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took it out for a short drive with 18psi. base map is dialed and very smooth. waiting on a roll cage, seat belts, current registration, and an alignment before doing any wot pulls. the coolant temp would climb while moving probably due to lack of radiator ducting and the cheap *** fan i put in.
cheap fan replaced with a 12" 1300cfm Spal. and despite it being 10* warmer out the coolant was 10* cooler when cruising around 45mph. Probably going to completely seal it with some sort of tape in the future to make 100% of the air pass through the radiator.
got my ebrake sorted with a mis match of stock explorer parts, escort parts, and a homemade plate. its still a bit weak due to the hand brake having way less cable travel than the factory foot brake. ill be working on a bigger radius wheel to go in the hand brake in the future.
installed my mid 80s 300zx turbo marker lights installed. its weird how most Japanese marker lights have the same foot print. even weirder that my local napa actually had the right clips and screws to install them.
In hopes of keeping my fillings in my teeth I bought a 1.75" 40A durometer rod to make new motor mounts. I'm currently using 95A leaf spring bushings and they vibrate alot. I cut the ends off the poly to keep a soldish stop to keep the engine from walking forward or back. it was way easier to put the poly rod into the mount, cut it flush then drill it than trying to hold onto it.
perfectly timed text message for the awesome sound effect
ive been getting quite a bit done, just haven't been posting.
cleaned up and painted my escort zx2 center console.
fatmat rattle trap has been installed everywhere and its still hella loud
my K&N ripped off my turbo so i had to make a front end support
painted the front end behind the grill and installed the grill. i have a mazda b1600 grill on the way so it will be converted to 4x 5 3/4 headlights to replace the 2 7" ones
been cutting and bending the instrument cluster hole to fit the tablet better
wrapped the exhaust to keep the floor temp down
painted the valve cover
added air flow flaps for the radiator fan housing, they open while driving and seal closed when the fan kicks on
finally added the temporary seat belts until the cage gets installed and i can mount proper harnesses
i had to cut a bunch more teeth off of my abs sensor ring cause it was maxing out my VR conditioner at 40mph. started at 108 teeth down to 54 teeth, now its at 9 teeth.
before
after
more updates:
3.73 gears replaced with ford racing 3.31s all new bearings and seals. i think i pin pointed the loud howl from the rear end, carrier bearing races are toast. i did luck out so much when the factory shims lined up the ring and pinion perfectly. its a fun cruiser so far, the 3.31s dropped my freeway rpms to 2600@70mph and 2nd gear hits 7k rev limit @65mph
Wide open throttle tune got done friday night so its been fun learning how to drive a semi quick rwd vehicle im having issues with my innovate LC-1 and my tuner told me to "throw it in the trash where it belongs). my aem uego will be here tuesday. Until then i only get single digit spark advance until he can trust my AFR readings are correct.
now that the wastegate is opening i had a need to finish the dump
not truck related but i bought an overpowered lever action nerf gun off a guy on etsy and me and my roommate were seeing how bad it hurts. it stings a bit from 20ish feet
I have a few updates:
too many pops and bangs blew my muffler off blew off my muffler
2003 Mercedes ML500 is my tow vehicle lol got the truck home on a 10 1/2 hour round trip to pick up the parts truck parts truck new flow master muffler installed muffler side muffler under
I think i have finally found a clutch solution. after being denied by at least 4 "custom" clutch/flywheel manufactures that its not some thing they could or would do i had given up and came to the realization that i was gonna have to make my own flywheel. so i started looking at different 2 disc setups to see what would work best and be easiest for my limited machining skills. i came across a quartermaster 7.25" dual disc for an RX7 turbo that is rated at a ridiculous 1000ftlbs of torque. i found it on website called Mazdatrix that specializes in performance RX-7s and RX-8s and has custom flywheels listed so i gave them a call. i talked to a guy names Dave that was very knowledgeable about the clutches and flywheels they have listed and referred me to the guy that designed and makes their flywheels at Aasco Motorsports in southern California. After about 20 mins on the phone he had enough info to say that he could definitely make the flywheel i needed. The downside is that its gonna take a month or two to make but its only cost me $700-$800 for a one off flywheel built to the exact specs so i wont need a flywheel spacer, made out of steel, and have the recess and holes drilled to accept 7.25" inserts to avoid ever having to machine the flywheel when i replace the clutch in the future. im trying not to get too excited before i have the parts in front of me but its looking very promising. Not thrilled at shelling out almost another $2000 for a clutch and flywheel but considering its a one off custom application that will hold more torque than ill ever come close to making im happy.
This is the way I like to find myself into an oddball build thread since many start with a flurry and then never finish. Four years in and I read it for the first time and it's driving. Great job. OP reminds me of me! Why buy it when you can fabricate it? Again, great job!
Making more progress. unfortunately the truck will be down for a month or so until the new flywheel is built and returned with the dual disc rx7 rally clutch. while its down I have some work to do. I pulled the fenders and started with rust treatment on the cab, I changed the HVAC intake from engine bay to the fender, I'm still working on making a cabin filter that goes in the fender to keep crap from blowing in my eyes with the a/c on.
Exactly! but I did pull out the 3.31s and put the 3.73s back in the rear end and with a clutch that doesn't slip keeping in a straight line will be very difficult.
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I will let you know if I hear of anyone with a courier fender.
