm really digging the silver hammertone accent pieces I have on this build. Here is the custom Injector Dynamics Fuel Filter, Infinitybox Power Cell, and Infinity Series 7 ECU bracket Shane helped me fab up.

https://i.imgur.com/yKD6MGV.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/NdF6MSB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/BaAWcHj.jpg

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Very nice!!!

[Shoeless]

Hey guys,

Pretty productive Saturday in the garage after getting back from Mexico. I picked up all my powder coated parts to finish the engine/trans install. So far i'm pretty happy how this is turning out. So I threw up the firewall just to check. I still need to remove some material to fit around the roll cage and thought I was going to have an interference with it and the firewall. I walked around for a min scratching my head and then decided to tighten down the intake a bit and damn is that a close fit. I think I will have about 1/16" of clearance when all said and done.

Being this is so close I was wondering if I have the rear rubber bushing and spacer supporting the Mendy trans in the proper orientation (pic 6 - I've got the thicker spacer on the bottom and the thicker washer under the trans support bracket).

Anyone remember the orientation of the rubber spacers and washers for a Mendy setup?

https://i.imgur.com/e2MW2Z6.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/GBOOmgT.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2sJFwkb.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/W8kIWe2.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/VzuRoRk.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HFDEGZd.jpg

[jamesfr58]

Sean,

I had the same issue with my LS3 using standard motor mounts so sure my issue was just the difference between the LS1 and the LS3. Here is what I did, I had to add spacers behind the bottom of the firewall and pitch it out. The top is in the original position to the seal will hit the roof in approximately same position. The spacers were added tot he bottom and again at the location where my harness bar is located so it bolts up tight. Mine actually just barely touched the intake manifold but believe I have enough room now around 1/4"+ between where the intake manifold and the bottom of the firewall (window wall), this is what it looks like:

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[jamesfr58]

Transmission mount looks great, really nice installation keep up the great work. Hope you had good trip but if like me always good to get home and back in the shop!!!!

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

The firewall panel needs to be fitted with the body on and the body positioned properly on the chassis. From the photos above, looks to me like it needs to move up probably close to 1/2" from where it is now or you're going to have a huge gap between the top of the panel and the roof.....you need that to be tight enough that the bulb seal will seal to the roof. Like all of these panels, normally it requires quite a bit of trimming and fitting to fit the body. The span between the halo bars is normally a good profile, but once you grind out enough material around the halo tubes to move it up to where the center will seal against the roof with the bulb seal on, the sides of the panel that seal against the quarter-window area of the body needs to be trimmed back to make room for the bulb seal because it's too tight there.

[jamesfr58]

Shane is correct in his post above, I had to remove material around the halo tubes to get the center section to fit right, then the out section at the quarter window the bulb seat was way to tight and crushed completely so had to remove material on each side to get the fit right without crushing the seal at the quarter wind section. It took several time trying the fit to get it right.

[Shoeless]

Many thanks for the tips on getting this firewall piece in place properly!!! I was about to start grinding away on the halo openings, but I think I'll wait till I get to the point I'm ready to put the body on for a fit check of things before I start grinding away.

Shane,

Do I remember you mentioning somewhere that you have trimmed back the insulation cover on the intake to allow the firewall to go flat against the back frame rails? I wouldn't mind making some spacers like James is doing, but I know he has compensated with all the other components to fit up really nicely and I'm not sure how much of the interior I will do.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Yes, that intake insulation cover on the LS3's always gets trimmed off to clear the firewall. Just make a nice, neat cut and no one will ever notice because it's still going to be sort of tucked up against the firewall there where it's hard to see. I would not use spacers to move the firewall forward as that will effect the fit of the waterfall to the chassis and also the small aluminum cockpit close-out panels behind the door openings....and the fuel tank covers will no longer hold the fuel tanks tightly in place....and the cockpit sidewall brackets that span from the firewall to the door jamb will not fit....and the outer edges of the firewall would be seen thru the quarter windows if you were going to install those.....

[beeman]

Shane knows these cars so well that he can rattle off 14 issues with moving the firewall 1/4 inch. I'm impressed!
My "beauty cover" on the ls3 was also hitting my firewall so I elected to simply remove it.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Shane knows these cars so well that he can rattle off 14 issues with moving the firewall 1/4 inch. I'm impressed!


:D .....34 GTM builds later.......

[Shoeless]

Shane,

Your knowledge of these cars continues to blow me away. I guess that does come with building 34 of these bad boys LOL. Thanks again for the feedback, it is amazing how minor adjustments will have such a trickle down affect on everything else.

I'll be trimming back the cover and getting it back in place. I would assume this cover also protects against heat soaking the intake.

[jamesfr58]

Sean,

Shane is right when looking at moving the window wall to make room for the intake on the LS3. My window wall does hit he correct spot on the roof of the car but with only the bottom shimmed out about 3/16 – 1/4 inch I had to make a few other adjustment to the interior pieces that seal the cockpit off from the engine compartment. I was going to need to modify these pieces as well anyway because of the way I built the interior as by side panels were changed (remember the small loaf pans etc.), so due the changes and not wanting to attached the bits and pieces that seal off the cockpit on the lower section of the cab these pieces were always going to be modified. The strap that goes from the window wall at the ¼ window area fits without modification and since I am not installing the ¼ window you will not be able to see the bottom of the wall kicked out a little.

Might have been simpler to just cut down the intake insulation but I sis it different knowing I was going to make modifications. My fuel tanks are held in place with a separate system and since I added the stereo equipment boxes to the panels behind the seat I planned for the need to have extra space between he tanks and the panels to attach all the parts with interference or hitting the tanks. I should also say here I did install aluminum tanks not the C5 tanks so to hold them in place I used a different method. A lot of extra work I suppose but it is coming out as planned and again just a different way of getting to the same place.

[Shoeless]

Thanks for the input James, I’ve definitely been following your build very closely and have gained many ideas along the way. I too went with the same tanks as you have and may do something to held them in place a little more than just the back walls sandwiching them in place. I guess I need to drill some holes and bolt them in place at the bottom, before I do the back windows piece, and see how secure the tanks are.

I’ve been making great progress since Christmas break on my build and have been thoroughly enjoying it, adding my own flare of things along the way. I really can’t wait to get all the big pieces and plumbing in place for the trans and engine coolers to then start the engine wiring harness process. I’ve put so much time and effort into just the planning and getting the proper tools, I’m dying to jump right in to it. I may start by wiring up my steering wheel button plate, potting and booting the back of the switches and getting a nice Deutsch AS connector for it. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to stuff the connector inside the Momo adapter or if I’ll have to run it on the outside. Guess I just need to jump in and see what all fits, but the damn connectors are so expensive I better make sure I have it all planned out properly ;)

[jamesfr58]

Sean

Here is what I did, welded square tubing under where the tanks sits to the frame. Then covered the crossbars with a piece of rubber material like weather stripping and attached them to the crossbars with adhesive. The I build the adjustable tank hold downs that match the taper int eh aluminum tanks and apply downward pressure to keep the tanks from moving. I can adjust the amount of pressure I want to put on the top of the tank if needed. The hold downs are welded to the frame and behind the window wall. It worked out well and with the rubber material on the crossbars they should not move at all. Here it what the tie downs look like:

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Just a different idea I am throwing out but from what I have seen of the parts you have designed I am sure you will come up with something that will look really good and functional as well....

[jamesfr58]

Well did it again they are sideways so here they are again right sides up ....LOL

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[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

That's a good thing to point out. The tank covers normally secure the plastic fuel tanks in place....the alum covers actually bend around the front side of the tank with quite a bit of force to pinch them in place so they can't move. With the aluminum fuel tanks, that is not the case.....the interior tank covers just span from the window firewall panel to the floor pan and don't put any pressure on the tanks at all....so you do need to figure out a way to secure them.

[Shoeless]

I TOTALLY need to learn how to weld LOL. Since we have the same aluminum tanks, I'll get something mocked up and either have my guy come by and weld it up for me or I'll rivet to the frame.

Thanks for the feedback guys. It really helps having a community of builders so willing to share pics and logic around the builds. I know it takes time to post them and give feedback, so I really appreciate it.

[Shoeless]

I hope everyone is staying safe and following the guidelines to self quarantine and work on their cars :cool: My work has us on a day in the office/work from home rotation as we fall into the category of essential being we support the military with our APUs.

I've been able to get out in the garage here and there to get some things going. I finally decided to break into the donor axles and pop off the outer CVs, clean and prep them, and do the same on the 930 CVs. I'd like to thank Crash for his video on prepping the 930s and beeman for his detailed posts, and not to mention is special c-clip tool. I referred back to both throughout the process to make sure I have everything prepped and back in the proper orientation. I'd have a hard time getting the wife to help with with putting these pack together, so I'm looking forward to using beeman's special tool. Once I'm done with it I will post up that it is available and I'll cover the shipping to pay it forward. I also decided to clean up and throw a coat of paint on the axles as well. I screwed one up, so I had to strip and repaint it this morning. Couple more coats of clear and it will be done. Once these dry up, I'll be ready to start putting everything back together. I've got some of Crash's recommended Bel-Ray lube, but will need more or another product to do a blend. Stay tuned on that.

https://i.imgur.com/460pyGW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/kTXWCMa.jpg

I also spent a little time with the gas tanks to see what I could do to "lock" them in place. The easiest thing I could come up with is 1/8" neoprene padding and throwing a small aluminum bracket on the back side. I also put an 8" strip on the frame at the top where the tank would hit the frame. I then put some of the neoprene insulation on the tank front and tested it with the firewall in place. Seems pretty stout to me and the tanks are not moving at all. Hopefully I'm not missing something that goes in this spot down the road. I'm sure you guys will let me know.

https://i.imgur.com/2bQSi5r.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/LRibysV.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Ho2wedI.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/aJwUr3m.jpg

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Just a side note....before you drill the chassis and firewall window panel for the tank covers, they normally need some trimming to fit properly once the tunnel alum is installed. They normally need to be notched a bit where they hit the bracket that supports the door striker....so the top of the panel ends up roughly flush with the end of the firewall window panel.

[Shoeless]

Just a side note....before you drill the chassis and firewall window panel for the tank covers, they normally need some trimming to fit properly once the tunnel alum is installed. They normally need to be notched a bit where they hit the bracket that supports the door striker....so the top of the panel ends up roughly flush with the end of the firewall window panel.

Thanks for the pointers Shane. I don’t know where I’d be on this build without the support of yourself and so many others. I envision needing to throw the body on here one of these days to fit up the back window firewall. I’d really like to get that piece fitted around the roll cage and up against the body to know it’s final resting place so I can drill and mount it. That will then lead into fitting the behind the seat firewalls fit and finish.

[crash]

As to the Bel-Ray...you can do 2 CVs with one bottle. I recommend cutting the top off the bottle so you can easily access significant amounts at one time to use for packing the CVs. I use a Hagen Daz pop sickle stick to do the packing. As I have explained before, the prepping, packing, and sealing of the CVs is roughly a 6 hour job. Which is why I don't offer assembled axles. They are very labor intensive to get right. I do need to do a video on exactly how I do the packing and sealing. Maybe during this "vacation" time?

[beeman]

Popcicle stick! That's a good tip. I used a bondo spreader to force it into the crevices too.

[Shoeless]

As to the Bel-Ray...you can do 2 CVs with one bottle. I recommend cutting the top off the bottle so you can easily access significant amounts at one time to use for packing the CVs. I use a Hagen Daz pop sickle stick to do the packing. As I have explained before, the prepping, packing, and sealing of the CVs is roughly a 6 hour job. Which is why I don't offer assembled axles. They are very labor intensive to get right. I do need to do a video on exactly how I do the packing and sealing. Maybe during this "vacation" time?

This is definitely a labor intensive process and I can completely understand why you don't offer assembled axles. Not to mention just a pain in the *** and messy as can be LOL. Seems like we are all getting some things done with this "vacation" time. If you do put a video together, I'm sure the community will be very appreciative. I for one would be since I doing this process right now ;)

[Shoeless]

Popcicle stick! That's a good tip. I used a bondo spreader to force it into the crevices too.

I was thinking a bondo spreader would be perfect for this as well.

[jamesfr58]

I used a Popsicle stick myself never though of using bondo spreader but that would have worked as well.

[crash]

The reason I use a "wooden stick" is because anything larger just smears the lube onto the areas of the CV that I will have to clean in order for the silicone sealer to stick. The Hagen Daz stick is almost the exact size of the balls and therefore makes the perfect spatula to work the grease into the races without making too much of a mess. It also makes for a good excuse to eat a couple of Hagen Daz ice cream bars!

[Shoeless]

The reason I use a "wooden stick" is because anything larger just smears the lube onto the areas of the CV that I will have to clean in order for the silicone sealer to stick. The Hagen Daz stick is almost the exact size of the balls and therefore makes the perfect spatula to work the grease into the races without making too much of a mess. It also makes for a good excuse to eat a couple of Hagen Daz ice cream bars!

You make a good point. I’ll buy my wife some Hagen Daz and she’ll think I’m totally treating her. Til she finishes it and I ask for the stick back HAHAHA. Wish I could eat it myself, but too many carbs and sugar for my diet.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

124701

Or buy some at Walmart. I use these on a daily basis for almost everything.....small sanding block to get in small spaces, epoxy mixer, temporary shims, bodyfiller mixer, wedges for removing fg parts from moulds, mixing fg resin......

[Shoeless]

124701

Or buy some at Walmart. I use these on a daily basis for almost everything.....small sanding block to get in small spaces, epoxy mixer, temporary shims, bodyfiller mixer, wedges for removing fg parts from moulds, mixing fg resin......

Of all the places in this world I'm not excited about visiting at the moment is Walmart HAHAHA. Maybe I'll swing by there tomorrow on the off hours as I'm working from the house M W F this week. Maybe I'll make a fun trip out of it and show up in full PPE - Tyveck suit, respirator, and goggles just for fun :cool:

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Of all the places in this world I'm not excited about visiting at the moment is Walmart HAHAHA. Maybe I'll swing by there tomorrow on the off hours as I'm working from the house M W F this week. Maybe I'll make a fun trip out of it and show up in full PPE - Tyveck suit, respirator, and goggles just for fun :cool:

LOL!! Well at least I don't think these would be on the list of things people are hoarding!

[beeman]

Who knows, with 100 million kids at home from school, craft sticks may be a hot item!

[jamesfr58]

I have two different sizes of these sticks one that are the smaller size like a popsicle stick and larger ones like Shane has shown above and I use them all the time along with acid brushes that can be just tossed in trash when done..

[Shoeless]

Had to leave work early today for an Appt and decided to swing by wallyworld. I was able to secure the box of craft sticks Shane posted and picked up some hooks for my upcoming fishing trips. Hopefully the seas start laying down a bit so I can head offshore for some fishing. I was able to sneak out a couple Friday’s ago and nailed one Golden Tilefish so I was stoked about that. Fresh fish for dinner :)

[jamesfr58]

Sounds good a fishing trip but we still need the weather to get warmer still some ice on lakes and I am fair weather fisherman, none of that ice fishing for me. :rolleyes:

[Shoeless]

Sounds good a fishing trip but we still need the weather to get warmer still some ice on lakes and I am fair weather fisherman, none of that ice fishing for me. :rolleyes:

I tried the ice fishing a few times with my family in WI. Even gave Sturgeon spearing a shot once. Those guys are hard core being such a small season for them. They party at the bars all night then go sit in a little shack the next morning and just stare down a hole and hope one swims by LOL

[Shoeless]

So it was finally time to delve into the CV and axle prep work. I read over beeman's posts, watched crash's CV prep video again, and got everything all laid out and ready. Beeman was also nice enough to ship me his tool that he build to help with the c-clips on the outers. I also had a question on whether I should go with straight Bel-Ray or do a blend of the Swepco 101 that beeman also used. Did some reading and consulted with a couple members and decided a 50/50 blend of Bel-Ray and Swepco 101 would work for me.

I started out with packing the inners with the blend and craft sticks. These were really the perfect size to put some compound in the groves and then "sweep" it down into the CV to fully pack it. Repeat this a few times for each spot on both the inner and outer races to work the air pockets out and you are good to go. I then used beeman's tool he sent me to install the CVs on the axle and I was able to get one of the outers to work with the tool, but had issues with the second one. Not sure if I just didn't close up the c-clip enough, but I defaulted to the instructions Shane put out there. I simply cleaned off the CV and the axle so I could see the c-clip, put the axle in a vice, leaned into the CV with my chest and worked around with a screw driver. After a little fiddling with it, bam it slide right in, and minimal bruises on my chest LOL. The outers were obviously a piece of cake, banding clamps installed and axles are ready to install.

I started to install the "dog bones," lock washers, and bolts on the 930s to get ready to install and it seems like there will be minimal engagement of the bolts and the Mendy flange. Take a look at pic 6 and 7.

Does this look right to you guys?

https://i.imgur.com/fo1AvlA.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Y80BIc4.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/l6mqxH2.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/lByjatI.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/1Ghrelq.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UDSJoWJ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ZquXxA9.jpg

[dlud]

I've done a lot of work on Porsche's and have never used lock washers on the cv joint bolts. Not saying it's incorrect, I've never seen it and have never done it.

[beeman]

Nice work assembling the axles. The first time I used it, I tried to line it up right on top of the center of the C-clip and it didn't work, second time I lined it up completely covering the clip and the groove and it popped right on. Or USPS damaged it in shipping :p.
I don't think I have the inner CV bolts yet so I'm curious to see what you find out about the length.

[Shoeless]

Thanks again for the tool beeman!! Even helping on one was a plus. For anyone looking to acquire it next for their build let me know and I’ll ship it out. I’ll post this up on your original tool post as well.

Yea, the length on these just don’t seem right. Either no lock washers like dlud mentioned or maybe no “dog bones” either? I’ve got an email into Ian at Mendy for some input. He has been awesome to work with on my install with all my questions and then simply checking in on my progress.

I’ll keep you guys posted on what I find out.

[dlud]

I did just buy some socket head M10 x 1.50 bolts for my cv joints as I found that they were too short (50mm). On my G50.03 I believe full engagement would be 15mm so I took that figure and worked backwards. Ended up with 60mm bolts on the side with the speedometer ring and 55mm on the other side.

[Shoeless]

I did just buy some socket head M10 x 1.50 bolts for my cv joints as I found that they were too short (50mm). On my G50.03 I believe full engagement would be 15mm so I took that figure and worked backwards. Ended up with 60mm bolts on the side with the speedometer ring and 55mm on the other side.

Hey dlud,

I just measured my bolts and then are 55 mm (I won't be using the speedometer ring as I'll be picking speed up from one of the front wheel speed sensors) and then threaded one in all the way, backed out a little and measured comparison and it looks like 15mm would be full engagement for me as well. Then I inserted the bolt through the 930 CV without the "dog bone" or lock washer to see how much engagement I would get and it came out right at 15mm.

You mention you have never used lock washers on 930 CVs, how about the "dog bones" that I believe simply came in my boot kit?

[dlud]

Yes, I do use the dog bones. How are you picking up speed through the wheel sensor? Does it require re-calibrating your speedometer?

[Shoeless]

Yes, I do use the dog bones. How are you picking up speed through the wheel sensor? Does it require re-calibrating your speedometer?

Thank you for the feedback on the dog bones, that would give me about .390" (~10mm) engagement with my 55mm bolts using the dog bones. I'm sure my boot flanges are not fully seated onto the CV, close, but going with this approach are your 55mm bolts too short for 15mm engagement? Sorry for the questions, I just want to make sure I get this right. Are there different thickness 930 CVs?

I'll be running an AEM Infinity Series 7 ECU in place of the stock GM computer. My wheel speed sensors will feed into the ECU for traction control. It will compare a driven wheel to the non-driven wheel to engage the traction control protections I program into the ECU. I will also be running an AEM CD7 Digital Dash that I can feed the non-driven wheel speed into the dash to display the speed. I'll calibrate based on two methods. One being my phone GPS speed and the second (which I think I can do) will be the GPS Speed output from the AEM Vehicle Dynamics Module I'll have mounted in the car.

[dlud]

With 10mm engagement currently you still have 5mm left. I think you're saying that it might be a little less once you fully torque the bolts. If you went with 60mm bolts the worst case is that you extend a mm or two through the differential flange. On my G50 that would not be a problem and that would be the route I would take (going with the 60mm bolts).

Thanks for the information on the speed sensor. I thought maybe you had a way to feed the wheel sensor signal directly into the speedometer.

[HardRocker]

I have two different sizes of these sticks one that are the smaller size like a popsicle stick and larger ones like Shane has shown above and I use them all the time along with acid brushes that can be just tossed in trash when done..

Amazon has a box of 1k of the small ones for $8. 500 of the large ones for $8 too. Prime delivery. Also useful in a pinch are free paint stir sticks. Nip them in the middle with your side cutters and they will split in two lengthwise.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Sorry I missed your question in your FB post over the weekend on this. As already mentioned above, I have not seen lockwashers used for those, but we do always use the dogbones.

[beeman]

Where are you guys purchasing the bolts and dogbones?

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I buy the bolts from McMaster Carr. Not sure on the lock plates.....I just looked some up and they're pretty proud of them....around $7.50 each! I have made some plates for Crash (same thing but instead of the dogbone with the 2 holes, it is a solid ring.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

125280

[Shoeless]

Sorry I missed your question in your FB post over the weekend on this. As already mentioned above, I have not seen lockwashers used for those, but we do always use the dogbones.

No worries missing the FB post :cool: I was pretty excited about getting the shafts installed in the car over the weekend, but put that on hold with my current bolt situation. Hopefully Ian responds here today with his recommendation. I'm leaning towards using what I have, but want to hear from him as my whole approach is setup for a higher HP application. If I need to order new bolts to get more engagement to help me sleep better at night, that's what I'll do.

What do you think about these bolts? They claim tensile strength of 170,000 psi.

https://www.mcmaster.com/91290a536

[HardRocker]

I've done a lot of work on Porsche's and have never used lock washers on the cv joint bolts. Not saying it's incorrect, I've never seen it and have never done it.

Safety wire!

[Shoeless]

Just got word from Ian at Mendeola. I gave him all my engagement measurements and he said similar on the dog bones. He stated to either use the lock washers OR the dog bones and he preferred the lock washers as they bite into the flange cover. I'll think this over, but I'm leaning towards dog bones and loctite.

[crash]

So let me cover a couple of things and the reasons I do what I do on these parts.

First off, remember how I said it takes 6 hours to assemble a set of axles? Well a LOT of this time is dedicated to cleanliness. This post packing cleaning is tedious so as not to contaminate the grease, but get the extra grease removed from all the places it shouldn't be...like the boot flange sealing surfaces and the bolt holes. Even though I clean all these areas thoroughly, I also put the CV on the stub axle and/or the trans output flange with all the bolts in and tight, and THEN remove each bolt, one at a time, spray carb/brake clean down the holes and blow out with compressed air. Trying to not let the cleaner sit in the hole very long so it does not attack the silicone. I then use a high temp red Loctite on the threads and torque to 45 FT/LBS. Although we did this for many years without incident, we did have bolts come out one year at the 25 hour race and while it may have been due to the threads not getting cleaned properly, I decided to go to mandatory safety wiring on the CV bolts.

Now as far as the flanges go, one of the issues is proper bolt length, but the other issue is proper load distribution and sealing of the boot flanges. I do have Shane cut me these rings that I include with every one piece boot that My Race Shop sells. I first Zinc plate them for durability, and they do seem to work out well.

All items are for sale at www.myraceshop.com ...bolts, boots, flanges, etc. I don't have pictures on there for some of these items but they are there. The "Flange Doubler" is the ring that Shane is showing. Just be aware, these have to go one the boots BEFORE the boots are put on the axles.

http://myraceshop.com/930_CVs.html

[HardRocker]

The "Flange Doubler" is the ring that Shane is showing. Just be aware, these have to go one the boots BEFORE the boots are put on the axles.

http://myraceshop.com/930_CVs.html

I just ordered a pair, easier than taking them off and turning a wide groove. I also ordered the BelRay grease, that stuff is out of stock everywhere online.

[Shoeless]

Hey Crash,

Thanks for the additional input on your prep and application of the loctite this being the first time doing this, I'm sure I'm over thinking it. Do you use Loctite 272 or a different one?

[dlud]

So, does the boot mount between the flange and the cv then?

[beeman]

So, does the boot mount between the flange and the cv then?

Here's Pelican's quick write up.
https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Porsche-996-997-Carrera/41-TRANS-Replacing_CV_Joints/41-TRANS-Replacing_CV_Joints.htm

https://cdn4.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Porsche-996-997-Carrera/41-TRANS-Replacing_CV_Joints/images_small/pic04.jpg

[dlud]

Yes, but the flange that Crash has seems to be a ring without much of a raised surface to mount the boot on...which is why I was wondering if his system actually has the boot between the flange and the cv.

[Shoeless]

Yes, but the flange that Crash has seems to be a ring without much of a raised surface to mount the boot on...which is why I was wondering if his system actually has the boot between the flange and the cv.

Yes, the ring that Crash is selling is meant to replace the dog bones in the pics above. The rings will have a 100% engagement holding the flange of the boot to the 930 CV.

[crash]

Hey Crash,

Thanks for the additional input on your prep and application of the loctite this being the first time doing this, I'm sure I'm over thinking it. Do you use Loctite 272 or a different one?

Yes I believe it is 272. There is one type that can withstand something like 600 F, but I didn't spring for that. I believe the one I am using is good to about 300 degrees F.

[crash]

Yes, the ring that Crash is selling is meant to replace the dog bones in the pics above. The rings will have a 100% engagement holding the flange of the boot to the 930 CV.

Correct. The real advantage is the pressure this ring puts on the boot flange all the way around. There still is a little deflection of the boot flange, but the purpose is to make sure there is enough pressure all the way around the flange to keep the silicone engaged to the CV. I have never had a leak from this area once I started using these boot flange doublers.

[Shoeless]

Yes I believe it is 272. There is one type that can withstand something like 600 F, but I didn't spring for that. I believe the one I am using is good to about 300 degrees F.

Thank you Sir. I've got some 272 on the way. This darn Corona is screwing up Amazon Prime deliveries out to 4 days. At least for me.

[Shoeless]

Finally finished off the install on the axles. Took all the tips and tricks from the group and I am officially checking this off my list. Suspension travel checked, bolts/CV cleaned and loctite applied, and torque paint applied. Thank god!!!!

https://i.imgur.com/vgj3SNX.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4zMH0WJ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ACauQFb.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/jst0oo0.jpg

[SteveE]

Congratulations well deserved. Glad to see it.

Steve

[beeman]

Looking great, Sean! Big milestone getting those axles done and installed.

[Shoeless]

Thanks Fellas!!!!

[jamesfr58]

Looking good nice clean install....

[Shoeless]

Thanks James!!!!

I'm moving on more to the electrical side of things. I'll be pulling all the sensors and coils off the engine so I can solder, pot, and boot to a Deutsch AS connectors. More on that in the other thread. I've started with running the large gauge battery cable to the rear passenger compartment behind the fuel tank. My thought is that I wanted to run the positive to a distribution post here and then run a section to the starter. Also running a ground wire from a distribution post to the exact location the engine is grounded to the frame. I can then pull power and ground from these two spots for the power distribution block that feeds the ECU.

As a note, I'm follow as much star point earthing as possible with this approach.

Do you guys see any issues putting these distro blocks here? They already clear the tank so no issue there.

https://i.imgur.com/6VS6qqg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/3ck5vGm.jpg

[crash]

I am a believer in using as few breaks as possible on the large wires, especially the ones to the starter as the draw is HUGE during startup. The way I have done this in the past is to run the positive directly to the starter and then pull a lead off the starter post and run it back to a distribution block for other power needs or run a separate line directly from the battery for the other requirements, depending on where the battery, starter and needs are located.

[Shoeless]

I am a believer in using as few breaks as possible on the large wires, especially the ones to the starter as the draw is HUGE during startup. The way I have done this in the past is to run the positive directly to the starter and then pull a lead off the starter post and run it back to a distribution block for other power needs or run a separate line directly from the battery for the other requirements, depending on where the battery, starter and needs are located.

Awesome, thanks for the reply. I'll go mock something up in line with this and see what lugs and wire I may need to order up from our good friends at Prowire.

I also like this better as I haven't been able to find a nice lug cover that would be appropriate to cover what I have in the pics above.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I would agree with Crash on that one....and the lead going to a distribution block to feed other stuff won't have to be nearly that large unless you are planning on a ton of high-load accessories that might all be running simultaneously? IMO, this is where it's easy to get carried away. I worked on a customer car years ago that the owner had completed much of the beginning stages of the wiring. They had 5 separate fuse blocks on the car...with each fuse block fed from a "master fuse"....and the master fuses added up to something like 500 amps. Other than the AC blower motor, cooling fans and power windows, there's just not all that much on these cars that needs loads of amps to it.

[Shoeless]

Good lord that's insane.

I definitely won't be pulling anything near that at the rear of the car. I've actually got a section of 4 ga wire that I'll use to feed the power distribution block and even that is more that what I'll really need. I've ran the numbers on the ECU and what it will be controlling and taken some recommendations from schematics that AEM provides and it will get all of its power from 2 x 10 ga wires. Using the combined wire calculator below says 2 x 10ga wires = 1x 7ga., so 4 is WAY safe for me and provides and expansion capabilities that may be needed.

https://www.wirebarn.com/Combined-Wire-Gauge-Calculator_ep_42.html

[crash]

I don't know how you are wiring things, but be aware that the injectors and the coils take a significant load. IIRC I had to use 30 amp fuses on EACH bank of coils and 20 amp fuses for EACH side of injectors. Something I wasn't expecting and I started out with 10 amp fuses on each of those.

[Shoeless]

I don't know how you are wiring things, but be aware that the injectors and the coils take a significant load. IIRC I had to use 30 amp fuses on EACH bank of coils and 20 amp fuses for EACH side of injectors. Something I wasn't expecting and I started out with 10 amp fuses on each of those.

Good lord, that sounds excessive, but obviously depends on what coils and injectors you are using.

Just referred back to my wiring diagram, I've got 30 amp fuses for each bank of both coils and injectors. I modeled my circuit design off the Plug and Play harness that AEM offers for the 24X LS engine setup and obviously modified my schematic to fit my needs and modifying it to 58X timing.

What coils and injectors are you using?

[crash]

Stock LS3 crate engine. I would estimate about 2016 vintage.

If you are using a plug and play part of an existing harness then those circuits should be good, as it sounds like you are. Again, I just found it astounding that those areas needed so much power when building a harness. I wasn't expecting that. Sounds like you weren't either, so typing well spent.

[Shoeless]

Yea, I'm somewhat copying the schematic that I will then build all from scratch, but modified to meet my needs. When I first started looking into this I definitely was thrown off that I had to have two separate banks of power supply for the motor, but I should have it covered.

Any and all input is always appreciated. I'll never know if I'm missing something until someone points it out to me or I make a dangerous mistake on my build :cool:

[Shoeless]

I was able to sneak into the garage this afternoon after some work meetings to do some more electrical layout work. I got the GEP Fuse and Relay box cut into the rear passenger ledge next to motor and then worked on the front power distribution. I went to install the Braille battery last week, but discovered the aluminum tray was too low and the battery would hit the frame. So I took some 1/4" steel flat stock and used that to raise the bottom tray up a bit. The battery is now installed and I can start to work on running more of the cables. Thankfully I can still squeeze my hand in there to open and close the heater core cutoff I added. I dropped another order for more of the larger gauge battery lugs and unfortunately a couple of the ones I need are on backorder with no estimated date of arrival. I guess I'll just work around that for now.

https://i.imgur.com/hCXSClJ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/yCf3UpW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/9HhAp1j.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/MPAyUqL.jpg

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Looking like some good progress! Just out of curiosity, how close do those battery post lugs come to the alum bracket holding the battery down? From the photos, it looks pretty scary?

[Shoeless]

Looking like some good progress! Just out of curiosity, how close do those battery post lugs come to the alum bracket holding the battery down? From the photos, it looks pretty scary?

I can say not 100% ideal in the way I installed the posts (I can do either side or top of the battery), but if I swap it to the top of the battery, it would hit the steering column.

The nice thing is the Braille posts are tapered and have special lugs that are tapered to match the posts (both + and - are different size tapers). As it sits there in the pic it is about a .200" gap between the + post and the aluminum bracket. I can probably put some rubber insulation in between there to help me sleep better at night.

Do you think this is too close knowing its tapered and will be locked down and won't slide any closer to the aluminum bracket?

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I did just install one of these same batteries on the last build we did here....they do have some nice options for connections....tapped hole, tapered posts and other tapped holes on the sides. Yeah....I guess if it were me, I would probably get some sheet rubber and cut some grommets/insulators to put in between the cable end and battery bracket for the + post. Maybe cut the sheet rubber to shape and bond it right to the aluminum in that area so it looks neat?

[Shoeless]

That's my thought too. I went out and stared at it for a while this morning to see if there was any way I could move the battery to then rotate the post, but any idea I came up with had a limitation with it (cooling hoses, brake lines, riv nuts hitting the frame).

I think I'll be good with rubber insulation approach.

[Shoeless]

Let me start this post by giving a huge shout out to Shane. Not only has he given myself and many others support on the forums here, but he has also taken time over his weekends to help guide me and give feedback on issues with my build. This weekend was one of those weekends.

I was to the point that I needed to set the clutch stop on my build and would have to pull on my wife and a buddy for the task. First step was to shift the Mendy transaxle into gear so we could see where the clutch would engage/disengage. Talking with Ian he mentioned that I can accomplish this by manually turning the engine over and shifting into gear. So I remove the spark plugs and turn the engine over manually. Then I hear this intermittent noise from the back passenger side of the car. Something is rubbing.

I decide to stop and wait for my buddy to make it over as I can't investigate and turn the motor over at the same time. Once he shows up, I slide under the rear of the car and sure enough something is hitting the starter. I pull the starter and sure enough I have some rubbing going on. At this point all I could think was I'm about to have to tear everything completely apart to diagnose further.

https://i.imgur.com/rbpIGL6.jpg

Once I pulled the starter, we were able to accomplish the task of confirming no other rubbing and setting the clutch stop. From here I posted a couple pics on FB and Shane recommends a couple things to check out. I investigate further and the flywheel runout appears ok (i've got some other inspection tools on order to 100% confirm this) and then I notice something. The Clutch Plate bolts seem to stick out past the flywheel quite a bit and sure enough they have little shavings of aluminum on them. I have found the culprit of the intermittent rub.

https://i.imgur.com/kg4y0YB.jpg

My clutch plate bolts measure about 1.185" and are clearly too long. A little research points me to ARP 134-2201 that are 1" long. So my plan is to order these up, swap them out one by one and then torque them down following the 3 step torque process while manually rotating the motor.

Thanks for all your help Shane, even on a weekend!!!

And keeping in good spirits I took a pic of the wifey in the car helping me. Just note, she is not a fan of the GTM LOL.

https://i.imgur.com/coeWYPw.jpg

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

No problem at all....glad I could help. It's always good when you can fix things and not have to tear everything apart to do it!! I had a similar problem on the last GTM I worked on here.....tried to turn the engine over by hand and it was extremely difficult.....pulled out all of the spark plugs and that helped, but still didn't feel right. This was with a G50 trans. Peeked into the bellhousing and it looked like the OD of the PP was rubbing on something. I had never ran into that before and finally found a "corner" of the casting of the bellhousing that was sticking out and rubbing on the PP. I had to unbolt the trans and just move back about 1/2" and sneak a dremel carbide in there to grind the corner down....and was very thankful I didn't have to pull everything apart!!

[RoadRacer]

And keeping in good spirits I took a pic of the wifey in the car helping me. Just note, she is not a fan of the GTM LOL.

https://i.imgur.com/coeWYPw.jpg

You think? LOL

[Shoeless]

You think? LOL

HAHA yea she is not a fan of Corvettes so when she heard the connection of the donor parts, she was already not a fan. She really doesn't like the idea of being so low to the ground. Although she did a heck of a job helping me set the clutch stop.

So here's the deal I have with her to actually get her in the GTM once it's finished, at least for one date :cool:. I need to get a tuxedo and her a similarly fancy dress and we will then venture down to Palm Beach and go to brunch at The Breakers. For those not familiar, that is about the highest end place you can go out for dinners, brunch, or have a wedding in the area. I agreed to these terms, but also told her I may pay for a photographer to follow us around and get some pictures of us and the GTM around Jupiter and Palm Beach areas.

I figure that would be a fitting way to debut Shoeless GTM.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

It will probably be worth the entertainment value to her to see you attempt to get in and out of the car in a tux without breaking some seams out!

[Shoeless]

It will probably be worth the entertainment value to her to see you attempt to get in and out of the car in a tux without breaking some seams out!

HAHA that's the darn truth. This will either be a perfect day to unveil the GTM or full of laughs trying to get in and out of the damn thing in a tux.

[beeman]

And keeping in good spirits I took a pic of the wifey in the car helping me. Just note, she is not a fan of the GTM LOL.


Our wives certainly put up with our obsessions!
Reminds me of a GTM story with my wife sitting exactly where your wife is in that picture. It came time to bleed the brakes so I could get an alignment, so I asked her to come out to the shop to help "just for 10 minutes" to pump the pedal while I bleed each corner. I didn't have a seat in the car yet, so she was sitting on the floor of the car. I didn't pay attention to the fact that I had only pushed the steering wheel onto the splines, and didn't put the nut on since I had it on/off so much. As the pedal firmed up, she was really leaning into the pedal, pulling on the steering wheel. All of a sudden, the steering wheel pops off, and she goes rolling back and bonked her head pretty hard on the firewall. After a 15 minute headache break, she was nice enough to help me finish bleeding the brakes...

[Shoeless]

Our wives certainly put up with our obsessions!

That's an understatement for sure!!!

Glad to hear she helped finish bleeding the brakes LOL. If that happened to my wife, it would have been the complete end to her ever helping me again. I'll have to keep this in mind when I'm giving her instructions on how to help me out. Sometimes its crystal clear in my head what I need her to help with, but this is a great reminder to give her additional clarity.

[RoadRacer]

It's just the funniest wife picture ever. Sums the whole thing up. I still can't help laughing when I see it. :D

[crash]

That steering wheel thing is no joke. This should be a warning/lesson to everyone...make sure the steering wheel is either not on the shaft, or secured properly. I have seen people about knock themselves out by hitting themselves with an unsecured steering wheel. I have seen busted lips, and if the wheel comes off after the car is moving it gets REALLY interesting. As a general rule I always ALWAYS pull on the wheel to make sure it is properly engaged on the race car before moving the car by pulling back firmly towards me right after push on the wheel with the quick release.

[SteveE]

At least she will come out to the garage and assist you. Mine only goes in the garage to get in her car to go out, I have to wait for friend to come over to assist me when I need it.

[Shoeless]

That steering wheel thing is no joke. This should be a warning/lesson to everyone...make sure the steering wheel is either not on the shaft, or secured properly. I have seen people about knock themselves out by hitting themselves with an unsecured steering wheel. I have seen busted lips, and if the wheel comes off after the car is moving it gets REALLY interesting. As a general rule I always ALWAYS pull on the wheel to make sure it is properly engaged on the race car before moving the car by pulling back firmly towards me right after push on the wheel with the quick release.

Great point!! I find myself doing similarly for nearly everything on the car. If I'm putting it on, its getting torqued down securely, and then mostly torque painted. Plenty of times having to clean off torque paint and redoing it, but at least I know if its on the car, than its secure.


At least she will come out to the garage and assist you. Mine only goes in the garage to get in her car to go out, I have to wait for friend to come over to assist me when I need it.

Oh I had to beg for this one LOL. There is a running joke in our house that the time I gave her taking dancing lessons for our wedding will go towards the hours she has to help me on the car. So far I have about 6.5 hours left on credit HAHAHA

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

That steering wheel thing is no joke. This should be a warning/lesson to everyone...make sure the steering wheel is either not on the shaft, or secured properly. I have seen people about knock themselves out by hitting themselves with an unsecured steering wheel. I have seen busted lips, and if the wheel comes off after the car is moving it gets REALLY interesting. As a general rule I always ALWAYS pull on the wheel to make sure it is properly engaged on the race car before moving the car by pulling back firmly towards me right after push on the wheel with the quick release.


Neat story I might as well share at this point. Fresh out of auto tech school, I got a job as a tech at a Ford dealership. As the low man on the totem pole, I usually got stuck with all of the used car inspections. The dealership got in an old International Scout on trade, so they gave me the work order to inspect it. I pull the thing into the shop and my normal practice was to open the door and lean out and look under the car as I drove over the hoist so that I could position the car properly to get all of the lift arms positioned on the chassis. I opened the door of the Scout, leaned out to look underneath to get it into position....and before I know what happened, I'm laying on the floor with the steering wheel in my hand and the Scout has my tool box pinned up against the wall.....with a dozen other techs looking at me, wondering what in the hell just happened.

[Shoeless]

Neat story I might as well share at this point. Fresh out of auto tech school, I got a job as a tech at a Ford dealership. As the low man on the totem pole, I usually got stuck with all of the used car inspections. The dealership got in an old International Scout on trade, so they gave me the work order to inspect it. I pull the thing into the shop and my normal practice was to open the door and lean out and look under the car as I drove over the hoist so that I could position the car properly to get all of the lift arms positioned on the chassis. I opened the door of the Scout, leaned out to look underneath to get it into position....and before I know what happened, I'm laying on the floor with the steering wheel in my hand and the Scout has my tool box pinned up against the wall.....with a dozen other techs looking at me, wondering what in the hell just happened.

Oh DAMN!!!!

[jamesfr58]

Ok I got a wife story, only got her into the car once so far but don't have a picture. When we first unpacked the original cobra seats I had them just sitting in the car. She came out to the shop to to see what I was doing and I showed her the cobra seats. Ask her if she wanted to sit in seat to see how it felt, so she climbed inside and sat down on in the seat. Then commenced to complain about the high bolsters and the way she felt the seat was to tight, she really did no like the high bolsters and informed me she would not be riding a whole lot unless I changed the seats to something more comfortable. That set me on the path to find different seats that would fit, which I finally go accomplished after buying 2 sets of seats. Now for the good or bad part, depending on how you look at it, she tried to get out of the seat and car, well that was not going so good (she has bad hip needs replacement) so I went over to help and the more I tried to help the funnier it got.....although she did not think so. Finally managed to help her out quit laughing and she has never tried it again. But she did try the different seats and said they work better, they were on the ground not in the car and told me she would sit in these seats, so will have to wait till later to see how she does getting in and out now..... and got hip fixed so hopefully things will me better next time and I am sure if I don't start laughing again everything will be good again I hope.

[Shoeless]

HAHAHA that’s a good one James. I’m loving the comic relief we are bringing to my build thread. Excellent stories and I feel this is what it’s all about. Whether we are making memories while building or looking forward to making memories when they are done, I’m thoroughly enjoying the journey and sharing stories with the fellow builders here.

[beeman]

Pretty funny stuff, James!
Our poor wives...Surely they knew what they were getting into?

[Shoeless]

Made some more progress over the last couple days. I received the replacement shorter MRP Clutch Plate bolts and got those installed this morning. All indications point towards my issue being addressed. Still need to bolt the starter back in there and turn the motor over to confirm. I also got in a few battery cable lugs and was able to finish up a few more cables for power and ground distribution.

The highlight of my weekend was getting to mock up the Kooks Exhaust for the first time. I cut the stands as instructed by Shane's website pics and had my local welder knock them out. I tried installing the longer non-cat tube on the driver side first, but didn't look like it would line up, so I swapped it to the passenger side. Looks like everything is going to fit up nicely here. Maybe some more washers on the rear bolts to get the height right to the openings in the body, but I'll have to wait til I get the body back on to check on this. I didn't tighten everything down just yet as I wanted to make sure everything would at least go together.

Tomorrow is a fishing day with the wife. Weather looks pretty good so wish us luck

https://i.imgur.com/8qW0JO2.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/GTMCYMh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/BmX1G7q.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/sRe5I0Q.jpg

[jamesfr58]

Looking good, and have fun fishing. Still to cool up here to really start fishing but looking forward to getting boat in water and fishing myself but need for weather to get up into the 70s and it as pretty much stayed in the high 50s so fish still sluggish and not moving very much, hopefully that will change soon.

[Shoeless]

Hey guys, I'm working on planning out the final plumbing of the motor and I want to bounce this plan off the brain trust. My setup is an LS3 motor that will be tuned via speed density, so no need for an airflow meter or critically where the intake air for the following ports comes from, but here is my plan. Please let me know what you guys think before I go source all the hoses and fittings.

Here's what I'm thinking:
Connector Port 1 to Port 3 (possible air oil separator between)
Connect Port 2 to port on fresh air intake
Port 4 is for a brake booster - Keep blocked off
Port 5 vacuum port that is already blocked
Port 6 - Keep blocked off
Port 7 - Keep blocked off

Pic 1 Driver side of motor
Port 1 - On intake behind the throttle body
Port 2 - Drivers side valve cover

https://i.imgur.com/NXA0Fn4.jpg

Pic 2 Front of motor pic from passenger side
Port 3 - Valley cover port
Port 4 - Brake booster
Port 5 - Vacuum port

https://i.imgur.com/WfLv9au.jpg
Pic 3 Passenger side of motor
Port 6 - Passenger side valve cover
Port 7 - Not sure what this is

https://i.imgur.com/DzulFNP.jpg

[Samurai41]

Here’s something helpful.
128246

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Someone here posted a while ago that the hose that connects 1 and 3 should have a 2.5mm orifice installed in the hose. I've been doing that by just drilling a 2.5mm hole thru a chunk of aluminum round stock that fits snug inside the hose but is too big to fit thru the hose barb on the intake or valley cover.

[Shoeless]

Someone here posted a while ago that the hose that connects 1 and 3 should have a 2.5mm orifice installed in the hose. I've been doing that by just drilling a 2.5mm hole thru a chunk of aluminum round stock that fits snug inside the hose but is too big to fit thru the hose barb on the intake or valley cover.

That's interesting.

I really don't like the search feature on this site, or I just haven't figured it out. Any time I search it pulls up entire posts that may have 10, 20, 30+ pages to sift through.

[jamesfr58]

Sean,

This is one I had on PVC systems for LS3, not sure if it will help but matches the outlets you showed above.

128251

[Shoeless]

Thanks for the reply James!! I came across a lot of these similar looking schematics. I was even able to find the post Shane referenced about the 2.5mm orifice.

I dropped a note back to Johnny at Blueprint to get some input from him as well as I came across some documentation that some of the valley cover tubes may already have this orifice in it.

We'll get this all figured out. I just don't want to order up a bunch of braided hose and fittings for it to not work properly.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I guess I should have mentioned in my previous post....that yes, I do believe that you are correct on everything you had outlined in post #434. The orifice is the only thing I could think of to add to what you already posted.

[Shoeless]

I guess I should have mentioned in my previous post....that yes, I do believe that you are correct on everything you had outlined in post #434. The orifice is the only thing I could think of to add to what you already posted.

Hey Shane, thanks for the clarification that my approach looks solid.

One follow up question. The head steam vent. Does that go to the side top mount on my Canton tank and the port that is just under the cap, that should go to somewhere beneath the car as it’s a drain?

[Keith1]

Shoeless
Your build looks beautiful, you're doing a great job!
Keith

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

There should be a threaded bung on the side of the Canton tank on the side near the radiator cap. That is where I normally route the steam vent. Yes, the barb right under the cap is the vent/drain and there are 2 ways you could go with that......use the Canton tank as an "expansion tank", much like the OEM tank where you only fill it about 3/4 of the way to allow room for the coolant to expand and contract without ever over-flowing coolant out of the tank. In that case, you could just run a drain hose down to the bottom part of the chassis.

You could also think of your Canton tank as the top of the radiator....where it is completely filled at all times, and buy a separate puke/recovery tank like on most production vehicles where you have the vent hose running from under the radiator cap to a tank and as the coolant expands, it gets pushed into the tank, and as it contracts, it is sucked back into the radiator. I've done it both ways. On cars that the owner is planning on doing some track days, I usually set it up with a puke tank since you don't want your overflow venting coolant out onto the track.

[Shoeless]

Shoeless
Your build looks beautiful, you're doing a great job!
Keith

Thanks Keith!!!


There should be a threaded bung on the side of the Canton tank on the side near the radiator cap. That is where I normally route the steam vent. Yes, the barb right under the cap is the vent/drain and there are 2 ways you could go with that......use the Canton tank as an "expansion tank", much like the OEM tank where you only fill it about 3/4 of the way to allow room for the coolant to expand and contract without ever over-flowing coolant out of the tank. In that case, you could just run a drain hose down to the bottom part of the chassis.

You could also think of your Canton tank as the top of the radiator....where it is completely filled at all times, and buy a separate puke/recovery tank like on most production vehicles where you have the vent hose running from under the radiator cap to a tank and as the coolant expands, it gets pushed into the tank, and as it contracts, it is sucked back into the radiator. I've done it both ways. On cars that the owner is planning on doing some track days, I usually set it up with a puke tank since you don't want your overflow venting coolant out onto the track.

Thanks for the reply Shane. I'm really liking the idea of running a recovery tank to the top vent port of my Canton tank as I do want to track this car. I'll have to go stare at the engine compartment a bit to see where I can fit something like that in. If I do go down this path that will be 3 separate tanks I'll add - 1. Coolant puke tank, 2. Oil / Air Separator for the valley cover to intake and 3. catch can for the Mendy vent tube. I have an idea of where I want #2 and #3, just need to work out #1.

Any general rule of thumb for the height of the coolant puke tank relative to the expansion tank?

[Shoeless]

I also heard back from the guys at Blueprint engines (great service) that my valley cover vent tube already has the metering orifice in it, so no need for me to add an additional orifice.

[crash]

No requirement on the recovery tank positioning. It is a pressure/vacuum situation so it will pretty much take care of itself. Just make sure that you get a RECOVERY tank as the tube for the header tank overflow will come from the bottom of a recovery tank, as opposed to an overflow tank where the hose may connect near the top of the tank and not provide for coolant to return to the cooling system. I have run the systems both ways, with and without the recovery tank, and there are no issues either way. With the recovery tank it does tend to make checking fluid levels easier.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

On one of our builds, I ended up mounting the recovery tank in the location in red in the photo. Not a great location for access or filling, but you could see enough of the tank by looking thru the side scoop opening to see if it had coolant in it or not. Not a whole lot of real estate to work with on these cars...so sometimes you gotta just make do with what you have.128303

[Shoeless]

No requirement on the recovery tank positioning. It is a pressure/vacuum situation so it will pretty much take care of itself. Just make sure that you get a RECOVERY tank as the tube for the header tank overflow will come from the bottom of a recovery tank, as opposed to an overflow tank where the hose may connect near the top of the tank and not provide for coolant to return to the cooling system. I have run the systems both ways, with and without the recovery tank, and there are no issues either way. With the recovery tank it does tend to make checking fluid levels easier.

Thanks for the input Crash. Always great to get advice from guys that are waaayyyy more experienced than I am on this stuff. I've been poking around Motion Raceworks page a bit over the last few weeks and looks like they have some solid solutions for items I'm looking to do (Mendy catch can, universal steam vent kit, and now coolant recovery tank). Reading up on the below, I can plug the top port and connect the bottom port to my coolant tank making the pressure tank reference you stated above.

https://www.motionraceworks.com/products/motion-raceworks-coolant-transmission-billet-overflow-catch-can-32-102

Time to break out the poster board and mock up some cans on the car :)

[Shoeless]

On one of our builds, I ended up mounting the recovery tank in the location in red in the photo. Not a great location for access or filling, but you could see enough of the tank by looking thru the side scoop opening to see if it had coolant in it or not. Not a whole lot of real estate to work with on these cars...so sometimes you gotta just make do with what you have.128303

Yup, that's a location to think about. Not a lot of room. Probably a tight spot to fit it, but I'm thinking of above my Canton tank off the angle bracket in the engine bay. I'll mock up some tanks and take some pics around the car. I'm sure I'll have you fab up some brackets for me :cool:

[crash]

We put the recovery tank right next to the Canton tank on the PDG race car. We used a "universal" tank available from your local auto parts store. We felt this was preferable because it was made out of plastic and you can therefore see fluid level easily from the outside. If you use a metal tank, you will have to sample fluid level some other way than just looking at the container.

[Shoeless]

Right on, that makes sense. I'll look around and see if I can find something to fit the area I have in mind.

[beeman]

We put the recovery tank right next to the Canton tank on the PDG race car. We used a "universal" tank available from your local auto parts store. We felt this was preferable because it was made out of plastic and you can therefore see fluid level easily from the outside. If you use a metal tank, you will have to sample fluid level some other way than just looking at the container.

Great info guys.
Mike, what headers are you running again? Where did you mount your coils?

[crash]

Great info guys.
Mike, what headers are you running again? Where did you mount your coils?

That was a setup I put in the car for testing that was focused on extreme fuel mileage. Those are stock headers. They are the center dump headers that used to come standard on the crate engines. Unfortunately they now come with the rear dump headers. I simply turned the stock headers upside down and switched sides so the flange would be canted towards the rear, and there you go. I also left plenty of room to use the reversed intake setup, but this is where I was fabbing up the standard intake orientation using a semi truck "cobra head" boot to connect the throttle body to the non standard air cleaner setup. Those are two paper filters out of a Caterpillar tractor. We saw about a 30% fuel savings with this engine setup. That is a smaller displacement LS2 bottom end with LS3 top end, custom cam, a bunch of little tricks, and an aftermarket ECU. It built just under 500 HP.

That setup is actually still sitting on the shelf and is ready to be used in a future build, but since our competitors raised their HP outputs we were forced to go to a higher HP setup. Also this was a little cost prohibitive for the budgets in the years following this engines development.

I still believe whole heartedly in the stock LS3 headers and intake as I have made over 600 HP on the dyno with them.

As far as the coils, I wanted to just flip them over and mount them down by the engine block. The guy with the dyno thought they would overheat with them like that, especially without much air flow during dyno testing, so we made up a remote set of coils that mounted on the bell housing flange. Inn this car install I simply used that setup because it was quick and already available. The dyno guy had a set of remote mount brackets there at his shop and I had to just make a set of long(er) plug wires and we were good to go.

[Shoeless]

I started to mock up the 4" intake on #501 today. I found a supplier that has 90 deg and 45 deg bend 4" diameter tubes that are rated up to 250-275 degrees F. Plus they actually responded to a request email for confirmation of leg length and sketches within 24 hours. I will have to trim 1" to 2" off each section of tubing to get it to fit in there, but I think I can make that happen.

My only question, without putting the body on and checking (I have too much stuff piled all over it LOL), is in Pic 3. I'll have to rotate the 90 deg bend towards the front of the car and then add a bit of straight section before I put on a filter. I'd like to drop the filter right down near the side intake. Do you guys see any major clearance issues right here infant of the rear wheel or do you think I'll be ok here.

https://i.imgur.com/i2MN9vH.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/jn45pBc.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/LkkrcSo.jpg

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

That's going to be super tight there. You would have to modify the aluminum close out/wheel well panels to get the tube thru there and the filter would pretty much be trapped between the body and alum panel. On builds like yours, I've been........let's see if I can find a pic....


128731
128732

[Shoeless]

That's going to be super tight there. You would have to modify the aluminum close out/wheel well panels to get the tube thru there and the filter would pretty much be trapped between the body and alum panel. On builds like yours, I've been........let's see if I can find a pic....


Thanks for the reply Shane, I see the issue now. I checked back in the manual and pulled the close out panel out and oh yea, right on top of where I'm thinking.

In your example above, how do you service the filter after everything is all buttoned up?

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

If I remember right, you can remove the bottom belly pan and pull it out the bottom. I agree that it's not in an ideal position, but also should not require much service unless you're putting thousands of miles per year on your GTM.....and it seems there's not that many people doing that. On cars with a lot of "stuff" in the engine bay, finding room for a 4" intake and filter gets challenging.

[Shoeless]

Thats the truth, its getting more challenging the more items I stuff in there and I bet most people aren't putting thousands of miles on a GTM.

I threw the close out panels up there to look at another option as well. I would get a short 5" stubby filter and it would be just behind the coolant tank. If I do this I'll definitely be going with side window scoops to pull more air in.

I think whoever was running the brake press on these closeout panels went a little overboard, they do not fit up at all LOL, I guess that's GTM problems.

https://i.imgur.com/WFHrWoW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/sGagiMD.jpg

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Yes....the bends in those aluminum panels...the one directly in front of the wheel and small one forward of the shock mount.....we always take some of the bend out of those flanges. The horizontal bend that goes all the way across the large panel in front of the wheel...we usually take almost all of that bend out of the panel and beat it back flat. You do not want to fit/drill any of those panels until your body is positioned and then position the aluminum panels so that they support the body with the bulb seal.

[jamesfr58]

Yup, right again had to rework the panels to get them to fit right, but sue to the routing of my CAI I will need to fabricate a closure to finish off the wheel well. I cut the FFR pieces down and reshaped them to allow the CAI tube to pass through where they would normally sit. And he square hole where it turns down to the filter is large enough to get filter in and out. Will make a 2 piece closure around the CAI tube to seal the filter off and as mentioned I will need to come up with one more piece to cover the tube that is exposed and seal off the wheel well against the body. Here is what the wheel looks like against the body before making the last pieces needed to seal it off:

128779 128780 128781

[Shoeless]

Thanks for the response and pics James. Now that I have a better understanding of what I'm looking at here, I think I'm going to keep it easy and just get my filter over by my overflow tank.

[crash]

Just maybe an idea as a possible alternative...

On the PDG race GTM we made all the rear close out panels removable via Dzus fasteners. This allows us to access all those areas very easily. Like with the street GTMs, these areas are stuffed with coolers, filters, pumps, and tanks. You definitely want to be able to get in there after the initial build.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

My thoughts on that......I can definitely see your point on your race car, where you have to constantly be removing panels in order to gain access to that stuff. On a street car like this, in my mind....how long is it going to take to figure out what Dzus fasterners to use, where are you going to order them from, how long is it going to take to receive them and then figure out where and how to install them...then actually install them and then install the panel?

Compare that to the 30 seconds it will take to drill all of the rivets out, pull the panel off and then take 5 minutes to install new rivets when you put the panel back in. I make the same argument in my mind when my customers want all of the panels held on with riv-nuts and screws. In the time it takes to pilot-drill all of the holes, then drill all of the holes in the chassis out for rivnuts, drill all of the holes out in the panel for screws, buy the rivnuts, install the rivnuts, put the panel on and use screws to secure it.....I could have drilled and and riveted the panel on 10x over.

[crash]

Yes it does take a little longer...initially, but if it is for a constant service area like for an air cleaner...and you only do ONE appropriate panel, it is not much work. I do see your point and agree on riv nuts etc. for all the panels. Waste of time.

Four Dzus weld in backing plates and four captured Dzus plates and it is a done deal. I would argue that this is actually LESS work than to properly rivet in a panel. If the panel overlaps allow, you can get away with only one or two Dzuses.

Here are the backing plates at $2 each and fasteners at $2 each...

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g1620?rrec=true
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/aaf-all19365

[Shoeless]

Thanks for the recommendations on fasteners and approach. I'll have to look them over a bit and get familiar with them to see if this would be something I'd like to incorporate.

[Shoeless]

Hey Fellas,

It was a pretty productive 4 day weekend for me. I'm officially full blown into wiring on Shoeless GTM. I started off a week or so ago blowing apart the Vintage Air Harness that comes with the kit. The way it was laid out, just didn't fit where I wanted it, so once I fully understood where each wire needed to go, I just took it apart and installed it in the GTM where I needed it. I also have been using my label maker to ID each wire. I'm so glad I got this thing and have been using it, it makes it so easy to look at the instructions one, label it and then go to the garage and install it. Here is the Trinary Switch labeled and ready to install.

https://i.imgur.com/tRNrWk6.jpg

I then moved on to pulling all the power and ground wiring for the Infinitybox cells. I found that I will most defiantly need the InCode box from them to make some changes in the setup, but that's no big deal. I'll end up with what I want for my setup so I'm good with that. I though I was making nice progress on my large power cables until I remembered I needed to put in the windshield washer bottle. 3 steps forward 2 steps back. So I mocked that up and installed it to see what was in the way. I'm also leaving myself notes around the car so I know what needs to be ordered to finish this off (ground and power distribution blocks).

https://i.imgur.com/NGpVEPd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/QPwZNEy.jpg

I then moved on to planning the location of the engine harness and chassis harness interface. I'll have a larger Deutsch AS connector, CAN Network Hub, and 6 Channel CAN Expansion Module that I need to put in. I have some CF left from the steering wheel so I'll use that and cut out a nice piece and mount it infant of the coolant lines in the tunnel.

https://i.imgur.com/v5QlLM8.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zUvg87Q.jpg

Finally on Saturday night, I opened up my tuning software that I have for the AEM system I'm installing. AEM was nice enough to include an LS3 58X base map in the software so I at least have a starting point. This tune and setup will be highly modified to fit my wiring harness as I have changed many inputs and outputs, so I need to start to get familiar with the software. From what I'm seeing, I can set this up offline from the car, then upload it once I have power to the system. Wish me luck :cool:

https://i.imgur.com/mDmwV58.jpg

[jamesfr58]

I remember this part, just hope I can remember where all the wires went to and from .. LOL Really like that label system as I mentioned before I used flag labels I made but they can and do come off so if doing this again (building my own harness) I got to get me one of those machine like you have, looks like it is working well.

[Shoeless]

I remember this part, just hope I can remember where all the wires went to and from .. LOL Really like that label system as I mentioned before I used flag labels I made but they can and do come off so if doing this again (building my own harness) I got to get me one of those machine like you have, looks like it is working well.

I'm loving the Dymo Rhino 5200!!! Being able to label each circuit and then move on is perfect for me.

[Shoeless]

Took advantage of some Memorial Day sales and picked up the catch can I have had my eyes on for a bit from Motion Raceworks and also picked up an air oil separator to plumb between my valley cover and intake port. I took some 1/4" thick aluminum plate and made up some simple brackets to mount each item on the end of the heads. I think it turned out pretty nice. Now time to order up some fitting and start to run some plumbing.

https://i.imgur.com/gTiw2ed.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ipWNVT6.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/x1qjVzh.jpg

[Shoeless]

I got to the point that I needed to coat and install the front close out panel so I could finally install the QRP front Sway Bar. I'm really starting to pack stuff in and run wiring to the front as well, so this panel was my next logical step. I didn't want to set up the Harbor Freight Car Port I bought last time to spray on bed liner on the majority of my panels, so I opted for the old Mendy shipping box. Not too bad, but you can see where my spray pattern wasn't perfectly smooth, but I think only I'll notice that. Once it cured it didn't look bad at all.

https://i.imgur.com/WgDLw9Q.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/aRmuiJF.jpg

After curing for three days, the front panel was installed this morning and then the QRP Sway Bar.

https://i.imgur.com/rNfJ8Ma.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/r0oCF23.jpg

The wiring also got some attention this morning now that I got my ground block installed next to the mega fuses. Starting to look a little more organized.

https://i.imgur.com/KcOHWMI.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PEZ43Ot.jpg

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Looks like you're making some great progress!!

[Shoeless]

Got to spend some time in the garage this weekend. I had my eye on reinstalling the exhaust now that I got the brackets back from the powder coater, playing with the new LEDs, and then mounting some odds and ends.

I can't wait to actually fire this bad boy up to hear this exhaust!!! I ended up trying my non-cat pipes on both sides and I think I got it right the first time around. Although I know I'll have to likely reposition things once I get the body on, I was able to skew this off to the passenger side by about 1.5" per Shane's instructions, and they are dead level with my rear wing mount. How this will all line up with the body, I'll find out soon enough.

https://i.imgur.com/ncrAP31.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/WW1KUZn.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Y5jx5nz.jpg

After that I was able to plug in a play with potential mounting locations of my 3 zone bluetooth controlled LED setup. I have to thank beeman for the recommendation of going with https://www.theretrofitsource.com. High quality products, the phone app for the Morimoto controller is on point, and its just bad a$$ :cool:. This setup is really nice and once the system is activated is starts out bright white, but when you open the app, you can do any color including some preprogrammed sequences. Even a nice red, white, and blue rolling sequence. So knowing this, I'll likely put a switch on the dash to turn these on and off and also put some type of door switch in so when the doors are open the LEDs are on as well. I tried a few areas, but I think I'll go with Zone 1 in the foot wells, Zone 2 on the top roll bar in the engine compartment, and Zone 3 maybe near the rear cage bars going to the rear shock mounts.

https://i.imgur.com/WiD8gEE.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Fs0zByU.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/h4Xc9UK.jpg

[Shoeless]

Then shifted to installing a carbon fiber plate that would hold my second CAN Network 4 port hub, 6 Channel CAN Network Expansion Port, and the Deutsch AS plug where the engine harness will interface with the vehicle harness. Conveniently I was able to mount this near the Vehicle Dynamics Module so it plugged right in with no extension cable needed. If I did this correctly, I should be able to still stick one cup holder in the rear close out if desired.

https://i.imgur.com/Mx20VFz.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/l3xornn.jpg

[jamesfr58]

Looking good Sean, like the lights, mine have a remote for the engine bay and the hood area and one for the cockpit that is installed in cockpit or via blue tooth.

[KGTM]

shoeless, this look good, but boy you have so much wiring and connections where it is hard to get to after car is all together.

The get the rear center out, you have to removed seat the two tank cover, before you can move get to anything there for any trouble shooting.

[Shoeless]

shoeless, this look good, but boy you have so much wiring and connections where it is hard to get to after car is all together.

The get the rear center out, you have to removed seat the two tank cover, before you can move get to anything there for any trouble shooting.

Thanks KGTM!!

I've pretty much run out of room on my passenger foot well and I'm trying to keep the drivers side a little cleared out for future items, so this was really my next spot to start stuffing things in. Not to mention the Vehicle Dynamics Module really needs to be at or near dead center of the car to give the proper feedback to make is useful. Where its at, it's only a few inches away from Fwd to Aft center. Also, thankfully with Deutsch DTM and Deutsch AS connectors the failure rates are so darn low that once I get everything up and running, I'm comfortable covering this all up. If something fails, then its time to open it up and fix it :cool:

[beeman]

That area is not really protected from the elements, is that an issue? I made a divider to keep road debris and water out of the tunnel.

https://s15.directupload.net/images/190109/t8ov3aco.jpg

[Shoeless]

That area is not really protected from the elements, is that an issue? I made a divider to keep road debris and water out of the tunnel.

Shouldn't be an issue with the sealed connectors I'll be using. I like what you did here with an easy access. I've had to stick 4 LED controller blocks in here as well, so maybe a good idea for me to do something similar to what you have here.

[Shoeless]

Hey guys,

Looking for a little input here. I have lost one to many nights of sleep over this and thought I'd run it by everyone.

I'm not 100% happy with where my battery and all the stuff around it is ending up on my build. My main concern is where the positive terminal goes right next to the steering column. I even took the steering column apart and put some fuel hose around it. I've tried several ways to see if it would make me feel better, but the positive terminal is just darn close to it. I've tried flipping the battery around and putting the terminals on the other side, but its too close to other items. I've tried cutting away a little insulation on my tunnel coolant tubes to move them over more and scoot the battery over, but didn't like this. And several other ideas and just not happy. Here is what is currently looks like. In my head all I can think of is this battery grounding out and catching the car on fire.

https://i.imgur.com/QHi4aWh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/vKviTfp.jpg

My thought it to pick up some 1/4" thick aluminum plate and mount that across the frame rails that extend out from the center of the chassis and mount the battery high (see red outline below). I'd have to remake several cables and redo some wiring, but I think I would sleep better at night and the cables would come off the battery a lot nicer and in the orientation to even miss the aluminum cage that holds the battery in place. I did a little test fit of the front aluminum piece and checked if I can reach my heater hose shut off and those two items are clear. Is there anything I'm missing here and what do you guys think overall?

https://i.imgur.com/UL0S3dq.jpg

[Ajzride]

Seems a smaller battery, or a battery of similar size with side posts would be a much easier solution than moving anything.

https://www.amazon.com/Supersmart-Lithium-Battery-8-0AH-480CCA/dp/B07JV8X181/ref=asc_df_B07JV8X181/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=318785865244&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4275547472424948385&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027730&hvtargid=pla-590123020751&psc=1

[beeman]

I put the same battery in the tunnel, will it fit in yours? You could build a 1/2" square frame to elevate it above your coolant pipes if you have enough headroom there.
https://s18.directupload.net/images/190617/4m3qochx.jpg

133100

[Shoeless]

I put the same battery in the tunnel, will it fit in yours? You could build a 1/2" square frame to elevate it above your coolant pipes if you have enough headroom there.

Just quickly stepping into the garage, I think it would fit here, but for serviceability my interior will be all buttoned up and would have a hell of a task to change out. I'm assuming you are either closing things off, but will have some type of easy access.

[jamesfr58]

Sean,

I have been putting in some long hours the last few weeks working at the real job so I have not been down to the shop but I do check in on the forum every night to see how everyone is doing. Hope to get back in the shop by this weekend. Anyway, I moved my battery up, built a frame off the FFR frame to move the battery higher and out of the way of my hard cooling lines that go under the battery support. Here is a picture of it sitting in the car. I also rotated it 90 degrees and can still remove and reinstall it in the car with no problem. The positive battery terminal is over 1" away from the aluminum panel and the battery side would hit the panel before the terminal. This was my solution, and just another idea ...:)

133114

[Shoeless]

Sean,

I have been putting in some long hours the last few weeks working at the real job so I have not been down to the shop but I do check in on the forum every night to see how everyone is doing. Hope to get back in the shop by this weekend. Anyway, I moved my battery up, built a frame off the FFR frame to move the battery higher and out of the way of my hard cooling lines that go under the battery support. Here is a picture of it sitting in the car. I also rotated it 90 degrees and can still remove and reinstall it in the car with no problem. The positive battery terminal is over 1" away from the aluminum panel and the battery side would hit the panel before the terminal. This was my solution, and just another idea ...:)

Thanks for the rundown and the pic James!! Seems like I'll end up with something very similar to your approach.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Can't you remove those battery posts? I have that same model number battery here. The last car we used that on, we did not attach the battery posts. We used the threaded holes in the top of the battery to attach the cables directly to the battery.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

133116

[Shoeless]

Can't you remove those battery posts? I have that same model number battery here. The last car we used that on, we did not attach the battery posts. We used the threaded holes in the top of the battery to attach the cables directly to the battery.

Now THAT could be a solid approach to keeping the battery in its current location and gain possibly enough clearance to make me sleep better!!!! I need to get off these Zoom work calls and get back into the garage to check this out LOL.

Thanks for taking the time to post Shane!!

[Shoeless]

I finished up my last Zoom meeting this afternoon and hit the garage to look at the cable routing per Shane's recommendation of ditching the battery posts. I had a couple 90 deg 1/0 lugs left over that I bought for the main connection from the battery to the starter so I cut the cable I had and threw this on there just to see what it would look like. I no longer have a battery lug hanging over the aluminum cage and this just looks safer to me. I might be able to attach a 90 deg lug to the top and run the cable straight down and snake it over to my master fuses. We'll see.

What do you guys think?

https://i.imgur.com/LTWGuRv.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/LWulzWP.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/VNJWfty.jpg

[dlud]

That's how I mounted my battery, mainly because the stock location was a pia. Although it looks like there may be some interference with the hood, there is actually quite a bit of room between the battery and the hood. 133140

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I finished up my last Zoom meeting this afternoon and hit the garage to look at the cable routing per Shane's recommendation of ditching the battery posts. I had a couple 90 deg 1/0 lugs left over that I bought for the main connection from the battery to the starter so I cut the cable I had and threw this on there just to see what it would look like. I no longer have a battery lug hanging over the aluminum cage and this just looks safer to me. I might be able to attach a 90 deg lug to the top and run the cable straight down and snake it over to my master fuses. We'll see.

What do you guys think?


I think that looks a heck of a lot safer than before. I think I would have worried more about the battery cable end grounding out against the aluminum battery cage than the steering column, but maybe it wasn't as close as the photos made it look?

[Shoeless]

I think that looks a heck of a lot safer than before. I think I would have worried more about the battery cable end grounding out against the aluminum battery cage than the steering column, but maybe it wasn't as close as the photos made it look?

Oh yea, the old mock up with the post and large lugs, the lug was WAY closer to the battery cage than the lug was to the steering column. I'm at least at the point where I've introduced a level 3 mistake proofing (HA work terminology fitting in here :p - completely removing the failure mode) by removing the posts and large lugs and gone directly from cable lug to battery. Even if the cable that attaches to the battery comes loose, it can't even physically reach the battery cage. It would have to come completely off the battery to even think about touching the cage and I've got more clearance on the steering column now too. If somehow the battery came loose and was rubbing against the fuel hose I put on there, I would feel it in the steering way before it wore a hole in it and grounded out.

I think I'm pretty happy with this and most importantly, I slept like a baby last night LOL. Now time to mod the ground cable.

[Shoeless]

Hey guys,

Been working on the wiring here lately and with all the focus of tucking wires up and securing them, I noticed just how darn close my t-stat housing is to the frame. Not sure how I didn't notice this before, but obviously look too darn close to me. I've got an LS3 with an LS1 water pump and Mendy transaxle. I can't remember if I kept the t-stat housing from the LS3 water pump and just put it on here or if I have the motor tilted too far forward with the rear transaxle mount, but figured I post this up and see if you guys can help me figure this one out.

Here are a couple pics of the clearance, or should I say lack of clearance. I also eyeball measured the height of my housing and it came in at approx. 1.545" tall from the water pump flange to the flat on top of the housing. I'm also now questioning if I have my spacers on the trans mount in properly. Right now I have the thick one of the bottom with the thick washer on top of it.

What does this clearance on your guys setup look like?

https://i.imgur.com/Fiwi3Ay.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/SI2LV33.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HFDEGZd.jpg

[jamesfr58]

Sean
This is how I addressed the issue with my LS3 as I had the same problem, but mine actually jut barely touched the frame and I used a different thermostat housing as the stock on would don allow me to exit in the direction I wanted to get into the tunnel with the hard piping I used.

You can see from pictures below the swivel thermostat housing and where I cut the frame to make a modification to give it enough room, I know it will not hit the frame. I cut a section of the frame out and modified the piece I cut out from a square tube to a reinforced (heavier steel) triangle, eliminating the side that the housing hit, then welded section of square tube back into the frame.

It worked out well for me anyway, hope this will at least give you an idea of a possible fix.

134099 134097 134098

[jamesfr58]

Sorry about extra thumbnail could not get it out of message, and no ideas on the transmission mount, it looks good, but I have a G-96 so my transmission is mounted al together different... :)

[Shoeless]

Sean
This is how I addressed the issue with my LS3 as I had the same problem, but mine actually jut barely touched the frame and I used a different thermostat housing as the stock on would don allow me to exit in the direction I wanted to get into the tunnel with the hard piping I used.

You can see from pictures below the swivel thermostat housing and where I cut the frame to make a modification to give it enough room, I know it will not hit the frame. I cut a section of the frame out and modified the piece I cut out from a square tube to a reinforced (heavier steel) triangle, eliminating the side that the housing hit, then welded section of square tube back into the frame.

It worked out well for me anyway, hope this will at least give you an idea of a possible fix.

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Thanks for the quick reply James. I'm hoping I don't have to go to this extreme, but its always a possibility. Or I just need to get off my butt, buy a Harbor Freight welder, and teach myself how to weld :cool:

[beeman]

I thought about doing what James did but I worried it would affect the way the firewall etc. fits the chassis. I have about 1/8" of clearance where you are tight, I plan to notch out the tubing and weld in a filler. You could accomplish the same thing with a 3 pound sledge probably...

[Shoeless]

I thought about doing what James did but I worried it would affect the way the firewall etc. fits the chassis. I have about 1/8" of clearance where you are tight, I plan to notch out the tubing and weld in a filler. You could accomplish the same thing with a 3 pound sledge probably...

I just flipped the rubber transaxle spacers and it didn't do much of anything spacing wise for this issue. I'm seeing a notch getting cut in the frame in my near future.

[Shoeless]

So this is what I call a blessing in disguise. My goal this morning was to address the T-Stat housing clearance. I found an LS1 housing available at the local parts store that appeared to be shorter and would give me the clearance I wanted. So I pulled the one off the water pump and took it with me to compare. Sure enough it was definitely shorter and would give me the clearance. I want to slide it in place and since the t-stat is built into the housing it wouldn't quite go in, I'm going to have to take off the water pump and then install it. As I'm cursing myself for have to once again break everything down to remove the water pump, I get to the bolt that is behind my CTSV alternator bracket. More cursing as I think I now need to remove that, but wait, something doesn't seem right. Sure enough, the pulley that is in the way and attache to the CTSV bracket was only on finger tight. Holy smokes, I would have never checked if the pulley was tight on an OEM bracket that I purchased, but sure enough, it was completely loose. Long story short, I'm now thankful that I had to break this all down to replace the t-stat housing that now clears the frame, but also found a potentially catastrophic loose pulley bolt.

Time for lunch, maybe a little more wiring, and then time to get the boat ready for offshore fishing tomorrow :cool:

https://i.imgur.com/VIJwu5f.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/wDY8FcU.jpg

[crash]

I had a boss at a race shop many years ago get mad at me because we got a new style fluid pump in that was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread and I immediately took it apart before installing it on the car. My thinking was two fold. First was that I didn't want anything on the car that I didn't know exactly how it worked and what parts it was made of. This gives me knowledge "down the road" if something fails. Secondarily, I wanted to know that I had checked every bolt and piece to make sure it was done correctly. I tell you, it is something I still do and you may be surprised how many times something is not quite right or can be improved upon. My wife thinks I am crazy too. "You paid how much for that and you are cutting and grinding on it?" If I had a dollar for every time she said that!

Point is, I think it is good habit to CHECK EVERYTHING, even if it is "new".

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I found that out the hard way on a brand new LS376 crate engine. There is a cover bolted to the block behind the flywheel. Upon engine start, oil was pouring out from between the trans and engine....had to take everything back apart to find that all of the bolts in that cover were only finger tight....