Progress Thread Nicholase "lights out" build-

gkomo · Apr 19, 2025

What are those plug boot covers and which wire holders did you use? I replaced my plug wires but it looks like a mess still, would be nice to clean it all up.

nicholase · Apr 19, 2025

gkomo said:
What are those plug boot covers and which wire holders did you use? I replaced my plug wires but it looks like a mess still, would be nice to clean it all up.

These are the wire looms I used. But if you Google spark plug wire looms you're find lots of cheaper options. This style has different sizes for different plug wire diameter.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tay-42700

The plug boots are https://www.summitracing.com/parts/DEI-010542

I like how they have a retiner ring sewn into the fabric. It's locks on the boot nice and snug. I've had some that were just a tube and all loose.

gkomo · Apr 19, 2025

nicholase said:
These are the wire looms I used. But if you Google spark plug wire looms you're find lots of cheaper options. This style has different sizes for different plug wire diameter.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tay-42700

The plug boots are https://www.summitracing.com/parts/DEI-010542

I like how they have a retiner ring sewn into the fabric. It's locks on the boot nice and snug. I've had some that were just a tube and all loose.

Excellent, thank you!

Edit, ordered!

Noobz347 · Apr 19, 2025

gkomo said:
Edit, ordered!

Or... Was your order edited?

nicholase · Apr 20, 2025

The engine is pretty close. I'll let my newly painted brackets dry for a few days before I assemble them. So it's time to move to a different project.

The exhaust came back from Jet Hot. Ceramic coated inside and out. I need to get that hanging under the car rather than taking up garage space. Before I shipped it out I did a test fit and trimmed the tailpipes how I wanted them.

Before:

After:

During the test fit I noticed the panhard bar chassis mount bolts are close to the exhaust hump where it goes over the axle. This is a tight area where the exhaust goes between the inside of the frame rail and the upper control arms. The panhard bolts make this area tighter. So I set out to make a little more room for adjustmemts.

I'm running MM lower control arms and the uppers they suggest for that setup. The inside lip on the uppers is close to the exhaust and rattles drive me nuts. So I can make this better. One reason it's so close is the exhaust fits best around the panhard bar when it's pushed rearward as much as possible. The more rearward you bring the exhaust the closer it gets to the upper control arm.

This area can go

I'll gain this much clearance which will really help.

I didn't want to box them as some flex is suggested. I just want to support it a little after cutting of the flanged area. So I made some plates to weld inside.

Three plug welds and a bead along the edge should be plenty. Maybe a little stiffer than before, but not "fully boxed stiff" which is what I'm going for.

A little grinding and some paint and it looks like new again, just a slimmed down Ozempic version

Looks like this. The panhard bar nuts are visible left of the exhaust.

nicholase · Apr 21, 2025

Today I started underhood on the passenger side. I rerouted the passenger side wiring behind the inner fender. Then set out to make this look a little better.

A little sanding

Then welding and grinding

I'm using a panel from Scott Rod Fab. Needed a little trimming to make it fit.

The I cut out a hole for my blower inlet with my angle grinder. You haven't lived until you cut a perfectly round hole through an origami shape like this.

My eyes kept playing tricks with me because it doesn't look round while you're cutting it because of the angles. I used hole saw as a round guide to keep me circular. Just kept taking off little by little with the grinder until I could slide the hole saw cleanly through the hole.

I'm using this as a trim panel. To mount it i welded a stud on the back side top right that gets a hidden nut from the wheel well side and then two tabs on the bottom. Drilled and tapped for ¼-20 screws.

91AOD5.0LX · Apr 21, 2025

Your work is truly remarkable!!

Noobz347 · Apr 21, 2025

Ok...

It just hit me what it [does] look like in here:

The only part we haven't seen:

nicholase · Apr 22, 2025

I worked on the engine bay a little today. Degreased everything and prepped. I moved all the wiring out of the way so I could coat everything good. Took lots of pictures so I can put it all back correctly.

This is the passenger frame rail that was under the battery box. So glad I'm not finding any rust.

Primed and ready for a topcoat.

This is the backside of the strut tower i welded the holes up on

Then some black

nicholase · Apr 23, 2025

The Vortech bracket makes relocation of the charcoal canister necessary. The instructions call to remove one of the screws and cock it over to clear the supercharger bracket. It works, but looks cheesy. So I'm gonna relocate it out of sight.

Start with this

Gonna use some parts of the original steel mounting bracket.

I installed two ruvnuts in the passenger side wheel apron that the bracket will mount to.

This is the bracket after a coat of paint

I'm going to mount the canister purge solenoid to the bracket I made. It has a rubber sleeve on it which will work nice to cushion it on the bracket.

Then I can mount it to the bracket with a hose clamp and hook up the lines

Mounts behind the passenger wheel well behind the splash shield

Noobz347 · Apr 23, 2025

*singing*

Six drops of essence of terror... Five drops of sinister sauce...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JD9it6SmB8

nickyb · Apr 23, 2025

Nice job .

Noobz347 · Apr 23, 2025

Thank You

It just came to me.

gkomo · Apr 23, 2025

nicholase said:
The Vortech bracket makes relocation of the charcoal canister necessary. The instructions call to remove one of the screws and cock it over to clear the supercharger bracket. It works, but looks cheesy. So I'm gonna relocate it out of sight.

Start with this

Gonna use some parts of the original steel mounting bracket.

I installed two ruvnuts in the passenger side wheel apron that the bracket will mount to.

This is the bracket after a coat of paint

I'm going to mount the canister purge solenoid to the bracket I made. It has a rubber sleeve on it which will work nice to cushion it on the bracket.

Then I can mount it to the bracket with a hose clamp and hook up the lines

Mounts behind the passenger wheel well behind the splash shield

Not that i'm at this point yet but i was thinking the same thing reading the Paxton instructions to just like cockeye the canister with one bolt... seemed odd. Great solution you've come up with.

nicholase · Apr 23, 2025

While the paint is drying under hood I'm moving on to everybody's favorite job. Gotta earn your stripes

If you know, you know

Got it

As I mentioned my evaporator core was leaking. I used the A/C kit from classic auto air. I like that all the lines do away with the spring retainer style hose ends. All the fitting are threaded with o-rings.

While I'm in there I'll replace the heater core as well. I found this copper / brass core from NPD. Gonna replace all the seals too.

nickyb · Apr 23, 2025

Don't forget the reduced for the heater core inlet hose.

nicholase · Apr 24, 2025

nickyb said:
Don't forget the reduced for the heater core inlet hose.

Yup. I have the heater hose with it in there.

nicholase · Apr 24, 2025

With the dash out it's a good time to run wires for guages. I'm going back to my 2 guage pod with an analog boost guage from Speedhut and the AFR from Zetronix which is the wideband setup and controller I need for my standalone engine management

The fuel pressure guage is a small rectangular setup from Dynotune. They claim accuracy of 0.1 psi. It fits perfect in the cubby below my radio. I'll also be installing the Aeromotive FPR. The FP sender is mounted to the FPR.

I'll be locating the FPR behind the strut tower where the EGR vacuum solenoid used to be. I put in some rivnuts and bolted it down. Then ran sender wires in through a grommet in the firewall

I also ran the wiring for the boost guage. I mounted up the pressure sender to the vacuum tree and re used my old firewall grommet.

With these out of the way I moved back to installing the plenum. Got some new firewall gaskets. The old one was shot

The plenum is in and the dash back together. Still have the console and seats out to finish up some wiring. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get the widebands and controlled mounted and finish up the inside wiring.

Noobz347 · Apr 24, 2025

nicholase · Apr 24, 2025

Also put in a new speedo cable while it's this far apart. I'm not sure if this is common knowledge, but the drive cable comes out of the speedo tube sheath. You pull it out from the cluster end. You can clean and lube it which sometimes fixes a bouncy speedo. Unfortunately I think my sheath is bad so I replaced it.

Progress Thread Nicholase "lights out" build-

now i can hopefully expect to receive the shaft

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

now i can hopefully expect to receive the shaft

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

I have a slight sag in my rear

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

I gotta say i never painted my nuts, Never Ever

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

now i can hopefully expect to receive the shaft

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

I gotta say i never painted my nuts, Never Ever

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

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