my low budget dream car build

[ADDvanced]

Hole up..... are you not painting the car? I thought you were going to paint the car. If so, why are you putting the glass in?

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by jac1976

I saw that you mentioned the trouble the license plate lights were creating for you. I may have missed your solution, but there are license plate bolts that incorporate lights. You likely are already aware, but wanted to throw it out there. Congrats on the progress.

Zoom in on any pic of the plate. The top bolts are the lights.
It's not the lights themselves. It's routing the wires in an invisible way that won't be cooked by the exhaust that's been a ballache. I have a plan. I just need to put down my purse and execute it.

Originally Posted by baloo

Chris,
In regards to your windows and trim installation, as soon as I saw the words "lovingly" and "gently" and "persuaded", I knew you were doomed to failure!
Those are NOT inanimate objects, as I think you found out. They KNOW when you are pussyfooting and being weak, and like humans, they will automatically take advantage of your good will and make you fail...and laugh at your failures.
I always bring a sledge or a lumberjack axe within a foot of my work space, just so the job can see I ain't messing around. Have a threat of violence visible to your car, and THEN see how easy the job goes!!

Ah, the internet has failed me. My use of words like 'lovingly' and 'gently' are tongue in cheek. I may have left out the part about the use of a [soft plastic] hammer to nudge the trim into shape for the front screen. Also, the big window trims have clearly known violence first hand.
The threat of violence in my garage isn't something that needs stated. It is an omnipresent threat. I have even changed what I listen to whilst working on the car to lessen the likelihood of resorting to my baser tendencies. I have tapered away from Slayer, Earth Crisis, Damnation AD, and Turmoil and gravitated towards Lucero, Tim Barry, Florence + the Machine, and Mazzy Starr. I break a lot less stuff and even bleed a bit less than I used to.

Originally Posted by ADDvanced

Hole up..... are you not painting the car? I thought you were going to paint the car. If so, why are you putting the glass in?

Who made you that promise? For it was not this guy.
1. Paint is for people who will take care of it. (I'm notorious amongst my friends for not washing my cars, let alone polishing/waxing/etc.)
B. I still haven't committed fully to the SC/Carrera width of the car. Can you say Turbo/M491?
C. I'm kinda digging the grey.
5. This car is about as utilitarian as it gets. It's not a show car. It's not a race car. It's a fun car. I hate waxing cars. I hate washing cars. I love driving them. So unless it facilitates/improves the driving experience, I don't have a ton of use for it. Right now, paint is still very much on that list.
X. The windows can all be removed/installed at home. When/Should I change my position on paint, I can just pop them out and get on with body work and paint prep.

This is going to be a long project. By my count, I have 8.375 more years before it needs to be completed. So it will be in its final color and finish by then...whatever those may be.

[baloo]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

Ah, the internet has failed me. My use of words like 'lovingly' and 'gently' are tongue in cheek. I may have left out the part about the use of a [soft plastic] hammer to nudge the trim into shape for the front screen. Also, the big window trims have clearly known violence first hand.
The threat of violence in my garage isn't something that needs stated. It is an omnipresent threat. I have even changed what I listen to whilst working on the car to lessen the likelihood of resorting to my baser tendencies. I have tapered away from Slayer, Earth Crisis, Damnation AD, and Turmoil and gravitated towards Lucero, Tim Barry, Florence + the Machine, and Mazzy Starr. I break a lot less stuff and even bleed a bit less than I used to.
.....

Good one! Whew, at least you are normal!

[Gabe.]

Installing the glass makes the car look so much more "complete"!

I still need to find a place that will sell me a windshield at a reasonable price. Most also want to install it. I'll do it if worse comes to worst but I'd rather do it myself and save a couple bucks.

Have you had a chance to do any more tuning/logging? Looking forward to learning that whole process.

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by Gabe.

Installing the glass makes the car look so much more "complete"!

I still need to find a place that will sell me a windshield at a reasonable price. Most also want to install it. I'll do it if worse comes to worst but I'd rather do it myself and save a couple bucks.

Have you had a chance to do any more tuning/logging? Looking forward to learning that whole process.

It was fiddly, but not at all impossible. A second set of hands is required as far as I can tell for the front windscreen.

As for tuning, I haven't touched it in a few days. I wanted to get the interior sorted enough to put in the front seats so Eric or I would have something to sit in/on whilst wrestling the windscreen. I'm going to start playing with the tuning more this week. I still have a decent list of small projects to work on and I know I won't do much about them once I can drive this hog further than a mile or two. Going to be walking the tightrope of fun/necessary for a few more weeks.

[chrisbalich]

As a follow-up about my MaxJax anchors.
Danmar was purchased in April by BendPak. So my April 1st order just never got fulfilled.
They didn't charge me (thank goodness), but I still waited 5 weeks for an order that was abandoned.
Danmar doesn't have any stock and they increased the price ~20%.
Turns out that Amazon has them in stock now (didn't on April 1), so I've placed an order with Amazon and they're expected to be delivered on 5/13.

The BendPak guy I talked to was only slightly more useful than a hole in the head. The only thing I learned from him is that my order is not in their system so I am not going to be charged if I haven't yet.

[Gabe.]

Odd that you got caught up in that. I bought my lift used but bought a new power unit from Bendpak.

Glad that Amazon has what you need! You're going to love having a lift in your garage. We aren't getting any younger and it makes simple tasks so much quicker and easier.

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by Gabe.

Odd that you got caught up in that. I bought my lift used but bought a new power unit from Bendpak.

Glad that Amazon has what you need! You're going to love having a lift in your garage. We aren't getting any younger and it makes simple tasks so much quicker and easier.

The real trick is going to be if I can fit the lift in such a way that I don't need to take it down when I'm done with it.

I was originally going to just buy some QuickJacks. They're small, light, and portable. But I couldn't pass up the deal I got on these MaxJax. So here I am.

[chrisbalich]

Good morning, Dream Team!

Friday post? WTH is going on in Noblesville? Well I'll tell you. Pull up a chair and sit a spell with ol' Chris...

This last week was a mix of highs and lows. I've been a little un-motivated, but I'm doing my best to get stuff done anyway.

Some two years ago, on a wet weekend, I manufactured a bulletproof rear shield disguised as a solid decklid grille. It was poorly received despite my persistence that it just filled some time and allowed my hands to work while I was at several other impasses at the same time. It looked like this.


This poor guy was destined for the scrap bin, but did a decent job of keeping detritus from getting into the bay until that time. Between this thread and IG, my car gets a decent amount of exposure and an extremely generous person reached out to me to see if I would be interested in a more purposeful, and significantly better looking grille. Then this happened.




I am beyond stoked with the way this looks and very grate-ful to Florian of SpadesCustomz for this grille. It's presently off the car as I need to lower the rain hats 6-10mm to keep bank 2 off the grille. Thanks again, Flo!

I was shopping shift knobs last week as I was growing tired of trying to shift the car by gripping the end of the shift-lever. It's not terribly comfortable, and a bit awkward as my hands are not small. 917 knobs seem to be all the rage, but I think are no bueno for my build as they're absurdly expensive for what they are, and the wood knob would just look out of place. I had spent over an hour googling 'shift knob' and various similar searches when I came across the WEVO SL knob. It fit the ethos of this project with it being light weight, black, and poked full of holes. Alas, it's a hundred bucks. So I put it on the list and kept searching. Kelly (my wife) comes in and asks to see what I'm up to. I explain I'm looking for a shift knob for my silly car and show her what I've found. There were they myriad 917 knobs, a naked lady knob, the WEVO SL, and some other more universal bits. She immediately asked why I didn't just go with the WEVO SL. I expressed that the $100 was better spent elsewhere and she was like, "Oh. Hang on a minute." She came back with her credit card and said to make it happen; She'd take care of it. So this happened yesterday.


She's gotta be just the best wife ever. She always does what she can to make all my dreams come true. I'd be living on someone's couch or out of a 90s VW gti were it not for her. None of my other big builds would have happened without her support. (generally emotional/moral) I'm a lucky duck for sure.

Somewhere between the decklid grille and the shift knob was Wednesday. I took a half-day and chipped away slightly at the calibration on my car and took it for a drive. I dropped in at the shop I used to work at to say hey and they all gave me a ration of isht about the safari ride height and then decided we needed to put it on the scales...you know...for science.



Not too bad for an all-steel car with a lead-acid battery, the IBs, and a full tank of fuel. As the build moves forward, I have more plans to remove weight. But the top three things on my list are to get real tires on the CCWs, lower it, and to get the calibration sorted so I can drive it on the road more confidently. Anyone who street-tunes by themselves is a madman. IDK how you do it. I need to phone a friend, or look into logging and then tuning offline. (probably the latter over the former)

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

[Jonny042]

Looking great!!

That's a nice curb weight!

[baloo]

[QUOTE=chrisbalich;10856509
....get the calibration sorted so I can drive it on the road more confidently. Anyone who street-tunes by themselves is a madman. IDK how you do it. I need to phone a friend, or look into logging and then tuning offline. (probably the latter over the former)

......
[/QUOTE]

You're expressing a sense of frustration that I am sure is felt by most DIYers besides myself -- the tuning obstacle.

We are able to perform EVERY aspect of car building, from engine building to even reconstructing gauges to painting and wheel alignment.
BUT we're stuck having to go to a tuner to get the car running correctly.

We scrimp and save, for instance like your reticence about buying the $100 shift knob (which, BTW, was absolutely highway robbery, unless that $9 item was made of precious metals, and which you know YOU could have fabricated a more than adequate alternative, and probably better) but then have to plunk down $1000 for someone to tune the car.

When will tuning become a commonplace DIY project? When will there be a technological breakthrough that allows this?

I'll give a few historical parallels that illustrate the kind of breakthrough I'm looking for.
1. Welding. Up until about 20 or more years ago, this was an arcane skill that required hiring a welder to do the job. Now, anyone with the desire has a MIG welder in their garage . Welding is now considered a necessary (and basically simple) skill to pick up....at least for entry level work. Furthermore, even the car industry is using high speed epoxies in place of welding, pointing to a further bigger impending breakthrough in technology.
The paradigm, and exclusive realm of welders and welding, is breaking down.

2. Taxes. Used to be that one was forced to use a CPA to do one's taxes. Nowadays, if you're not using a tax program and doing your own taxes, you're either a multimillionaire or you're not too bright (or you're not filing).

3. Access to information. Back up only to the 1980s, there were only 3 kinds of people: those who had gifted memories and who knew almost everything. Two, those who had gathered EXPERIENCE on subjects, and therefore knew "stuff" gathered by experiencing the subject. And 3, those who had easy access to libraries where they could research and find the information (very restricted access to libraries back in the day).
Then came the world of computers and the internet, and the world of information is open to everyone! There is almost no limit to finding information on almost ANY subject, regardless how obscure.

So, when are we going to have the tuning breakthrough? I see that there are now fuel injection systems (Holley, Edelbrock, FITech, etc) that self-learn...but only for American cars. Although they still have some limitations presently, they will only improve.

Maybe the breakthrough will be in the instrumentation for tuning, or maybe it will be in the car's equipment.
Maybe VEMS is presently the closest to DOY tuning (I speak out of ignorance, just based on what I read from RaceBoy).
MegaSquirt is a partial answer, but the learning curve is much too steep for most DIYers...again, from what I read from Pelican posters.

Come on, someone, let's put the dyno guys out of business!
Anyone remember the $250 4-funtion calculators of 1968? Now full function trig calculators on your wristwatch are trade show giveaways.
I'm wanting a similar DIY idiot-operated tuning mechanism, retrograded to work on old cars.

It's coming, bro's.

[1979-930]

^^^ I've thought the same thing. The Holley System is self learning up to several hundred HP on NA and boosted systems.
If the same sensors TB, MAF, IAT, O2, ect. with the same sensing ranges could be used on a Porsche then the Holley computer would have no idea it was powering a Flat 6 Porsche Vs. a V6 Buick Turbo.

[baloo]

Originally Posted by 1979-930

^^^ I've thought the same thing. The Holley System is self learning up to several hundred HP on NA and boosted systems.
If the same sensors TB, MAF, IAT, O2, ect. with the same sensing ranges could be used on a Porsche then the Holley computer would have no idea it was powering a Flat 6 Porsche Vs. a V6 Buick Turbo.

So that's a good thing, right? (that the H computer wouldn't know the diff between Porsche and Buick).
If so, I think you might be onto something.

[chrisbalich]

I wish there was a magic bullet to get the car running perfectly. But tuning EFI or tuning a carb all still require the skilled touch of a pro. The Holley EFI is an interesting thought for sure. My friend Eric (that helped with the windscreen) has one on his split bumper Camaro. He put in the basic parameters and drove it a little bit and boom. He's good to go. *He's actually had a few gremlins from EMI, but that's not the same as not being able to tune it yourself.

I have some experience tuning with MS. I had an e30 many years ago that I converted to coil near plug ignition and semi-sequential injection. It took me some time, but I got that thing running pretty a-ok. I have confidence that I'll be able to get this car sorted in due time. I just have to put that time in.

Megasquirt is an interesting EFI. And it has VEAL. I've not used any other stand-alone EFI, so I don't have much of a frame of reference. But once you get the VE table sorted and the timing and fuel tables close, it's all downhill from there. My VE table is pretty solid and my other tables are close. The car drives. It's just got a few wonky spots...for now.

[ryans65]

I love this project and the determination. I respect your drive to get this DIY fuel injection running right, I would have thrown that crap that in the driveway and set it on fire. CIS doesn't seem so bad when I read stuff like this. lol

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by ryans65

I love this project and the determination. I respect your drive to get this DIY fuel injection running right, I would have thrown that crap that in the driveway and set it on fire. CIS doesn't seem so bad when I read stuff like this. lol

this is nice.

[Flojo]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

I am beyond stoked with the way this looks and very grate-ful to Florian of SpadesCustomz for this grille. It's presently off the car as I need to lower the rain hats 6-10mm to keep bank 2 off the grille. Thanks again, Flo!

you're most welcome!
It was a pleasure for me to make you this present.
I like your work and good effort.
Deserves respect.

Have a nice wekend!

[ToySnakePMC]

Originally Posted by Flojo

you're most welcome!
It was a pleasure for me to make you this present.
I like your work and good effort.
Deserves respect.

Have a nice wekend!

That’s some good stuff right there! It’s got me thinking about SpadesCustoms grill again. ...Something about the oval cut-out one keeps calling my name, lol.

And Miss Kelly with the custom contribution of her own. It’s all good in Noblesville!

[wout]

Really nice and inspiring build!

Wout

[obscene]

Originally Posted by obscene

I think Kelly is my favorite character so far

excellent updates as always.