I ordered one like the adapter in your link but it was 1/2' to 1/2" and it wouldn't clear so I have ordered a 1/2" male to 3/8" swivel and it should arrive in the by Monday. I hope it will clear. It will be close.
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I ordered one like the adapter in your link but it was 1/2' to 1/2" and it wouldn't clear so I have ordered a 1/2" male to 3/8" swivel and it should arrive in the by Monday. I hope it will clear. It will be close.
Darreld, or anyone else for that matter...
I want to use a different loom on my Holley EFI harness. I believe Holley uses the TechFlex F6 split loom, or something very similar. What I am looking for is maybe a tighter weave split loom that is softer, more like a canvas feel. I have looked through the TechFlex website many times, but it is hard to know which loom has the feel that I am looking for. Anyone have an opinions or options?
Andrew
The Painless ClassicBraid may be close to what you're after. I've used it, and it has a more "clothy" feel to it. The Techflex F6 woven looks to be very similar.
I received my samples in from TechFlex. I ordered some Insultherm and Insultherm Tru-Fit. The product will go on my spark plug wires. I ended up going with the Tru-Fit. It was a little smoother looking and slightly easier to work with. I ordered the 0 gauge which should expand over my wires and have a little extra capacity. The sample I ordered was for 3/8" and was a little loose fitting. The plug wire diameter was .32" so slight smaller than 3/8". I believe they will help protect the plug wires up to 1,200 degrees. I ordered some more shrink wrap to seal up the ends of the wrap and make a clean look.
https://www.techflex.com/high-temper...ltherm-tru-fit
The last couple weeks have all been about wiring, wiring and more wiring. I have most of the basic systems in place now and am connecting the different systems together. There is a lot of CAN connections that I really don't understand so my tuner/chassis guy will help me with the final connections. The engine Harness for the Haltech will need to be shortened quite a bit in order to look tidy in the engine compartment. Some wires are about 2 feet too long.
During part of the wiring I decided to move away from a Taylor Battery disconnect switch in favor for a remote battery disconnect that will provide a little theft deterrent as well. I went with a Cartek piece that is pretty cool. A simple push of a button can disable the entire car but leave some circuits open like an alarm. It is not the most cost efficient piece of equipment but I was how it was working on a Lamborghini last week and was impress with it. So simple to install and effective. https://www.cartekmotorsport.com/battery-isolators/
I hope to have all the wiring done in the next 2-3 weeks. I figure there is still another 40 hours to go there, maybe less if I stop coming up with items to add on. LOL!
I will soon be waiting for the body guy to come over to my house. I will need him to fit the hood and install the hood hinges before I can put in the radiator for the last time. Once the hinges are on the hood can be removed until it is ready to go on for the final time. This car is like a lego kit. This has to be done before this and then on to the next component that must be installed. If one step is missed then you go back to the beginning and start over. Really slows down the final assembly but the final assembly will be super clean.
Excellent, looking forward to seeing the outcome!
A small update on progress. Still wiring but it is getting close to the end. I have to wire about 4 switched, install the AC box and run hoses for that. Everything else is pretty much done except the engine harness (needs to be shortened), install the dash and tuning.
I will have a delay with the engine harness and tuning though. My guy that is going to do that has to move his shop and will be busy until the end of June.
I finished up on the plug wires today. The are Dragon Fire wires with Flextech heat shield. I chose the Dragon Fire wires because I needed 45 degree boots on the plugs and that are the only ones I could find. I hope they are good.
In the picture you can also see the adapters for my temperature gauge. I think I will take it off and paint it all black. I hope that will make it disappear a little more.
Attachment 188619
Attachment 188620
A little more progress. Got the brakes bled today and did a little weighing if the car. Still missing the hood and most of the interior but she weighed in at 2922 lbs. I figure when she is fully done it should be around 3100.
I am sure that is more than stock but there is a whole lot more going on than stock. Coming into the home stretch though. My tuner will be ready for the car by late June. I should have everything buttoned up before then. Most of my time lately has been spent wiring and making sure the wiring was clean. Lots of heat sharing and braiding going on. Kind of a pain in the butt but it will be worth it.Attachment 189022
Attachment 189023
A little more progress and some setbacks. The window, wing and all other switches are wired. The Ramlift Pro is working great and I can now raise the front of the car abour 2" to help clear low driveways and speed bumps. I was ready to put the dash in but started to have a couple issues with the courtesy lights and headlights. Neither work now. The courtesy lights were on all the time and now wont come on at all. I have to look at that system. The headlights were working fine and now they don't. I hope it is a fact that the control box needs full power from the battery to work and it is a little drained from testing the electrical systems on the car.
The modifications to the heater box ducting are done and now it can go in the car but I need to figure out the headlight and courtesy issues first. Much easier to do without the heater and dash in the car. Once that is done I will put in the dash and start programming the various computers on the car. The AIM track monitoring will be first, the setup on the Bosch ABS will be next and I will leave the Haltech ECU for the tuner to deal with. The transmission controller is already setup for my setup. I also need to wire in the Lokar sport shifter so it has the bump shift capabilities activated. I can do that tonight. It is a pretty easy job, just 3 wires spiced into a control box for the paddle shifter controller.
I did find out that I have a small leak in my radiator where the lower radiator hose is welded on. It will be an easy fix and can be done on the car.I also was battling a brake fluid leak on the ABS controller. I had used a banjo bolt for the feel lines into the unit and could not get them to seal properly. I ended up fixing it by using an adapter fitting and some really short flex line. The flex line is probably a better option anyways due to the vibrations of the unit. The tuner won't be ready for the car for 2-4 weeks so I have some time to deal with these little things. I am really looking forward to seeing this thing run. Should be a lot of fun.
I have an appointment setup for 7/14 to have the radar detector, parking sensors, alarm and stereo system setup by Musicar Northwest in Portland. Once that is done the car will be ready for Tracy Weaver over at The Recovery Room. I don't think it will be done by SEMA so I will likely take the car down to the Grand National Roadster Show early next year for its first event. Should be a blast!
Great update! Sounds like things are falling into place without too much aggravation.
The check list is really small now. Still have to put in the dash but I am having a hard time figuring out a problem with one of the most basic systems, the courtesy lights won't turn off. I am thinking it may be the switch but I am not certain. The door switches are new and look to be fine. A buddy helped we wire that portion so I need to go through all of that system again to make sure it is right. I also had to order a new flasher for LED lights and a new relay from Moromoto for the headlights.
The door handles needed a little work to fit better and now are back at the chrome shop and they should be able to work on them the beginning of next month. It is getting really close!
The big new of today is my wife and I purchased some land. We were looking at buying a house with a nice sized shop earlier this year but the deal fell through. We will now build what we want. I hope to have a shop that is a minimum of 30x40 but as large as 40-50 depending on the budget. It is on 7 acres and is beautiful. It will be really nice when it is done in a year and a half! The county we live in is taking about 4-5 months for permit approval. Damn red tape!
It is kind of crazy what the county requires. I just got out of a meeting with a 2nd builder and they are telling me 6-12 months for the permit. That is after we spend the next 2 months getting various reports from our own environmental experts on wetlands (600 feet of wetland area that is remotely close to our build site over the 7 acre lot), mitigation strategy of potential wetland impact, arborist to come review the potential impact of the protected White Oaks and a couple other environmental planning people I can't think of now. Stupid expensive crap that 15 years ago wouldn't have been needed. Throw in the fact that many of the county workers are working from home and that slows things way down.
I bet we will be into this an easy $10-15k before we are even paying to design a house or applying for permits. This is just to get ready for all the stuff the county is going to require.
As a reference for you, my shop is 20x40 and it is so friggin' tight for just one project. Wishing I'd have gone at least 30x40, to have room to spread out, for just one project. The only benefit to the shop's size is I have to be diligent about keeping it clean if I want to get anything done out there. :twothumbs
Are you referring to the lights on the rear pillars? If so, are the lenses on? The lenses are the switches at the assemly. The spring clips in the assembly provide the ground when a passenger pulls out the bottom of the lense on the lamp, turning it on. If the lenses are not on and in the closed position ie. pushed flat, the lights will stay on regardless of what position the door, or underdash, or headlight switches are in. If you don't have the lenses, place a piece of cardstock between the outer housing and the spring clip on each side of each lamp.
I am not using the original lights in the rear pillars. I am using an American Autowire courtesy light kit. It can't be more simple than what I am using. I need to disassemble the harness and look at all of it. I will start with the door jam switches and then move on from there. Thanks for the tip on the rear lights though.
Does the dimmer switch turn them on and off like in GM cars? Maybe it's turned on? I know it sounds dumb, but after all the more complicated things you've sorted out, maybe just missing the obvious? It gets a lot of us. lol
I have power to the dimmer and the for each feed wire that comes out of it so the dimmer seems to be fine. I have power to the plug where it normally connects to the headlight as well. The harness for the projector bulb just doesn’t seem to be working after that point. I can see power going into the relay but then there is nothing. I swapped out the ballasts from side to side like Morimoto suggested and nothing.
When it was working I could hear the relay clicking but now there is nothing. If this isn’t it then I will look at the ballasts.
I figured out the courtesy lights last night. The repo door switches are not quite long enough to be pressed in when the door is closed. I will either have to shim them out or take the simple path and add a rubberized magnet to the door side of the switch. I may start with the magnet idea as it is less noticeable.
as I mentioned early, I once had a special 1800. Always wanted an es and screwed the pooch when I had a great chance in '78 or '79. So I'm always attracted to 1800 builds. I spotted this one from Canada
https://static1.pt-content.com/image...40611601-1.jpg
There is quite a bit of work done to that ES. You can tell by all the welding scars around the wheel wells. A lot of the same mods my car has to the wheel wells.
The ES is what drew me to my car. I originally wanted to build a Ramble American wagon (late 50's-62) but ran across the Volvo 1800ES and really liked it. I never knew they existed before that point. Or at least never noticed them. They are pretty cool cars.
The headlights and dash are now in. Still need to bleed the brakes for the last time and it looks like I need to do more fabrication on my steering column mount. For some reason it isn't fitting correct now. Nothing a little cutoff wheel and welder can't fix though. The only other thing I need to do is trim the splash panels in the wheel wells to clear the wiring. The door handles are back form Sherm's Plating in Sacramento. The modification that we made really made them look better. The transition from the original handle to the new trim is much better now. Really could have most of that done in a day if needed but the tuner is still moving his shop and isn't ready for the car yet.
Attachment 189962
I was talking with Tracy over at The Recovery Room Hot Rod Interiors and he won't be ready for the car until September. Plenty of time to work out the bugs and enjoy the car a little while before I have to ship it off to Nebraska.
This may be the last update until I get the car running. I got my door handles installed again and the fit is much better. The transition from the new trim to the original handle is much better now.
Attachment 190183
I have a couple small item to do now then the car is ready to go to the tuner. I need to adjust the steering linkage. The u-joint on the column just isn’t getting enough engagement. I also need to set the pinion angle and put in some fuel. If I get bored I will start working on setting up the track monitoring setup and the computer side of the ABS.
Next stop will be tuning, then security and sound system followed by on last stop at the body shop to mount the hood. By September it should be off to get the interior done.
Door handles look very cool!!
Pat
I haven't ever start the car yet but I am doing my first repair. A few years ago I needed a steering U-joint and did not want to wait for a Borgeson joint to ship so I purchased a generic one. The only non Borgeson steering joint used on my car of the 5 that were needed. Well, it has failed before I even drive the car. It has a clunky spot so I am going to replace it with a good one. No more cheap Amazon crap for me. It seem like the quality of the items on Amazon has really deteriorated over the past couple years. You used to be able to find name brand parts but most of the stuff on there now seems to be import crap. The good news is I got a new U-joint from Summit in 2 days. I will put it on tonight.
I am still waiting for the tuner to be able to take the car in. I am starting to get concerned that it will not be ready to ship to get the interior done in June. I am starting to look into a different shop to get me going but they are at least a month out as well. It is so hard to have work done now a days. Everyone is so busy.
LOL! Meant to write September.
That's a bummer about your tuner... Have you considered using a remote tuner? There are a ton of great tuners out there and they can build a base startup tune to get your car running. Then they can make adjustments based on feedback and how the car performs. At least it would get you going enough to not delay the interior install.
That is a good idea but unfortunately I need him to do more than the tune. I am unhappy with how the Haltech harness fits and either need to shorten it or put in a bulkhead connector. I am not comfortable with doing that. He will also have to setup the programming for the active aero and CAN bus communication between systems. All above my pay grade. [emoji17]
You had me scratching my head when I saw June lol. But that's getting easier these days. I hope he gets to it in time for it to go.
I may have to have to come up with another option it looks like. My tuner just came down with COVID even though he had his vaccination. Caught it on vacation when he saw some family in Idaho. Sounds like it isn't too bad and hopefully he an his son get over it quickly. Kind of puts things in perspective though. Makes me and my own timeline seem less important on the grand plan of life. I have always said that nothing is ever on my timeline and this car is definitely no exception.
If you had Holley EFI on it, I'd be happy to help.
I appreciate the offer. The Haltech I am using isn't quite as supported as Holley. Haltech has a good traction control setup but is a bit more complicated to setup and the harness is way too long for my use.
I do have another company coming over to my house to take a look at it on Tuesday to see if they can help me out a little quicker. It is English Racing which is really close to my house. They do some pretty impressive work. They mostly work with Evo's and imports but know their stuff. I actually contacted them years ago to do my cage work and they referred me to where I went to. Both companies are more than capable in helping. It is just a matter of who can do it first. My current guys is likely better on setting up the programming for the traction control and active aero but that can be done later. I just need to get it running now.
The car went off to get the tuning done and shorten the harness. A local company, English Racing, who normally does a lot of Evo, GTR and boosted car feel that they can do the job. I wanted to get a picture of the car on the tow truck but the driver was really late. This is the best I got for now.
Attachment 191315
I also have a guy from New Zealand that will be able to make some new door glass for me. The current glass just doesn’t have the right curvature on the top and it does not seal as well as I want it to. That will take about 45 days to complete. I may have to install that after the interior is in the car.
We're waiting with you. :)
Got some bad news this afternoon. The shop it went to yesterday didn’t feel comfortable with doing the work today and my car is now home again. I think I am going to give Haltech a call tomorrow to order some parts and then shorten the harness myself. I am tired of waiting for people that have experience doing this stuff. Time to hire the person I trust the most, me!
I will still need some to tune and help me with some of the programming but I should be able to handle this part.
The good news I heard today is that there is a high end magazine interested in the car and likely a spot in 2022 SEMA. I just have to continue reminding myself that nothing is ever on my timeline and the quicker I realize that the smoother it will go.
Based on the work you've done, I think shortening the harness is well within your skill range. It greatly helps to have the right tools. If you can find the part numbers for the plugs on the wires you want to shorten, you can find the manufacturers documents for how to de-pin and re-pin the connectors, and what de-pinning tool is made for the connector. Having the right tool and understanding each connectors process of locking, and unlocking pins, really helps avoid broken connectors. For some help feeling more comfortable with wiring harnesses, I recommend checking out the wiring classes by HP Academy. I had bought it years ago and it was disappointing, but they redid the classes with a new guy who explains things way better. I've done a good bit of wiring in my job as a test engineer, but I still found the class helpful and plan to take the practical wiring class as well. HP Academy also has classes on tuning with Haltech, so you might be able to find what you need there too. I have no experience with Haltech personally, just HP tuners for LS engines. If you have any wiring questions or concerns, feel free to reach out.
SEMA comes up quicker than you think!
I wouldn't complain. Better that the shop say "We can't handle this" than for them to make the attempt and butcher your car. Sucks you're out a tow, but it'll be tons cheaper than chasing down electrical gremlins because they messed things up.
I agree it is way better that they come through that conclusion now than later. I am pretty confident that it will turn out well. I will take my time and be very detailed.
I learned last night that some of the connectors on the Haltech harness are not for the GM sensors. I ordered a combinations of the right sensors or connectors to fit those issues. I also ordered more harness wrap and heat shrink that matches.
The original tuner is coming over to help me figure out what terminals I am going to need. I hope to have all the supplies needed in the next 2 weeks. By the time I finish the I am hoping the 2nd guy has time for the actual computer work.
The frustration is now gone and I am looking forward to the next challenge. In the meantime, my neighbors some needed some help with his 2001 Jeep Cherokee. We put a lift kit on it a couple weeks ago and have a new radiator, water pump and transmission cooler to put on this weekend. Should be kinda fun.