Jesse builds a pickup #329 - Front cowl and hood

[dwillouby]

Yes sir, thanks very much.

David

[Blitzboy54]

Completed the Heater/AC plumbing

Nothing real ground breaking here. I thought I would bend the incoming heater lines but in order to get them 180 deg without kinking I needed to make the loop too big. my solution was simply to use 5/8 elbows.



The last element that needed to be addressed is the condensation drain. Again brass elbows to the rescue. I didn't want to cut a hole in the floor so I jogged everything out the side. The carpet will cover it up and it's tucked away in an area you just won't see.





Cleaned up the dome light wiring and changed it over to red. Give everything a saucier look





When I planned this build in my mind I used my Roadster experience as a template for scheduling various parts of the build. The thing I have learned is they are not the same. The engine goes in a LOT earlier than a Roadster. I thought about skipping ahead to the wiring but doesn't seem like a good idea. The engine is getting painted (it's going to be very black), in keeping with that theme I painted/powder coated the mounts.



To be honest having less to do hasn't been the end of the world because it has been so incredibly cold, but I don't sit still very well. I am going to pivot until I get the engine and start working on the doors. They seem pretty complicated and looks like I could easily spend a couple weeks getting them sorted so I have jumped ahead a few chapters in the manual. I started cutting the female hinges and will keep working on this for a while.

[tnt_motorsports]

Jessie, things are coming along very nicely. Just throwing it out there on your elbow design. Any appetite to use a copper 180? This would eliminate a couple leak paths.

https://www.menards.com/main/plumbin...332-c-8565.htm

[Guardm16]

[/QUOTE]
I started cutting the female hinges and will keep working on this for a while.

[/QUOTE]

have a few extra taps on hand and lots of cutting oil and patience. I broke a few and fount that a center punch breaks out the old broken tap very easily.

[Blitzboy54]

My concern on the copper hoop is there isn't an barb. I would worry about it popping off with heat cycles. I read about tapping the hinges. They do seem to be made from a hard material for sure if cutting them is any indication.

Thank for the tips!

[jengum]

Just an idea I read on other car restoration forums.

Use a compression fitting ferrule or piece of 12 gauge solid copper wire around the OD that is soldered to the copper pipe to provide a backstop for the hose clamp.

[Blitzboy54]

have a few extra taps on hand and lots of cutting oil and patience. I broke a few and fount that a center punch breaks out the old broken tap very easily

As you say. I read a few threads including Paul's on the hinges. These things are really tough to work with. I used a 2 word phrase over and over again that starts with "mother". I used my die grinder and 3 cutting disks to get the female hinges rough cut. I then used a few different files to smooth out the edge. A band saw would be better but I don't have one. Drilling the holes was another kind of crazy experience. I broke 3 bits and ended up throwing away and replacing my 5/16.

The tap was ok (slow and steady wins the race). I found the countersink to be quite a challenge. I started with an over the counter bit but only got one hole 80% of the way done before it stopped working. Before biting the bullet and purchasing a high grade carbide bit that I would use once ($150ish) I tried this one designed for metal I found on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050PUDFW...sin_title&th=1



This did the trick



FYI - I didn't do anything to protect the finish on the hinges as these will be powder coated. If you plan to keep them bare shiny metal I would recommend using wood blocks and blue tape.

A little engine preview. The engine and accessory parts are getting painted. I have to say so far things are looking sharp!

[Blitzboy54]

We're Back!

I've been away from the truck for a couple weeks. I had to get my Roadster back in the shop so I could get her prepped for paint. That is now done and the roadster is in CT until Summer and I have my garage back. First priority was to get re organized and put the truck on the ground. We are officially a roller!



First bit of business is to clean up the heater hoses. TNT suggested a copper elbow, I was concerned about not having a barb to bite onto but liked the idea generally. I found these at Vintage Air.



Same concept, installed it makes the space cleaner.



Next I figured I would take the opportunity to trim the transmission tunnel cover. It comes oversized and needs to be fitted, so I clamped it in place and marked the underside.






I then measured the lip to the inner edge and marked that out. Trimmed it and it fits in the recess nicely now.

[Blitzboy54]

Engine is in the house

The big news is the engine has been delivered. I got the engine and transmission mounts installed. I started to put the header on but the gasket that comes with the kit is both bulky and shiny. I found another set of gaskets that are much darker and lower profile. I should have them this week.





The plan is to get it in as soon as possible and then build it back up in truck. It's already torn down seems like it would be advantageous to keep it that way until it's installed.

[tnt_motorsports]

We're Back!

I've been away from the truck for a couple weeks. I had to get my Roadster back in the shop so I could get her prepped for paint. That is now done and the roadster is in CT until Summer and I have my garage back. First priority was to get re organized and put the truck on the ground. We are officially a roller!



First bit of business is to clean up the heater hoses. TNT suggested a copper elbow, I was concerned about not having a barb to bite onto but liked the idea generally. I found these at Vintage Air.



Same concept, installed it makes the space cleaner.



Next I figured I would take the opportunity to trim the transmission tunnel cover. It comes oversized and needs to be fitted, so I clamped it in place and marked the underside.






I then measured the lip to the inner edge and marked that out. Trimmed it and it fits in the recess nicely now.

Nice upgrade on the tubes Jesse! I like it.

[Blitzboy54]

Engine's In

We are finally on our way. Been a lot of starts and stops lately between getting my Cobra prepped and out the door and before that trying to get the engine in my garage. All that's in the rear view now and I plan to pickup the pace over the next few months. Me and my partner in crime got after it this morning, my daughter helped me drop the engine on my first build, this time the wife is on deck. I find using my chainfall and moving the chassis is just as effective as using an engine hoist I don't have any room for.











The engine mounts are definitely unique. Not a ton of wiggle room, kind of seemed like the engine needs to be where the engine needs to be in order to get everything to line up. I had to back out a little a couple times and then finally figured it out.



She's in! Now I can start working on the engine dress and wiring. So, so much wiring.

[cv2065]

Looks great Jessie! Looking forward to see what you've got in store for this beast!

[danmas]

That is so insanely cool looking. That engine murders, slays and down right screams “don’t **** with me, I will eat your lunch and steal your women”. Well done!

[Blitzboy54]

That is so insanely cool looking. That engine murders, slays and down right screams “don’t **** with me, I will eat your lunch and steal your women”. Well done!

Perfect, just what I was going for.

[PMD24]

Engine is perfect for that build. Nice job Jesse.

Pat

[Blitzboy54]

Exhaust

No new ground broken here. These pieces are really well made. Obviously the the blacked out theme continues here. I did only ceramic coat the parts that are visible with the truck on the ground.




On the headers the kit comes with 2 spacers and gaskets that bring the exhaust down the to the right height. The Hooker headers are a stock LS part and not quite long enough for this application





I didn't get a good picture of it but the passenger side transition from the header to the muffler comes up about an inch shorter than the drivers side. In order to make up that gap the kit comes with a square spacer and 2 gaskets where there is only the single gasket on the drivers side.

Just like Paul I found I needed to run the mufflers opposite of the instructions. If I put the exhaust to the outside the tips would run into the lower control arms.

[Blitzboy54]

Pt 2

I also found this operation only requires a single hanger in the back. Any more than that would be overkill. It is very stout. FFR it looks like has changed the hangers and not for the better. On older builds I see threaded parts that are adjustable. They welded these pieces together and in lieu of washer and nuts to hold the hangers in they used a bend at the end. I struggled to get the bent tip through the hanger. I cut the bent tip off then bent an 90 degree in the hanger so it fit the space. I used a tube bender and cut the tips off. In order to keep it from coming out I used a hose clamp on the end of the shaft. In all reality it can't come out because it is clamped to the exhaust tip.






Drive Shaft



I also took the opportunity to install the drive shaft. Nothing too complicated here either except I needed to connect the ebrake so I could get the bolts torqued to the required 70 ft/lbs.

[RuffShod]

Your slip yoke into your transmission is sticking out like mine does. I wish they would have made the drive shaft an inch longer. I was going to run the rear links as short as I can to get it to penetrate deeper onto the spline shaft.

[Blitzboy54]

Your slip yoke into your transmission is sticking out like mine does. I wish they would have made the drive shaft an inch longer. I was going to run the rear links as short as I can to get it to penetrate deeper onto the spline shaft.

I think they designed it around the idea that it would be using the IRS style pinion. The adaptor for that is about an inch. I was shipped one and the bolts that go with it. I had to buy my own fox era style bolts since the rear end I got had the older pinion.

[Blitzboy54]

Engine dress

I had assumed I would have water pump interference based solely on Pauls truck build. I am also using an LS3 so I figured the basic fit would be the same. I wanted to get out in front of it so I removed the pressed in heater corp barbs and tapped the holes before it got painted. As it turns out my engine sits higher than Paul's did but that might be because I have the extended cab? At any rate I did go a slightly different route. I found 90 degree swivel fittings 3/8 and 1/2 npt to 10AN fittings. This works nice because they are so close to each other it gives you a lot of flexibility.



Attach a 5/8 barb to 10AN and we are in business. I really like that they rotate. This give me a lot of adjust ability




I had to wait to finish the engine dress this week as I needed black hardware to go with the theme. It's a mix of metric and SAE so I figured i would just wait until I got it in the garage instead of trying to guess ahead of time size and length.





I am going to pull the valve covers and have them PC'ed black. I am now getting into wiring and I don't want to pull them later. I also decided to add steam vent kit so I have to pull the intake manifold anyhow. Mind as well get it all done now.

On to wiring. One thing I will say is the harness was clearly designed for the Roadster. I get that it is also used for all the other vehicles. I would imagine the coupe is pretty close geometrically but the truck is not. I suspect the Hotrod is the same. You can make it work but for my build I have to make a lot of modifications. I will also heavily diet this harness for the first time.

I did get the engine grounded. I have to be extra carefull to make sure I get metal to metal contact with all the paint and powder coating. I also purchased a pre made ground wire as it fits the theme. I keep a fluke with me and check all my grounds to the engine block, heads and frame. I will repeat this with virtually every circuit I add to the build.

[Blitzboy54]

Front harness

As I mentioned the harness is not designed for the truck and this is the first example. The manual states to peal out the fan wiring and fan switch from the harness so that it sits in the center. The truck is much narrower than the Roadster so this makes sense. Accept the ground is spliced in so you can't pull it out of the loom without cutting it. So this is what I did . I snipped the ground wire, pulled the fan wires back to the center of the front of the truck and re spliced it back in. I used a piece of similarly gauged wire (just happened to be orange) for this. It will all be wire loomed so no one that doesn't read this thread will know



The exhaust is an issue however. It takes up a lot of space an it dictates the wire routing as it all needs to come into the cabin through the same area flanked by hot exhaust. I will likely look into a heat wrap in the bits that are closest.

[Blitzboy54]

Wiring layout

There is going to be a lot going on here electrically. I have a Dakota Digital LCD dash, backup camera, Estopp, Autoloc remote door openers, interactive blue tooth LCD, power windows, heat and AC controls and the Holley Terminator X Max. While the dash is a lot taller and deeper than a roadster it is also bit more narrow. Long story short is I need a plan. I have spent the last few weeks gaming out how to make it all work. I worked out most of it but I decided to the best strategy was to leave some wiggle room for changes and/or things I didn't anticipate.

First thing is to start cutting the harness back. A couple things about this. The harness is fine, if your building the kit as designed there is plenty of room. The harness is longer than it needs to be and takes up a lot of room. This is only an issue for me as I have a lot of other things I need to fit in the space.



The other part of this is the Dakota Digital dash interfaces with the Holley Terminator so a lot of the sender wires and other options that come with the harness are not necessary in this case. I found a piece of aluminum diamond plate at the hardware store and made a shelf. This will serve as a hub.



I have a main 12V bus for the main power feeds. Battery, alternator, starter, the RF ignition wires and any thing else that requires a direct battery connection. The Holley for sure, power steering and possibly the Estopp. I will run a fused HAAT, switched 12v and ground to the other three bus bars. This makes it a lot easier to wire. I am going to add another wire passthrough although most of the wiring is above the fuse box area. I left some blank space to add relays. I have an antenna/controller for the remote door poppers but it's small and attaches with adhesive so that will get stuck to the firewall.



I am trying to keep the engine bay as clean as possible. I found the passenger foot box to be an ideal fit for the Holley ECU. more lucky than good but it's like it was designed to fit there.



I've exposed most of the wires that need work. A lot of this just needs to be shortened. I'll remove some of it. Once it's all laid out I'll re loom it to clean things up.



I also started laying out the rear harness until I ran out of wire clamps. Both Cobras I had extras, I didn't seem to get enough with the truck. I don't like the idea of running wires outside the vehicle so that pretty much leaves the drive shaft tunnel. If you run it in the upper corner and keep it tight there is plenty of clearance.

[Chris H.]

I'll tell ya, I had a hell of a time with the coolant lines to and from the radiator on my LS build. I ended up using AN lines and am very happy with it.

[mkassab]

Blitz,
I too have all the Dakota Digital devices. I see you're mounting them deep in the dash. Remember, you'll have to perform setup settings... How will you get to the interface boxes to do your settings after all are hooked up?

Mark

[Blitzboy54]

Blitz,
I too have all the Dakota Digital devices. I see you're mounting them deep in the dash. Remember, you'll have to perform setup settings... How will you get to the interface boxes to do your settings after all are hooked up?

Mark

Hi Mark,

After wiring I am moving toward first start. My plan is to complete the electrical and gauge cluster setup without the body or dash on it. I am working on a temporary holder for the screen I will likely test fit both the dash and body then remove them. After everything is setup and works I will go cart, then shift into dash integration. I did see that Dakota Digital allows blue tooth setup with the app, so I would be covered either way but I will have everything exposed for the setup.

Thanks for looking out!

[Blitzboy54]

First I took a break from wiring to bleed the brakes. Nothing too fancy, I used a vacuum bleeder to rough charge the lines then my wife helped me with the pump, hold, bleed method. Had one leak in one of the rear connections and one in the incoming hose to MC. The hose clamp wasn't tight enough and some seeped out.




Rear Harness

Completed the rear harness work for now. Routed everything through the transmission tunnel (get into that in a bit).







I have the battery in . I went with the XS power D925. It's the same dimensions as the Odyssey that FFR recommends but has a little more AH's. I have the main power and ground as well as 2 separate lines of each. Both go to the Holley, both the ECU and wiring harness require home runs. I flirted with using a terminal block but just figured it was best to follow the instructions to the letter.



I did run a terminal block in the front, I have the battery, starter, alternator, 2 RF ignition feeds, power steering and the last one will be used for the estopp parking brake. They want a 10a fuse, so I am putting one inline.

[PMD24]

Jesse, what are those battery terminals? I looked at a ton before buying mine for the MK4. Bought something that's pretty generic, and I'm not at all thrilled with them.

Pat

[Blitzboy54]

Jesse, what are those battery terminals? I looked at a ton before buying mine for the MK4. Bought something that's pretty generic, and I'm not at all thrilled with them.

Pat

I found the on Amazon, they are brass terminals with silicon covers. What I like is they are modular. I also have open lugs still. I want to add remote charging terminals at some point. As an aside I am really struggling to figure out where. The truck rides so low anything under the bed in impractical. I really don't want to run more wires upfront. I might actually try and figure out how to put them in the cab. I'll have to wait and see how it goes.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MKCCM83...fed_asin_title

[Blitzboy54]

Rear harness Pt 2

So I am having some issues uploading photo's I figured out a work around for now. Hopefully these post ok.


I have a lot of wiring going from front to back. The battery in the back is a big part of it. The Holley Terminator is another big part as it wants direct battery power and ground. The ECU has it's own loom with 10ga wires and I ran a dedicated 12 ga power and ground for the harness. In addition we have the Ron Francis rear harness, power for backup lights, backup camera and the estopp.







One of the other things that is very different with the truck vs the Roadster is the transmission tunnel makes things a little complicated. I REALLY don't want to install it before first start. It will 100% be in the way. I am going to have to undo a lot of wiring in order to install it when it comes time. I am using weather packs to make as much of the front to rear stuff with connectors for easier disassembly. This true for the clutch as well. It's hydraulic, so I have no interest in charging it, just to break and drain it again later. I thought about modifying the tunnel with a cutout in the center to pass wires and hoses through but I haven't committed to the idea yet.

Speaking of wiring. I started stripping down the RF harness and paring down just what I need. Most of the senders are run through the Holley Terminator. The two notable exceptions are the gas sender and speedometer. I am using a GPS antenna. So really just the one.

[peterh226]

Some good stuff between your and EdwardB's build. My engine/tranny combo (LS and ZF 8HP from BluePrint) just arrived so it working one that stuff. I'll be going with Dakota Digital as well, but Blueprint has some different stuff now - a new controller and a big fuse box. Those and a lot of cable that I'm going to need to figure out how to deal with.
Make sure you take good notes on the electric. When you need to dig back in to find, fix, or modify something your will need it!

[Blitzboy54]

Some good stuff between your and EdwardB's build. My engine/tranny combo (LS and ZF 8HP from BluePrint) just arrived so it working one that stuff. I'll be going with Dakota Digital as well, but Blueprint has some different stuff now - a new controller and a big fuse box. Those and a lot of cable that I'm going to need to figure out how to deal with.
Make sure you take good notes on the electric. When you need to dig back in to find, fix, or modify something your will need it!

Well, to be mentioned alongside Paul is quite a compliment. If he's Rembrandt I'm at best Jackson Pollock, at worst the kid in the back of the class eating glue. Good news is the thing I like most about these builds is the electrical. I find it very satisfying to get everything to work like it should.

Dash wiring Pt1

Speaking of which I am starting to make a little progress. I completed the battery bus which includes a home run to the the battery, RF ignition wires, alternator, parking brake and power steering. The power steering comes with a fuse inline. The estopp recommends using a circuit with a 10 amp fuse. I purchased an inline fuse holder and put it inline. I didn't get a good picture of it but I mounted it in a way that it sits under the fuse panel and can be accessed there. I added another bus near Dakota Digital module. This way I can have a bus for always hot, accessory power, ignition power and ground. The Holley requires switch power that does not shut off during ignition. I believe accessory power disengages when you crank the engine. I like the idea of having easy access to both.



I have my harness grounded as well. In addition to this main ground I also put a ground lug on the other side of the chassis and connected a ground from the RF harness to it. It is now fully grounded to the chassis in 2 locations. I checked resistance to the engine block and battery neg lead. All are less than a deciohm. On this bus I have ground to the chassis, the RF harness, power steering and the ground bus for electronics. I will also run the ground for the estopp to this as well.




The last harness I needed to integrate (or at least have a plan for) was the heater/AC. I test fit where everything was going to go and it fits just fine. The bigger issue is the instructions. I would love for Dave to hire me to clean up the manuals. As someone that creates a lot of technical documents there is a lot of room for improvement. First when the hardware evolves the pics and instructions need to be updated. 2nd I think sometimes they think they are being clear but maybe need to take another look. It always works out and I eventually get there. At the end of the day they will answer your questions but Dave if your reading this, give me a call!

This is a very good example. I couldn't figure out what this meant for almost an hour. I eventually worked it out but this comes on the heals of instructing you to tie the blue "dryer" wire into the fan sender. There is no such label on the "dyer" and conflating it with the blue power wire for the fan makes it even more confusing. I received no yellow electrical connector and what on earth am I looking at in this picture?



What I think they mean here is if you are using the some sort of control pack or engine management system to control the fan, double tie in the power. Otherwise don't. I'm still not entirely sure that's what they mean but I think I'm close.

This brings me to the control switches. I like the look of these but for what I am going for I fear this might be too big and bulky. I am looking to do something else (maybe).



There isn't a direct over the counter solution but I think I can replace the AC on switch easily enough and I can probably remove the fan and temp switch and change the knobs. We will see.

[Blitzboy54]

Wiring Pt 2

I was back and forth on how much to wire needing to get the transmission tunnel back in. I finally noticed that build manual instructs you to create a wire pass through. I had thought about doing that on my own but figured there was a maybe a reason not to. Now that I have permission this makes it easier going forward. With that I decided to connect everything electrically and the hydraulic clutch.





I made the Estopp connection using a weather pack. With all the connections and various harnesses ( Ron Francis, Heater/AC, and 3 Holley) I am trying to use as many connectors as possible. Like the control wires for the Heater/ AC harness



Real estate is getting tight so I am using the heater front for the door popper antenna. This is an Autoloc system that has a key fob remote to open the doors. It can also be used to program other systems like windows (no plans to do this but you never know).



It uses 3 relays. One for each door and a safety relay. This disables the system when the engine is running so you can't accidentally open the door when driving.

[Blitzboy54]

Wiring Pt 2 continued


I was a little stuck trying to figure out how all the wiring for the heater/AC and fan all worked together. Like I said the FFR instructions are not amazing but I now have it worked out. Please check me if you see something wrong with my line of thinking here. The FFR instruction say to tie the blue "dryer" wire into the fan switch at the fuse box



A couple things here. This is a terribly difficult location to "tap" into. I confirmed with my meter that this location is connected to both the green fan wire in the front of the harness and the sender leg seen here.



The blue dryer wire is connected to the trinary switch. The other side of that switch is a common ground. So when the switch goes it triggers the fan. The green wire if tied to the engine fan switch uses engine ground when it gets hot. In my case the Holley comes with a ground trigger wire to switch on fan control (I will use the EFI vs the old school switch). This is all to say if I tie the Holley fan ground trigger and the dryer wire to the green fan switch at the pigtail that will give me full fan control for both engine temp and AC using the existing RF fan relay. Easy peesy.

And since we are talking grounds. I need a home for the inertia switch. The instructions say to mount it to the 1" square tube. The issue for me is with the Holley ECU mounted where it is there isn't any real estate. I also have no interest in putting any new holes in the firewall. I have identified these two potential landing spots. Both are imperfect.

[Super Dave]

I've been following your build for a while and just wanted to say Thanks for posting all the pics - Definitely helps me understand what I'm getting myself into and how to overcome some of the common issues

[KZGUNS]

You can mount the switch wherever it fits. once mounted make sure it's reset or you will get a no crank issue. If it gets bumped it will pop the safety, I just shook it in my hand and it popped. I am wondering how it will hold up if you hit a bump etc.

[Guardm16]

I put my safety switch on the right side of the footbox steel. Just to the Left and Rear of the fuse box. I can still reach it to reset.

switch.png

[Blitzboy54]

I've been following your build for a while and just wanted to say Thanks for posting all the pics - Definitely helps me understand what I'm getting myself into and how to overcome some of the common issues

Thank you and welcome aboard!




Wiring Pt 3

Well, I mostly took the weekend off. My wife and I drove to Buffalo and attended a hockey game and had a great time. I did manage to get a few things done. I have to say I am starting to feel some wiring burn out. I am anxious to get the valve covers back from powder coat so I can move on to the engine for a while.

I routed the Drive by Wire harness. It has a 12v brake signal for start. I have decided that having a neutral safety switch on the clutch AND a brake switch to start the engine is redundant. I realize I would likely have one foot on both but it still seems like over kill so I effectively disabled the brake signal by running the 12v trigger to the ignition bus.





I also committed to placing the inertia switch near the pedal box.



Last is I had to clean up the wiring area. The original terminal blocks I chose were too big. I really didn't need that many points of connection and I left very little room to route wires. I removed them and went with these units that are smaller. It's much easier to manage. I will get them labeled at some point and clean up the loose wire. I now have about 95% of it figured out, though I would say at this point I only have about 60% of it actually completed. Baby steps




I also felt like the shelf was a little flimsy. I want to keep the area in front and above clear for the dash and ducts. I came up with this. I secured a piece of 3/8 ss tubing to the steel bracket that holds up the heater/AC and created a brace. Works well.

[jengum]

Go Sabres!

[PMD24]

Interesting read on the electric Jesse. Well thought out. I've also gotten addicted to it. I'm tracking my hours and it will be interesting to see how much time I've spent on electrical alone. I'm guessing I'm at 100+ hours at this point. The most challenging thing for me is trying to get the stuff behind the dash routed in a manner that is somewhat clean... or I guess I should say, less messy.

I agree 100% with you on the manuals. They really need attention. I'm planning to speak with Dave Hodgkins about the intent of the wiki tab here. Oddly, there's not much there. Seems like a great place to build a really good manual for each FFR vehicle. I've kept good records on my electrical changes and given the fact that many folks are challenged by it (me included), I feel like I should share it (in one place).

Pat

[Blitzboy54]

Electrical testing

I finally got to a payoff point. Before cleaning up some of the remaining loose wiring from the harness I wanted to make sure everything works. I connected up the ignition, headlight switch, parking brake, backup camera and dash. I connected up the turn signal switch, hazards and horn.





I was pleased to discover all my circuits work. I was able to confirm headlights, high beams, turn signals, horn, hazards, dome light and brake lights. I was also able to test the power steering. That is a pretty cool unit. When it's powered on I am able to turn the steering hub with my fingers with ease. I would have expected a motor noise or wine, but nothing. It's completely quiet and just works.

Digital Gauges

I connected up the dash, this is one of the highlights of the build. It's part of their Grafix series GRFX-2017. It's completely digital, fully programmable and the best part is it's an oval shape that fits perfectly in the center of the dash. The only thing I ran into that didn't work right out of the box is I do not yet have it connected to the Holley Terminator, therefore it does not see any oil pressure so it alarms for that. There is a lot of programming and setup needed but for now I just wanted to make sure the basic inputs worked.

Base screen



This is what it defaults to with the lights on, I had the high beams on and you can see the indicator. You can also see the parking brake indicator as well. I was able to test the hazards and turn signals they work as well.



Backup camera, tied to the reverse lights.



I am installing the Autoloc door shave kit. I was able to program the key fobs, they work as designed. The lock button opens the driver door and the unlock the passenger. The kit comes with a bluetooth app, however I was not able to connect to it. I spoke with their tech support and they think I either have a faulty controller or the latest IOS update needs to be adjusted for in the app. Either way they will take care of me but for now as long as the fobs work I'm fine. I tested the actuator, they work but the instructions call for individual 30a fuses for each door. I am going to install a secondary fuse panel exclusively for the doors.



Last here is the left over carnage from the harness diet. If I was to build another one of these I think I would fully strip the harness and start over.