Turns out we are getting a decent (for us) tax refund. I already have the ok to spend it on the Lemans once we get it. Going to be spending about $1400 at Summit Racing. I am also getting a 9inch Ford rear that is already setup for a Lemans. It has a mini spool though, so that is something I will have to change before the car goes on the road. 3.90 gears, which is right in the middle of the range I wanted. Yes, overdrive is in the plans sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.
Between the Summit order, the rear, and an order to VFN for the front end mounting kit, I am close to having everything I need to get the car back on the road, except for the engine and transmission.
I put the front suspension on the frame. Everything but the coils and shocks. Need to get a coil compressor here. Getting the rear in about 3 weeks if the good ol' IRS gets their act together. Not processing returns until the 30th. Sheesh. And to think I paid extra to efile. Oh well.
Thanks,
Russ
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haven't been doing much to the Lemans lately anyway, still working on getting the frame cleaned and painted. I do have more parts for it. The guy selling the fuel cell flaked out on me, so I lost money. Good thing I never sold the new stock reproduction tank, going to be sumping it now.
Been trying to get the Explorer back on the road, bought all the parts I needed and then the heart attack hit while I was working on it. I am lucky. No damage. But it has forced me to stop working on anything for a while. I just started getting the garage cleaned up tonight. Need to get the Explorer in it so I can finish that and get back to the Lemans. stupid snow.
So much for having the Lemans back together by Christmas. Now I am hoping for late spring. Still hoping to be driving it this summer, but now I am not too sure if it will happen. Am re-re- thinking the electrical layout. Since I don't have to worry about the fuel cell in the trunk I am going to go back to the original plan of having the main fuse box in the trunk. I picked up a nice battery box from Summit on their clearance tables. It is for a 2005ish Mustang, but for $100 it will work just fine on the Lemans. Original price was close to $300 for it. Not sure if I mentioned it before but I also got a complete brand new front end for teh Lemans from the guy selling me the body cheap. So as soon as I finish the frame painting I can start assembly!!!! :-)
Thanks,
Russ
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Sort of anyway. The heat and humidity are just taking everything out of me. Haven't gotten much at all done on the car.
Oh, just re-reading my previous entry. It really has been awhile. I have the good body in the garage. Have the fiberglas trunk lid partially mounted. Have a pair of hood pins on it towards the rear. I am hoping to use the hinges for the main opening. No torsion rods, just bare hinges.
Also got the passenger seat located and partially mounted. I need to come up with some brackets for the front mounts. Thinking angle steel that I have, if I can bend one leg slightly. The front mounts on these seats are angled. I could just straighten them out, but am worried about weakening them and having them break in use. That would be bad.
One other thing is that I am going to have to rethink my plans for putting the electrical stuff in the trunk. Decided to go with a fuel cell instead of a stock tank. I am getting a really good deal on a slightly used 16 gal. one on a Pontiac forum. I don't mind the battery being in the trunk still (although I need to get a sealed box for it now) but I really don't think having fuses and relays in there is a good idea with the cell. I was going to sump the stock tank, but there is no way I can do that and beat the price of this fuel cell. Plus it is something I always wanted to have, so might as well do it while I can.
So I am trying to decide where to put all this electrical stuff. Under the dash is still not happening, unless I can lose about 100 pounds and about 25 years. And I want the absolute minimum under the hood/tilt front end. Really thinking about the interior rear quarter panel area. The rear windows will be non-operable, so no window stuff behind the panel. I will still be able to easily reach that area, which is a major plus. And down the road when I get the 6pt roll bar in I won't have to worry about moving this stuff, as long as I leave some room now.
Another option would be to build a false floor behind the front seats. Either way I want to be able to have a cover over it to keep it out of sight. Going to have to think about this for a while.
Thanks,
Russ
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At least a little.
I went out to the garage last night about 1AM (I work second shift) to start laying out and mounting the stuff going on my "electrical panel" as I am calling it. This is going in the trunk, will have the fuse box, cut-off switch (when I get one), the ford starter relay, and some misc. stuff. But I realised that since the garage door is now off the garage, I would be making too much noise. So I still wanted to do something electrical, and decided to start disassembling the 97 Ford Explorer wiriing harness that is going to be the donor. Paid $50 for the whole thing bumper to bumper, from a guy I bought some other stuff for my Explorer, and also the seats that are going into this car. Anyway, I cut off almost all the connectors since I won't be using them since I don't have the other half of the connectors. Man, there are a lot of relay boxes on this thing. There are like 36 circuits in the fuse box, and I think I could relay each one of those. Definitely worth the money if you can get one of these. I could probably wire 2 or 3 cars with all this wire. I imagine that anything from that time frame would be good. I still need to "unharness" the wires. Maybe tonight. Also need to start marking what wires go to what fuse.
Used Klein wire cutters, that was a good purchase. I was cutting 20 wires just like I was using a pair of very sharp scissors. I also have the Klein crimper. Got both at either Lowe's or Home Depot. Recommended by MADElectrical, and I can see why. So much easier and better results than the cheap kind.
Hopefully since I got the garage door off I can get the body in the garage this weekend, as well as do some of the stuff that will make noise. It's one of the bad things about working nights. I get home ready to get to work and I can't really do much.
Thanks,
Russ
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last of what I have now.
No real close up ones yet.
Thanks,
Russ
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