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Heres a little more fab for ya. I decided to ditch the hood dumps after considering how hot my city is for modified cars...that and seeing everyone and their mom with a turbo doing them lately. These were built out of 16ga 304SS and welded with a proper backpurge (unlike the other ones). I like this style MUCH better. These were later heat wrapped to minimize the melting of the passenger's shoes.
Now about the wiring. I'll start off by saying that the placement of the relay panel is not ideal, but really the only place I could mount it so that it could be hidden due to its size. I'm a little limited with full interior and didnt want to do something tacky like mount it the trunk in out in the open. If this were a stripped track car it would be a different story, but alas it is not. I will be building a bash bar to protect the rear somewhat in the case of a collision and I used a circuit breaker that will cut power in the case of a short. Here's how the primary battery cables are laid out. Note that the factory fuse block is relocated to the rear as well to clean up the engine bay.
Like I mentioned- the plus side is that everything is completely hidden in the spare tire well. All cables are loomed with Mil-spec raychem DR-25 and secured with rubber clamps so there is no movement or possibility of abrasion on the cables.
The main battery cable is all 0awg and basically runs from the relay panel under the carpet and into the storage bin frame, then exits right behind the driver seat to connect to a bulkhead fitting. This is completely covered by the carpet and practically unnoticeable. Rubber grommets are used every time the cable passed through a panel-NO EXCEPTIONS. Ask me how many times I dropped that stupid bolt before I finally got it threaded up from the bottom.
From there, the bulkhead exits right in front of the rear wheel area and is a straight shot right to the starter. The cable next to the fuel lines was another thing that wasn't quite an ideal placement for me, but it was the cleanest and most simple way to do it. The other options would be running it inside the car (more complicated path, hard to tuck cleanly under the floor carpet) or run it on the other side along the passenger side frame rail (closer to exhaust heat and would have to cross the downpipe to reach the starter). So out of all three I chose the one that looked the best. I mounted the cable by tacking bolts along the bottom with a buddies flux core welder, which turned out pretty damn good. I do have some doubts about this setup, especially about the chances of it catching on something I run over or rubbing the ground with how low the car is. If i die, i die you know. It happens, and then I won't have to deal with this car anymore.
Then the last bit of this cable was the main alternator power. I built some brackets to mount it securely and wrapped with raychem then a heat wrap good to 1100* due to how close it sits to the engine. Probably overkill but better safe than sorry I suppose. 4awg power wire was used, which is a huge upgrade from the cheesedick 10 awg wire or whatever is used stock. I'm going to need it for the higher amp FD alternator and the amount of power I'll be pushing through the car.
Wired the fuel pump so it will get direct power from the battery through a relay. This is the first bit of chassis wiring, but I still need to wire both e-fans, P/S pump, coils, ecu, and all the other good stuff as well extend and reroute all the wiring for the stock fuse box that's now in the trunk, too. UGH.
For the engine bay wiring, I'm working on a sort of 3/4 wire tuck I guess..if that's a thing? I'm pretty much going through and cutting out all the stuff that I don't need anymore, adding the new wiring that's needed and then putting together into one loom that can be routed as cleanly and inconspicuously along the inner fender well. It will be mostly tucked but not completely. It would just take too much time and backtracking to do it as nice as I would like. Oh well, maybe next time T_T
Time to start installing this pile of spaghetti next.
What i'm currently tackling is the last bit of the plumbing and vacuum lines. Me being a huge dipshit chose to keep the look going and use AN lines for everything . Well anyways, here's what almost $600 gets you in hoses and fittings.
Mounted this little vacuum block on the firewall. It will feed the brake booster, fuel press reg, bov, ecu map and boost gauge.
Welded this fitting on pre-intercooler for accurate wastegate vacuum. All wg lines will be -4an braided PTFE hose.
Also pulled the nipple out of the intake mani and drilled/tapped it for a -6 fitting. Why, you ask? Because I like doing things that aren't necessary and it feeds my sense of self-loathing!
The fitting I originally had for the coolant overflow was just too close to the turbos water line but the real hassle was the hole was so close to the wider triangular water neck that you couldn't use a standard 90*. It would hit and not be able to thread in. It took me damn near 2 days of searching to find something that would work and finally came across this thing. Kind of a male to female 1/16 NPT with a hex cap to tighten it. It's not pretty but should do the trick.
Lastly, a moment of appreciation for my assistant. I guess I can do updates on here again for the few stragglers that still visit. I do it fo yall.
This beast has come a long way from Temple City.
Ground dumps is best dumps
I like how you’re routing the power cables. For concern on the clearance with the ground, are you able to mount some sheet Aluminum as a skid plate along the length of that 4awg lead?
Last edited by JGrove303; 07-24-18 at 11:28 AM.
Reason: Adding words for reading
would you happen to remember what color wires you used to splice into the idiot cluster?
I got everything from the factory wiring diagram. Please don't trust me on this because I havent tried it yet but IIRC
Q - ground
R - ignition switched ACC power through cigar fuse 10A -OR- you can use
G - IGN switched power through meter fuse 10A. (think this is what i did)
P - should be the dimmer signal
Originally Posted by KNONFS
My kind of build!
Are you eliminating the front bumper (the inner one, made of plastic)? For me, that would be a concern.
WTH happen to your builders thumb?!?!? OUCH!
Yes both factory crash beams will be removed but I will be fabbing up some bash bars to protect the car and bumpers if i happen to contact anything. The story behind the thumb was he was forming my catch cans into the triangle by pushing them through a die with a press. Some part of the tube had to be supported by hand and well... you know what happens when something slips.
Originally Posted by JGrove303
This beast has come a long way from Temple City.
Ground dumps is best dumps
I like how you’re routing the power cables. For concern on the clearance with the ground, are you able to mount some sheet Aluminum as a skid plate along the length of that 4awg lead?
Ayyyy youre still alive. That's not a bad idea. I may be able to fashion something that attaches to the frame rail and protects the rearward section of the batt cable. That whole setup has me a little doubtful, but time will tell.
Been working on the vacuum line setup for the car. Luckily all my emissions and other bs have been removed so there isn't too many things to connect. The wastegates were the most tedious so I knocked them out first and surprisingly came out looking pretty nice. Im satisfied. Waiting on a few more fitting and then i'll be able to knock the rest out relatively easy.
Very nice progress. Thanks for posting for the few of us still paying attention. Maybe one day I'll go back and clean up my thread and post the progress.
Also, what is your plan for a hood now that you changed the dump tubes? Getting a reverse vented to maximize the v-mount?
I'm gonna get the armchair engineers' panties in a bunch and actually run a stock NA non vented hood. I've always loved the simple look of them and not huge on vents. I read an interesting thread somewhere on here a while ago that proved a vent doesn't really affect the air temps nearly as much as having the proper ducting on the inlet side, so thats what I will be focusing on. Going to try my hand at butt welding the holes closed that are there now since the rest of the hood is in great shape but if i fail (probably will) ill just buy a new hood before i have the car painted.
Few small updates: I started working on the chassis wiring loom thats going to run from the trunk where the battery/fuse panel is to the accessories up front. I wanted it to be as small and flexible as possible, so concentric wrapping was the way to go. This is not anywhere close to a proper dandoe spec wrap, but its enough to get the job done and not delay the build any more than it already is. The core 8 awg wire (maybe 6 awg ? cant remember) is for the main fuse. I think this should be big enough to support the load now that ive removed a good deal of the stuff that pulls power from that circuit. The second layer of 10 awg wires is going on next and should be REAL fun -___-
aaaand I decided I hate the oil catch can/coolant tank setup I have now, so I'm going to be fabbing up a new one that looks cleaner and is located away from the exhaust. Messed around with this idea, but still not 100% sold on it because id have to run the -8 catch can line across the engine bay. I may just split them up and put the coolant tank here and the oil tank on the drivers side.....
I'm gonna get the armchair engineers' panties in a bunch and actually run a stock NA non vented hood. I've always loved the simple look of them and not huge on vents. I read an interesting thread somewhere on here a while ago that proved a vent doesn't really affect the air temps nearly as much as having the proper ducting on the inlet side, so thats what I will be focusing on. Going to try my hand at butt welding the holes closed that are there now since the rest of the hood is in great shape but if i fail (probably will) ill just buy a new hood before i have the car painted.
Few small updates: I started working on the chassis wiring loom thats going to run from the trunk where the battery/fuse panel is to the accessories up front. I wanted it to be as small and flexible as possible, so concentric wrapping was the way to go. This is not anywhere close to a proper dandoe spec wrap, but its enough to get the job done and not delay the build any more than it already is. The core 8 awg wire (maybe 6 awg ? cant remember) is for the main fuse. I think this should be big enough to support the load now that ive removed a good deal of the stuff that pulls power from that circuit. The second layer of 10 awg wires is going on next and should be REAL fun -___-
aaaand I decided I hate the oil catch can/coolant tank setup I have now, so I'm going to be fabbing up a new one that looks cleaner and is located away from the exhaust. Messed around with this idea, but still not 100% sold on it because id have to run the -8 catch can line across the engine bay. I may just split them up and put the coolant tank here and the oil tank on the drivers side.....
I run a NA hood on my FC, during summer/hot days the intake manifold heat soaks during traffic. Exhaust wrap, turbo blanket is a most, however I firmly believe that it also applies to all rotary engines. I made a catch can where the OEM trailing coils used to sit.
I run a NA hood on my FC, during summer/hot days the intake manifold heat soaks during traffic. Exhaust wrap, turbo blanket is a most, however I firmly believe that it also applies to all rotary engines. I made a catch can where the OEM trailing coils used to sit.
Missed your comment somehow. I agree-I have one of those fancy DEI turbo blankets (not on right now because of all the work im still doing) along with a double layer of header wrap on the downpipe all the way to the resonator. The entire passenger side of the engine bay will also be covered in the heat reflective tape once the majority of the work is finished up.
A quick coolant tank update: I've gone through about 10 iterations of how I wanted to set up the oil/coolant tanks between this, but came full circle to my original design. I wanted to make a trick single unit that held both oil and coolant, but would result in the line for one of the two to be unnecessarily long and cross over the engine (UGLY) so they will be split up. Oil catch can will be mounted on the driver side shock tower for the most simple/functional setup.
From idea to reality
Im pretty pumped at how this came out. I guess i was just having a good night when I welded it up because i usually suck at aluminum haha. It didnt even leak on the first try-i was blow away. The fill neck and all bungs are welded from the inside for the cleanest look. I guess I don't have the fittings to make the line like I thought, so it'll most likely have to wait until next week.
dude, just went through your whole build thread, really rad, your patience level is crazy, work is superb, cant believe you got those wheels to fit under factory metal, cant wait to see the final product
After using about every cuss word in my vocabulary, I kinda finished the second layer on the loom. This was MISERABLE to do with 11 10-gauge wires and when I went to bend the loom to wrap it up and put away all of the kevlar thread broke due to the amount of stress on it from the huge wires. I'm going to have to go back and use more lacing thread for strength and wrap with Kapton tape every 6 inches instead of 12 inches to keep it from busting out.
This was no short run either; the entire thing is over 14' long. Heres a pic just to give you a reference on the length
That brings me to my second issue: the shrink wrap for this ****. I wanted to use the same DR-25 ive been using on everything else but just priced out the length of 1.5" that I need and well....its almost $300. I dont know why there's such a huge jump in price per foot for 1"+ diameter but man...don't think even I can justify spending that much on heat shrink. Anyone have ideas for a more affordable alternative? Dandoe?
Thanks! I picked up a roll of that stuff and also ended up buying another type of heat shrink made by Raychem that looks very similar to the DR-25, but slightly lighter duty, so when they both get here I'll see which one works best
For long trunk runs I use that same Clean Cut mesh. If you're careful when shinking over i with DR-25 (or other adhesive lined shrink, don't bother if its not) so as not to melt it, It's the bees knees.
07-20-18 | 12:50 AM
for everything 
