Been meaning to get to a few things with the car for some time now, and as the legacy of my "cheap winter car" goes, I always end up working on the bloody thing in the dead of winter when I really need to be driving it. :twisted:
Oh well. I'm pretty pleased with how a lot of stuff turned out. Few things left to go, but she's just about where I want her.
Pardon the clarity of some of the photos, I hate using a flash, but all of the currently available natural light is hampered by snow.
First, did a battery relocation with twin Odyssey dry cells in parallel. Together they provide around 1400 cranking amps for ~20 seconds. 56 Ah total capacity, roughly equivalent to the big optima I used to run up front, but in a very compact size. Also built a custom bracket out of aluminum which is bonded to the spare tire well with the same adhesive that holds a Lotus Elise together. Carpet is largely for appearance though it helps prevent arc welding should a lead slip when removing/installing the batteries. Cable is 0/1 gauge which goes through a 300A circuit breaker. As the batteries are totally sealed I don't need a box, nor have to worry about gasses in the cabin.
Second, rear seats go away. It's surprising how heavy they are, and I don't think I've ever actually had anyone in the back of the car.
Third, fabbed up a chromoly hatch/harness bar and a support bar that tie the rear seat belt anchors into each other. The lower bar also doubles as a handy way of mounting my audio gear. Both are powdercoated red.
Speaking of audio gear; I built a custom carbon fiber sub enclosure-- weighs only 10 lbs-- and reorganized things for simplicity and lightness. Also blew the dust off a Rockford Fosgate EPX2 signal processor, which I've always loved. Photos don't really do it justice as I have to either use a very long shutter or a flash-- ick.
Straight intake with a proper AFM mount. It's 3" aluminum with some satellite foil on it. I also engine turned the intercooler core.
Powder coated the valve cover red, went to new magnecor plug wires. I use them on everything else, so I figured the 'four should get some. Also a new 160 amp alternator.
Redid my switch panel and radio surround in CF. The panel is quite a bit larger now as I got rid of the cup holder. Real cars don't need cup holders.
Also dumped the ash tray and lighter and built the AVC-R into the panel. Flash shows all the lovely finger prints on it.
Powdercoated the strut bar, cruise cover, made a fuse box bracket, etc, etc. The black hose is a cooler I built for the IC core that uses a ducted fan tucked away beside the transmission. (3" core is too thick for a fan under the hood)
Also did a few other interesting things like more modern HID ballasts, which are about half the size of the old bricks, front diffuser/undertray that I finally got around to finishing, but forgot to take photos of, and some other random crap.
Still have a few things to do like install my poly subframe bushings and some other odds and ends, but she's getting pretty close to where I want her.
Oh well. I'm pretty pleased with how a lot of stuff turned out. Few things left to go, but she's just about where I want her.
Pardon the clarity of some of the photos, I hate using a flash, but all of the currently available natural light is hampered by snow.
First, did a battery relocation with twin Odyssey dry cells in parallel. Together they provide around 1400 cranking amps for ~20 seconds. 56 Ah total capacity, roughly equivalent to the big optima I used to run up front, but in a very compact size. Also built a custom bracket out of aluminum which is bonded to the spare tire well with the same adhesive that holds a Lotus Elise together. Carpet is largely for appearance though it helps prevent arc welding should a lead slip when removing/installing the batteries. Cable is 0/1 gauge which goes through a 300A circuit breaker. As the batteries are totally sealed I don't need a box, nor have to worry about gasses in the cabin.
Second, rear seats go away. It's surprising how heavy they are, and I don't think I've ever actually had anyone in the back of the car.
Third, fabbed up a chromoly hatch/harness bar and a support bar that tie the rear seat belt anchors into each other. The lower bar also doubles as a handy way of mounting my audio gear. Both are powdercoated red.
Speaking of audio gear; I built a custom carbon fiber sub enclosure-- weighs only 10 lbs-- and reorganized things for simplicity and lightness. Also blew the dust off a Rockford Fosgate EPX2 signal processor, which I've always loved. Photos don't really do it justice as I have to either use a very long shutter or a flash-- ick.
Straight intake with a proper AFM mount. It's 3" aluminum with some satellite foil on it. I also engine turned the intercooler core.
Powder coated the valve cover red, went to new magnecor plug wires. I use them on everything else, so I figured the 'four should get some. Also a new 160 amp alternator.
Redid my switch panel and radio surround in CF. The panel is quite a bit larger now as I got rid of the cup holder. Real cars don't need cup holders.
Also dumped the ash tray and lighter and built the AVC-R into the panel. Flash shows all the lovely finger prints on it.
Powdercoated the strut bar, cruise cover, made a fuse box bracket, etc, etc. The black hose is a cooler I built for the IC core that uses a ducted fan tucked away beside the transmission. (3" core is too thick for a fan under the hood)
Also did a few other interesting things like more modern HID ballasts, which are about half the size of the old bricks, front diffuser/undertray that I finally got around to finishing, but forgot to take photos of, and some other random crap.
Still have a few things to do like install my poly subframe bushings and some other odds and ends, but she's getting pretty close to where I want her.