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Power Steering: Modified Pump Mounting Bracket
I heard back from Norm of KRC Power. I confirmed that the belt has the correct part number (4060267). Belt No. 4060267 is supposed to be 26.7" in length. I didn't have an accurate way of measuring the belt, but from what I could measure it was around that ball park. I also verified that I had the right spacers in the right location. In conclusion, it's just an unfortunate situation where the belt may have been a little too short, the reservoir may have been just a little too far to the left, and that damn bump on the engine head maybe just a little bigger than usual. Regardless, the interference was REALLY, REALLY small. I understand how this can result from a few compounded errors within tolerance of each component.
Seeing there wasn't anything that I did wrong as far as I could tell, I decided the best way forward was to modify the bracket to bring the reservoir pivot point a bit closer to the driver side by 1/8". That, in turn, should allow the top of the reservoir to rotate and clear the bump. I took a file and filed the 3 holes of the bracket in the opposite direction of movement, ground down the washers a little to allow the extra bias, and mounted the bracket.
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With the bracket moved by ~1/8", I successfully mounted the pump and reservoir. Unlike before reservoir could now sit fully against the bracket without grinding on the bump. There's now about an 1/32" gap between the reservoir and the bump. The reservoir itself is still sitting counter-clockwise from the vertical, but I'm completely okay with that.
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The pump is on! I don't think there's anything else I want to attach to the engine before I drop it back in. Things I'll install after the engine goes back in are:
- Alternator (may bump into my brake lines during install)
- Oil filter (generally in the way when the engine is in mid air)
- Headers (will be installed when the engine is just above the mounts)
A big thank you to everyone that helped me out with this! :D
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Dashboard: Extra mounting points for a less floppy dash.
Over the past few days I've been playing around with the dash. TBH I still can't decide on the layout I want. I love the look of the competition dash, but I also the practicality of the street dash. I've been combing through dozens of threads on dash ideas (especially this one) and so far I've come up with something like this (please excuse the terrible photoshop, I borrowed the picture from this post and just moved stuff around):
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It's got the 3-gauges behind the wheel like the competition dash, but I also have both tach and speedo in sight. Best of both words or the b*****d child of two unfortunate ideas? What I don't like is how the center section looks a little empty. I believe adding a larger glovebox would help as well as a plaque. I don't want to add any switch that I can't easily reach when driving. Passenger creature comfort? That's a tomorrow problem for a tomorrow Daniel. Haha. With all honesty I see myself debating about this dash layout for MONTHS. What I'll do now is wire it in such a way that doesn't make anything final so I can change it later when I finally come up with something I'm happy with.
Something less ambiguous: The dash is *FLOPPY*. Pulling/pushing the light dimmer switch in and out shakes the whole dash around and the whole thing looks super flimsy. Yes, it's just a thin sheet of aluminum, but I sure wish it doesn't look that way. I decided to add dashboard reinforcements to improve the "floppiness".
There are many threads on this topic. Based on what I've gathered, here are the few key points / goals:
P.S. Please excuse the unorganized mosaic of sound dampening material all over the dash aluminum. I had pieces left over and didn't know where else to put it... :rolleyes:
I started by making bottom-support panels using left-over aluminum sheets I had laying around:
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Right now I only made one for the passenger side. Later on I realized the two smaller supports on the driver side isn't enough to prevent the "flop", so I'll make a driver side one too.
At the end of the dash near the door hinges, the dashboard bends and curves under the body. I test fitted this with the body and identified where the flat part of the "dash ends". At the tip of the aluminum are 90 degree bends that attach to the frame at a 45 degree angle, which I'll refer to as dash-tabs.
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Using steel strips I made dash-end mounts to make sure the dash is solid before the bend. This ensures the flat part of the dash STAYS flat, unaffected by the twist and bends.
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I made some dash-tab mounts that are removable without screws. It's essentially a steel strip with a 45 degree slot cut into it. The 45 degree dash-tabs can be inserted into the slots which will hold it in place. To remove the dash, simple push it out of the slots.
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With these changes the sides of the dash are rock solid and removable. The center is still floppy, however. I'll come up with a plan for that next. Perhaps make more dash-end mounts that sit near the center of the dash.
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Fuel System: We have fuel pressure and no leaks!
A small but exciting update: After throughly checking all fittings and connections, we decided it's time to test the fuel system for real. Doing will will allow me to finally seal up the trunk aluminum panels with confidence. I went to the gas station with my 5 gallon gas tank and filled it up completely. I COMPLETELY underestimated how heavy 5 gallons of fuel was! Lugging it back onto the car wasn't too difficult, but holding it high enough and aiming the nozzle into the filler tube took some sweat. LOL!
With 5 gallons of gas in the tank I jerry-rigged two 1-pin connectors that allows me to power the fuel pump by connecting it to the battery. Plugged it in with great anticipation and viola! 65PSI at the regulator and no leaks to be found! I left the system running for 30mins just so I can make sure there REALLY aren't any leaks. So far so good.
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One step closer to that first start!
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Fuel System: gas vapours leaking?
It's been one night since I've put gas in the tank. This morning I woke up, walked into the garage, and immediately noticed the smell of gasoline. Looks like the EVAP system of my car isn't doing a bang up job like I thought it would. Just to clarify: While I can smell gas, it's not overwhelming like you'd get with a liquid gas leak. I'm very sure it's gas vapour getting out of the system.
The only places I imagine the smell can come from are the filler neck and vent tube. I've installed the gas cap and secured it using hose clamps. Didn't cut the hose down to size yet because I have no idea how long it needs to be so it's currently hanging by the frame held up by zip ties.
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The vent tube has a DIY charcoal canister attached to it; the same design used by the greats. It's currently full of charcoal. I wonder if it's too small?
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Fuel System: Gotta find that leak.
I've spent about an hour taking off panels and inspecting the fuel system, checking every possible place where fuel could leak. ...Pump seal, tank seal, gas cap, every fitting, you name it. Unfortunately the only leakage detection equipment I have on me is my stubby sensitive nose and a rather slow-to-refresh air quality monitor that can measure TVOC.
The first issue was the magnitude of the leak. It's just slow enough that if I keep the garage door open while I work on the car I wouldn't smell anything at all. It's just big enough to full my garage with smell of gasoline in a few hours. I couldn't reliable smell it 100% of the time from any particular part on the fuel line. The air quality monitor is also giving mixed results. It's almost as if the leak is literally everywhere along passenger side chassis. I realized the slightest breeze can blow the vapour away from its origin, leaving me chasing thin air.
To combat this, I took a huge fan and cycled the air in the garage until it's 100% fresh air with no trace of gasoline. I then closed all windows and doors to let the air in the garage be as calm as possible. I left it like that for a few hours and went back into the garage with my nose ready and my air monitor in my hands. By the time I got back to the car for inspection, my air quality monitor's readings had already maxed out, so it was useless. I stuck my nose as close as I could to every fitting and fuel system component. There were 2 places where the smell was strongest:
1. The -6AN hose-end fitting between the end of the send-line and the pressure regulator.
2. The -6AN fittings near the send and return nozzles of the pump.
All other places, including the gas cap, the charcoal canister, fuel level sender, the fuel pressure regulator itself, all smell fine. What's weird is that the entire line near the fitting smells like gasoline. Is the gasoline crawling down the stainless steel braided webbing?
The other question I have is how did this happen. I definitely tightened the fittings more than enough. Did I over tighten and then perhaps strip them? I need to figure this all out. Perhaps I should pressure test my new lines before installing them next time.
Regardless, I will need to clear the fuel lines of fuel somehow and swap out some lines. A step backwards, but a necessary one.
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Fuel System: New Lines. Done!
The fuel line debacle is finally over! It's been 2 days since the new lines were installed. No smell of gasoline in the garage at all! Woohoo!
One week earlier:
I was real confused because why the fuel leak seemed to come from everywhere. Everywhere along the braided lines I sniffed was a super strong smell of gasoline. I bought an organic vapour sniffer device to help me diagnose what's happening. Sure enough, everywhere along the line I pointed, the sniffer showed extremely high readings. I made a separate thread here that specifically goes over my discoveries and the conclusions with the help of folks from the forum. Long story short: The fuel lines I used weren't designed to handle gasoline with any ethanol content. The rubber was letting gas evapourate through the tubing. That's why there were gasoline vapours leaking out at every surface of every braided line. Yeah, I know, I didn't think that was possible either. TBH I'm still not 100% sure if that's the true cause, but at this point I've passed the point of further investigation. I just want my garage to stop smelling like a gas station.
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The solution, then, was to swap out the lines with "proper" ones that can handle modern civilian gasoline. There are a few choices available. I decided on Fragola's PTFE core stainless steel braided lines (Fragola Part No. 601026) paired with Fragola's PTFE fuel line fittings (Fragola's "Real Street Hose Ends"). They had high reviews and weren't outrageously expensive.
I'm going to refrain from giving instructions or posting pictures on installing PTFE fittings. I'm not good at it. I actually stripped / cross threaded my first one. Go watch a few youtube videos of pros doing it instead! LOL. A few tips I learned that really helped me install them correctly are:
- Use a bit of grease on the threads and mating surface to prevent stripping/galling.
- Push the olive/ferrule into the fitting a little to expose some threads for the upper portion to thread in. It makes cross-threading nearly impossible.
- The fittings add about half-inch to each side of the fuel line. Take that into account when you cut the lines.
I then pressure tested the lines using Earl's 6AN pressure tester kit. There was a bit of discussion on the thread linked above on how much pressure to apply during pressure test. Some said 500PSI, some said 125PSI. 500PSI made no sense to me (but what do I know...:rolleyes:). John explained that pressure testing at twice the operating pressure was more than enough to expose any improperly installed fittings. I had a Ryobi tire-inflater that pumped up to 180PSI, and that sounded about right to me.
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The lines all passed the test spectacularly. Something I realized during test was just how little amount of torque is needed for AN fittings to seal. I didn't tighten the fitting much at all and at 180PSI there was zero leakage. Pretty magical.
The lines were ready, so now it's time to swap them in. Unfortunately I had already installed the trunk aluminum panel that goes right on top of the fuel pump. The panel itself has a hole for fuel pump accessibility, but it wasn't nearly big enough to reach the AN fittings that extend toward the side. I decided this was a good chance to expand the hole to a size that made more sense for my build. I decided to expand it downwards a bit too to house any tail-light electrical assemblies I may need in the future.
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With a fire extinguisher ready at my side and a crap ton of shop towels I removed the old lines. I was especially careful to not spill any gasoline anywhere. It's still just spring time, but it's been terribly dry these days. I can't guarantee a spark won't rub out from this dryness. Fortunately nothing bad happened and the new lines were fitted without hassle. It was midnight when we finally powered on the fuel pump to test the new lines. Finally! No leak! No smell! I can finally sleep at night. LOL.
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And that's a wrap!
Alternator And Battery Circuit Breaker?
Been thinking about what else I should do before dropping the engine in for good. Looking through the pictures so far, I realized that I don't have an alternator fuse, nor do I have a battery main power fuse. I know that my daily driver has both of those so I started reading some past threads on this topic. The result of which made me want both.
On a past thread on alternator fuses I read about a manually resettable fuse. Del City has a bunch of these in different variations in stock. This surface mounted one looks real nice. As for the amperage, the alternator on the Gen 3 coyote is rated for 175A. Paul's post here explains that a 150A fuse should be more than enough for anything we normally need from the alternator (for coyote build), so I'll go with the 150A breaker from DC.
The main battery fuse I'm less sure about. While there are threads like this one and this one that recommends it for additional protection against extremely unfortunate circumstances, it also doesn't seem to be a common practice. Paul's post here makes a good point that a single point of failure in the whole system can be an issue in and of itself. More over, I'm also not sure about the amperage rating I'd go for if I do install one. I've seen posts that say 200A and some that say 500A.
Reverse Light and Reverse Lock-out Module Power
There are 2 things I need to add to the rear harness: Reverse Lamp and Reverse-Lockout Module Power. Both of these are just 12V DC connected to BATT-CUTOFF. Luckily the rear harness as these 2 "speed sensor" wires that aren't needed with the GPS speedo. I can use one of these wires to provide 12V DC to both the reverse lockout module as well as the reverse-light pigtail. This leaves one more wire unused. I'm going to run this wire all the way to the rear as an extra dash-controlled 12V DC power to power something else in the future.
I haven't figured out what I'm going to do for the actual reverse-light itself as I'm still trying to figure out all this LED lighting what not. I have purchased the breeze exterior LED light kit that directly replaces the stock lights. For backup lights, I think a strip of white LED around the license plate or under the bumper would be kool. The original cobras don't have backup lights, so I don't want to awkwardly add a third bulb next to the existing light module. No idea if this idea will pass California DOT inspection though.
Another question on my mind is whether or not after-market molex connectors are good enough for dashboard electronics. The gauges and indicator lamps shouldn't draw much power at all, but the accessory plug as well as USB charging ports can draw quite a bit of current. The molex connector pins have a relatively small contact surface. I wonder if I should get bigger connectors for high-power dash components.
