I can't wait to see a video of this thing running! Amazing car, any updates?

 

Here's an update with not the most exciting stuff, but stuff that definitiely had to be done. Had to drill and tap each plenum of the intake manifold for the Idle Air Control housing with an LS style IAC motor. I could have used rubber hose and then simply teed into that, but I didn't want to use rubber, I wanted something a little more permanent and durable. So, picked up some 3/8" brake line from NAPA and cut, flared and bent it to the right size. I only burned through 2 feet of the hard line cause it was hard as hell to get the bends just right! I had to make sure the t-block was as close to the intake as possible because there is not much space between the firewall and rear of the manifold when installed.

The second pic has the IAC unit hooked up via a rubber hose. I will probably mount the IAC on the firewall (passenger side) and use some rubber braided hose for the final install.

 

Next, I drilled and tapped the water pump for a 3/8" NPT sensor. The Big Stuff pcm system requires this sensor and since it is bigger than the 1/8" NPT openings in the cylinder heads it won't fit there, so had to locate it elsewhere. I am trying to decide on which temp gauge to go with and whichever one it is i'll use the cyl. head location for that. Thinking of using the Defi gauges, anyone hear or use these before?

 

Lookin good neil! I might have cringed a bit if I had to drill new holes in that work of art you are calling an intake...haha.

Question about the IAC set up. Just out of pure curiousity. Any details on the block that the actual IAC is mounted to? Thats the first time Ive seen a "remote" IAC...and it looks pretty neat. Did that come with a kit or was that something you had to custom fab?

J.

 

Yeah, I was a little nervous at first drilling into it, but once I started it was business as usual! If figured if I screwed it up I could always have it welded up and start again

Accel makes the remote high flow IAC setup. The part number is 74779K. They also have them with the TPI style IAC motor so the factory harness will connect to it just fine, not sure of the part number though.

 

Here's a better photo (click on link) of the remote IAC setup with LS1 style IAC motor.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ima...1&s=automotive

 

some exterior shots!! looks real nice, pics pics pics.

 

Alright, after screwing around with 1/2" ss tube, I decided to go with braided teflon flex line off the front of the fuel rails to the fuel pressure regulator. I just couldn't get the bends tight enough using the 1/2" tube from the rails to the regulator. I will however use the stainless 1/2" tube from the regulator to the back of the manifold. This line will be barely visible because it will run right down the center of the intake, just above the base plate.

Tomorrow i'll bend and flare the 1/2" return line

 

Here's a top view of the manifold and regulator. From the top, it will be pretty easy to set fuel pressure. I will be using a Defi electrical fuel pressure gauge inside the car and the sending unit will mount in the front 1/8 NPT port of the regulator.

 

Man, it will be a while before I have some new exterior shots. The car is up on blocks and I probably won't get it outside again until I am ready to start her up!

 

mmmmmm MORE!!!

 

As usual...top notch work. Keep it up!!! I really wish you live in VA so I could see this beast in person.

 

So Neil,gonna have to wait for a non-rainy day to pull the corolla out for the first start up or did you get the wiper motor clearance straightened out?LOL! Just kidding man!
I bet this car is more work than you originally anticipated right now huh?
Nontheless,car is going to be the sickest!!

 

Just a reminder Cletus, the show is less than ten weeks away, it will be here before you know it!

If you don't have it running in the next few weeks, I may be able to make it up there sometime in June. I might have the little woman with me, so we may crash at Scott's unless you cleared out all the car parts from upstairs!

 

Wow is about all i can say!

 

Great, you'll be here just in time to help me put the plug wires on!
Hey, "Cletus" has come this far without your help, Bubba, so just relax, i'll git-r-done!

 

Hey, someone's gotta light a fire under your a$$! It's been like three years since the last time you or I have heard that car start.... And if I do the wires, at least you'll know that they will be put on correctly! I know, no need to thank me.

Well good, then if you'll be done with yours, then when I'm up there, you can come over to Scott's with me and help to get his pile running! Or help load it on the trailer so we can part it out! You can have the 406, I'll take the tube-k and the 12 bolt.

(I'll send Scott a link to this post)....

Your welcome,

Buford

 

Dude, the only work you'll be doing on my car is trying not to **** your pants when I take you for a "death ride"

 

Alittle late...but thanks for the info on the remote IAC mount. Thats a pretty nifty idea, and would really open up the possibilities for custom throttle bodies. Hooking up a TPS is easy... Machining an IAC passage would be more of a pain.

Cant wait to see this car rolling...!!!

J.

 

I just read your post again and the wiper motor is going to be tight and will probably worry about that later, after I get her running.

 

I know it's been a while since i've posted, but I am making progress. To start with, I wanted to temporarily mount a couple gauges above the steering column but I noticed there was significant steering wheel wobble from the 2 o'clock to the 8 o'clock position. Since it was alot of play, I thought i'd tear into the column and lock-tite those 4 bolts deep into the lower housing of the tilt section and what a major pain in the a$$ that was. I remember doing this on my factory column and was pretty annoyed I had to do this on a column from an '02 donor camaro. Anyway, after tearing the column down, I individually removed the hex head bolts (not torx in my case) and used red loctite on them. After tightening them all down, I noticed the wobble was still present and that drew my attention to the two pivot pins (one on each side of the column). I would have bought new pins from GM but they were closed Sunday, so I did a quick, cheap/temporary fix and wrapped the pivot pins with a thin layer of aluminum foil and pounded the pins back in. The wheel is nice and tight now and later on (after car is running) i'll put new pins in and see if that tightens up the column more permanently.

Here are a couple sites which are very helpful for column tear down and re-assembly:

http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/088020.html

http://www.superchevy.com/tech/sucp_...umn/index.html

 

After dealing with the stupid column issue I decided to hook up the gauges (oil pressure, fuel pressure and water temp gauges). The brand of gauges are Defi and they all powered up so I should have accurate readings when I start the engine. Initially, I won't have the factory cluster working since i'll be using the Big Stuff 3 pcm only. Later on, i'll work on piggy backing the factory ecm to the Big Stuff to get readings for the odometer, tach and other gauges in the OE cluster.

 

Next up and back under the hood. I am going to switch caster/camber plates from Spohn's to John's (American Race Components). I think I mentioned this a while ago, but I had to change because my brake master cylinder was interfering with the Spohn cc plate, so off it goes! John's cc plates are a much sleeker and in my opinion stronger (welds) and a more sensible design.

Here is a link to John's so you can see for yourself:
http://www.americanracecomponents.com/

Also, a link to his rear lower control arms:
http://www.americanracecomponents.com/relocoar.html

I am going to have mine ceramic coated silver as well as the rear panhard bars and lower control arms. This coming weekend (Sat) I will roll out the rear differential and remove the paint and put a nice coat of POR-15 on it and hopefully Sunday I can re-install everything if it is back from powder coat. The rear diff cover will be powder coated gloss black so hopefully it all looks good! I'll post pics when back together.

As far as the engine and fuel system goes, I finally finished cutting and flaring all the 1/2 stainless hard line and also cut the -10 and -8 braided ss fuel lines and installed all the hose ends. I am glad that is done! Also, installed the proper length -4 AN ss braided teflon line for the clutch MC and wrapped it with Thermotec line wrap since it's close to one of the header tubes.

This week I will buy longer header bolts and drop the gaskets in. The coils are mounted on top of the valve covers using Kaytech's relo bracket and I honestly I am not a fan of the coils sitting up there, it just doesn't look right to me! But, good enough for now, I want to see this thing run as do you I am sure.

That's it for now, i'll have more for you next week or maybe this weekend.

 

Neil,

The guages look good, always nice to see something different. What do they look like during daytime driving? Keep working, can't wait to see the car finished.

 

is there a way you could move the coils down to the more vertical part of the valve covers?
i think that way it would look a lot cleaner.
not that your car really needs to look any cleaner lol
great job so far

 

anyupdates on the ac system?

 

No, nothing done on the AC system. I won't be touching that until the car runs. Actually, last night I laid out the engine harness, hooked up the coils and tonight going to route the power wires for the ecm. Also, installed the universal Lokar throttle cable, now I have to cut it to length and put the ends on. Next on the list is wrapping the starter with Thermotec's protective heat wrap and make sure the ign wire to the starter works!

 

cool just waiting on your updates. lol

 

is there anyway you could push it out of the garage one day and take some more pics of the entire car in the sun and stuff??

 

Ok, going to give you guys a little update and going to take a break from work since I worked pretty much the whole weekend. First, to get some parts ceramic coated that I wanted to and to save money by doing them all at once (and so they matched) I pulled out the rear differential and had the lower control arms, upper and lower panhard bars, and shock/coil over mounts coated in addition to the ARC caster/camber plates. They all came out pretty good, though I did have to buff the cc plates a little more to get a real nice shine going . Also, while I had the a$$ end out I decided to waste even more time and strip it and paint it with POR-15, which didn't look too bad. Yes, I know, I am procrastinating and delaying TURN-THE-KEY time!

Now, I am back on track....back in the engine compartment, where it really matters! I started laying out the Big Stuff 3 engine harness and made a plate to go in the inner pass. side fender/engine comp area which will secure the harness and grommet in place. Also, ran the BS3 computer power and ground wires up under the pass side fender to the under side of the battery tray where those wires come up. Ran power cable and ignition wires to the starter and also will cover it with Thermotec sleeve material to keep that brutal header heat away. For the engine harness, I will have to lengthen almost every sensor wire(s) since I am routing the harness so far away from the center of the firewall (like they say to install it). I will start that this week.

Had John at ARC fab up a combo rad overfill & power steering fluid resevoir (see pic), damn he's good! I initially purchased a Billet Specialties PS fluid tank, but it was too long and would not fit next to the rad like I thought it would. This a.m. I ordered another 90 deg -10 hose end which is all I need to route the ps hoses like I want.

So, here are a few pics for now, back to work.

 

Here's the custom ps and rad overfill/PUKE tank. The ps fluid resevoir is on the left side and the rad overfill is on the right. A line from the rad will run under the top of the upper rad support into the tank via a 1/8 NPT hose end fitting. The PS feed line is on the bottom (-10 AN 90 deg fitting) and the return is on the upper left (-6 AN 90 deg fitting)

 

Shots of the engine again and the CC plates ceramic coated silver. I'll take some shots of the LCA and PHR's and post later.

 

I need a towel Awesome job!

 

Neil,not sure what the wires are for in front of rad. but,I think you need some heatshrink tubing over those butt connectors if not solder and h/s tubing?
But seriously!Those rear tires aren't going to fit under a camaro wheel well!LOL! J/K on that one!I know all about your quarters!
Now I'm being serious.You still planning to make this a daily driver?
If so,I'm calling your bluff!LOL! I want proof of you driving this beast every single day for at least 1 year.

 

Yeah, those wires will be dealt with properly, for now just temporary to make sure everything works.
As far as a daily driver, yeah, I agree...kinda chaged my mind along the build of this car. I coulnd't imagine leaving it in a parking lot unattended for more than 5 minutes....I am just too paranoid! LOL. So you got me on that, daily driver this will not be!

 

yeah man,I was just messin with ya on the wires!haha! I know that ain't your style.
I kinda thought when I saw the bodywork/paint that went into this car and the wheels to boot! that this could never be a d/d!Then I saw this sick engine not to mention the seats alone!!Good lord Neil! You should ask John to just melt the mini down to a puddle and then have a trailer built for this car!LOL! OOH YEAH!! I can see a badass custom trailer with matching paint and custom painted emblems saying something like(daily driver build still in progress)lol!
Lookin mighty fine Neil!

 

Just plain unreal...everytime I read through the post, I keep thinking ...WOW!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

 

He wont drive it everyday, but I will !

I'll even park it at wal-mart in a spot like 2 inches away from the fat lady in the SUV trying to pry her a$$ out of the way wedged between the two vehicles. Then while I'm there, I'll do donuts in the parking lot, hitting every basket left outside in the way, provided the car actually has the power to spin the tires enough to do so......

Just kidding.. engine bay does look good! Are you going to be able to finish the harness this week?

Just called you... call me back if you are still up, or call me in the morning, I have some stuff to talk to you about...

Later

 

ok i might have missed this in the 35 pages this thread has (gatta be the longest thread ive seen) but how did u get the rear bumper to fit with wideing the rear quarters an inch on both side? and in the pics it really doesnt look like u did widen them.. i know u did tho i saw the pics.. and how much money do u think u dropped into this diamond if u dont mind me asking... ive seen some wide bodys and this has got to be the best looking one soo far

 

The body shop cut the bumper in the center and added a 2 - 3 inch piece of material to the center and molded it in. There are pics of this, you'll have to look through the pages.

On a side note: Asking someone how much money they have into their car is like asking that person how big are his wife's t!ts.... You dont ask unless you know that person very well...

 

It's on the third page:
Pics:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...6-post144.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...3-post145.html

 

Or unless you know the wife well too! Car is looking absolutely wicked neil, cannot wait to see the finished product

 

Neil... these pictures are beautiful, they could make a man cry (have a tissue?) Did I mention I would dry hump the hood of her?
I'd give a bouquet of nitrous and a can of tire shine first of course though! Still, can not wait to see the videos

My project doesn't compare on the economic spectrum or how you've engineered this work of art but seeing your pictures provides some nice motivation. I had finished my undercoating last night, car is just over 2 feet in the air on welded Jack Stands (Angle Iron, 1/4" steel channel on top of a 3" Dia. 1/4" wall pipe that fits around the unibody frame points) and went to put my flex plate back on and can you believe it I'm trying to line a hole up over the nub on the crankshaft and then I go... @#$& ahh that hole was not the small round hole to be used... it was a piece of metal missing out of the flex plate and cracks all over under closer inspection. Ordered a new one and should be here Wednesday, YEAY! This Molsen's XXX is for you Neil!

 

Guys, thanks again for the nice comments! You are too kind. Well, I am looking at video cameras now, so I might have a video to throw on Youtube shortly. I'll be going to Best Buy this weekend.

Here's an update:
-I have lengthened 90% of the computer harness connector wires. What a pain in the a$$ and boy do I hate soldering. It blows! So time consuming!!! Also, I used Painless Performances Power Braid wire protecting sheath and it looks quite nice.
-I hooked up the starter, ignition wire to starter and all grounds and after a few checks here and there i got the starter to bump with a turn of the key , love it. No oil in the engine yet, so I didn't hold the key long at all. Though I had to bypass the body control module circuit for the starter since I don't have the factory pcm in the car and won't have it it for a while since I have the Big Stuff 3. Just as a reminder, I will bring the factory pcm into the car to run the instrument cluster gauges.....later on after I get it running.
-I cut the braided ss teflon line for the power steering connections and put the hose end fittings on. Will remove all lines and clean the resevoir tank one more time before filling up with fluid.


This weekend, plan to clean out the fuel system (tank and lines) one final time, then fill tank with gas and pressurize the system and check for leaks.

More to come......

 

So its gonna be at Bear Creek in three days right?

 

The motor looks serious man very nice work.

 

better be!

great build looking forward to seeing it (i hope!)

 

Man I hate to let you down, but it won't be there unfortunately! I have run into a few snags with the fuel tank and the radiator. Had to drop the gas tank, NPT fitting seized in the tank bungs.....and the fittings were lightly threaded in the tank. By "lightly" I mean two threads max! I was surprised and SUPER PI$$ED this happened! Worked through it and tank is back in with new fittings. Going to flush the fuel system next and get that pump working.

Also, the radiator inlet tube needs to be modified to fit a 1.5" dia slicone tube since that is the smallest size I could find in 90 deg elbow (in stock). So, ARC will make a nice 1.5" tube/fitting for the rad.

Once that is done, will add in all the fluids, check for leaks including fuel hookup the BigStuff ECU and hopefully turn the key!

 

thank you very much!!!

 

Sorry, still workin' away! Once I get it driveable and road trip worthy we will have to plan a mini car meet. What do you think? I won't set a date now, we'll have to play that by ear, but we could wait until the weather gets a little cooler, what do you think?