Going to rewire Brutus!!

Engine and transmission are back in the car.

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All the mechanical stuff on my end is complete. Now the electrical, ie: MSD, coil, boost controller, hot wire harnesses, 2step, bump box etc. Then off to Racetronix for the final touches.

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BRUTUS IS ALIVE!!!! Special thanks to my good friend Jack at Racetronix for thrashing on this car for the last 5 months till countless hours in the morning. Last night we heard some sweet music to our ears when it keyed over at midnight. Initially we weren't getting a rpm signal at the crank sensor when running it direct from the ecu and the service manuals for the wiring of the crank sensor was conflicting.

Section 8A-21-0 lists the sensor as A-12V, B-SIGNAL, C-REF
Section 6E3-A3-44 lists the sensor as A-10V, B-REF, C-SIGNAL

So we ran bench tests last night in the lab at Racetronix to simulate the signal, and found the missing ingredient that required modifications to be done internally in the ecu to work. Once we got the signal there, we hooked it back up in the car and verified all was good when looking at the dashboard parameters to see a rpm signal. This is well over my head, thankfully this stuff comes second nature for Jack. I don't know what he did internally in the ecu because I fell asleep when all the manuals came out and the probing started, but I know what ever he did works like a champ.
 
Got to add some more parts to the car this weekend. Installed a HR bar and a UMI shock tower brace.

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Pulled out my Afco coil overs, cleaned, prepped and painted the back half of the car that was messed up from the exhaust being dumped under it for years. Reinstalled my coilovers, brace and HR bar.

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Then mounted my Racetronix reservoir for my power steering near my MSD coil and ran Racetronix teflon lines and fittings in place of the factory reservoir and rubber lines.

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This weekend I put some time into cleaning up the wiring nightmare I had under the dashboard. I had pulled so much shit out from under the dash when I took out my engine harness, that everything was hanging there uncovered. When it came time for us to fire up the car we were tracing wires to guages etc. I can't believe the stuff I did to Brutus back in the day. I had used all kinds of wire to make this guages light up. I had speaker wire, wrapped in masking tape, duct tape and painters tape. OMG!!! I don't remember doing all that, but I did. So this weekend I pulled out all the wires and started from scratch with all the proper wires, shrink wrap etc and ran all my guages the right way.

BEFORE

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AFTER

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Went back to Racetronix last night to run my alky from the trunk and get it out of the engine compartment. I refused to put it back in when I put this car back together. The reservoir was too close to my downpipe and just not comfortable with having it under the hood. So we got into it last night and mounted a Racetronix 5 gallon fuel cell in the trunk and started mocking up the lines (pressure testing them to 1,000psi) and then installing everything.

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Instead of drilling a hole and putting a grommet around the teflon line, we used a #8 line from the fuel cell, then a #8 bulk head fitting under the fuel cell

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Back in the lab this weekend @ Racetronix, it was time to install my Leash boost controller/bump box. This was done properly running all #3 teflon lines and Racetronix fittings. We started at 2:30pm and finished just a little after midnight. All lines were measured and pressure tested to 1,000psi before installation. This could be done with rubber lines and plastic T's, or nylon push lock. But it's no where near as reliable, and the fit and finish speaks for itself.

Mounted the head unit inside the car first.

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Then fabbed up the solenoids with Racetronix fittings and teflon lines, cut the cheesey harness connectors off and made weather pack connector in it's place. Drilled some holes near the battery to mount the solenoids.

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Took off the wastegate and taped it for another port, then ran the lines to the solenoid. Come on now.....how sexy is that!!!

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Ran the lines to a Racetronix bulk head fitting on my firewall to Leash's map sensor.

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Jack didn't like the idea of a Co2 bottle and having to refill it all the time. He suggested we run a tire pump in the trunk, cut the harness, make his own with a relay and canister that holds the pressure (like a C02 bottle) to a pressure switch that will cycle the pump if the pressure drops under 80psi. Max is set at 100psi.



All done
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Since I have gotten Brutus back on the road this year, the boost has only been set to the wastegate spring of 12psi, which is not bad on pump gas. Now that my alky is done, and my boost controller is done, it's time for us to test this bugger out. Purged the alky pump, to cough the motor and tried my first setting on the boost controller which was headed past 25psi, so I aborted that. Made 2 other settings after that and found the one I wanted to be at on the street, which was 23psi. By this time it was 2:00am and the streets were empty. We took 6 passes to dial Brutus in and I can truthfully say, this car has bad intentions.... All we could do is chuckle as the power came on, until I walked through my door at 3:00am...... wife wasn't as ecstatic as I was, go figure...
 
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Made a couple of changes to the car in the last few weeks. I decided it was time to put on a blowoff valve and re-do my air intake pipe. The one I had on the car for the last 7 years is just too damn heavy. I saw it one day at a truck depot, thought it was cool and made up my air intake. Problem is, it's a 4" chrome stack for a transport truck that weighs a good 25 pounds. I decided to do it all over again with 4" Vibrant polished aluminum tubing and Racetronix new silicone hoses. I basically replaced all my silicone step downs and straights with Racetronix new line up, and took off my intercooler pipe and had it welded up for the flange, and took off my intake spacer and drilled and taped some new holes to run AN fittings and a #4 teflon line to tie it all in.

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I am also going to take another stab at doing the GNX flare fenders for the front. The last set I had stuck out too far and looked silly on the car. So I bought another set from Danko and mocked it up on the car, drilled and screwed them down properly before removing and sending out for paint.

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While I'm at it, I decided to re shoot my front and back bumper, rear bumper fillers, and front and rear GNX flare fenders for paint.

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Where did you buy the flares and did they come with all needed to install them?


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I got back all my parts from the bodyshop on Friday of last week. Spent the night installing everything. In my opinion, it exceeded my expectation. I am very pleased with the new look on this car. This is my 3rd kick at the can with the front flares. Finally everything on the outside is pretty much done.

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I got back all my parts from the bodyshop on Friday of last week. Spent the night installing everything. In my opinion, it exceeded my expectation. I am very pleased with the new look on this car. This is my 3rd kick at the can with the front flares. Finally everything on the outside is pretty much done.


Looks real good. I've watched your build closely and have enjoyed it. Can't wait to see some new videos from the racetrack.

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Just got my Vintage Air heater from Summit. I'm going to mock this up to my current AC delete plate inside the car. This one has a defroster for the windsheild and floor area, with a electric valve controller to moderate the heat from warm to hot. Once it's complete I'm going to take it apart and install a new Black anodized plate from Mark at TR Customs. Just got to find some time to get down to Racetronix and install this using all of their black teflon lines and fittings.

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