On-Again
started working on the car again... i have an on-again off-again relationship with the car..... i am back to on-again.
Wiring harness is now in, extra wires have been removed, I had to add a few new wires
- Wiper fluid spray pump, not sure why this is missing from the painless harness, it has wires for the motor power, but not the sprayer
- Door plungers (for dome light)
- 2nd switched dome light wire
- in the door i added a ground wire (not sure how good the ground would be as the door is not metal
- electric mirror wires.
- lock motor +
- lock motor - (these are after the relays under the dash)
- Power window wires, current wiring assumes the switches are in the door but i will put them in the center console as thats what the manual calls for.
- electric column motor (for sliding it in and out)
- ECU AC signal
- side markers (the law where i live)
- Fog lights
I was surprised the so much was missing from the harness. Also i found it frustrating that the harness is clearly made for a front engine car. Also the documentation for wiring the vintage air unit was somewhat lacking. A quick google search turned up some good videos and a wiring diagram for trinary switches.
But if it wasn't hard it wouldn't be worth doing. 🙂
I had to buy a few parts
- Speedos were on sale at speed hut so i picked up a KPH unit, should be here in a few weeks.
- I bought loom that was not split loom, i ended up getting rid of that and buying painless split loom, its much easier to use.
- 12 gauge and 18 gauge wire in a variety of colors.
- a vacuum coolant filling system, sucked the bubble right out of the coolant system.
- I picked up an 8 relay holder that will bolt up under the dash to run the locks/highbeams/lowbeams/park lights/fog lights/vintage air/hazard lights. I found it weird that the kit only comes with 2 relays.
I now have to test all of my wiring and complete a short 12 item list of picky little items before mounting the body on. Then its on to figuring out doors!
Taunting Diabetes
Searching Kijiji like I normally do on the train ride home from work I found a small convenience store selling off their Slurpee machines.
First we experimented with 10 liters of coke which works quite well, adding a cup of water makes it work even better.
But Koolaid seems to work the best.
Garage Entertainment
The garage has had a TV for a while now but finding something to watch in the garage takes away from valuable project time. I now have a Top Gear button. Pressing on the big green button will send an MQTT message that my server will then parse, select a random episode of Top Gear, turn the TV on if its not already on, switch it to the kodi input and start playing that random episode. There are also smaller buttons for the Simpsons and Futurama episodes.
MORE STORAGE!
Van Rust
My Minivan was starting to rust, I have never done body work before but that's not going to stop me from trying!
I started off thinking that all i would need to do was sand off some surface rust, wipe the panel down, prime and paint. When i started to sand the rust spot started to get larger and larger. The panel was rusting from the back side forward. So i pulled out the trusty grinder with a cutoff blade and started cutting out the rust. I then welded in a new piece of metal bent to the same slope of the panel. Applied a thin layer of bondo, sanded it all smooth, and primed, painted and clearcoated. End result was pretty good.
RV Setup Remote
We started camping with tents... allot up up front packing and setup work is required before you can open up your first beverage and sit by the fire.
We then moved up to a 5th wheel. This allowed for quicker setup and packing time by allowing us to keep items packed all the time, just hookup and go. But there were still manual jacks that needed to be hooked up, a furnace that had to be lit, a water heater that had to be lit, etc.
Then came the RV, auto leveling jacks, self starting appliances, slides that open up at the touch of a button... but it was still missing something. I couldnt operate the entire setup while at the campfile while sitting in my chair, enjoying my tasty beverage.....
Where there is a will, there is a way. I have now added a wireless remote the to RV's jacks and slides. I simply pull into the campground, get out of the RV, Grab my chair and sit down around the fire pit.
- Button 1) Lowers the jacks and levels the RV
- Button 3) Opens the first slide
- Button 5) opens the second slide
- Button 7) will open the awning when i get an electric awning.
Then to pack it all up
- Button 8) will close the awning when i get an electric awning.
- Button 6) Closes the second slide
- Button 4) Closes the first slide
- Button 2) raises the jacks
Pure bliss!
More GTM progress,
For the replacement KPH gauges i think i am going to pick this one up.
https://www.speedhut.com/gauge/GRM4-...and-high-beam) ( i am undecided if i want one that goes to 400KPH, less practical but does have a bit of wow factor.) They also have this one that tops out at at 300KPH which would mean i would be able to use more of the gauge during normal driving. I also like that these have built in signal indicators and high beams indicator. Makes things easier to wire up.
I now have proper crimping tools so i can make secure water tight connections. I have also ordered 10 weatherpack connector sets in each size (1, 2, 4, 6 pins). I will use them for wiring the AC, Audio system, gauge cluster, wiper, signal lights, etc.
I had to take the rear transmission support off to weld in the wing mounts, i jacked up the trans, pulled the bolts then slowly lowered it onto a socket to keep the weight off the axles. Worked like a charm.
I found this great video for wiring the Trinary switch. https://www.vintageair.com/tech-vide...rinary-switch/ Seems easy enough.
Wing mounts are now welded on along with the braces that come with the kit. They look a little uneven in this photo but they are exactly equal on both sides. I ground the welds down with a flap wheel on the top before painting so it all looks like one piece of steel. I then painted the whole assembly gloss black so everything matches and nothing rusts. I also took the time to paint the AC Accumulator bracket, i found that it was easiest to mount the bracket by bending over the mounting piece and screwing it into the top of the square tube.
Before i put the rear mount back on i am going to use this convenient access to the rear end to finish securing all the e-brake cables and shifter cables so they stay clear of the exhaust. I may even pull the trans one last time to double check the clutch install.
For some reason all my other vehicles decided to cry for attention, this stack of parts will take me away from the GTM for a few days. My minivan has a stuck rear caliper, and it has a leaking heater core, my 4x4 GMC broke 2 door handles and needs front U-joints. Parts are starting to roll in for those projects as well.
More GTM Progress
I figured i would post to say that i'm not dead.
- I have ordered the rear wing supports from vspeed, i need these before i can throw the body on.
- I have ordered the trans reverse switch plug from vspeed, i need that to complete the wiring.
- I have ordered the rear hatch hinges from vspeed, body mounting is coming up fast, this will be important soon.
- I have ordered the Aeromotive fuel pump controller from Summit, the pump runs flat out all the time, its loud, this should increase it's life... and my the life of my hearing.
- I have ordered 2 tank vent roll over valves from Summit, this will help me not die by fire in a rollover.
While i am waiting for parts i am trying to complete the last of the items between me and go-kart.
I have the telescoping steering kit but the brake light bracket that i got with the kit was the shorter one for the non telescoping kit.... So i decided to take the new welder for a test drive and make the bracket bigger to accommodate the pillow block bearing. Finished and looks good, paint is drying now (I will get some photos up soon)
FF sent me a set of gauges with the car that are in MPH not KPH... i guess that's just what they do for some annoying reason even though they sell this car globally, I contacted the manufacturer to see if the gauge could be changed over to KPH and it cant. So i asked if they had a matching gauge i could just buy, they don't.... so if i want matching gauges it looks like i need to buy a complete new set. I have also read that you can calibrate the MPH gauge to KM, however i'm not sure how the inspector is going to like that when i go to plate the car.
Other then that i have been drawing tons of wiring diagrams on paper for the cabin/ac/lights/av,etc Once i have all the wires in place (and maybe a few spares) i will start closing up the tunnel.
Garage Changes
So while I was not spending time on the car over the last two years I did put some time into the garage...
The company i work for moved to a new building that was previously owned by an oil company. They left tons of heavy duty filing cabinets behind, I work for a tech company, we dont have much use for paper... so i was told i could take some home... cant argue with the free price tag. I have hundreds of pounds of tools in the drawers and they still roll smooth. I then took boardroom tables (also free) and cut them down the middle to create the counter tops. Each filing cabinet is bolted to the wall and to the cabinet next to it. There is also a slab of marble at the bottom of each filing cabinet. This all makes for a very solid bench that is at the perfect height for me.
If you look close you can see all the magnetic labels, these were made by taking magnetic white boards (left behind by the oil company again) and sticking label maker labels to them then cutting them out. Now i can find any tool fast. I then mounted an all in one computer to the wall for bringing up the GTM manuals and searching the internet for wisdom.
To mount tools on the wall i found a company that was going out of business that had painted slatwall in their space that they had to remove at the end of their lease. I did the work removing the slat wall for free and used the best sheets in my garage. I found that slatwall hooks are easy to find at most hardware stores and many specialty hooks can be found online for things like drills or paper towel, etc.Â
I built some shelves at the end of both sides to house my larger tools and a mini-fridge for some beverages. I'm not sure if you can see them very well but i also added some hanging retractable systems from the roof that include an air hose, 2 power cords and a trouble light.
I added an Amazon Echo, and wired her into the roof speakers for some tunes and quick unit conversions.
Some car photos taken today... Kooks Exhaust
Fuel pump mounting, the wiring is temporary until my fuel pump controller comes inÂ
Today was seat day... this proved to be more challenging to do alone then i though so i had a friend come over to mark bracket positions while i sat in the seat while working the peddles. I am a little over 6 foot 2 and found that no matter how tried to position the sliders they took up to much valuable seat height. On top of that my legs require the seat to be as back as far as possible anyway... so i ditched the sliders and used the brackets i bought (i think i got them from Shane) without the sliders. now the seats sit perfect all the time. I don't plan on letting anyone drive my car anyway 🙂
You cant see it in this photo but we also got the AC Accumulator bracket bent, painted and installed.
Last month i finally got around to buying my own welder, its a small gas MIG, should be good enough for what i need to do.
So I had some time today to run the engine long enough for the coolant to start pumping, everything seems to cool just fine. Engine maxed out at about 210 degrees while idling, the fans never kicked on but i think that's because it didn't get hot enough. I also routed the shift cables further away from the exhaust, melting those wouldn't be good.
I have to say, i have never actually seen a finished GTM, never heard one run until yesterday... The LS1 with the Kooks exhaust sounds amazing, youtube videos do not do the noise justice.
Back to the GTM
The GTM has been sitting in my garage untouched for 2 years now... I would like to say life got in the way, which is true to some extent but i think it was mostly a lack of motivation. The last thing i tried to do was run the starter and was greeted with a horrible metal on metal noise from inside the engine.... around that time i also switched jobs, so it sat... and i moved on to some of my other unfinished projects.
Fast forward to this week (I started Monday morning)
- I got some time off work
- Figured out the engine noise (My uncle was over, he's a car guy, he asked to hear the noise, i cranked it over... 5 seconds pass as he thinks, he points to the trans adapter and says "loosen those bolts"..... sure enough, noise goes away. The bolts on the trans adapter were contacting the flywheel.... didn't think it would be that easy. )
- I yanked off the GTM exhaust and put on the Kooks that has been sitting in its box for 2 years
- Now the air filter wouldn't fit because it hit the exhaust, i ordered the cold air intake kit from FF but its still in the box.. i found the box and just used the rubber piece with slight slope on it to raise the air filter up. This will work for now.
- Reinstalled the starter (it misses the kooks by about 2mm)
- Moved the fuel pump behind the drivers head, my old location made filter changes almost impossible. I am running the Aeromotive A1000 pump and its not small.
- Wired up the fuel pump (temporary relay setup for now, it will need a fuel pump controller)
- Installed the Aeromotive fuel rails, pressure gauge, and all AN fittings with braided lines (bought all this 2 years ago as well)
- Dug though boxes for hours to find the fan plugs i bought years ago and wired up the fans. (
- Checked all the fluid levels
- Wednesday morning, gathered the family, turned the key and crossed my fingers.
No hesitation, started right up, ran smooth. That's the first time that engine has run since it came out of the Vett 3 years ago. Had i known it would take me less then 2 days of work to get it running i think i would have done it years ago.
So, it looks like i am motivated again 🙂 Next step is to get it go-karting this week..
Before Karting, i need to:
- Finish the AC lines and charge them. (was just going to use a cheap Walmart charge kit for now)
- Mount the AC accumulator (right now its kind of floating)
- Mount the seats, I bought the tabs and rails, i just have to mount them
- Make a wiring harness for the gauge cluster wires (temp, oil pressure, tach, speed, also running a Tach wire to the fuel pump controller)
- secure the ebrake cable assembly, right now they could get caught in the axles
- Create a home for and secure the engine relays (fuel pump, etc)
- Check all bolts...
- Tear up the neighborhood 🙂
I have also had a few problems i have not been able to find solutions to yet...
- I bought aluminum tanks, they have a vent line.... the garage now smells like gas. What is the best way to prevent the smell. Is there a smaller charcoal canister that is easier to hide then the factory unit? or do people just generally get a roll over valve and call it a day.
- I have a check engine light and a code for EVAP. Makes sense as i have completely remove the factory evap system. How do i get rid of the code so i can trust the check engine light, should i find someone to reprogram the ECU or is there a way to trick the wiring into thinking its there?