Well it has taken some time, there have been a few setbacks and we are still waiting on a few difficult to source items but finally, finally we are making some progress.
Harry's brackets came in ... I asked him to send me a pair of just the brackets for his harness bar. We shortened the 'ears' on them and drilled some new holes to match placement of the manual belts. As soon as we get around to welding a bracket onto the roll bar we will have yet another chassis fixing point for the half roll cage. I know it wouldn't pass tech at the track but it will significantly increase the chassis rigidity which was what it was really about anyway.
The dash and all interior trim is going in a crate on Monday to get 'flocked'. Yes the whole interior from pillar trims, to dash, to kick panels is getting the WRC treatment.
The water pipe is being modified as we speak. It will no longer run behind the exhaust manifold and turbo picking up unwanted heat and then entering the radiator 'directly below' the top hose. The new section will come down straight beside the water pump and alternator and run into the radiator on that side avoiding the turbo and exhaust manifold (more room to fit the turbo) and improving flow across the new Evo III Koyo radiator.
Got some of this to solve my intercooler woes
And it looks pretty good installed on this AMG grille I had lying around
After that I got down to playing with Curtis' lights. Do you think this will be enough firepower?
That's FIVE yes I said FIVE sets of HIDs
HB4s and HB3s for the main lights and projectors and H3s for the Projector Fogs
And they look pretty good mounted
The ballast units are nice and shiny and come with plug and play connectors and nice mounting brackets
Fitting the bulbs in the Projector Fogs isn't easy. It is a lot more cramped down there
I didn't want to lose these waterproof caps
So I had to get creative
in order to keep things waterproof
I'm still not 100% happy with it. The grommet is still pushing against the back of the bulb there. I had to trim off all the heat wrap to get it to fit as well which isn't ideal, but at least it is waterproof. Anyway I'll test the fitted bulb and make sure it works and that there are no pinched wires or damaged connections and if it is okay I'll do the other side. Those are the projectors by the way. The fogs are going to be even more difficult. The amber lens that Curtis put in may well not allow the HID bulbs (which are longer) to fit. If they don't I can make up a spacer but that will also lift the back of the bulb even higher making it very unlikely that the dust caps will fit. If that happens I'll have to make a modified grommet that will allow the back of the bulb with the heat wrap on it to poke through and use some silicone sealant or something to keep everything watertight. I'll get there.
Picked up a damn near perfect Galant GTi rack so I can just rip all the 4WS stuff out and never have to worry about blocking off lines. Also got a really rusty bar with brackets on for fitting the skid plate. I have to give it back, the owner just lent it to me to use as a model to fabricate mine from. But that's cool. It gives me a good excuse to make mine out of stainless ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif
Well that's the progress for today. We'll see what Monday brings !!!
Paul.
