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I finally found out why I did not have power to my window motors, door locks, sunroof, wipers, horn, front pop up motors, front lights and ECU. Covered in Part 3.
Part 1 – Charging the batteries
Part 2 – Tapping the Apexi PFC ECU frame for brackets
Part 3 – I Have The POOOWWEERRR !!!! *He-Man* – look it up kids
Part 4 – Headlight upgrade to HID – Innovited AC 55w H4 9003 Bi Xenon 5000k
Part 5 – Mount HID ballast, route harness = lights
Part 6 – Fog Lights and Re-Bar
Part 7 – Bumper check, more AC lines and oil cooler under panels
Part 1 – Charging the batteries
I wanted to make sure I did not kill my 2 AGM batteries so I bought a cool dual bank battery tender. It puts out 1.25 amps and has all that auto shut-off microprocessor stuff. It comes with copper clamps and ring terminal connections. I disconnected all the battery grounds except for only the switch grounds so I could read voltage. I checked my voltages before charging and the main battery was 12.2v and the aux battery was 12.1v. I connected the battery tender to the batteries in the evening and the orange LED's lit up on the charging icon. I let it charge overnight and I came home from work about 24 hours later and the green LED's were lit on the storage icon and the voltage for the main battery was 13.1v and the aux battery was 13.0v. I disconnected the battery tender from the batteries and called it a day. Now that all the grounds were disconnected I figured it would be a good time to put all the labels on the power and ground wires so I knew what was what. I also made some new copper ground bars with 2 bolts on each side so I could organize my grounds by function. I re-routed the wires so they sit better in the cavities and added rubber trim for the edges on the panel where the wires exit the clamps. I put the covers back on to check fitment and all was good.
Part 2 – Tapping the Apexi PFC ECU frame for brackets
I saw many custom holders for the PFC but I didn't want to spend that much money when I can do something myself. I took the brackets off the factory ECU and searched for a TAP that threaded into the ECU screw holes so I could reuse the stock ECU bracket screws. It turned out to be an M5-0.80, Dewalt has a kit with the right sizes. Apparently, I also have an M5-0.90 that did not work. I grabbed the stock ECU brackets and held them against the PFC to make the holes to TAP and where to cut the bracket to clear the PFC Commander and PFC Boost connections. I took apart the PFC to get to the frame and saw the outside holes went into the cast ribs that holds the screws for the top and bottom cover so I ended up using 1 screw for each corner. During test fitment I saw one of the screws getting really close to a resistor leg so I added a few washers to keep the bottom of the screw flush with the inside wall. The brackets fit good (minus the cut needed to clear the PFC side connections) and now I can bolt in my PFC.
I plugged the PFC Commander and engine harness connectors into the PFC ECU. Then I connected the remaining blue one, the fan relay, the secret one under the dash and the ground to the ECU bracket. I have one small single pin connector with a black/red wire just hanging there. Is this used for troubleshooting, is this the TNS wire? Last I put the kick panel on. I thought OK cool, I have the ECU plugged in now everything should work right? - WRONG! But I had a clue, the PFC commander did not light up. This meant I was not getting power to the ECU which meant there is a break in the power or ground somewhere. Back to troubleshooting... welcome to part 3.
Part 3 – I Have The POOOWWEERRR !!!! *He-Man* – look it up kids
All I can say is unbelievable. For a few months I have been looking at these connectors hanging down by the driver's side pop-up light motor. I thought I had the other end of the harness that went to it stuffed somewhere. It didn't dawn on me where they went until I started checking the fuses - AGAIN - at the battery fuse box. This time I took all the fuses out and checked voltage on the inside pins, I had 12v. Then I looked at the other row of pins and stuck my head down to look at the side of the fuses box and a HUGE WTF moment happened. I knew immediately where those random connectors went, I grabbed the camera and took a picture because I did not want to take them back out once I plugged them in. The 3 row goes on the outside and the single wire plugs into the front. With the fuse box cover on you can't see this empty spot. I plugged them in, got back in the car, put the key into the IGN and turned it to ACC and BAM - everything worked. I looked at the PFC commander and it lit up, lights check, doors locks and windows check, sunroof check, horn check, fuel pump prime then off check, wipers and washer motor check and I even got a few extra buzzer sounds from the warning lights on the dash. Just for the hell of it I turn the car to ON position real quick and verified starter solenoid power. I just can't believe I forgot about unplugging those connecters when I was taking everything apart for paint. It was that simple. I disconnected the battery grounds and routed the front airbag sensor and plugged it in. I re-connected the battery grounds now that I have power so I could do final adjustments on the pop-up lights with the covers on. They were both off but the driver side was so bad I had to cut a slot on one side of the bracket, thank goodness for big washers. I think the car was in a minor accident on the front left side because the front cross bar, radiator support and headlight support are shifted to the right. It is hard to tell but after test fitting everything, seeing the previous damage and massaging the holes to the right so I can pull all the panels to the left - the evidence is there. Luckily I was able to massage everything enough to be passable. The corners on both fenders had to be pushed in and downward...what's up with that bro.
Part 4 – Headlight upgrade to HID – Innovited AC 55w H4 9003 Bi Xenon 5000k
Our stock USDM headlights have a bulb shield in the housing to limit the light from blinding on coming cars. The headlight I bought from an RHD car did not have the light shield, it did not even have the cut-outs to mount the light shield. I plugged in both headlights and the beam pattern on a box held close to the light looked virtually the same. The headlight with the light shield had a small dark circle in the beam pattern and was easier to look at the headlight. First I repaired my broken passenger side headlight. I grabbed my broken headlight to pull off the LHD lens. I took off the 4 clips holding the lens to the body and heated up the edges with a heat gun on the low setting. I used a small flathead screwdriver to start to pry the edge up. I had to alternate between the heat gun and pulling the lens out a few times until it came off. I repeated the process with taking of the lens off the good used RHD light since the lens is designed to emit light differently. While the headlight was apart I cleaned the haze off of the chrome finish inside the bucket. I replaced the RHD headlight bucket with the LHD lens. I heated the glue in the channel on the bucket and the edge of the lens. I pushed the lens back into the glue and snapped on the 4 clips. I repeated the process for the driver side headlight by removing the lens, removing the light shield, cleaning the haze off the chrome finish and re-installing the lens. I knew taking out the light shield would not be a big problem because my replacement HID’s come with built in light shields. I have Innovited HID’s on my mazda5 for the past 2 years with no issues and they are bright as hell. I got the Innovited AC 55w H4 9003 Bi Xenon 5000k for my headlights. They have the light shield in the front, the small plate shield under the low beam and the high beam is fully open. The fitment was good and I was able to reuse the rubber cover by making a small slit to get it past the larger base section.
Part 5 – Mount HID ballast, route harness = lights
The Innovited HID’s are sweet, they come with a mounting bracket that allows the ballast to be placed in the corner of the fender to clear the pop-up light when it come down. I bolted on the bracket and put some red locktite on the back of the nuts to make sure they would not vibrate loose. You have to cut the upper head light bracket to clear the back of the HID bulb. I used a Dremel and then ground down the edges with a metal porting bit. Before installing the head lights I adjusted the up and down stops since I had access to them and verified the headlight did not shake by hand. The Innovited kit comes with a harness that gets the low and high beam signal from the driver side so you have to cover the passenger side light connection so it does not get contaminated with debris, I used Kapton tape. I hooked up the passenger side of the harness first and then routed it across the front radiator support over to the driver side. I bolted the really next to the driver side pop-up motor and then plugged the signal connector into the driver side connector and ran the HID connectors to the ballast on the driver side. There are grounds on both sides, I cleaned the bottom holes in the head light base brackets and used those. I put the headlights in the down position and verified the headlight cleared the ballast assembly. I connected power from the relay and turned on the lights and WWOOOOWWWW !!!!! These things are bright. I do not have a surface to verify cut off pattern at this time but you can see the light change elevation between low and high beam so I know that’s working at least. Once the car is running I’ll re-position it in the driveway and check it against the garage door.
Part 6 – Fog Lights and Re-Bar
For now I am trying to use as much of the stock system as possible so I decided to hook up the fog lights since I had them. The side plastic pieces were painted red during the repair of the car and then I think they realized the mistake and painted flat black over the red. The painted looked like a lady bug. I scraped all the paint off and used 0000 steel wool to smooth it out, then I used some scratch remove to clean it up some more. I was surprised how it darkened it up, we’ll see how long it last. I replaced the H3 bulbs with some LED’s that barely fit. I hooked them up to 12v and they are not super duper bright but they are brighter then stock and will match the headlights better. They have LED’s on all 4 sides and one on the bottom too. I was missing a fog light bulb cover so once again Kapton tape came to the rescue. I put tape around the insides to protect the electronics and then used aluminum tape on the outside to cover the hole. The aluminum tape is strong and holds its shape. I mounted the fog lights onto the rebar so I could test fit it on the car to see how the fog light harness goes. I took the rebar back off and routed the fog light harness and secured it with hose clamps to keep it in place. I also mounted the air diverter air guide panel that fills the open section between the rebar and for where the bottom of the opening in the bumper will attach too. I also re-routed the horn on the driver side up to the front cross bar. I needed all this in place so when I make my VM kit I can work around these obstacles.
Part 7 – Bumper check, more AC lines and oil cooler under panels
Once again the previous accident showed its ugly head. I had to add spacers on the driver side to make the rebar sit even with both front headlight covers. I test fit the front bumper and was relieved that all my hard work paid off. It is a little off but good enough to sleep easy at night. I took the front bumper back off and set it to the side. I cleaned up some more AC lines and the dryer and installed them. The harness that goes to one of the AC lines was somehow worn through down to the copper wire, I added some black RTV and called it good. Last I installed the oil cooler under panels so I know how low to go. I Know Banzai has some but I’ll make my own and save $150. Were getting close to running !!!!
enjoy the pics
Part 1 – Charging the batteries
Last edited by rotaryextreme; Jun 9, 2021 at 09:27 PM.
I mean, I don't know what people did before backup cams. They're super convenient, and I've thought about adding one. Best place to mount nav antenna is probably back middle of the roof.
I mean, I don't know what people did before backup cams. They're super convenient, and I've thought about adding one. Best place to mount nav antenna is probably back middle of the roof.
I have been pondering all the different places but I definitely want to keep it on the inside.
Crutchfield and alot of other people say you can put it under the front part of your dash, like in the center speaker compartment if you do not have a center speaker. I have the 4 gauge pod and it might interfere with the signal.
I thought about putting it in front of the vin plate on the left side that way the A-pillar will not block it.
I am getting a roll bar mounted mirror and I will take my window mirror off. I might mount a bracket to the roll bar mirror frame and put the GPS antenna on that and it will be at the top center of the window just about the widow review mirror bracket.
I also thought about putting it on the rear strut tower brace in the center. I heard that when you use the rear defroster it can interfere with the signal but when its off I do not see how it would affect the signal.
I already have the rear back up camera so I might just install it. I would like it for backing into the garage or a spot during cars and coffee... lol
I am being nickel and dimed to death by this build. If it's not one thing it's another. I wanted to install the best set-up I could for less than 1k and I did it - Horaay. I had a lot of spare radio stuff but I realized none of the speakers will work for my application. I have three 6.5 pyle bass speakers that were in a custom box for an S5 vert I once owned, not gonna use those in the doors. I found some 6.5 speakers that I bought from the flea market 25 years ago, they are in supreme condition. I tried to google them on the internet and could not find them - damn pre-internet speakers.
Well since I knew I was going to run the front and rear speakers off of the deck I figured I would go get some new ones designed for that purpose. I need a good stereo deck but I did not like anything that would fit my budget. However my wife has a barely used Kenwood DNX994S sitting in the garage. It does have an interesting story behind it. The story starts 10 years ago, my wife wanted a navigation with Bluetooth for her corolla so we went to Frys Electronics (I miss you so much Frys !) and we saw a top of the line Kenwood Navigation unit on clearance, I think it was 40% off so we got it for 600 or so. I put kickers in all the doors, a 8inch 50W Amplified Bazoka Tube in the trunk and a Pioneer ND-BC8 rear camera. About 3 years later while her car was parked at the Oakland coliseum bart station someone broke her window and stole the Kenwood stereo, the Bazooka tube and the rear camera survived. We have AAA so they paid to replace the window and stereo with an equivalent model which was the next year's top of the line model, cool free upgrade. Well Deja-Vu, 2 years after the first incident my wife was at DD's at Eastmont in Oakland (behind the police station) and someone broke her window and stole the stereo again, the Bazooka tube and camera survived. Again AAA stepped in and replaced her window and got her the newest top of the line Kenwood DNX994S. She used it for about 6 months and then we decided to pull the Kenwood, the Bazooka tube and rear camera out and put her stock radio back in until we can move to a nicer place. The Kenwood, Bazooka tube and rear camera sat on a shelf in the garage for a few years - until now. We agreed on 500 for the Kenwood DNX994S which is a good price since this thing is still like brand new and shes is giving me the Bazooka tube and rear camera for Father's Day.
Okay so I have 500 left. I went to the stereo shop to find some speakers and something for the rear speakers since my rear area has changed. The Kenwood DNX994S puts out 4x50W Peak / 4x22RMS which is not too shabby for a head unit. I ended up with some ALPINE TYPE E series which is designed for factory replacement off the head unit. The doors are 6.5 and I got 6x9's for the back with some small enclosed boxes. I also picked up a mic that the Kenwood was missing and the stereo adapter harness made by Metra number 70-7901. I had already ordered the male to male antenna plug so I had everything to do the install to verify everything is working. Speakers, boxes, Metra harness, mic and antenna plug were 200. The Kenwood is missing the metal sleeve, the trim piece, the and the remote. I found a website that had all that and I ordered the missing pieces and a USB extension cable too, all for 90. So I spent about 800 on everything, (I still owe the wife 500). The main goal this weekend was to get the radio installed and verify functionality.
I did not have the manual for the Kenwood Deck so I googled the wire colors. The first thing I saw was the bypass for the DVD function so you can watch DVD's while driving. You have to ground the parking brake wire (light green) to the ground wire on the radio harness. Next I grabbed the Metra harness and plugged it into the car to make sure that output to the radio was OK. No key I verified constant 12 on yellow, key on 12v on red and lights on 11v on illumination. I attached the Metra harness to the Kenwood harness with solder sleeves for the speaker wires and it was time consuming as hell. If you look close the solder sleeve has a big and small end for putting 2 different size wires together. For the const pwr, acc pwr, remote amp, antenna, illumination and gnd I used splices and shrink tubing. I also used T connections for the 12v acc and remote amp for the Bazooka tube for plug n play. The Bazooka harness has all the wires in the connector for speaker power or RCA power. I pulled back the speaker wire and tied it up and wire some wire loom over the remaining cables that will go to the deck.
Part 2 Front Speakers
First things first, I plugged in the stereo deck to the factory harness and hooked up the sub to verify that all the stock speakers are working. The sub and all speakers were working except the front right speaker. I checked the back ones by plugging in the stock rear speaker bracket assembly. With my fluke meter I measured into the factory harness and got 4 ohms for the front left and the right front it was open. OK so either the speaker is not connected in the door or I have a break in the connection somewhere. Well I guess I will be starting with the front right speaker, I took off the door panel and sure enough if was unplugged. I plugged it in and verified all speakers worked, now it's time to swap them out.
I pulled out the front right speaker assembly and removed the speaker. You have to pull the white plastic ring off of the top of the speaker to get to the last screw underneath it. I cut off the factory speaker connector, stripped the insulation and tinned the wires. I wrapped the leads around the pos and neg terminals on the new speaker and soldered it in place. It's always best to tin the wire that way you will have even flow of solder in the wire strands and onto the footprint. This will also limit the possibility of cold solder where it's still connected but will not flow current too well. It's the same things as your dirty battery terminal. Your lights work but when you go to start your car nothing happens so you clean your terminals and then you have a good pathway and your car starts. The stock speaker holder has a stop on the back to prevent the magnet front hitting the widow track in the door. I wanted to cut it out to flush mount my speaker but with some foam I was able to make the 6.5 fit snugly. One hole did line up but I had to drill 2 more holes to fit it uniformly. I cut a deeper notch for the speaker wires to sit in and screwed the speaker down with some drywall screws size 1" 2.54 cm fine thread worked really good with a strong bite.
Part 3 Rear Speakers
The rear speaker stock connectors were more fun. I had to pry them off and remove the voice coil wires from them. I looked at the Metra harness to verify what wires were positive and negative for the rear speakers. I wanted to use some speaker wire I had that had the correct connections for the pos and neg terminals on the 6x9's but the wire was so thin I replaced it with a larger gauge. Now for the factory connector to box connection, I tinned the stripped wire at both ends and soldered it to the connector on one end. I looped it around and secured it with a small tie wrap and then covered the terminals with the Dowsil milspec RTV to prevent the terminals from touching the other electronics in the rear electrical grid.
Next I need to make the speaker box terminal to speaker wire. I pulled off the terminals from the smaller wire and soldered them onto the larger wire. I did this by tinning both ends of the wire. Then I opened the crimp that goes around the insulation and re-secured it around the new wires insulation and wrapped the tinned wire around the part that is supposed to crimp the wires and then I soldered it together. For the speaker box terminal I just looped it through the hole and soldered it in place. I put the round speaker terminal interface into the box and it was a nice fit but I felt it would slowly be pushed out by the speaker vibrations over time. I put one wrap of fiberglass tape around the outside and pushed it back in, much tighter fit. I placed the 6x9 in the box and used my paint marker to show where to drill. I measured the diameter of the body of the screw in between the threads and drilled to that size. The speaker covers are screwed down on top of the speaker to hold it in place and then the screens are pressed in. I placed them on top of the rear battery covers, because- that's the only place I could. lol.
I needed a way to secure the 6x9 boxes from moving around so made some brackets for the back that secure it with the wing bolts and for the front I put a single bracket with a 6mm rivnut. I really did not want to put the front bracket on but I knew going over bumps and stuff the front of the box would be bouncing up and down. Now, front and back brackets will keep them study and reduce vibration.
Part 4 Radio Sound Check
It was time for a radio check with all the speakers in place, I turned the power on and tuned into some hip hop. OMG everything sounds so good. The door speakers had more bass then I thought, the 6x9's had no bass whatsoever but they had a really nice natural voice sound and the Bazooka tube had way more bump in the trunk then I could have ever hoped for. I love a nice balanced system so with the Kenwoods built in various tuning profiles I set the front, rear and sub speaker size. I set the crossover to take out the lower bass on the fronts, the rears are now complimentary voice and instrumentals and the 8 inch sub is set at 220HZ and lower. I also moved the soundstage 70% front speakers and 30% back speakers since the back speakers are right behind me. It really sounds balanced and amazing and it sounds like your smack dab in the middle and you cannot tell where the sound is coming from. I also changed the slope of the bass on the sub so it is more tight. The Kenwood DNX994S is amazing and with the right speakers you do not need an amp except for the bass.
Now that the speakers are working I connected my phone via bluetooth and made a call and played some songs. I also wanted to make sure the navigation was working so I placed the GPS antenna near the top center of the window to verify signal and I plotted my course to Fontana Speedway for 2021 Sevenstock !!!!!!! I was curious to see how far I could zoom out and apparently I can see the whole damn world and I can even spin it to different countries - Thanks Garmin !!!!!
Next Update will be the completion of the radio install and other misc interior items.
The radio install took way longer than expected but it paid off. Now that the radio is in I can finally finish up the interior. I had a lot of fun with this part of the build because it allowed me to make some custom brackets which I oddly actually enjoy doing. I'm especially excitedly wholeheartedly very relieved to finish up the interior because now I can finally get to the following in this order: 1. Radiator, 2. A/C and vacuum test the system, 3. Oil Coolers, 4. Intercooler, 5. P/S cooler, and hopefully get back my cruise control somehow (frame rail mount near the battery fuse box???). Enjoy the story and pictures.
Part 1 - Rear View Mirror
Apparently, according to one of Dale Clark's (rx7club) threads I have a sought after double jointed rear view mirror. My FD is a build date of 12/95 so I have to follow a lot of 96 related stuff when it comes to wiring and bolt on aftermarket support - it's technically a Type 4, go figure. I was trying to take it off and after about 30 minutes I finally got it off by accident. I thought there was a set screw and I tried a bunch of allen wrenches, small flat heads and phillips. I push up trying to feel some bite and then I heard a little click and the mirror popped up. So the factory mirror has a tab that needs to be pushed up so you can slide it off of the metal base that is glued to the windshield. I have included some pics from Dale and some pics of mine so you can search for it if you want to. This mirror allows for greater range of motion that is useful when racing on roads with tight corners and fast elevation changes.
The rear view mirror I got for my car is made for those off-road small UTV's with roll cages. The Cusco cage is approximately 1.57 inch (40mm) in diameter so I found a kit that has rubber bushing to fit between 1.5, 1.75 and 2 inches. The kit has black anodized aluminum mounts with a metal frame for the back of the mirror. I would say it is good quality and very durable. I ended up doing a mismatch of the spacers to get it to work for the 1.57 diameter. Another reason for this set-up was to make a custom bracket to hold the GPS antenna. The mirror sat right under the roll bar so I needed to make a bracket set-up to push the mirror forward and to hold the antenna. I had some right angle aluminum in stock so I made some quick brackets to extend the mirror and also to hold the cross bar that will hold the antenna. I added 2 adjustment points just to be safe. After I had the length set and the mirror mounted I made my cross bar. I made it out of an old vm duct and placed it on the tabs of the side brackets just to get an idea of what I had to do. Now that I had the position set I needed to make the final crossbar.
I made the new crossbar out of a thicker flat aluminum bar and welded a little base for the antenna. I probably could have made the antenna base more level but I do have adjustability with all the pivot points on the mirror assembly. When I made the base for the antenna on the top of the crossbar it put the antenna too high and it was hitting the windshield. I ended up flipping the side brackets 180 degrees and it lowered the crossbar where it needed to be. I welded the crossbar in place and painted it matte black. I masked off the footprint for the antenna so the double sided tape can stick to the bare aluminum. I mounted the bracket onto the mirror and then placed the GPS antenna on the doubled sided tape and then mounted it onto the roll bar arms. I'm really happy how it came out and I wanted to
make sure it looked clean since this part is highly visible and will be subjected to scrutiny. lol.
Part 2 - Back Up Camera
I researched on where to tap for the reverse signal to the stereo deck. When you put your car into reverse it gives the stereo 12v and tells it to look at the back-up camera. The camera should already be powered on with its own independent power source via a 12v ACC signal. I searched and found a really good thread about the red reverse wire in the X-14 / X-19 connector. The X-14 was up high on the firewall right hand side and on the X-19 was in the driver side kick panel fuse box. After wiring up all my gauges and stuff in the driver side kick panel I decided to look elsewhere. I did not want to tap the harness in the reverse light so I read about a 4-wire connector in the back of the hatch. I hooked up my fluke meter and probed the red wire and verified 12v when put into reverse. Next I loosely hooked the signal up to the stereo and hooked the camera up for power and tested it out - yup - put the car in reverse and the stereo showed the reverse camera .. hooray!
I found a spot near the right license plate light to mount the bracket. To route the camera cable I pulled back the grommet that the rear reverse / license plate lights go through. I fed the camera cable through the hole in the rear bumper crash bar and through the grommet and then pushed the grommet back into place. I coiled up all the excess wires for the camera harness and placed it in the battery compartment area. I connected the cameras 12v ACC and ground wires to the 12v ACC fuse block that runs off the auxiliary battery. I ran the reverse 12v and video signal up to the stereo through the center console area. The camera I have is a compact camera and fits damn near anywhere, it is a Pioneer ND-BC8. I bent the bracket to match the license plate light bracket and screwed it into place. The camera attaches with allen head bolts. I like how its tucked away and now I can reverse into any spot at the car meets.
Part 3 - Radio Finally Installed
I got the parts in to finally install the stereo. I got the sleeve, bezel trim, usb extension, keys to remove the stereo and the remote. The bezel has a thicker top part and a thinner bottom part that is slightly angled to allow the front panel to swing out without hitting it. The remote is big, looks like a TV remote and takes up half of the map pocket on the drivers side door. The sleeve has a lot of tabs in various places that can be bent to hold it in place, it feels really solid. I placed the Bluetooth microphone between the AFR and EGT gauge. I finally had all the cables running to the stereo and went to put it in. It stopped with an inch sticking out still… this was just the begging. I pulled out the stereo several times and tried to position the cables in many different ways – no Bueno. I even cut off the bottom L section of the center bracket to get the connectors behind it and I was still sticking out ½ inch. I finally fixed the problem by getting a big long flathead and hammer and beating the cross bracket back on the right side. I also put a zip tie around the stereo harness so I could pull it to the side as I push the stereo in. It all worked out and I heard the clicks as it seated. In one of the pictures you can see my foot and a black wire that is hanging down near the O2 sensor connector, I thought it was the zip tie I used to pull the harness. I went to cut it and it felt like I was cutting wire – WTF. I can’t believe my mic wire was hanging down and I just cut it in half. Unbelievable. I stripped the wires and looked at it wondering if I should repair it or replace it – Not wanting to worry about poor sound quality during a call I replaced it. Thankfully I bought the removal keys and found a spare mci in the garage. I re-routed the new mic and took the stereo back out to plug it in. After getting the stereo back in I tucked the zip tie used to pull the cables under some other wires. I put the bezel trim on and it fits the radio good enough to not be bothered by it.
Part 4 - Bazooka Tube
I needed to find a way to secure the Bazooka tube without putting a bunch of holes in the carpet. Once again I found the perfect piece of aluminum in my stock pile to do the job. I had this U-shaped piece that would allow the carpet to sit in the channel. I drilled 3 holes along the bottom so I could bolt it down using the existing studs in the back. I measured the width I wanted the tie down straps, cut some flat bar, riveted the strap holders to the flat bar and bolted them into place. I folded over the front of the carpet and slid it into the channel – perfect fit. I placed the Bazooka tube on the strap holders and strapped it down. The top of the aluminum rear divider panel was rubbing against the Bazooka tube so I put some protective rubber on the edge. I will probably redo the length of those brackets this weekend but for now its fine.
Part 5 - Interior Finish
Finally I can finish the dang nabbid interior. My plastic clip of scuff plates were broken so I got some cheap beat up aluminum ones. I had to install some rivnuts to mount them, I used size M5. They match my floor mats and since they are beat up I do not have to worry about scuffing them up getting in and out of the car. I ordered a replica B&M short shifter from Banzai Racing, it came with the hardware and a new bushing. I took a photo of the old bushing on the new shifter because I did not see the new bushing in the box at first but I did swap them out. I took off the shifter base plate and the cavity was full of gear oil, no wonder why my car smelled like it. I sucked it out with my fluid vacuum pump and cleaned the RTV off of the edges. I put some new sealant down and bolted the new shifter into place. The side to side shifting is ridiculously close and the front to back throw feels like its shortened by 40%. This is a high-quality replica and totally worth the money. I put the dust boot over the shifter, EGT and AFR wires and routed the harnesses I made over the tunnel to clear the center panel bolt points. The center console bolted in place with no issues and I went to install the final center trim with all the electrical connections, and I noticed a big *** hole. Serious, are you serious right now, how did I miss this. I put some aluminum tape on the back and filled it with qwick set JB weld. As it started to harden I shaved it down with a razor to the contour of the panel and colored it with a sharpie so instead of grey its shinny black, I will paint it flat black later on. With the center panel in place I was able to turn on my fog lights to make sure they work, I will adjust the lighting later. I did have the arm rest to replace the coin holder in the center switch panel, but I lost it. I spent 3 hours looking for it and I think I accidentally threw it away. Im so happy all the hard work it done. I can see light at the end of the tunnel to get this thing running. Im in the home stretch.
Enjoy the pics.
pics Part 1 part A - Rear View Mirror
Last edited by rotaryextreme; Jun 22, 2021 at 10:11 PM.
