There's movement on many fronts with the House Cat lately. Bodywork, wiring, moar.



949 6UL's 17x9, with 235/40 NT-01's. That rubber feels like it could crawl up a wall it's so sticky.



Lots of toggles. Seats on this one will be heated.



Speedhut gauges, including GPS speedometer with built in odometer. The aluminum mounting plate will be crinkle coated.





Wiring. Trying to hide most of it, although all of it is impossibly thin MilSpec silver coated stuff.

 

I am excited that you will be using my r&p in this car! I'll have to visit when I'm back in cali

 

Can the engine bay splash guards be installed without removing the body?

 

Please don't weld it (I am pretty sure you were joking). It's a good diff and stupid strong but you will need to take it apart and take some measurements. I made a video on the process but it's more of a suplement and not a full "how-to" .

Here is a place for oversized clutches and plates so you can get more preload out of the diff. You can also shim it yourself and achieve a similar result but, it will require some trial and error. If you have the money go for the Giken. Diff Mount, LSD, Torsen, Rear Oils

 

Yes! Should I send you a couple?

 

Ready for cover on top, not ready on bottom.

The SmartWire can run redundant systems (I won't have any), and means that the House Cat won't have any fuses

Cleaning up nicely

 

Ms2, barf.

 

Fuses are for pussies. I'm doing my YJ build the exact same way. The only fuses are in the engine harness. The rest... My 40 amp switches are my fuses.

 

This week I had a 20amp fuse blow in my 1977 Blazer, after I swapped out to 14" radiator fans, and then the fuse to ALL the lighting decided to back out tonight while I was driving my kids home from the school carnival.

 

Yes, please. But take your time; I am back in Peru until June 21

 

Hopefully you've got some smaller than that too? Or are you running 12 gauge wire everywhere?

--Ian

 

Fuses are good.

You need fuses.

Fuses don't have to be made of fuse. On airplanes and some boats, circuit breakers are used instead. We also use circuit breakers in things like TV news trucks and military vehicles.

Fuses can also be made out of things like SmartWire, though that specific solution is profoundly expensive and needlessly complex for most applications.

ATM (mini) style breakers are fairly inexpensive and widely available, although they do tend to be rather longer than conventional ATM fuses.

https://www.waytekwire.com/products/...ini-Fuse-Blade

ATM, ATC, MAX, Glass Tube Footprints, Circuit Breakers

Mini Circuit Breakers - Wiring Products


Stud-type breakers are also widely available for those circuits such as the Main Fuse which require them.


Take note of the various reset styles. Some are auto-resetting (and will continuously cycle on and off in the presence of an overcurrent situation), some are "modified" auto reset, and will remain open until the overcurrent is removed, and some are manual-resetting.

Fully manual breakers, the sort where you can deliberately switch the circuit off, are generally not available in the ATM footprint, sadly.


But all of these things are better than nothing.

 

After seeing some of the hacky wiring in my truck, this is my fuse.

 

Joe, he isn't going unprotected. He is using a PDM (Power distribution module). PDMs have replaced fusing in all high level motorsports for years now. A good Motec PDM can keep a race car running with a failing component that would pop a fuse long enough for repairs or perhaps limping the car to the end of a race. They vary in how they work, but generally they work like highly intelligent fusing. They detect faults and can modulate the current for specific purposes.

I would personally have a large breaker for the alternator and battery to smartwire system.

In low budget racing, we usually just go with auto-reset breakers over fuses.

Generally speaking and without nitpicking, the wiring work looks good. Concentric wiring and a few other little tricks indicate they have experience and knowledge.

 

Actually yes i am. I'll be running 12 gauge speaker wire everywhere and by everywhere i mean to the radiator fans, and to the head/tail/blinkers. A 4 gauge wire goes from the battery to the main off switch.

 

The highly evolved off-road industry down here are using SmartWire stuff on their wildly expensive trucks. They run redundant setups on things like the fuel pump. If the pump dies, SmartWire tries to run it 100 times (pick a number), which takes about a second. If it doesn't work then the back-up fuel pump turns on automagically. I'm not taking advantage of that type feature, mainly because I don't need it for this car.

My next decision is whether to Skunk or not to Skunk. Throttle body. Thoughts?

 

Yes, I acknowledged that when I said "Fuses can also be made out of things like SmartWire, though that specific solution is profoundly expensive and needlessly complex for most applications."

Emphasis on the latter half of the sentence. SmartWire and similar technologies are very cool. Emilio had one mostly installed on Crusher when I was working on its ECU during the initial construction and first start.

The point of the post was simply that there is an inexpensive, simple and highly-reliable middle ground between thermal fuses and expensive PDM systems which is largely unacknowledged in the automotive aftermarket, despite having been a de-facto standard for many decades in aviation, maritime, and industrial applications.

 

Just noticed coming out of the water pump, you don't have a coolant line for the heater core. Is this a factory Mazda part? I used an NB donor in my Exocet and wanted to eliminate that hardline.

 

If I remember, that's a stock Kia Sephia or Kia "something" part. I use the threaded inlet for turbo water cooling return. An outlet exactly before the thermostat at the back of the block is the water feed line, as I've got a Frankenstein'd water reroute too.

 

Thanks. I've got a Begi spacer in the back with a nipple that can easily be sized down to use for my turbo. Now to track down that Kia something piece.