Progress Thread Street/strip 427w In A Gt Hatch- Slow Progress

[Chuckman]

@Chuckman I wish you the best on this awesome project. This is a lot of work and I hope you don't burn out. An engine build to this caliber and paint/body work is exhausting. One tip, if you have a miter/chop saw, they're great for cutting metal with the correct blade.

Thanks man. I do have a cheap miter saw and an abrasive blade that I basically bought years ago just for that purpose, but didn't know how well that blade/disc would work with aluminum. Looking back though probably could have gotten away with a carbide tipped fine pitch saw.

 

[General karthief]

Be careful when using a metal cutting blade on aluminum, specifically thick aluminum, I've seen blades break apart and at speed that can be, well, attention getting.

 

[Chuckman]

It fits! Will probably end up going with a different hood eventually cause I hate the way this one fits, but it just got bumped way down the priority list.

 

[90sickfox]

In the pic it looks like 1/4 to 3/8 clearance. That engine is squeezed under there... but it fits. I should redo my sway bar spacers in aluminum. Looks good man !!!

 

[Chuckman]

Keeping the thread alive...

 

[95BlueStallion]

Its Christmas!

 

[Chuckman]

Quick update from start to finish of the weekend:

 

[Chuckman]

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Wiring

 

[Chuckman]

that dash harness is more hacked than i thought. going to thin out what i dont need while im patching it back together.

 

[Chuckman]

Still making slow progress. Got sidetracked a bit with the possibility of selling the coyote for another fox, but settled for throwing a set of 3.73's in it and omg it needed those BAD.

Made up a rear seat delete frame out of 1x1x.063 aluminum angle, just got cardboard for the load floor as a template, but it supports the dr's like i want to for long unsupported trips and leaves plenty of room for all the other crap that goes with that. probably just going to use some "plastic cardboard" that i found at hd as backer for carpet instead of mdf or some kind of ply (about 1/2 the weight of 1/4" ply but just as stiff)

battery and all its hookups will be in the spare well.

made a bracket for the ecu, left some room to mount a trans controller in a couple more paychecks.

mounted (kinda blends in but its there)

 

[Chuckman]

Still making progress, most of the "big" things to get the car at least running are now here, only thing left to buy is the fuel system, a battery, and a laptop (yes im in the stone ages and am just have a desktop that i do all my pc'ing on). So here's the rundown on whats been going on since the last update.
60lb injectors, trying to keep the wiring clean (easier said than done)

Mounted the map to the bottom of the air cleaner to try to hide it.

EFI wiring done.
Made a coil bracket out of some scrap steel, one day ill re-fab this out of a piece of aluminum.

Wiring the under the dash was a bitch. Gutted the dash harness so about half of it is gone. The trans controller is mounted to the same plate the the holley is, and all except the main power is hooked up.
Pulled the engine again to shorten the oil pump drive and install the flexplate and converter. Just using the stock v6 one right now, cant afford the custom it really needs right now, but since I havent gone thru the trans yet it'll have to come out anyway so ill just do both at the same time.

Hopefully this will be the last time its in the air until its been running for a while and i go to rebuild said trans. You can see all the EFI wiring is coming thru the trans tunnel to keep it out of sight. Only wires left to run are for the oil and temp gauges in the dash, and a fan trigger, should still be easy enough once i find my senders for those.

 

[Chuckman]

Putting a composite gear on the dizzy, hopefully MSD's qc is better since the holley buyout. I had originally bought a rebuilt truck unit, but the endplay and gear placement were waaaaay out of spec, and the shutter was contacting the hall effect sensor. BTW, if you do this, I found out the hard way you really want a drill press and some good drills. I broke a cheapie dewalt drill trying to make the pin hole for this thing, after fighting for a few hours with it I found a cobalt milwaulkee (i think its actually m42, and not just coated high carbon like all the other crap at hd) that made it cake.

How im leaving it today, been struggling with this thing too much this weekend, time for some brewskies.

in other car news, ive been hitting the test and tunes with the coyote a bunch, and a combination of a gear change, mgw shifter, a canned tune, and about 50-60lbs of personal weight reduction has taken it from 13.1's to 12.4's, .4 of which is just the tune (and another 500rpm of redline). That whole deal has been a bit of a saga probably worthy of its own thread, but between working 50 hours a week, and 1-2 hours of exercise every day (a new thing for me), I can barely keep up with this one.

 

[Chuckman]

looks like its been a while again since i updated this thread, oops

short status update: it runs, and it drives! its also loud as hell since it doesnt have an exhaust on it yet (todays project). If all goes well im hoping to have it registered again and street driving in the next couple weeks, though far from finished. im in fox withdrawl right now and just want to drive it, everything else other than paint/bodywork i can do a weekend at a time.
i've collected a bunch of random pics of the build so far, so here they are in no real particular order

 

[Chuckman]

 

[Chuckman]

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Excellent Chuck!

I bet it’s just a little loud without the exhaust. Lol.

 

[stanglx2002]

Did you go with the bigger pickup lines for the tank? I can't tell from the picture of the hanger.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Excellent Chuck!

I bet it’s just a little loud without the exhaust. Lol.

There's no picture for the reply.

 

[Chuckman]

Did you go with the bigger pickup lines for the tank? I can't tell from the picture of the hanger.

sn95 hanger, so the bigger 3/8 feed but still a dinky 1/4" return. the rest of the system is all -8, so if i ever get the itch i can swap in a different tank with a bigger (or multiple) pump.

Excellent Chuck!

I bet it’s just a little loud without the exhaust. Lol.

just a bit. exhaust is on now, just clamped up ran out of mig gas and cant find my flux core tips so that will wait till tomorrow at least.

it is making a hell of a mechanical clack though, i know one rocker trunnion is looser side-to-side than the others, just hoping it something like that and not a rod bearing on a brand new motor (oil pressure is 50psi at idle and never drops, which amazes me since all my 302's have been like 25 or so). it's been making this noise since the first start, way more noticeable now with mufflers.