While I'm waiting for my clutch to get finished I'm checking things off my to-do list. This weeks project is a front sway bar. I picked up a pair of Rhodes 24mm kits from Summitracing. they look pretty good. I'm not 100% sure where the mounting should be on a sway bar so I made it as wide as possible and centered the link mounts on the control arm as best as I could. to do that I needed to add some frame extensions. I'm left with about 1/8" clearance between the tire and the sway bar at full droop and full steering lock. that gap will get a little wider when i put the drop spindles in.

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finally got my clutch!!!!!!! it arrived yesterday, got the tranny back in today, gonna finish it up and get it running in the morning so i can see how god awful its gonna be to drive this thing. nothing like a $150 engine sporting an almost $2000 clutch

I can't thank Vince at Aasco Motorsports enough for all the time and effort that went into designing and machining this beautiful piece of awesomeness.


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Multi disc clutches definitely get better after break in/couple hundred miles

Damn, $2k, you got taken for a ride on that thing. My quarter master twin disk with release bearing was only $800, I just used a flex plate for the starter drive and quatermaster customized a button flywheel to just match the flexplate I sent in.

For a BP or an FE3N? I wanted readily available off the shelf parts for when I ruin this thing learning how to drive eith an absurdly heavy and grabby clutch.

Mine was mzr with T5. Which meant I did have to drop another like $300 on the Tilton release bearing because the quartermaster one doesn't work great with a t5. Since all it was to them was match the bolt pattern on the flex plate and and match the spline on the input shaft.

"Oh man you got taken for a ride, because I have this totally different part that was made for a totally different trans/engine combo, and it cost less"

How about this: you both got taken for a ride, because I bought a stock 1.6 miata clutch on alibaba for $3.50

Can I get a ride Vlad?

That alibaba clutch is going to cut your feet off. Defeet yo ass!

Reworked my brake and clutch pedals for a little bit higher leverage ratio. clutch now feels great with no more stalling on take off. brake pedal got about 2" longer and I had to massage the wheel well for clearance of the longer clutch pedal.

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I also found a fix for a problem no one else seems to have. I'm not a fan of AN fittings cause they require harder to find materials and tools to make the lines and don't looks as clean to me as nicely bent steel lines. The problem I ran into was that the clutchmasters FCV-2000 flow control valve only comes with a -3AN fittings. The threads in the valve itself are 3/8-24. I couldn't find anyplace that makes a 3/8-24 to a metric bubble flare m10-1.0 standard fitting that will match every other brake/clutch line in my truck. I was being told by everyone, including clutchmasters, that the only way was to get the -3AN to metric bubble flare adapter and use a -3AN to -3AN coupler making the valve twice as long and adding extra potential point for the system to leak. while on hold with a local hydraulics company to see if they had a solution I was playing with the valve and fittings and accidentally screwed the fitting in backwards. Turns out a -3AN has 3/8-24 threads. So I picked a pair of -3AN to bubble flare adapters, put them in the lathe at work, and cut them to the exact dimensions as the original fitting. I'm not sure that was even necessary but I have access to a lathe and it took a few mins each.

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Thanks for the tip, clutch dumps with ease now. This thread delivers again!

Nice. Thats a delay valve right? It sure looks a lot cleaner than the "red neck clutch slipper" I ran in my car. Its super satisfying to be able to dial in a perfect launch every time.

Yea it has a check valve so you can press the clutch at full speed but on the return its forced through a fixed orifice to slip the clutch for a split second as not shock load the tranny. It's also supposed to be good for not lighting the tires up at every shift.

The race truck is getting a bigger radiator and fitted for A/C this weekend.
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new bigger radiator is installed, a/c condenser is installed. I had to make some hose adapters cause the engine is 1.25" hoses and the upper on the radiator is 1.5" and the lower is 1.75"

size difference. new on left
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condenser mounted with foam and fan mounts
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i had to cut out the existing mounts and make new upper and lower mounts. there's a cross brace on the lower mount to protect the radiator
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https://imgur.com/72fvBrk

the pile of hoses and the adapters needed to make them fit
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I had to build my own bump steer kit cause no one has one in stock and I didn't want to wait until mid July for one to get shipped to me. ball joint studs from speedway, 3/4 Heim joints from speedway, misalignment spacers from Ruff stuff 4x4 shop, grade 8 bolts from ace hardware. even after buying a tap it was still cheaper than a complete kit.
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Picked up some Cobra wheels 17x9s 245/40/17s up front and 17x10.5s 275/40/17s in the back. The fronts fit perfectly after i took the sway bar out. it was hitting the oversized tie rod ends and needed to be reworked anyways, the rears may need some flares or something cause they stick out really far.
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Looking sick man! Thanks for the updates, love watching this thing evolve.

went to the track Wednesday to get some times but on the way to the track the release fork said no. I think its because I set my clutch pedal limiter stop too low and the clutch and slave are stronger than the arm. new one is ordered from Mazda, if it happens again I'm going hydraulic throw out bearing.

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big OOF. You have to drop the trans to replace this, right?

Super stoked to see this thing ripping. It's seriously one of the most entertaining builds I've ever seen.

Yea, had to drop the trans, but its already replaced , I welded a plate to the back of the new one to strengthen it. Then went tuning on 28psi and E85 thanks to 18psi and after making all the power the rear freeze plugs on the left side ejected :( seems like the engine is unharmed but I have to wait til the sleeve retainer cures before I know for sure.

Adding freeze plugs to the list of things that can be ejected from a bp/fe3 :laugh:

Holy wow
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Didn't expect the freeze plugs to want to set themselves free!

The weird thing is that I just hammered new ones in and the engine runs fine.

Do you think it's just from age or boost pressure making its way into the coolant?

The coolant overflow tank was only 3/4 full. If it over pressured the coolant i would think it would have bypassed the radiator cap and overflowed

Yeah most likely and makes sense.

Update on my cursed truck... I stopped for gas and as I was leaving the starter solenoid stuck on and ran until the starter overheated and the battery died. I had it towed to my shop to fix it but a starter is over a week out. I put in a battery cut off switch to hold me over while I wait for a new starter to show up. On the way home I was passing someone, they cut me off so I had to let off, they moved got back on it, they cut me off again, had to let off then got back on it and the force of that surging shredded and threw my alternator belt off and made the timing belt jump 10 teeth. Reset the cam timing and it seems to run ok.

The only positive about this is the nice guy who helped me push the truck away from the pump was the owner of the Kia Stinger I raced and lost to on the freeway before I went E85. We went from 70mph to 140mph and he had a car or 2 on me :( I was sad my truck was slow until I found out he has 500whp and ran 11.90s. We agreed to a rematch from a dig when I figure out to how to make this pile of shit run for more than 2 days without leaving me stranded.

OH man, sorry to hear about the torture. Sometimes I wonder why we build cars when they give us so much grief. I'm sure you'll get it dialed in though!

I was so sick of the vibration I finally cut out the poly engine and transmission mounts and replaced them with rear engine mounts. I chose 2005 Mercedes S600 mounts. I figured if they can hold the weight and torque of a twin turbo V12 they will do just fine in my truck. I manage a Mercedes repair shop so the cost on the parts is super cheap. 90% of the engine vibration is gone but its still louder than I was hoping for. I need to pull the windshield so i can have access to the back of the dash to finish sound proofing the firewall and finish the cluster bezel. I also need to get all the A/C lines made and get that all working, There are so many things that need to be finished still.

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Ive been fighting a weird overheat issue since day one and finally got to the bottom of it, #1 cylinder head gasket was really bad. and since i put my clt on the front of the engine i was reading boiling coolant from the blown head gasket. i replaced the head with a spare i had and relocated the clt sensor to the thermostat housing where it should have been in the first place. coolant temps are now 194*F on the freeway when its 105*F outside. i wrapped the turbo manifold after it burned up my alternator. i finished the bracket for the a/c lines to the expansion valve. hoping to have a/c in the next week or two

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Air conditioning is in and working!!!! I'm still messing with how much to charge it with. I think I can get it to or below 40*F at the center vents with some tweaking. I was running out of time and it was over 100*F in the shop so I was ok with only 50*F at the center vent. I was also made aware that since the head gasket was replaced 28psi has maxed out my 1000cc injectors on E85. Time for more expensive upgrades :(

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Love this build, doing an FE3 swap on a 86 B2000 - where did you source the txv valve and piping from? I was going to fab some hardlines but retain the stock r12 expansion valve and evap core, but you're giving me ideas.

The txv and evaporator are from an 04ish dodge Durango rear ac unit. There hoses are from
https://jeepair.com/collections/hose...32066979430485

It actually works great, I thought 60* at the vents was awful but upon further testing the air going into the hvac box is 120*F+. i need heat shielding across the fire wall and air inlet box to bring that temp down. I also need a way to keep hot under hood air from blowing into the passenger fender well where the air inlet is.

Blew another head gasket, ejected another freeze plug, and warped another head so bad that coolant pours out of the rear of the head gasket. Decided its finally time to commit to fully building a motor. I had to order custom MLS head gaskets from gaskets-to-go in Thailand. My Pauter rods just showed up today, looking though all the specs of Wiseco pistons to find something that will work cause they are 4-6 months to have a set custom made.

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picture dump and update, MLS head gaskets arrived, and are surviving so far. boost turned down to 22psi to keep the duty cycle on the 1000CC injectors under 95%. Rods and pistons are at the machine shop getting fitted into the block. New oil pump arrived and is waiting on the machine shop to finish the motor. Injector Dynamics 1700cc injectors are also awaiting the new motor. Bought a square set of 17x10.5" mustang wheels wrapped in 275/40/17s. widened the front end to make the front tires stick out as much as the rears. Cutting out everything that will rub the tire. Fender flares are waiting for me to finish the suspension again and set new ride height before being welded on.

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I shifted focus from suspension to the dash this weekend. After a very very long time trying to figure out how to secure my tablet cluster my brother had the awesome idea to use a push to open latch and have it fold down and just pull the tablet out of the front through the steering wheel. it needs to be a reasonably quick release to access to my brake/clutch reservoir and to remove the tablet for charging and anti-theft.

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I also got my new bullet center caps
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dash is painted, headlight switch and indicator is moved to center vents, all I have left is to install turn signal indicators and figure out what I'm gonna do to connect the center vent to the center console.

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Getting closer to being finished, floors welded back in, flares tacked on, alignment done. fender mirrors going on tomorrow. gonna finish welding the flares on and blending them in over the next week. still need some adjustments cause the front rubs a little at full lock over bumps. either gonna roll the flares a little or raise the front up 1/8"- 1/4". welded studs into the dust cap to fit the center cap spikes and made some straps that go around the front dust caps in case the spikes work them loose. i also had to make spacers for the steering rack to keep the 17x10.5s from rubbing the control arm at full lock.


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[img]https://i.imgur.com/sWJtV2B.jpg[img]
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Fender mirrors are on. Took it out to cars and coffee in Folsom to show it off with my buddy's 68 Datsun wagon. I forgot how to drive lowered cars and mashed my wheel into my fender turning into a driveway. Luckily my buddy's dad is an amazing body man and hammered it back straight in less than an hour. Watching him take out that dent and making everything smooth was mind blowing.

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I saw a puke green post 76 Courier in the junkyard last weekend with a factory camper shell on it and a bed liner made of orange shag carpet. For some reason, it reminded me of this thread :p

Keep up the good work dude. You just don't see to many of these things anymore, still very much digging this project! :bigtu:

The best part is we were just talking about this new built engine and 1700cc injector setup going in soon :likecat:

Finally installed the Injector Dynamics ID1700s. The injector buckets for the 1700s were too big to fit in the manifold adapters for the 1000s so instead of adapters on adapters on adapters I made 1 piece adapter buckets. Took all the relevant measurements off each part and made it fit. im no machinist but i got all the sealing surfaces within .001". the depths are a bit looser cause i dont have a dial indicator that has more than 10mm of travel so i coudnt be super precise but they are within .020"

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With all the one-off parts and custom work done to this thing it's easy to forget the basics when trouble shooting. It's been cutting out under boost once in a while and only little bits at a time. Some pulls would be flawless. Sent data logs to @vladituned and he pointed out I had a sync loss with my cam sensor and a really nosey TPS signal. I replaced the CAS cause the one that was in there is coming up on its 30th birthday. Would still break up but had no more camshaft sync errors. I swapped the TPS and the signal is now where it should be. All spark plugs looked fine. Smoke checked in intake and the manifold had a massive leak at the flange Turned out to be the liquid gasket that I used for my intake manifold gasket gets dissolved by E85 and the unevenness in the flange blew it out. Manifold is now nice and flat and going back together.

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Looks pretty light and balanced

With the weather so nice and car shows back in action I'm getting motivated to finish this terd. Built some new exhaust after work today, it eliminated almost all of my droning noise by putting it out the back of the truck. i even picked up a few inches of ground clearance. Welded the left bed panel back in for filler neck clearance. Still need to build my axle hump to seal it in. Picked up some Audi R8 coils for all the spark. those will be going in sometime this week.

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Installed the R8 coils. Definitely should have done more research first. I was unaware that it required an additional circuit be added to my MS3X to run them at full potential. Huge thanks to you guys on here for coming through with all the info I need to get these going.

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Updated the MS3X internal wiring with FET drivers for R8 coil hottness. Huge thanks to everyone on the FlowForce R8 coil thread for coming through with the wiring and setting info. And even bigger thanks to 18psi for a perfect 20psi tune. So far 6 back to back 2nd to 3rd gear pulls with zero breakup and 11.8 afr all the way to redline.

cant wait for the MAP Daddy to get here and my engine to be finally finished so I can see what a built FE3N is capable of.

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:likecat:

Mapdaddy 4bar sensor installed. machined out the "kia motors" from the valve cover and am having interchangeable stainless steel inserts made.

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After watching people immediately lose interest with my motor after seeing "Kia Motors" on my valve cover I decided to shave it off of a spare one I have laying around and have laser cut interchangeable plates made. TheGreatMetalShop on Etsy did such an awesome job on my keychain and I cant wait for these to come in. Now I need to figure out what color I want to paint my valve cover.

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The weather is getting hotter so I'm back to thinking about how to make my air conditioning work as best as I can. It's been suggested to me to make an under body panel between the radiator and the cross member to prevent a high pressure area from the back of the radiator. So far it's looking promising. A/C on full blast, 90*F out and engine temps below 198*F at 70mph @ 3000rpm

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As I expected TheGreatMetalShop on Etsy came though with perfect laser cuts.

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reworked the a/c inlet to pull cold air from the front of the truck. hopefully the colder air in the colder my a/c will get. then the truck rewarded all my hard work by snapping the throttle on my way home. pretty sure the truck hates me at this point.

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in non truck related news i fit some exhaust to my buddy's 700whp mustang. got rid of those restrictive press bends and put actual mufflers on. super sleeper status.
https://imgur.com/lqqexFm
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I always love your updates, great work as usual! And nice work on Vlad's stanger, that thing looks like it must be a handful.

He's a freaking wizard with fabricating stuff. Thanks again, the mustang is so quiet now and proper twin 3" like a boss :likecat:

Race truck got some carpet and heat/sound insulation padding. the floor around the pedals is noticeably cooler after idling 30 min with the ac on in the garage.

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Getting more work done and spending more money on parts. RohdeFab made me some pretty bad ass door panels and door pulls for a really reasonable price.
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Added more vents for even better cooling and cooler A/C operation. I hate the way they look but engine temps are down 15*F. I also added sound/heat barrier to the whole HVAC intake to cut down on inlet temps.
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Trying to get the A/C to work better and found out I'm set the system up wrong. I put my low side cycling switch on the receiver dryer which is on the high side because I was thinking I plumbed it as a low side accumulator. Compressor was just staying on and freezing the expansion valve. Installed an inline port on the low side but ran into some Megasquirt control issues. I'll sort those out and get the A/C dialed in when I get back from vacation.
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I finally got my hands on a 1973 Mazda B1600. I like the look of the front end more than the ford version and I picked this thing up on my way back from a vacation in Oregon. The whole truck was way cheaper than I can get the lights and trim for. The Benz tows great on the freeway but only gets 11.2mpg with the truck on the trailer.

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A/C update: using low side switching with out an accumulator was a pain in the ass and very inconsistent. I'm using an R12 filter dryer as a small accumulator. It helped a little but was still spiking the low side too quickly and causing erratic compressor operation. I ended up taking the seal out of the schrader valve and using it like a tiny orifice tube. it dampened the compressor cycles just enough to get the a/c to stay cold.

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Installed Hyperco take up springs, I was sick of having to set the rear springs every time I lifted the truck. The springs were almost the same price as getting longer coils but I'm not 100% sure what the spring rate is so I went this route. I could only find plastic centering rings so i made my own aluminum ones.

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Loving the updates, this build is so great I always click for updates - you have fab skills that I dream of. If you were local I'd pay you a lot of money to do some cool stuff.

I never knew that Mazda, all the way back in the 70's, had a ford counterpart.

I find it interesting because I have a '93 b2600i, and this was during the era that Mazda made their own trucks (in '94 due to the chicken tax Mazda stopped importing their own trucks and instead rebranded a ranger to sell as a Mazda). I assumed anything older than that Mazda didn't partner with Ford.

Did the REPU have a ford counterpart? Kinda looks like a courier now that I think about it.