Most liked posts in thread: The Phoenix - The GP Roadster Project

Yeah, I've pulled the engine a time or two. But I've been pretty careful with the header since the last time it was broken...

More GPness arrived today...
Uprated fuel pump, because I will be using more of it.


Howerton meth system with custom 3gal fuel cell and AN lines. Will be a week or two before I get it plumbed.



Installed the meth gauge and my Zeitronics AFR/Boost/EGT gauge in Craven pods. They don't do anything yet, but they look pretty.


And my "spare" set of NT01's arrived.

 

Making progress, finally.

First time I've put the Mini on the lift... it works!


Pulling bumpers, axles, etc. is sooooo much easier at eye level.

And this is the way to drain engine and transmission oil...


Progress for the day: Pulled bumper, wheels, axles, wheel liners, x-brace, intercooler, header, airbox. Started disconnecting harness. Drained fluids.


Took new header to my exhaust shop to have second O2 bung added. They called an hour later to tell me it's done, will get it tomorrow. Then will probably ship to Jet-Hot for Extreme 2500 white coating.

Beer time. Carolina Brewing Summer Ale. Yum.

 

Of course, Dick ran the same ad, offering to paint them.

 

Found Teddy's brakes! They're on the way to Detroit!

Stopped by the local MINI parts desk today...


And picked up some sheet metal...


Need a safe place to keep it damage-free for a few weeks, in the midst of the garage chaos. This'll do, I hope...


More work, stripping the wreck. Almost done in the engine bay and underneath. Vacuumed lots of glass out of the interior and got started in there. My passenger seat is jammed in position for some reason (maybe some debris in the track? guessing...). That and a stuck wrench told me it was time to call it a day. Will get back to it tomorrow.

 

Painting day.

Chili Red mirror caps, Pure Silver rear bumper inserts. GPness.


The underside of my bonnet used to look like this:


Shaved, filled and sanded the molded in part numbers and stuff on the scoop, then primed and painted Thunder Blue and clear coated.


Also cut off the unpainted indexing tabs on the grill slat assembly. Now, bonnet looks like this... better.


Painted battery box skid plate flat black, like on my old car. Really improves the look of the rear of the car.


And clear coated my hand-me-down RMW valve cover badges, on which I had previously repainted the R's.

 

OK... that took all damn day....

Ran the new battery cable. Instead of going up the front left wheel well, I went through this hole just forward of my front cage plate. Enlarged the hole a little and used a factory grommet from an old harness.





Yeah, I need to add some undercoating where the cage plates were welded in.

Cut about 2' off this really expensive new battery cable.


Wired the switch per the instructions. Required a couple of trips to the hardware store and one trip to the auto parts store, for connectors, 12g wire, mounting hardware, and some additional 2g battery cable.


This switch does three things: cuts the main line from the battery, kills the main ignition line (the "run" signal that powers fuse 34), and shorts the alternator through a large resistor to ground, to prevent a damaging voltage spike when the battery connection is cut. That's why it has so many wires and terminals.

Installed the switch in the dash frame. It's tight in there, but it works. Used insulating boots on the terminals to ensure no shorts. I'm also going to add a rubber sheet between the switch terminals and the metal dash structure, just to be extra careful.


Had to cut some stuff off the back of the (now nonfunctional) vent, and grind out the dash frame to allow it to rotate 90 degrees, to increase clearance behind it for the wiring. But will look good when done. Switch in the "on" position...


And the "off" position...


Routed the new battery cable from the switch, through the firewall wiring harness grommet. Just need to re-seal it.


Took me a while, but I finally found the right wiring diagrams and confirmed that the green ignition wire is the one I need to interrupt. Done.

 

So, this happened...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQvIyQMJGhE"]Locutus Mk2 computer startup - YouTube[/ame]

Yeah, pretty excited. Plugged in the GP ECU, connected the battery, and turned the key. Brain transplant complete.

Also pulled a ton of wiring through the firewall, for the Zeitronics wideband/EGT/boost/oil temp/oil pressure/RPM/Vipec connections, and Aquamist.

Rolled the motor out, to get ready for tomorrow. Will swap to the OSG clutch, and hang that puppy...

 

By the way, this was the easiest iteration yet in re-mating the transmission to the motor, after a clutch swap. Method I used was I sat the motor on a couple of 2x4's laterally under the oil pan to raise it off the floor 1.5" and hold it stable, and straddled it with the engine crane (so the crane tower was on the pulley side of the motor, and the legs and boom were coming toward me, I sat on the transmission side). Hooked a chain from the crane up to the upper outboard transmission mount hole on the transmission so it could just swing freely. Then was able to easily get the height exactly right and twist and jiggle it until the shaft slid right into the clutch plate, and the bell housing slid right onto the dowels. No drama, and no manual lifting effort. About 5x easier than the methods I had used previously.

 

You didn't misread anything. I didn't say.

Lost locomotion near home. Shifter, clutch, motor all behaved normally, but car wouldn't go forward or back. Just sat there. Eventually determined that right axle had worked its way through the mount bearing enough to pull out of the tranny, and left axle had popped out also. Corrected both and they stayed put on a test drive on Monday. I didn't press the bearing on all the way on the right axle initially; hopefully now that it is, it will stay put. If the left pops out again, I'll replace the circlip. I now carry enough tools to pop the axles back in on the road, if needed.