Project Slow and Steady - turbo 98 cobra

[98cobra#1222]

You mentioned you was in talks with Kurgan. You plan to get him to remote tune it?

He is either going to remote tune it or tune it in person at a shop in Chicago. He goes to Chicago 4 times a year to tune for customers up here so if I can get it done around one of those dates it will be tuned in person. But either way I have heard he does great work with remote tuning and there are a lot of guys that have made big power with great success after having him remote tune.

 

[98cobra#1222]

Inching closer to first start up! Spend way to long last night wiring up my MAF, would have been done in like 10 minutes if I would have just used slip loom instead of the techflex. The stuff I has was to small to fit around the plug so I had to put in on the wiring before I soldered it and then pull it up and heat shrink it in place... what a pain.

Also finished up mounting my oil relocation filter housing. Still may need to trim the housing a bit to get the filter to swing up and sit closer to the car. But for now it sits ok and looks to have enough ground clearance. The roads I drive on are way to rough to slam the car to much so I should be able to leave it how it is.

Last bit of progress was getting the MAF flange welded on so it's ready to be re-installed for what is hopefully the last time.

 

[98cobra#1222]

I was able to wrap up a couple projects over the weekend. I have been working on them off and on for a couple weeks now but can finally say they are done. First was the battery relocation, which turned into the battery relocation/fuel pump relay mount since the relay board was just to big to place behind the trunk trim panels. To start I ran the main power wire from the starter back to where the battery box would sit.

The wire is wrapped in tech flex and tied to either factory wiring loom where I can or riveted to the car with the supplied clamps. Mounting the box was simple enough, though this box is huge. It easily accommodates my battery and the relay panel for the fuel pumps.

Next was cutting the factory battery cable ends off and grounding the ground, then running the factory power that would have went from the battery up front to the starter/power distribution box. Now that wire runs solely to the power distribution box.

Lastely the box was filled with the battery and relay board as well as connections for my battery tender. You can see the tender is plugged in, I ran the wiring to the back side of the box so in the future I can plug it in without removing the lid.

The next project was installing my aerocatch hood pins. Talk about a nerve racking project, the adage measure twice cut once could not be more true. I used a piece of cardboard to make the cut on the drivers side. I used a large enough piece to allow me to cut the outline of the hood so that when it came time to cut the passenger side I was able to simple flip the cardboard template and know that the two sides mirrored one another.

After the two sides were cut I cut the backing plates for each latch in half and taped them into the holes. Doing it this way allows you to not cut the bottom of the hood to put the backing plates in. Only issue is getting the latches in without pushing the backing plates out. Turned into a very tedious job but the results were exactly what I wanted, now with the hood open the bottom side only has holes big enough for the studs to go through.

After some adjustment to get the stud height correct I locked down the studs and cut the rubber bits. So now I have a hood with a little extra security for track days.

The last project worth mentioning was making an air intake for the turbo. I didn't want to run an open turbo or even a mesh as this will be a 95% street car made for cruising and just weekend enjoyment. So my issue was the lack of room between the turbo and ABS block. Only two solutions that I would think of was running a small filter (which I wanted to avoid) and using a 45 degree silicone coupler then a two inch long 4" diameter pipe with a K&N filter attached to the end. I actually really like the look of it and the idea of having a filter that won't create to much restriction for the turbo.

The next bit I worked on was tackling the wiring for the gauges, I was able to mount the relay panel into the glovebox using rivnuts so that it is easily removable but I stopped at that point. So that's the next project to finish then test all the wiring to make sure all is ok. After that it's fluids and startup tune then time to fire it up and hopefully have a smooth break-in period before tearing it apart for trans/clutch/rear end and final tune next spring.

 

[04DeadShort]

Those hood pins/latches are pretty sweet.

 

[SnakeBitten07]

Hey Kevin, this is Gabe from work. Glad to see you're close to getting the car started!

 

[98cobra#1222]

Those hood pins/latches are pretty sweet.

Thanks. I really like how they turned out.

 

[98cobra#1222]

Hey Kevin, this is Gabe from work. Glad to see you're close to getting the car started!

Hey man. Thanks. Its been a really long road but thankfully it's getting close.

 

[98cobra#1222]

Small update, went ahead over the weekend and helped get my brother's car back on the road. First startup and break in before he stores it for winter and tunes in the spring. Car is a 2000 SS camaro that now has a pretty nasty 408 stroker in it.

Was still able to get some things sorted out on my car. First I put 5 gallons of e85 in the tank in preparation for start up and leak checks. Then started sorting through the gauge wiring. Pulled the relay board back out of the glovebox to start building the wiring harness. It turned out ok and gives me the option of unplugging the board without the chance of mixing up wires.

Then of course the obligatory tech flex!

Mounted back to the glove box with riv-nuts and ready to go back into the car to join the harness that will be inside the car.

Only remaining work is running the pressure sensors out to the engine bay and running the wiring to the boost solenoid for the controller. Then check ground straps for the engine fill the thing with fluids. Oh I also need to mount the AC condenser and power steering cooler.

 

[whitecobra1998]

nice progress!

 

[98cobra#1222]

nice progress!

Thanks, it's getting down to the nitty gritty before I can start it. Then storage and trans next spring and it should be done.... for now.

 

[98cobra#1222]

I can finally say that all the wiring is finished and all checked out.... took way longer than I envisioned but it's done. Now all the gauges are wired independently through the glove-box relay board and dim properly with the factory gauges using the light switch. Also the pumps prime as they should so next is leak checks and first start. I am not sure if I am excited or just really nervous to start the car. Also got both fx1's installed even though I only have a picture of the driver's side, I think they may need some adjustment to fit with the door bars in place and also I need to sweep the carpets pretty bad but that's all tasks for another day.

This picture was before the wiring was finish so the sending unit wiring harnesses are all tied up out of the way now.

Last big thing accomplished was re-installing the AC condenser and finally putting the front bumper back on.

Then to finish out the weekend I packed up some of my firearms and went shooting....

Fast forward to this week and it looks like one fuel fitting is leaking. So once that is taken car of the car is ready to start.

 

[Tabres]

Looking great, man! You're so close!

One question, where did you buy your cable from for your battery relocation?

 

[98cobra#1222]

Looking great, man! You're so close!

One question, where did you buy your cable from for your battery relocation?

The cable actually came with the relocation kit. I bought it all from summit racing.

http://m.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g1200a

You should be able to source around 20ft of 2 gauge cable from summit if you already have the box and what not.

 

[98cobra#1222]

Well we have liftoff. Car fired up but runs a little on the rough side unless you modulate the throttle. Still a big relief to hear it for the first time in 3 years.

https://youtu.be/lND62zieSM4

 

[04DeadShort]

Congrats bro!

 

[BOTTLEFED5]

The hose is missing under the iac that runs to the intake tube it looks like it's open that's probably why it's rough at idle

 

[98cobra#1222]

Congrats bro!

Thanks man!

The hose is missing under the iac that runs to the intake tube it looks like it's open that's probably why it's rough at idle

Yea that's most certainly a culprit and something I may add in the future if it can't be accounted for in the tune. But the car is only running on a start up tune right now and there is no provision for IAC in the intercooler piping and its something that should be able to be tuned for. The un-metered air isn't ideal but I don't see why adding a little fuel at idle where IAC is active wouldn't help smooth it out. I have seen a couple boosted cars that leave IAC open to pull un-metered air.

 

[98cobra#1222]

Was able to drive the car over the weekend. Just around the block but still a great feeling. Please excuse the horrible picture quality and lack of an exhaust.

[video=youtube;MhMfaY1nD2k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhMfaY1nD2k[/video]

 

[Tabres]

Was able to drive the car over the weekend. Just around the block but still a great feeling. Please excuse the horrible picture quality and lack of an exhaust.

[video=youtube;MhMfaY1nD2k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhMfaY1nD2k[/video]

:rockon:

 

[04DeadShort]

Good deal. Glad to see you got it rolling. You got Kurgan tuning it?