Brakes, fuel and batteries

Well, the temperature finally came down to something approaching bearable, and that means I was able to spend a little time in the garage.  And the camera came back from vacation, so that means pictures.  Rather than begin any new steps of the project, I worked to complete the many steps I had partially completed and laying around the garage.

First, Mike came over on Friday evening and helped modify the driveshaft loop and weld it into place.  I have no pictures of the work in progress, but imagine a lot of sparks and spoke, the fire alarm going off and the dog going nuts!  I also had him weld in the custom parking brake bracket I made to accomodate the modified location of the brake handle.  More on that later.  Here is a picture of the completed and installed driveshaft safety loop.  It may not look like much, but this stupid little piece has actually been the most difficult and frustrating part of the build (so far).

Second, I completed running the supply and return hard fuel lines from the tank under the car to the engine.  The hard lines at the rear of the car stop short of the tank and are connected by flexible fuel lines.  The hard lines at the front of the car end just in front of the passenger foot well.  I have not connected the front hard lines to the engine yet.  Lots of unusual connections, so I need to diagram this one out before I do anything stupid.

Third, Jacob and I installed the battery tray, installed the battery and wired all the ground connections.  The battery was originally supposed to be located in the trunk.  We decided to move the battery up front into the engine compartment for several reasons.  First, it would really be a pain to access the battery in the trunk.  Second, these cars finished are already slightly rear heavy, so moving the battery up front helps this out.  Third, the battery in the trunk it located very high.  The new location is in front of the engine and very low (just above the 4" bottom steel rails), which helps to lower the center of gravity of the car.  And finally, the new location uses a Size 51 battery (smaller and about 23 pounds lighter than a normal battery) and about 4' less positive battery cable, both of which drop the weight of the car.  I realize a few pounds aren't going to make a huge difference when you have 430 hp, but we might as well make an effort.  This step alone dropped about 25 pounds from the conventional setup.

  

 

Fourth, I completed the connection of the throttle cable to the engine.  Again, this doesn't look like much but getting correct configuration of the pedal, cable bends (so they don't kink) and the proper connection at the throttle body took some trial and error.  But in the end, it looks great and operates very smoothly.  Now all the pedals are actully connected to something, which allow you to sit in the drivers seat and get a good feel for the car.  Or course, you still have to make your own "VROOM VROOM" noises.  The one thing I've discovered is that there's not a lot, if any, wiggle room for your feet.  It will take some practice to get used to the pedals being so close together.

 

And finally, I installed the parking brake cables connecting the handle to the rear brakes.  The parking brake was originally supposed to be located on the passengers side of the transmission tunnel.  A constant complaint has been that this location is too difficult for the driver to operate, especially when strapped in.  Our solution, after considering several options found from other builds, was to relocate the handle adjacent to and just forward of the shifter.  The only custom modification to this setup was to create a new bracket within the transmission tunnel to secure the cables in the proper locaton (left side of the tunnel instead of the original right).  When Mike welded the new bracket into place, he noticed that the original had some extra tabs to increase the rigidity of the bracket.  He suggested that my new bracket may need these to withstand the pulling pressure of the cables.  We decided to try them out this way first to see if they worked.  And if not, he would help me add the tabs.  To make a long story short, the parking brake worked great ONCE, and then the bracket bent.  Oh well, a little more grinding and welding.  I wouldn't want the weekend activities to go perfectly!!

 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  We also welded in a new cross bar just behind the shifter that Brad had to cut out to get the transmission in.

Next up:  Fix the parking break bracket, complete the fuel lines at the engine and install the radiator.