March 2003 Archives

I spent the day working on the motor. The oil pan is on and the the intake manifold is a few bolts away from complete. I also installed the new edelbrock water pump. The pump had to be ground down a bit on the two bolts nearest the damper, my damper was either bigger then stock or the edelbrock is not cast quite right. I going to complete the top end of the motor and do some more plumbing for the water and clutch slave. I took some more shots of the car, showing the size of the rear tires ... freaking huge!

Post weekend update. My father came out from Sacramento to help with my wiring harness project. We started by using 409 and a stiff brush all the complete harness. Then rinsing in a warm bucket of water. Then towel drying followed by blow dry with the air hose. Then we let the harness bake out in the sun for a good 2 hours. Then we installed the individual pieces of the harness and finished with the main trunk under the dash and through the fender area, into the front grill section. This amount of work took us all day. I also installed my rear wheels with 335x35x17 Pilot Sport tires.

The second day we worked on the guage panel. It took us quite awhile to sand and grind the carbon fiber guage panel to accept my stock guages and new switches. Wilkinson must make the panel holes purposfully small to accept newer style guages and switches. We also had to narrow the guage panel so it fit properly into the carbon fiber center console piece. We had to drill holes in the dash to bolt on the center console, and drill holes in the guage panel to screw onto the center console. We also installed the steering wheel, and I installed the new fuel inlet into the gas tank.

We also installed one of Rick Mosely's relay kits. Rick does great work and we were impressed with the easy of installation. I would of rather have installed the relay kit under the dash but couldn't find enough space for it. Also my particular car seems to have a different fuse layout then his instructions indicated. The cooling fan wires were installed at fuse number 7, not fuse number 11. We had two large pink wires at number 7. I am also pretty sure somebody changed out my turn signal switch on the steering column. The wires do not color match the wires at the plug under the dash.

I hope to eliminate most of the engine compartment wiring. I will use the Electromotive direct ignition system, which will remove the coil and distributor and the ignition resistor. I will use a single wire, self regulated alternator, and a silenoid starter. This should remove most of the wiring in the engine compartment.

The wiring harness goes in this weekend. In preparation I bought the gauge panel to match the dash. This is the horizontal layout guages with horizontal radio. I also purchsed the updated switches that go into the console. Considering the fuel inlet system, I wanted to upgrade it BEFORE I put the new motor in. I also wanted to leave the option of going to a electric fuel pump in the future. So I had a new fuel inlet sytem made up which I hope will work. I have stainless pipe that is -10 and -6 sizes mounted with AN flares to AN bulkhead 90 degree fittings. The idea is I will run the straight pipe to the bottom of the tank. I had a fabrication shop build a 1/4" aluminum plate that the bulkhead fittings bolt into and then the two pipes are braced together with joining stainless peices down the length of the pipe. This is WAY overbuilt, I should have no problems with this. The parts cost about $80 and the labor was bout $100. I also included a shot of the steering wheel.

Tomorrow is a big day. I get my completed motor back from Al Liest. Im going to go pick it up and take to the shop where the car is. It basically ended up a $10,000 motor, $2000 labor, $3000 in A3 heads, manifold, connecting rods, and $5000 in other parts to put together the long block. I will post the list of full parts once I get it from Al. I also ordered some bulk head fittings to install a new fuel pickup tube in my gas tank. I should be able to finish that this weekend in preperation for installing the motor. I picked up two front Michelin Sport tires for the car, they were used from a friend $20 each. They only have maybe 15k miles left, but for $20 im not complaining. I installed the front calipers and the brake lines. It's hard to see the brake calipers with the bright wheels, but that won't prevent them from working great when stopping the car. I also installed the front lower brace that keeps the frame from flexing. I will be purchasing my rear tires soon.