Progress Thread The Northwoods Notch

[Cheapskate207]

I spent a few hours in the garage today. I got the ground wiring done. Sound deadener in the trunk. Carpet and trunk panels in. I started running the battery cable through the interior. 1/0 is big stuff so it is tight.... I still need to figure out the route. I may need to leave the cable mostly exposed in the trunk because I want access to my megafuse. I'm running through the hole where the cruise wiring was. Which led me to thinking about power distribution and wiring. I just couldn't get the distribution block mounted where I want with the fender on. I guess I'll need to pull the fender. Or just scrap that idea and continue running the starter solenoid and factory style starter. Hmmmm

 

[Cheapskate207]

I've been plugging away when I can. I got the battery relocation done. The cable is run through the interior along the scuff plate. I used the hole in the firewall that the cruise control wires used to go through. It was oblonged so I made a plate and drilled the correct sized hole for my bulkhead, then laid a bead of great stuff and screwed it on.

I did end up installing a mini starter. I eliminated my solenoid and added a bus bar. I used my old 1 awg battery cable to make a new starter cable. The new starter relay is an amazon sourced waterproof unit. It looks pretty heavy duty. I also made a bracket to hold the alternator mega fuse, It attaches using the factory horn bracket bolt.

I cleaned up some other wiring under the hood. Mainly the alternator harness as it was looking pretty ratty.

 

[Cheapskate207]

The to do list:
-Install front Bilstein struts and MM camber plates
-Install new steering rack bushings and reinstall rack
-Tuck the main harness on the firewall under the pinch weld.
-Install exterior door handles, door speakers, and lay down sound deadener in the doors.
-Install MM clutch cable kit.

 

[Cheapskate207]

Someone tagged me in the photo today on IG. It’s from a cars and coffee at one point last year, I think late summer or early fall. Prob one of my favorite car pics to date… some good mid-winter motivation

 

[Potomus Pete]

I like the Northwoods Notch.

 

[Cheapskate207]

I got the left side wiring finished up today. I also got the left strut and camber plate in. I took apart my old BBK camber plates and the rubber was worse on the areas I couldn't see while assembled. I could wiggle the strut in it pretty easily. I wonder if this contributed to my 65mph+ steering wheel vibration? Oh, I almost forgot. Mcmaster Carr order came in (thanks, @Mustang5L5 , I had never used them before). New black coated stainless hood hinge hardware and some other stainless fasteners. My local hardware store has a pretty good stainless selection but Mcmaster carr has EVERYTHING! I hope to get the other side of the suspension done next week. Looking at these pics I'm thinking that I need a wiper motor cover. I've considered deleting the wipers and motor because this car never see's rain. But i haven't brought myself to do it because of those "what if" situations.

 

[Rdub6]

Since you have the fender off..... have you seen the “House of Dula” video on youtoob where he hid the wiper motor? Pretty cool option of hiding it, and keeping it functional.

 

[Cheapskate207]

I have seen that. It’s very cool but a lot of work!

 

[Rdub6]

I have seen that. It’s very cool but a lot of work!

I agree. If you’re doing a complete build I’d do it. But to tear things apart just for that, it’s not worth it.

 

[jsgif99]

The to do list:
-Install front Bilstein struts and MM camber plates
-Install new steering rack bushings and reinstall rack
-Tuck the main harness on the firewall under the pinch weld.
-Install exterior door handles, door speakers, and lay down sound deadener in the doors.
-Install MM clutch cable kit.

The wiring job looks awesome. I bought my 91 coupe missing the interior trunk panels. I have been looking for a long time for those.

 

[Cheapskate207]

@jsgif99 Thanks! Mine aren’t in the best shape but another member pointed out I was lucky to have them at all. I had no idea..

 

[Cheapskate207]

My buddy just picked up this 2004 GT. No rust, mild suspension mods, cams, V2 vortech, P51, etc. He plans on doing a 03-04 cobra bumper, painting the carbon fiber hood to match, new lights, and some other stuff. I'm excited to help him out with the build, it's going to be a very nice, tasteful car.

The vortech whine got me reeeeeaaal excited. So much so that I ordered a V3 SCi. With a power pipe I hope to make 6 psi and 400+ whp. I went with this kit because a. cost and b. to keep it mild. I want it safe and most importantly, I want it usable. I pretty much already have everything needed so all I needed to buy was the vortech kit, power pipe (UPR boostmaster), and a double a pillar gauge mount for the boost gauge I already have. I may need to swap to contour fans if my current thunderbird fan doesn't work but I am hoping I won't need to. and of course I will need to have it re-tuned in the spring. I am very excited.. this has been my goal since I bought the car and I have been buying parts and dialing it in with that in mind.

 

[Cheapskate207]

Clutch Cable and Gauge wiring

Today I got my Maximum Motorsports clutch cable,quadrant, and firewall adjuster installed. There is soo little room to work under the dash.. it was quite frustrating.

After that I started wiring up my boost gauge. I decided to redo the wiring for my temp gauge to make install easier.

While I was at it I noticed this:

The whole point was for it to function properly. I ordered a new one. I guess it’s ok cause as you can see, it’s very faded.
Tomorrow I plan to relocate my alternator to the drivers side. After that I’ll be ready to install the blower. Then I’ll continue working on the other stuff that I have to do.

 

[Cheapskate207]

Alternator Relocation

I relocated the alternator to the drivers side using a kit from Breeze Automotive. The kit fits much better than the eBay special I was using before (passenger side). That kit I had to remove material from the spacers to get the correct belt alignment. I removed the wires from the factory harness and ran them, along with the 4ga power cable, to the drivers side. While I was at it I also re-loomed the factory headlight harness. You may notice that the firewall harness is tucked under the pinch weld. This was a "Man, I should've done that sooner" mod. It was free, took all of 5 minutes, and looks much better (I think). Next I move onto the doors, where I'll install new exterior handles, sound deadener, speakers, and drivers window motor. Hopefully parts start showing up soon.

 

[Cheapskate207]

Boost Gauge

Today I got the new boost gauge installed and plumbed. I also got the wiring to the temp gauge all done. You can also see a new horn button. I much prefer this over the stock grant “GT” button.
Rear seat is in and I also bumped the starter over. Success

 

[Cheapskate207]

Right Door

Today I tackled the right door. New exterior handle, speaker, striker bushing and a little sound deadener. I didn’t have enough, but it’s what I have. I figure this will be an improvement. There’s some on the inside of the door too. The new handle feels sooo much better than the old factory one. I had to be very careful opening the doors before. Next I’ll do the left door. Still no word on the blower. I called CJ and they’re checking with Vortech. I’ve had issues with their customer service before so hopefully this isn’t a repeat. I also ordered a walbro 255lph. The previous owner said he had just replaced the fuel pump with a BBK 255lph but it’s always been loud and I want peace of mind if I’m getting a new tune.

 

[Cheapskate207]

Left Door, Fuel Pump, Ignition switch, Fender mount, and UPDATE

Finished up the left door... new window motor, speaker, door handle, striker bushing and sound deadener. No pics cause it's the same as the other side. I also installed a parts store ignition switch because mine was starting to separate. Dash is all back together and all I need to do in the interior is vacuum and install the drivers seat.. I'll do that next week.

I'm sure glad that I ordered a fuel pump. I got the Walbro high pressure 255lph. I went this route because my research shows it will support the limitations of the factory block and it's made in the USA. Considered the Aeromotive 340lph but have read about premature failures. It's made in China... go figure. This is was the pump I took out. The sock had broken off but most importantly it is not a BBK 225lph like the PO told me. It's a factory replacement. It's a wonder I made 300hp on it.

I also got the fender mounted. It always fit like crap but I got it better than it had been by straightening the pinch welds. They were mashed up from a PO.

Made some offset washers for the steering rack. Here's a pic, cause why not?

I called CJ Ponyparts last week and asked for an update on the blower, as it had been 3 weeks. They said they would look into it and let me know in 3-5 business days. Fast forward to yesterday and I hadn't heard anything. I call again and the customer service rep informs me I should've gotten an email, but they expect that I should have the blower by MID APRIL! I was a little frustrated because their site said generally ships within 2 weeks, not 2 months. That night I got an email saying it had shipped from Vortech and I should have it next Friday. I don't know if this is a coincidence or a case of the squeaky wheel getting oil but I am excited either way.

Also, I noticed that both my door handles were factory, both door speakers were factory, and the starter appeared factory. It got me thinking that maybe it doesn't have "high" miles. The odometer reads 37k but I was always kinda thinking it was 237k. Curiosity got the best of me and I ran a carfax. 137k! I realize this isn't "low" miles but I think it's pretty good for a 32 year old car. Also, no accidents reported. Score!

 

[General karthief]

Imagine that, a previous owner not telling the truth about installed parts

 

[Cheapskate207]

Vortech V3 SCi

FINALLY!!!! UPS dropped this off yesterday afternoon. Install was pretty straight forward. I had a local machine shop turn a couple spacers to go where the smog pump and alternator would have been on the main bracket. The 6 rib pulley clears the thunderbird fan. I don't think an 8 rib would; the belt is pretty close to the fan connector. Getting all of the tubes and couplers where they needed to be was kinda a pain. The UPR boostmaster is tight. I did enlarge the hole in the fender with a bodysaw but probably could've a little more for some wiggle room. I'm going to try to run the PCV setup. I put a one way valve between the PCV valve and the upper intake. I then ran the tube from the oil fill to the bypass valve inlet on the powerpipe, since I won't be needing it currently. A number of adapters made this possible, but it's not particularly pretty. If I need to I will ditch the PCV and fun a catch can setup.

The car fired right up and idled well. The new ministarter works great and the MM clutch cable is an improvement I ran the car around the block but was careful not to get into boost. Heck, I don't think I even got over 2000rpm lol. The new Bilstein struts seemed to ride better than the KYB AGX's....marginally. It wasn't the dramatic difference I was hoping for but more seat time will tell. The car needs an alignment and a tune next.

 

[Rdub6]

Vortech V3 SCi

FINALLY!!!! UPS dropped this off yesterday afternoon. Install was pretty straight forward. I had a local machine shop turn a couple spacers to go where the smog pump and alternator would have been on the main bracket. The 6 rib pulley clears the thunderbird fan. I don't think an 8 rib would; the belt is pretty close to the fan connector. Getting all of the tubes and couplers where they needed to be was kinda a pain. The UPR boostmaster is tight. I did enlarge the hole in the fender with a bodysaw but probably could've a little more for some wiggle room. I'm going to try to run the PCV setup. I put a one way valve between the PCV valve and the upper intake. I then ran the tube from the oil fill to the bypass valve inlet on the powerpipe, since I won't be needing it currently. A number of adapters made this possible, but it's not particularly pretty. If I need to I will ditch the PCV and fun a catch can setup.

The car fired right up and idled well. The new ministarter works great and the MM clutch cable is an improvement I ran the car around the block but was careful not to get into boost. Heck, I don't think I even got over 2000rpm lol. The new Bilstein struts seemed to ride better than the KYB AGX's....marginally. It wasn't the dramatic difference I was hoping for but more seat time will tell. The car needs an alignment and a tune next.

Lookin good man! And you just made me feel a whole lot better about not spending the money on Bilsteins, and going with the AGX!