Stock Car Mafia

After the valve covers dried, I had to get some photos of how the engine bay is looking. I might be routing my engine harness today.

A little update from yesterday. The goal was to finish up the fuel plumbing. I needed to put the Holley fuel rails on first so I could run the return line to the FPR. I pulled the intake and cleaned it up a little bit. There was a lot of dirt around the injector seats and the O-rings were pretty filthy as well. While the intake was off, it gave me an opportunity to clean the head surface and the intake gaskets. The inital plan was to run the line from the tank to the driver side rail. I was going to have the passenger side return to a 90 deg. fitting on the FPR. There wasn't enough room between the fitting and the other hose end to make this happen, so I did the opposite and it still looks quite clean. For the crossover line, I cut the length of the hose to match the contours of the intake. Here I thought that would be ideal but I thought it looked too cheesy and stuck out too far. This is a little blury but I cut off maybe a 1/4"-1/2" and I like the way the line sits now. I am a little OCD but I prefer a clean look. After that was done, I was able to run my return line. The only reservation I have is I ran both lines under the rear sway bar, which will make the removal of that a little more complicated. But hell, a project car is always up for improvments so I might address that later. I left a little slack here and there for when the return line is routed through the new floor (whenever that happens to be). The vent line was just run down the side.

I am waiting until they get here to see how little stud there is. I'm hoping I don't have to push new ones in. I haven't read about replacing studs but I would assume it is a work out. I'm hoping racinglabs are as responsive as 18racing is. Time will tell!

Good news man! Your car is really coming along. I am not sure how the wire harness works for you but I am sorting out my fan relays here shortly, but my computer sends out a ground to control the relay and turn on the fan.

I found them at Racinglab.com. They only have them listed as "RB's" and I didn't want to post any false information but based on the pictures they have to be it. I ordered the Hyper Blacks and I got 9.5" width for all four corners. I picked up 20 GReddy Gunmetal short lug nuts as well (#14401201). These must be discontinued as they took a while to find for a decent price. The driver side O2 sensor was too short so I ordered 2, 12" extenstions from Current Performance. The passenger side works but it tugs on the harness quite a bit and they were only $10 a pop and I'd rather pay for shipping once. The 2 ft. remote clutch speedbleeder from Tick Performance came as well. A new Wilwood 1" MC is in the mail too. The one I have would need a rebuild and I figured it was time.

I'm loving the way the turbo build is looking!

Ha, well damn! Since they have their posting in yen, I don't recall how much shipping was...My order has not been packaged yet, but would you be interested in splitting shipping if I contacted them to double the order?

You were planning on more power down the road too. Decisions, decisions!

Wheels and RHDJapan flares are on order. Now to decide on what kind of rubber to throw on them...

I don't mean to dig this post up, but overall this debate has some darn good information regarding these flares.

I'd be willing to get one of these too. I need to cross this bridge soon.

Photobucket is acting quite strange as of late so I've been holding back on posting a bit. The dash was going to be removed to reach the firewall and mount the FPR on the passenger side. I ordered a set of gauges for the car too. I ended up going with the Autometer Carbon Fiber Ultra-Lites and placing a special order for black bezels (They are on the Phantom or Z series gauges). I wanted a cleaner look that matched the black dash better. Speedo, tach, oil pressure, water temp, and fuel level. Pulling the dash was so darn easy compared to what I read. The 4 screws to remove the metal trim was easy. The 6 upper bolts were not that difficult with a swivel and several extensions. The only tough one is the driver side bolt next the A post. This may be a bear to get back in :/ There were just a couple connections and the lower bolts came out with ease. After the dash was removed the blower motor was still in the way so there were 3 more 10mm bolts that had to be removed. This was just positioned out of the way to see the firewall. There is a rubber mat and insulation back there as well. I just pulled this way and made my marks of where the FPR would go and I got lucky and it cleared the seamsealed joint just above it. My next worry was the lip of the blower motor vent fitting between the bolt and the top body. Again I got lucky and it fits between and we were able to tighten the blower motor bolts down with ease. Earlier in the day I had played around with the alloy gray metallic I had picked out for the car/engine bay. And now with the FPR mounted, I can run the rest of my fuel line plumbing and get the fuel rails put on as well. With the dash removed, I can run the rest of my wiring for the engine harness/fuel pump and get the fan relays put together. The driveshaft is coming back soon so I can start to dig in to what I am having issues with there....I really want to do more welding and get my exhaust finished I am starting to dream more of this thing running soon!

Where can you buy the Rota RB-X Hyper Black 17 x 9.5" -19 wheels in the US? I am looking to buy these suckers...

And I am happy to say the original motor, tranny, EFI harness, and driveshaft found a new home yesterday! A guy called me last week that was interested in a back up motor for his chump car that a couple buddies run up on the Brainerd road course. They have a 1979 280ZX that it will be going in.

The other thing that I was able to do is run some more fuel line under the car. I still am trying to think through the best way to get this accomplished but I plan on utilizing the 10mm fuel line bolts and holes and new fuel clamps. I need to run a fuel line, return, and brake line down this side and on top of that a post pump filter as well. Space will be tight... There happened to be a nice little grommet in the frame for me to push the line through The filter was mounted using a 2" T-bolt clamp and 2 holes were drilled through the floor pan. It does hang 1/4" lower than the frame rail which concerns me. The return line will be put through the unused clamp in the picture. I am not sure where to route that return line past the diff and suspension yet. I stopped here for the night as the next chunk of line will be connected to the fuel pressure regulator. I want this mounted on the fire wall but I can't reach behind the dash/firewall to push bolts through. Now may be a good time for me to pull the dash, get some gauges, and put them in!

A little update from some work over the weekend. I've had a BAFX bluetooth OBDII scanner for some time now and decided to play around with it in my bonneville. I plan on using this initially when I start the car. It seems like you can track most critical things and I am hoping I can get oil pressure to pop up for the LS2. On another note, I got the wire harness pushed through the old EFI harness hole and set close to where the computer will be mounted. I believe the hole is 1 3/4" and it definitely got pretty tight as I fed more stuff through. I intend on routing the fuse block, power wire, and both fan ground leads under the dash to the passenger side of the car to be mounted and run to the battery through the firewall. I spent some time thinking about how I wanted to mount the gas pedal too. For now, I just went with a static mount but down the road, it would be nice to make a pedal rack for adjustable pedal positions. I used some 1/8" steel and cut it to the size of the LS2 pedal. I placed the pedal close to the original position and then marked where to drill the 3 holes for the stock bolts. I then drilled 2 holes for the bolts that will secure the pedal to the bracket. I used red loctite on the nuts as they will be used as spacers to clear the heads of the stock bolts. I took the same nuts and tack welded them on the lower portion of the bracket to give the pedal a good flat surface to rest on. I took two more nuts and secured the pedal to the plate and it sits nice and flush.

Thanks Joe. I've been watching your thread and boy, your car is going to be flawless when completed! I've read a bit that they are the place to get flares from. I will be grabbing a set here shortly especially with the cost shipped to my door.

Thanks for the pics! I was able to apply a little of what your did for my mount. I used 1/8" x 3" steel for mounting a 2.5" T-bolt clamp from silicone intakes (#CLA000713) for the fuel pump. I don't think I've mentioned before but I ended up buying a TRE 044 pump (same as Bosch 044) and got the metric to AN adapters from B&R Fittings for it. If I'm not mistaken I used M6 bolts and nylon nuts for these clamps. I then used a 2" T-bolt clamp (CLA000700) and a 100 micron stainless steel fuel filter from Jegs (#555-15005). I am using -8AN lines and fittings through this whole system. The t-bolt clamps came with little isolation rubber pieces to go under the small brackets as well. I threw some 180 deg. fittings on each end to route a small hose. I then cut down the 3 inch plate, ground off the pointy edges and centered the bracket on the lower rail of the cell. I initially was going to weld this solid but figured it would be easier to bolt it in, for easy removal for servicing. I ran the outlet to the filter and called it good for the night. I don't have AN wrenches to tighten the hose ends but its really not a big deal if you tighten them slowly with regular wrenches.

That looks extremely clean!

That is what I had looked at before and with the Hawks headers, I am not sure how tight or close the sender would be. I was thinking about using the stock sender location on the back of the intake and not using the ECU sender. I know there is an adapter with a banjo fitting floating around that allows you to keep the stock sender plugged in and utilize the banjo fitting for the autometer gauge. I haven't done enough digging to see if it is still available however.

Do you recall what thickness it was? I would assume probably 1/8". I would love to stack the pre filter and pump but I would want the pump on the bottom. So if I did put the pre filter on top, would it prime with a full tank of gas?

Stupid question but did you get your aluminum from Home Depot or Menards? I haven't looked close enough going through there, just quick enough to grab steel. Summit's search function definitely rules. Jeg's is horrendously crap. I am planning on the carbon fiber ultra lites and calling in, you can opt for a black bezel for a small upcharge. Here I thought you were going with a electric speedo. For sure that is the route I was going to take. Just to get a CableX box to use the stock gauge seemed quite steep. I was going to ask where you plan on plumbing your oil pressure sender to, but you have a small block currently. Curious to see where you put it on the 5.3.

I've been holding back some pictures of the parts collecting downstairs, but I have a set of black Holley EFI fuel rails and AN fittings going on the car. The nightmares I've heard about the pushlock fittings scared me away from using the stock rails or soldering on an AN fitting. I am struggling to envision a proper mount and location for the pre filter and fuel pump on the car. My initial plans were to route the fuel line to the pass side of the gas tank and have the filter and pump inline and mounted straight to the side of the fuel cell cage. With the length of the filter, pump, and straight -8AN fittings, they end up being longer than the 20 inches on the side. It would interfere with the exhaust routing. My next plan was to use T-Bolt clamps and mounts and mount the pre filter, pump, and post filter under the car on the frame rail. I am still unsure if this would work, since the fuel line will be the highest point and I don't see it gravity feeding to prime the pump before I run the car. Is there any insight on this? Otherwise my 3rd option is listed below. I drew up what I might plan on doing. I'll need to make a a platform that extends off the cage, I don't really feel 12 gauge square tubing is necessary for this and may just use angle iron. I have 2, 180 deg. AN fittings that ended up not working for the vent and return lines so I can use them here. I really want the pump mounted flush or lower than the tank so I don't stress it out when my fuel level is low. The fuel line will then run up the back side of the tank and then (hopefully) through the frame rail where there is already a nice rubber insulator. I am definitely open to any other suggestions.

Very nice work on those gauges. This is something I will have to tackle maybe this year. I take it those gauges came from Summit? Those little nitpick things you notice are generally what I see as well. What size gauges are the tach and speedo? What did you use to make the brackets for the back? I think this is excellent work and I want my gauges recessed like the stock gauges. Interested to see how the blinkers turn out!

I had the pleasure of meeing bramagedained on Sunday to pick up his rear uprights. His car is definitely clean and I feel he's been making some killer progress with having the limited time he does. Thanks again for the uprights! If i do use them at some point, I am sure it will show up on the thread. Now for a little update. Sunday was pretty slow progress. It was rather cold and I was distracted by the Vikings game and decided to have a few beers after I got back from up North to soften the loss. I was able to get the tranny bolted back up and dropped the motor back in the car, in anticipation to be doing the wiring and exhause. I never noticed this before the but headers rub on the driver side knock sensor. I am a little bummed about this as I swear I looked for issues before I got them ceramic coated. I guess I will have to live with a few scratches here and there but hell no car is perfect. I figured as I get closer to starting this beast, I need to identify and correct any issues as I strap on more stuff on the motor. I shaved the lower alt. bracket bolt and removed quite a bit of material from the bracket as well. I did not get a side shot for those who would be interested. I got 2 hours in the garage tonight and got sick of staring at the pile of exhaust piping and wanted to fab up an X-pipe like Josey did in his build. The merge section has a width of 4" so all I did was shave off 1" off each bend. I used a chop saw and I was a pain in the ass to get the cuts perfect. It took a little massaging after i was cut to get them flush and also symmetrical. Honest to god I am happy with it and it actually was quite fun making it. That is it for tonight. I have our company owner coming for the next couple days so I know the next few nights will be limited if not null of any updates.