85 MB FB build..3rd times a charm.
10-08-14, 12:05 PM
#1
85 MB FB build..3rd times a charm.
Ive had a few build threads on this thing. But something has always gone wrong and spun in me in a completely different direction. Not this time. This is the final build thread. I sware !
Im building a 85 Montego Blue FB with a high compression (s5 rotors) 4 port engine.
For easy reference these are the main points and parts of the build.
- Fueled by a Dell 48 sidedraft.
- Cooled by a Pro tuning Lab 3 core aluminum radiator
- RB Lightweight Aluminum flywheel.
- Innovative Wideband
- Battery Relocation
- Hood Dampeners
- GSL rear
- Energy Suspension poly bushings
- Mazda Competition engine and transmission mount
- Virtually everything metal is powder coated chrome or black..including the engine.
- New discovery in the 5 lug swap
- Rotary shack short shifter
- Rx7.com rx8 style shifter ****
- RB reupholstered seats
- Samsung Galaxy Pad stereo install
- Power window conversion
- Re Amemiya steering wheel
- Hydro dipped interior parts
- Redline goods door inserts, shift boort, ebrake boot, and padded center console lid
- Jason S. custom Grand Touring mats and and cargo area mat.
- Giant roll bar
- Sparco 4 points ( no need for either of the last two...I just always wanted them, so shoot me )
- S5 fc looking tail light mod
- Makoto auto trends gauge faces
It was originally a GS with pretty high mileage.
Immediately was coaxed into painting it Montego Blue. XLR8 on the club a more or less brother talked me into it and Im glad he did. Shes a classy bitch now.
Primed
Painted
Im building a 85 Montego Blue FB with a high compression (s5 rotors) 4 port engine.
For easy reference these are the main points and parts of the build.
- Fueled by a Dell 48 sidedraft.
- Cooled by a Pro tuning Lab 3 core aluminum radiator
- RB Lightweight Aluminum flywheel.
- Innovative Wideband
- Battery Relocation
- Hood Dampeners
- GSL rear
- Energy Suspension poly bushings
- Mazda Competition engine and transmission mount
- Virtually everything metal is powder coated chrome or black..including the engine.
- New discovery in the 5 lug swap
- Rotary shack short shifter
- Rx7.com rx8 style shifter ****
- RB reupholstered seats
- Samsung Galaxy Pad stereo install
- Power window conversion
- Re Amemiya steering wheel
- Hydro dipped interior parts
- Redline goods door inserts, shift boort, ebrake boot, and padded center console lid
- Jason S. custom Grand Touring mats and and cargo area mat.
- Giant roll bar
- Sparco 4 points ( no need for either of the last two...I just always wanted them, so shoot me )
- S5 fc looking tail light mod
- Makoto auto trends gauge faces
It was originally a GS with pretty high mileage.
Immediately was coaxed into painting it Montego Blue. XLR8 on the club a more or less brother talked me into it and Im glad he did. Shes a classy bitch now.
Primed
Painted
10-08-14, 12:27 PM
#2
Interior
I refinished the Interior pieces in black. I'm about to reupholster the door panels and headliner later this evening.
Tested my hand at the front carpet install. Lol, pretty simple. Cut and fit it myself. I think the trick is to let it sit in the sun for a few hours. The carpet is way more pliable this way and easily conforms to the correct places.
I recently bought the RB seat upholster kit and found out it was a little out of my expertise and patience so I took the seats to a local interior guy. $100 bucks a seat and I was pretty satisfied.
I have invested all together exactly $481 dollars in the two seats. He repaired some of the foam and called me to tell me the kit was a little big and to expect a few puckers. But hell, I am satisfied.
I got my interior HVAC components in and added new foam to the contact points between the 3 for a good seal.
I refinished the Interior pieces in black. I'm about to reupholster the door panels and headliner later this evening.
Tested my hand at the front carpet install. Lol, pretty simple. Cut and fit it myself. I think the trick is to let it sit in the sun for a few hours. The carpet is way more pliable this way and easily conforms to the correct places.
I recently bought the RB seat upholster kit and found out it was a little out of my expertise and patience so I took the seats to a local interior guy. $100 bucks a seat and I was pretty satisfied.
I have invested all together exactly $481 dollars in the two seats. He repaired some of the foam and called me to tell me the kit was a little big and to expect a few puckers. But hell, I am satisfied.
I got my interior HVAC components in and added new foam to the contact points between the 3 for a good seal.
10-08-14, 12:35 PM
#3
Power window conversion
I decided ultimately for the modernized theme of the car I really should install the power windows from my parts car. So far the wiring is complete and the passenger side is installed. I have a little DIY for those who also would also like to get their hands on the components.
As far as the parts list goes for the conversion, there is less to it than I thought. Our Fbs are for the most part prewired for power mirrors and windows to an extent. The harness for each side runs up to the edge of the dash on either side right by the speakers. It will have two wires. Red and Green. If you have a parts car with power windows or looking to buy whats needed I recommend asking for jumper harness between the motor and the interior for each side. You will also need the harness that runs underneath the drivers side seat. All Fbs have one there already but are missing the heavier gauge wiring up to the switch on the center console as pictured here.
This harness is only about 2 foot long. Our FBs are wired up to that point for the switch.
As for hardware. You only really need the the motor and the rail mechanism and a few more screws that hold it all in place. It isn't too difficult to figure out. I highly suggest greasing every contact point that moves on the rail bracketing. We all know how FB power windows usually work. For installing, the trick is to pull the mechanism down to the positioning it would be in if the window were down and have a buddy attach the motor to the bracketing to hold it down. If you let go or slip, it will hurt, a lot. Once the 3 screws are bolted on, holding the motor to the bracketing, you can work it up into the bigger hole in the door. When bolted in, the gear position should look similar to this.
Here is a picture of all the mounting points for the 10mm screws. The two arrows are for the pivot arm on the bracket you will see that clearly has places for two screws
Once this is all bolted in, all that is left to do is install the glass. For god sakes dont break one of those plastic tabs like I did. Luckily I got one off the parts car to pop out and replaced. This is the front mounting point for the glass.
Done !
I decided ultimately for the modernized theme of the car I really should install the power windows from my parts car. So far the wiring is complete and the passenger side is installed. I have a little DIY for those who also would also like to get their hands on the components.
As far as the parts list goes for the conversion, there is less to it than I thought. Our Fbs are for the most part prewired for power mirrors and windows to an extent. The harness for each side runs up to the edge of the dash on either side right by the speakers. It will have two wires. Red and Green. If you have a parts car with power windows or looking to buy whats needed I recommend asking for jumper harness between the motor and the interior for each side. You will also need the harness that runs underneath the drivers side seat. All Fbs have one there already but are missing the heavier gauge wiring up to the switch on the center console as pictured here.
This harness is only about 2 foot long. Our FBs are wired up to that point for the switch.
As for hardware. You only really need the the motor and the rail mechanism and a few more screws that hold it all in place. It isn't too difficult to figure out. I highly suggest greasing every contact point that moves on the rail bracketing. We all know how FB power windows usually work. For installing, the trick is to pull the mechanism down to the positioning it would be in if the window were down and have a buddy attach the motor to the bracketing to hold it down. If you let go or slip, it will hurt, a lot. Once the 3 screws are bolted on, holding the motor to the bracketing, you can work it up into the bigger hole in the door. When bolted in, the gear position should look similar to this.
Here is a picture of all the mounting points for the 10mm screws. The two arrows are for the pivot arm on the bracket you will see that clearly has places for two screws
Once this is all bolted in, all that is left to do is install the glass. For god sakes dont break one of those plastic tabs like I did. Luckily I got one off the parts car to pop out and replaced. This is the front mounting point for the glass.
Done !
10-08-14, 12:49 PM
#4
Dash Revamped / Dash Wiring / Carpet
As of now I have the dash wiring complete and harnesses in the correct places. It it took me a little longer because I had to swap the center console lid hinge and placed the air vent decals back after refinishing the dash. The front carpet seems to fit perfectly. I am going to re staple the long plastic hangers that clip under the door sill.
Battery Relocation
I decided to install another small fuse block in the rear for accessories down the road. For instance, to power my amplifier to for my speakers since my stereo will be a 7" Samsung galaxy pad.
Made some polished brackets for it.
Mounted.
Battery strapped down to the tray which is bolted to the body.
As of now I have the dash wiring complete and harnesses in the correct places. It it took me a little longer because I had to swap the center console lid hinge and placed the air vent decals back after refinishing the dash. The front carpet seems to fit perfectly. I am going to re staple the long plastic hangers that clip under the door sill.
Battery Relocation
I decided to install another small fuse block in the rear for accessories down the road. For instance, to power my amplifier to for my speakers since my stereo will be a 7" Samsung galaxy pad.
Made some polished brackets for it.
Mounted.
Battery strapped down to the tray which is bolted to the body.
10-08-14, 01:25 PM
#6
Re Amemiya steering wheel / Powered steering box
I have been hoarding an extremely nice and tight powered steering box and finally had the chance to put it in. It was out of a FB that sat for years, we ended up getting it running and drive it home without a clutch haha. Swapped the ignition lock on the column and everything was good to go.
Found a steering wheel Ive always wanted and had to buy it. May have it re wrapped though... Even bought a Re Amemiya horn button lol.
I have been hoarding an extremely nice and tight powered steering box and finally had the chance to put it in. It was out of a FB that sat for years, we ended up getting it running and drive it home without a clutch haha. Swapped the ignition lock on the column and everything was good to go.
Found a steering wheel Ive always wanted and had to buy it. May have it re wrapped though... Even bought a Re Amemiya horn button lol.
10-08-14, 01:42 PM
#7
Weld in Roll bar / Samsung Galaxy Install / Pro Tuning Lab Radiator / Emblem Art custom Emblem
Welded in thick box tubing for my roll bar above shoulder height. The B pillar trim was trimmed out for the holes then slid to the center while i welded the bar in. Then slid back and clicked in place afterwards.
( Dont mind the Adaptronic sticker which will be gone..staying carbed and NA...for now)
I had been throwing ideas back and forth with Josh ( XLR8 ) about how we could mount the Galaxy in the stock stereo location and make it flush. Well it turns out a 7" pad fills the stock hole up extremely well. Unfortunately, there is no way of easily mounting it with serious modification.
So after some trial and error, I ended up trimming down an Alpine brand stereo surround and epoxying it to the back of the stock piece. This Alpine piece fit snuggly on the Galaxy. Then I used the dremel to cut upper and lower slots on the inner Alpine trim. Once I placed the Galaxy in the tray, I used an elastic band to route through the slots I cut to hold the Galaxy against the face. It is extremely snug. But, still fairly simple to remove if need be.
As for mating it to the rx7 sound system I am using a small 4 channel Clarion Amplifier and a LC-1 RCA connection volume **** which will click into one of the rectangle switch blanks just to the right of the steering column
My radiator came from Pro Tuning Lab. Im very impressed with the quality, and the sweet fan / shroud setup.
I contacted Emblem Art about some custom work for my car. I filled the hole for the lock on my rear hatch and that will be where i put my emblem.. As far as the finished product goes Im not sure exactly how it will look but this the design that will be either billet aluminum or chrome.
Welded in thick box tubing for my roll bar above shoulder height. The B pillar trim was trimmed out for the holes then slid to the center while i welded the bar in. Then slid back and clicked in place afterwards.
( Dont mind the Adaptronic sticker which will be gone..staying carbed and NA...for now)
I had been throwing ideas back and forth with Josh ( XLR8 ) about how we could mount the Galaxy in the stock stereo location and make it flush. Well it turns out a 7" pad fills the stock hole up extremely well. Unfortunately, there is no way of easily mounting it with serious modification.
So after some trial and error, I ended up trimming down an Alpine brand stereo surround and epoxying it to the back of the stock piece. This Alpine piece fit snuggly on the Galaxy. Then I used the dremel to cut upper and lower slots on the inner Alpine trim. Once I placed the Galaxy in the tray, I used an elastic band to route through the slots I cut to hold the Galaxy against the face. It is extremely snug. But, still fairly simple to remove if need be.
As for mating it to the rx7 sound system I am using a small 4 channel Clarion Amplifier and a LC-1 RCA connection volume **** which will click into one of the rectangle switch blanks just to the right of the steering column
My radiator came from Pro Tuning Lab. Im very impressed with the quality, and the sweet fan / shroud setup.
I contacted Emblem Art about some custom work for my car. I filled the hole for the lock on my rear hatch and that will be where i put my emblem.. As far as the finished product goes Im not sure exactly how it will look but this the design that will be either billet aluminum or chrome.
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10-08-14, 01:58 PM
#8
4 port T2 Irons, S5 Rotors, Atkins Rebuild kit / Powder coated chrome engine
Based mainly on budget and already obtained parts Ive decided to build my engine with my 4 port T2 irons and S5 n/a rotors and aluminum flywheel. It will remain naturally aspirated.
The hardest part was cleaning everything. It was an all day affair. Scrubbing, degreasing, hand lapping, etc..
Engine dried and stacked ready to be taped off and powder coated
Finished product, baked at a low 300 degrees.
Brand new Atkins Rebuild kit with their seals and Redline diff / rear fluid, Monroe hatch shocks, Dell 48 mesh filters
Based mainly on budget and already obtained parts Ive decided to build my engine with my 4 port T2 irons and S5 n/a rotors and aluminum flywheel. It will remain naturally aspirated.
The hardest part was cleaning everything. It was an all day affair. Scrubbing, degreasing, hand lapping, etc..
Engine dried and stacked ready to be taped off and powder coated
Finished product, baked at a low 300 degrees.
Brand new Atkins Rebuild kit with their seals and Redline diff / rear fluid, Monroe hatch shocks, Dell 48 mesh filters
10-14-14, 07:00 PM
#11
My next step is rebuilding the engine. I have a new atkins rebuild kit and good parts.
Ive been talking to Michael from Unique Precision about putting it together. I have all the tools and and stand to do it but lack the experience to really build a high mileage rebuild. So I would say ill be driving to Mt Airy soon to hand it over to him.
10-15-14, 11:46 PM
#13
^ Will do on the fuse box power wire.
Custom Emblem / MakotoAutoTrends Gauge faces
Good Day ! My emblem is finished and my gauge faces arrived.
For the emblem there is a halo that goes over the rotor (laying infront in the pic)
Without further adieu..
In Memory of Travis Steele
The Legacy Emblem
The gauges have a button to change hue as well as brightness. The camera doesn't do the color any justice. I have them rigged to a small battery on my kitchen table to see how they look. Enjoy !
Oh and nevermind the background noise. Dryer and my girlfriend watching that weird *** American Horror Story show lol.
Also I would like to say that the guys from MakotoAutoTrends as well as the guys at Emblem Art have great customer service and quality parts. Im super happy with the experience I had with both businesses.
Custom Emblem / MakotoAutoTrends Gauge faces
Good Day ! My emblem is finished and my gauge faces arrived.
For the emblem there is a halo that goes over the rotor (laying infront in the pic)
Without further adieu..
In Memory of Travis Steele
The Legacy Emblem
The gauges have a button to change hue as well as brightness. The camera doesn't do the color any justice. I have them rigged to a small battery on my kitchen table to see how they look. Enjoy !
Oh and nevermind the background noise. Dryer and my girlfriend watching that weird *** American Horror Story show lol.
Also I would like to say that the guys from MakotoAutoTrends as well as the guys at Emblem Art have great customer service and quality parts. Im super happy with the experience I had with both businesses.
10-16-14, 02:36 PM
#15
Today I took it easy in the house, but I did manage to install my gauge faces. They look great and fit perfectly. I did leave the factory gauge faces underneath for a little more support and to block the LEDs in the housing from shining through the face itself, since they light up by themselves.
I also bought 5 bright white LEDs to light up the needles
Finished, with the hue and brightness button to the left
and finished. I will put up another picture after the car has power soI can show the needles lit up as well.
I also bought 5 bright white LEDs to light up the needles
Finished, with the hue and brightness button to the left
and finished. I will put up another picture after the car has power soI can show the needles lit up as well.
10-16-14, 10:15 PM
#16
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The build continues! Got a few questions:
1) on your battery relocation are you using a gel battery or is that a regular battery in a vented enclosure?
2) what are the specs or model number on the LEDs for use on the instrument panel?
1) on your battery relocation are you using a gel battery or is that a regular battery in a vented enclosure?
2) what are the specs or model number on the LEDs for use on the instrument panel?
10-16-14, 11:26 PM
#17
http://estorebc.mkbattery.com/ProductInfo/12V31M.aspx
The LEDs are the typical 194 style and can be found here
http://www.whitegauges.net/products/...ment-bulb.html
10-29-14, 04:36 PM
#20
Thanks for the compliments !
Today I got the 4 points all finished up. 3 of the 4 mounting points for the harness are stock locations. I highly doubt I will snap one loose. The 4th mounting point is my roll bar.
I also installed all the dash components. minus the stereo bezel area. I am refinishing it tonight.
Oh annnd brand new Monroe hatch dampeners are in along with the vertical rear carpet!
Today I got the 4 points all finished up. 3 of the 4 mounting points for the harness are stock locations. I highly doubt I will snap one loose. The 4th mounting point is my roll bar.
I also installed all the dash components. minus the stereo bezel area. I am refinishing it tonight.
Oh annnd brand new Monroe hatch dampeners are in along with the vertical rear carpet!
