Scaxx

Came up with a more simple, lighter, better looking way to mount the lids. So looking at them, the main objectives are to have them still match the rest of the hood height wise and be rigid. Obviously the plate underneath provides the ridgidity but in order to solve the height problem I used the stacked plates. However when it comes down to it, the stacks aren't really needed that much. All that really needs to be done is that the front of the lid needs to be supported so that it doesn't droop. In order to do this I tried just riveting the lids on after grinding the edges down a little bit and then putting a stack of washers on the final rivet. This allows for the lid to have its height adjusted and still be rigid, but not be so ugly underneath and even a little lighter. No, it's not much lighter but every little bit counts. I'm gonna re-do the passenger side so that they match and the last thing I'll do is add one more little piece at the hood/bumper/lid corner to add a touch more support, then I think these will be nice and sturdy as well as look decent. Also thinking about ordering a bag of nylon bolts for interior/engine bay **** that isn't under any stress. They're like $10 for a bag of 100, not too bad.

Edit: The key to doing the lids this way is grinding down the sides of the lids to about 1/8", that way they sit kinda flush with the hood when they sit on top of the plates.

Also my hood is really flimsy in the front now since the middle structure is cut out for the intake, it's almost as flimsy as my trunk lid.

These are lovely stainless bolts from probolt

Scaxx

Updated the passenger side, pleases me much more now. They're nice and semetrical , I really need to clean that **** off of where I made the cuts for the intake and clean up those cuts, bugs me when I open the hood. Also put some touch up paint on the steel parts where I had cut or drilled so they don't rust.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

Looks good. Btw, "symmetrical". Will edit when you do

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

So you have some super long rivets or something? None of my rivets would go through that many washers

Scaxx

What the **** was I on when I wrote that??? Holy **** haha, I totally know how to spell symmetrical off the top of my head too lol

Yeah home depot has 1/2 long rivets

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

Awesome. I'll head over there and get some. Should be able to finish up my hood today.

Scaxx

Lol curly won't let me live down my full retard moment

Anyway, anyone have experience with aftermarket speedometers, cheaper ones specifically? The app on my phone can be kinda laggy, don't really wanna invest 400 into a box that'll spin a cable but I want something temporary and the nicer ones are like 250-300. I'll probably just continue to use my app but wanted to see if anyone had any opinions.

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

We did an NB cluster in Yanks car. And drove the speedo with the megasquirt. Not sure what your ECU can do.

Padlock

find a cheap GPS on craigslist for cheap and stick it to the windshield... there's my ghetto fabulous temporary non-phone speedo solution.

Scaxx

I actually really like the NB cluster idea, not sure if the ecu has the capability but the Dakota digital speedo boxes are like $80 if it doesn't. I also like keeping things looking stockish so that goes along with that well. Not sure why I didn't think about that, seems like it's a common thing for the v8 guys cause it's hard to justify $400+ to get a speedo to work.

And yeah, craigslist was my other option haha, I was gonna rig up some ugly bracket next to the steering wheel and call it a day haha

Scaxx

Worked with my girlfriend on her mustang this weekend, the goal was to fix fuel leak at the filter and diagnose the reason why the diff wasn't mounted solidly (like 1/4-1/2" of movement up/down). Fixed the fuel line, I wonder if a bushing goes here? Hur dur dur, found the problem. Luckily we were able to pull it without pulling the entire rear end, just pulled one axle out and the other mounts. She ordered a new set of bushings for the diff so we're just gonna replace all three before putting it back together, might as well. Other than that her car is ready to roll out with the new IRS set up. She wants to try an HPDE this summer so we're gonna try to both make it out to an autox in April and go from there.

Scaxx

Just bought a nb gauge cluster+pigtails off greddygalant who's parting out a turbo nb in the classifieds. The thought of having working gauges other than a gas gauge pleases me. I think I fixed it right this time but before my tach was reading double so it was interesting seeing the gauge sweep into 9000+ RPM range haha

Scaxx

Engine builder is behind schedule, what a surprise huh? Said hopefully mid march when I called him at the start of the week so looks like racewars may be a stretch. That only give me two weeks to put it back together and shake down before going. Totally possible but if I have to order parts other than some gaskets I ordered then I'll be screwed. We shall see though, I'm guessing when I call him in a week or so he'll push it back further.

My nb cluster showed up, just need a dakota digital speedo box and then I should have a working speedometer, yay!

My girlfriend and I celebrated out 5 year anniversary together last weekend. We decided earlier in the year that we were going to make presents for each other instead of buy stuff. I had an old engine from one of my motorcycles laying around so I used the crankshaft/rods and pistons for a lamp. I think it came out pretty cool, the bulbs are LEDs but they're styled like old bulbs with a cool filament pattern and they give off a nice orangish glow. I welded the rods to the crank so they're all about 90* apart and then I made a couple little figurines on top of a heart I cut out. The three legs are welded to a roller bearing race so it spins.

Other than that I made a radiator shroud for my buddy's 240. Not really many miata updates, just playing the waiting game.

Scaxx

Bought stuff for the engine today. New head gaskets, new front gaskets/crank bolt, katech c5-r timing chain, ls2 style chain damper, and a new oil pump. Wasn't sure on the oil pump or not but I figured it saw a lot of metal so I might as well. Also after doing more reading my initial oil pressure issue was most definitely the o-ring so hopefully when I get the engine back there won't be any drops in oil pressure. The new timing chain/damper setup gives me a little added comfort, heard stories of ls3 chains and tensioners popping which would really blow.

Scaxx

Good news, he's (actually) officially starting work on the engine. He asked me to come in and talked to him today, he got stuff ordered and gonna start machining it right away. Bad news...it's ******* expensive and we can't bump the compression up with just pistons unless I make it a stroker (out of the question, I don't want that) or mill the heads. If it wasn't already low on money I'd do that but for now the compression is going from 10.7 to 10.2 So there goes 10 hp I guess. Also my cam got fucked up enough by the metal that I need to buy a new one so I guess it's getting a cam. Normally I'd be excited but not right now, right now I'm really tired of spending money.

******* hell this is a depressing last two pages (or however many it is for those of you in peasant default posts/page mode). I swear I'll post driving videos one day.

OGRacing

iTrader: (1)

you can mill the heads to raise comp, but you want valve reliefs cut into the pistons if you're going that direction.

and throw a stock cam or a used hot cam in there. they are dirt cheap/ everywhere. check ls1 tech, someone is always selling a hot cam.

OGRacing

iTrader: (1)

ha! i just forgot i have a used stock LS1 cam at my house. it will be out of the engine in a month if you want it.

Scaxx

Update for the weekend. First big news, I passed the FE exam! This is partially the reason pretty much all work had stopped for a couple weeks since I was studying my *** off. For non-engineers it's a 6 hour, 110 question exam that covers the last four years of education. Bit of a bitch and it's $230 so I didn't exactly want to fail it. Studied a lot, went outside of the house twice throughout my spring break, but at least that's done. Now the search for a job really ramps up, hoping to find something automotive related but the NW kinda blows for automotive related stuff. There's Paccar up north quite a bit, and I just learned Joe's racing products is up in Everett which would be awesome since going north is a nice commute and I already make that same commute every day for school. My girlfriend isn't against moving to Oregon so that's an option too, but then she'd have to find another job, she might have to anyway though because of someone's budget cuts to medical research. Anyway, enough about personal life.

I went ahead and bought a cam, (thank you for the offer though Johnny, I appreciate it). It's 235/244 .647/.612 and 111LSA, should provide quite a bit more up top, hopefully reduce some down low, and sound bad *** while doing it. You're right about the fact I could have just bought a used one off the ls1tech forums but I guess it feels weird buying stock parts, would have saved a bit of money since I wouldn't have to buy new springs and pushrods like I did but I guess it is what it is, I just have to accept I built an expensive car. I was doing some more thinking today and I'll probably just leave the heads the way they are and take the reduction in compression. If I want another 20 hp down the line I can always get them milled and bump the compression a point. Also, the new pistons do have valve reliefs, that's why there's a reduction in compression.

Started doing the exhaust on the blue car, coming together nicely. Also doing an actual cold side intake for the car is harder than I thought because of the damn afm, I think I can do it still but it's not gonna be easy. If not I think I can do it driver's side but kinda between the engine/rad.

Girlfriend and I also took her mustang out for the first time after putting the IRS in (a bunch of other stuff needed to get done). Car handles better for sure, brakes are iffy though, pretty sure we didn't bleed them enough.

Last thing, for our final mechatronics project my group decided on a water/meth injection system for an n/a car. We're gonna be doing it on my car. Will it give me any more power, most likely not, pretty sure my compression ratio isn't high enough to need it and I think my intake charge is cool enough as is. Do I need it for any reason, pretty sure no but we figured it would be kinda fun so we're gonna do it anyway. We're gonna control it based off of RPM and throttle position and integrate a light system to show the user the tank level as well as a shut off that retards the timing at a certain tank level.

That's about it as far as stuff that's been happening. Really happy I passed the FE and I've got 6 weeks left of school as of yesterday. Can't wait to be done with this ****.

Morello

Congrats on passing the FE, and props for studying. Not sure what style of engineering you are, but as an ME... My studying consisted of making sure I knew roughly where all the chapters were in that book they give you, and that was it. Somehow I still passed, but my job now doesn't require a PE license so I never went any farther. Good luck - go get a masters

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

Oregon isn't too bad. There isn't much automotive stuff down here either though. Good luck with the job search. If you ever come down here be sure to stop by.