Monday, July 6, 2009

Bad Wiring Phantom Guy... Grrr




So over the weekend we made some additional progress with gutting the car. We needed to remove the dash to get at all the crap behind it (Heater Core, Blower, AC junk, etc.). We still haven’t decided how we want to proceed with the dash, but I believe we’re leaning towards a aluminum sheet metal flat dash. Something similar to a Nascar style.

We removed the remainder of the trunk interior and insulation before moving on to mounting the new door and side mirror. Every piece of covering we remove has a chance of uncovering some gremlins. We’ve already identified a few areas of very minor body rust we will need to repair. Luckily, most of the rust is localized to spots where we can just cut the metal out without even having to weld in new pieces. An example would be on the inside of the trunk where a weather strip sits to prevent water from coming into the car. So far we haven’t found anything structurally compromising (Thank god).

So to get to the title – Bad Wiring Phantom Guy – Curse you. We had to remove and re-wire a botch job on a car alarm. There were random, non electrical taped connections as well as they had the unit integrated into the ignition as a “lock out” for any potential thieves. All I have to say is thank god it wasn’t the cause of an electrical fire – because that’s where it was headed, haha.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Wheels!


Ok - been a week or so since I last posted. We've been trying to source some new wheels, tires, and brakes. The problem has been sizing. We need something that can fit over a 4 pot front brake but also is small enough to keep the unsprung weight/rotational mass low. That being said - I've been trying to find a buyer for my 17x7.5 SSR Comps but I think they will be ideal for our needs.

We're moving towards using a 245 wide tire for the remainder of the season and next season - Any more will require extensive fab work to widen the fenders. Still, 245 meats are going to need a little hacking to get the job done and will squeeze onto these 7.5 wide SSR's just fine.

Moving along - I sourced some used G-Forces which we'll use for the time being to test fit and be able to roll the car once we bolt up the brakes. I also think they will be pretty good for a few Auto-X days. The previous owner blistered them very bad so I wouldn't trust them on a track - free is a nice price though. :)