Oct 28 - catch up entry

A lot has happened in the last 10 days since my last blog up date for the build diary.  I got the car wired a little bit further along with adding in the f-body wiring harness from the 95TA so I can add things in like cruise control.  :-) Right up there with tunes in my book.  Got to have the tunes and the cruise for me to be a happy guy.  Power everything and A/C can come much later.  I'll get to them.  :-D

So I did install the cruise module and cable to the throttle, but have a long way to go to get it to work.  I don't have everything wired to power the computer through the harness so I'm still using my old power connections that my buddy made for me. 

I do have the car running on one fuel injector!  So that's pretty exciting.  Especially because most of the fuel hasn't become fumes yet (due to the cold) and it still runs and makes good power.  When you have a solvent (gasoline), in a vacuum (the intake), it wants to freeze.  So it needs heated so that all of the fuel can become fumes.  This was the Smokey Yunick 400 to 440 degrees F that he talked about.  And what I need a pre-heater to do.  I'm cycling exhaust gases around the box to make it warm, I'm just not doing it enough yet.

I have a couple of Arduino computers running the system so far.  Just enough to get it going.  Of course there will be more updates as I make it a bit more complicated to deal with part throttle drivability (making it smooth).  Both of those report data to a RasPi2 which then makes their variables available via some node.io javascript.  That gets pulled by another RasPi2 which acts as a client and shows the results on a screen so I can see what the system is seeing and what it is generating for an output.  Bar graphs and such.  that output to view friendly hasn't been done yet, but I'm using the same two Pi's that I started a drone POC (Proof of Concept) for a customer that Microsoft eventually took the reigns on.  So of course I haven't heard boo about that since.  So those Pi's were already doing this job with node.io and sending data and updating a browser in real time.  So I'll just change the inputs for the variables and away I'll go.

I did get a backup camera  installed and a screen on board to see it with.  I leave it on all of the time right now so I can see behind me better.  Hard to see out of this car.  It is the same screen that the Pi will use to show me engine info about what it sees and is doing so I'll swap between them as needed once the graphs are available for me to look at.

There are videos to catch up with seeing the progress.  One is of the 2 arduinos and what they do for their jobs.  Most of the others are of the car running and me loading it up for the conference or driving it around the block once we were there, twice!  One video is form inside the car on the 2nd run.

I did get to enjoy driving down my road once I got home.  That was fun because I got to do 2 things I haven't been able to do yet.  One was to adjust the knobs between rich and lean and find my magic number on the EGTs to know where I make power and not too lean to hurt the motor.  The other was.... I got to get in third gear!   That was fun because I haven't been that fast in this car yet.  It needs an alignment and all sorts of dialing in on the suspension before I go out onto a public road.  I'm just fortunate to live on a private road that is about a half mile long so I can get a lot of testing done here before i go out there.  :-)

That smell I was talking about in the video from inside the car was smelling like burning rubber.  But we got out and checked it over and couldn't find anything.  I think it very well may have been the asphalt that I was pulling up with those big tires and slinging it out my intake vents on the quarter panels.  I found lil pieces of gravel and blackness from the road up there.  Couldn't find anything wrong with the car.  Other than it needing a pre-heater.  Once that goes in all of that wasted gas will be a thing of the past.  :-)

Thanks for your time,
Coop

p.s. be careful, it's a jungle out there!  ;-)

Oct 18 - front tire doesn't leak

I've been fighting with a front tire that had a flat spot in it from sitting too long.  I took it to Discount Tires where I bought it from and they hooked me up.  It no longer leaks now.

I've been doing some other things to the car that I haven't posted any updates on.  I added in the 95TA under hood wire harness in the rear of the car.  trying to get it power where it should and ground.  Hopefully that'll be done tomorrow.  Then I can test cranking the car and seeing what I have.  I've also discovered the tach out wire from the PCM so I'm working that out of the harness and sending it to my tach and testing it.  If that comes out good then I'll add in my rpm sense to my computers to make sure my fuel injector does what it should do.

I've got the hot lead from the battery over to the 95TA fusible links and power distribution point that was original for that harness.  So this should power on the PCM now instead of my buddy's make shift power for the PCM.  It has worked and I can switch back to it if I have to, but we'll see what this brings.

I installed a back-up camera and an always on monitor in the car so I can see behind me.  I know these things are hard to see out of, so I'll take all the help I can get.  I put a Gadsden flag lic plate (tag) on the back of my car.  What's really funny about it?  The head of the snake is the backup camera!!!  Talk about big brother watching!  I thought it was pretty funny.  I'm sure the group I'm going to see in Bremen, OH will think it's pretty funny too.

So you can see I've been plenty busy, just not johnny on the spot with the updates so soon after, lately.

I took my 24' enclosed trailer out for a check out drive today.  All I had to do was air up the tires and I found one hub that wanted some grease.  I don't know what you all do, but I take it out for a lil trip at about 45 mph and then I pull over and check the hubs temp with my fingers.  If they get too hot or one is definitely hotter than the others, then I grease that one (in this case).  If all of them are hot (based on current temp conditions) then maybe all of them get some grease.  I go about 10 miles for a distance before I check.  My first check is done about 1 mile away and only to see if everything is still good (connections/lights/elec brakes/etc) and that they're all cold (the hubs).

I'll post pics and updates about the car on the Ohio trip.  I'm sure it'll be a hoot.  That's a great bunch of guys and gals I'll be seeing.

Take care,
Coop

Oct 10 - screwing around

SO today I was driving the car up my driveway and was not able to get more than an idle out of it.  Good thing it makes killer torque, I was pulling this steep assed hill on idle!

My left rear disc is still staying stuck and not relaxing completely.  It's dragging pretty good.  just makes it a pain for now, I'll want to get it freed up before I start making serious test drives in it.

I did put in the parking/turn indicators up front and the reverse lights out back.  Nothing wired yet, just looks cool.  :-)

I've got plenty more to do of course so I'm just nibbling away at it, like a 1541 drive on half-track patrol.  ha ha old C= 64 hacker humor there.  Don't worry if you don't get it, most people wouldn't.

So one of the other things i kinda poked at was aligning the front tires with one another better.  It rolls better now without the toe out or toe in whatever it was, it was horrible.  I forget which it was now after all the screwing around I did with that late in the day.  but now my steering wheel is way off of center while the front tires are centered up pretty good.  I'll tackle the straightening out of the steering wheel when I have more time for such things.

Just trying to get this thing ready for Ohio.  Just the main things to do that are still left.  I did the lights to give it more of a completed look and they were quick and easy to do.  I'll probably hang the doors back on the car for the same reason.  When I put the nose on, if it fits when I go to pull it up into the trailer, then I'll set it with the bolts that close up that gap between the body and the nose.  So it'll look better and stay in place for a while.  Re-Train the fiberglass where its shape is supposed to be.  You can see the big warpage look in the top pic.  It is not supposed to look like that of course.  Easy enough to fix wiht some 1/4-20 hardware.

I think I'll work on cleaning out the passenger's side and fixing both my bucket seat shells in there so they'll quit moving around while i'm trying to drive.  :-)

I'll get the trailer out and cleaned out/checked out to make sure it is ready for the road. pull it around with all the stuff that is in it for now to see how it does.  Put some air in the tires.  There's a ton going on between now and time to hit the road.

Y'all take care and keep the rubber side down, I'm 10-10 and on the side.  ;-)
CB humor for those that get that, due to the date of course.  I couldn't pass it up.

:-D hee hee

BYE!
Coop

Oct 9 - It RUNS!

I'll let my 2 video updates speak for themselves for today's updates!  The car runs on a single injector.  There is more work to do like figuring out a good way to preheat for cold starts... but it RUNS!  :-D

Video1  <-- This one is about the operation

Video2  <-- This one is seeing it run

Thanks for watching!

Be sure to like, subscribe and share with your friends if you dig this and want to see this tech finally come out from hiding! 

p.s. it really is over a 100 year old technology.  I think it is time for it to come out and see the light.

Oct 8 - testing electronics

So my buddy comes over and we hook up some arduino compatible mini-computers and a RasPi2.  He had wrote the original software for me and then brought it by to hook it up and see what we would get.

So we did hook up some electronic controls to fire my injector and regulate heat in the vaporizer box via the EGR but haven't found the sweet spot to crank the car on yet.  Worse than that, I am not seeing any tach pulses coming from my alternator so I knew I'd have to swap it.

I pull the alternator and got a replacement that night. Too tired to install it and it's late so I go in for the evening.  Nothing exciting to report on the boxes not behaving; a lot of time was spent just trying to get them to behave properly.

Oct 7 - Fuel tank and filler

So I got my "new" fuel tank and filler in.  The filler tube looks super nice and the tank doesn't look bad, it looks pretty good.  So in putting the filler tube in I'm realizing that I'll have to extend it's reach so I can put in an aviation style gas door on the drivers side.  So I go to Lowe's and get a 4.5" hole saw with arbor and run by O'Reilly's and get some 2" rubber filler tube hose and a little bit of 1/2" for the vent tube.

After coming home and cutting my "new" filler tube, I then attach the rubber hose to add to the length.  I get it set about to where it needs to be and mark it from the under side.  I use a small 1/8" drill bit to mark it from under neath and through the fiberglass body.  Then from the top I drill out my 4.5" hole to allow a spot to fill the tank from.  I tie wrap the neck to the frame under the body and it kind of keeps it where it needs to be while I work from beneath the car.  I get the rubber hoses on to the bottom of the filler tube (not easy working in that little hole trying to do that job.  Then I get the tank into place.  once it is strapped up to the bottom of the car I get the rubber elbows from the filler tube and vent tied in to the tank.

I replace all of my normal hose clamps on my fuel line with proper fuel injection hose clamps and that fixes all of my leaks on that side of the system (going up to the fuel injector rail).  I then get the 5 gallon gas can out that I had recently filled up with 87 octane fuel.  I poured it into the filler tube with my buddy watching the tube for leaks.  It all looks good.  Then while I'm walking around to the passenger side to check it all out for myself I can already smell the fuel from under the car.  I'm like you've got to be kidding me!  This is why I was looking for a nicer tank so I wouldn't have to fix my leaky one!  :-)  Yep there was one spot under it that was leaking.

So I cleaned that spot off with my finger and you could see the clean fuel coming out of the pinhole or tiniest crack in the metal.  At this point you could see the fuel "appear" in one spot and that was it.  I decided to do what testing I could before I got a puddle under the car.  And those tests didn't go very far.  I found out that after pressurizing the fuel system, I didn't have any fuel leaks on my injector rail anymore (so that was a plus) but that I had to fix this tank.  I can't go down the road this way and I surely don't want it smelling up the garage daily.  :-)


Tomorrow will be another day.

 

 

 

 

Found a gas door that looks like it will fit properly. Belongs on a Ford F150 97-03. I'll 3D print a ring that will make the straight ring more flush with the contour of the quarter panel area I'm in.

This was repaired before as can now be seen.  It just didn't hold.

Oct 6 - roll out for pics

I decided to put most of the car together for a quick photo shoot kind of thing.  Trying to raise awareness of the Stan Meyers Conference in Bremen, Ohio this Oct 22-23 of 2016.

So this is also the last pics of the windshield install to show.  I will clean up the edges more and put a black rubber mold around it to hide some of the crappy edge parts, but overall it isn't bad.  Especially for it being such a quick job.

Here are those.  Oh and I made a video too!

You can see that I have left the outside protective film on the glass.

Here are the pics I took of the car today.  Hope you enjoy them.  I know I do.  :-D

My fav from these pics!

I love it.  This car is low to the ground tho. The highest point on the roof looks to be about 41.5"!!!

I'll add the 3rd brake light once I get a little further along.

Them 335/30-18's tho!

I always make a pic of me at the back on the milestones achieved!

Real set of Murci wheels!

skull center caps I made. Let me know if you would like some made, just cap without the sticker is $50 for a set of 4.  I make them on my 3D printer out of ABS plastic.

oh damn that's close!

Oct 5 - Windshield installed

So if you've read the last update with the plan in it, here's the execution with pics.  After building out that frame and having it screwed down, I went out and taped off the windshield, then scuffed it up with 320 grit all around the perimeter.  Broke out the rattle can and went to town.  I laid down 3 coats at 15 min intervals from one another and this was within the hour that the can suggested.  I left that outside for a good while before moving it indoors for the night. That was Oct 4th.

Next morning I came out and unscrewed the frame from the flanged area and laid down the plastic sheet (super thin dust sheet for painting) around the flanged area.  I poked holes through with a tiny flat tip screw driver so the screws could drop down into their holes in the flange.  Put the frame pieces back on and screwed the washers/nuts down on the backs of the screws so it would hold in place.  Sprayed/misted water onto the black painted bit of the windshield.  Applied a bead of gorilla glue to the frame center line.  Misted water onto the frame.  Misted the window again as some of it was evaporating already.  Laid the windshield in place and started clamping and weighing it down.  I did not think about the glue/water mix making the windshield slide down to the front and couldn't get my tabs I had for the bottom of the windshield in place (they fell out while I was maneuvering around).  So the windshield wound up being a little crooked overall, like clockwise a bit from where it should be. 

But it isn't horrible (from what I can tell right now), and I will be able to replace it easy enough when I want that glam look later on.  This is a functional windshield that will do the job for the mule, that this car is.  At some point I will add a rubber mold around the windshield and it'll be harder to tell that the windshield is crooked.  Anyhow.  Here are the pics.

Oct 2 - Windshield plan

So I was thinking about all of the ways that I've seen people install their windshields and I was trying to think of the most simplistic approach possible.  I was thinking of the fewest parts required.  How to hold the windshield securely for high speed driving, you know, just in case.  ;-)

I was walking around my typical home improvement store and looking at different materials and then it hit me.  I could make strip that adheres to the back of the windshield, that holds its own screws in.  So when I unscrew the nuts from the back of the flanged area around the windshield, I could pull it from the car complete.  The screws would stay with the windshield.  The windshield would have the area around the edge of it painted black so no one would see that strip typically. 

This is an Optic Armor windshield, 1/4" thick, tinted.  I was thinking also about how to make a clean edge to the windshield, so when you see the edges of it, there's no trim that would be obvious about how it is being held in.  So it would look more factory (as much as I can with this gen of the D&R body).  As you're not supposed to see any frame between the door and the edge of the glass.  But I'm using what I got.

And as I've said before, this car will be a mule for my open sourced 100/200 mpg fumes car R&D so I'm not trying to make a perfect Lamborghini replica that makes it so hard to tell them apart.  I know most people still will not know the difference, but those builders amongst us will see some obvious stuff. And I'm ok with that.  I'm doing the best with what I have and that includes time.  I'm trying to get this car in some drivable state for the conference I'm going to in Ohio before Halloween this year (2016).

Here's how it is going so far.  I've got flat floor strip that I've cut and bent into shape.  I countersunk the existing holes that was in it.  Got some 1/2" long #6 screws and backed them with washers and nuts.  Here's what that looks like.  Then there will be a plastic sheeting I'll put under it (between the strip and the body) so I can keep the Gorilla Glue off of the body.  Then I'll cut the windshield to fit.  Tape off its border, scuff it and paint it.  Then setup the glue and it does expand.  It'll make good for filling in in between everything that doesn't match up just so.  I'll let it cure and then pull the whole unit out to get the plastic sheeting cleaned up from it.  It should actually make a nice gasket between the metal and the fiberglass body.  The glue will be the gasket between the metal and the Optic Armor.  :-D

I'll be cutting the screen today but probably not painting it and installing it just yet.

Sep 30 - BODY FITS!!!

I got the body to line up on its bolt holes up front.  This hasn't happened since it was just a rolling chassis.  Once I put the brakes on the car and had hung the radiators there was always interference some place.  The Fiero brake reservoir had to go.  I got one for an Astro Van.  Worked out perfect.  That's why people use those.  They fit!  :-D

Here's pics of the body fitting on the front with the screws in it and one of the holes in the back you can see light through because it lines up too.  I'll be putting screws in the back of it today.  Turns out those are 5/16" screws, not 1/4-20 ones.