Did A Little Work To The Black Car......
09-16-2011, 10:57 PM
#1
Did A Little Work To The Black Car...... I've contemplated going with a single plane Vic Jr intake for quite awhile now. The thing that really bugged me was the possiblity of losing the passenger side windshield wiper. The Heads-Up racing I want to compete in have rules that state all "street" cars must have working wipers,,,, blah. I think most street car classes for bracket racing have this same stipulation as well. Another issue was that modding/cutting the wiper assembly just looked very unfinished. I've heard people talking about relocatiing the wiper, but never saw anyone doing it. So, I took the innitiative to relocate the PS wiper arm. I'm not a bodyman, so please forgive the body prep lol,,, this will eventually be smoothed out with body seam sealer and painted once I finish the cowl modifications under the windshield. Eventually the area directly under the windshield and back to the firewall will be removed and boxed-in, at least the part directly above the engine anyway.
Here is the wiper assembly, looking all obtrusive in factory form.
Wiper assembly removed.
Removed the bracket section that needed to be relocated. I used an old blanket that was hosed down with water to catch any flying sparks. You can also see I used painters tape on the windshield and top sides of the fenders to help protect them.
Trying to figure out exactly where to move it etc.. Eventually it ended up exactly 8" toward the driver side. This was as far over as it could move without removing material above the brake booster where the sheet metal arcs inward.
After some trial fitting and a lot of trimming/cutting/grinding, it found it's way to its new home. You can sort of see where I had to notch out a bit of the underside just above the brake booster. This allows the wiper lever assembly to be removed/installed. Also notched a bit just below the windshield to make it easier to get in/out.
So originally I just shortened the arms for the wiper mechanism the same amount that I moved the wiper. Apparently I had taken them on/off so many times that the sockets lost their holding power. The first time I attempted to operate the wipers, the arms just popped right off. They would operate just fine without the wipers attached, but as soon as there was a load placed, they popped off. I searched around the garage and found some old spherical rods ends I had laying around. These can be purchased for around $8-12 a piece. Also used some threaded rod (all-thread) that was cut to length.
Here you can see the difference between stock and new.
With using the spherical rod ends, had to remove the original ball studs and weld on my own threaded section to attach the rod ends. All I had was 1/4"x20 threaded rod so cut to length and welded them on. Also used some rubber tubing to insert into the rod ends bearing section and nylok nuts. This took up the extra slack from the size difference and will also keep the wiper operation nice and quiet instead of a clunk clunk... Priorities ya know...
Here is where I'm at so far. Once the coil packs are relocated and make up new spark plug wires I can then remove the engine and get started removing/boxing in the rest of the cowl. Might lengthen the wiper arm itself as well, to make up for the relocated distance. Took some quick measurements, and it appears it can only lengthened by about 4.5-5 inches. Anything more and the wiper blade would arc accross higher than the windshield unless I used a shorter blade length.
Mike
Here is the wiper assembly, looking all obtrusive in factory form.
Wiper assembly removed.
Removed the bracket section that needed to be relocated. I used an old blanket that was hosed down with water to catch any flying sparks. You can also see I used painters tape on the windshield and top sides of the fenders to help protect them.
Trying to figure out exactly where to move it etc.. Eventually it ended up exactly 8" toward the driver side. This was as far over as it could move without removing material above the brake booster where the sheet metal arcs inward.
After some trial fitting and a lot of trimming/cutting/grinding, it found it's way to its new home. You can sort of see where I had to notch out a bit of the underside just above the brake booster. This allows the wiper lever assembly to be removed/installed. Also notched a bit just below the windshield to make it easier to get in/out.
So originally I just shortened the arms for the wiper mechanism the same amount that I moved the wiper. Apparently I had taken them on/off so many times that the sockets lost their holding power. The first time I attempted to operate the wipers, the arms just popped right off. They would operate just fine without the wipers attached, but as soon as there was a load placed, they popped off. I searched around the garage and found some old spherical rods ends I had laying around. These can be purchased for around $8-12 a piece. Also used some threaded rod (all-thread) that was cut to length.
Here you can see the difference between stock and new.
With using the spherical rod ends, had to remove the original ball studs and weld on my own threaded section to attach the rod ends. All I had was 1/4"x20 threaded rod so cut to length and welded them on. Also used some rubber tubing to insert into the rod ends bearing section and nylok nuts. This took up the extra slack from the size difference and will also keep the wiper operation nice and quiet instead of a clunk clunk... Priorities ya know...
Here is where I'm at so far. Once the coil packs are relocated and make up new spark plug wires I can then remove the engine and get started removing/boxing in the rest of the cowl. Might lengthen the wiper arm itself as well, to make up for the relocated distance. Took some quick measurements, and it appears it can only lengthened by about 4.5-5 inches. Anything more and the wiper blade would arc accross higher than the windshield unless I used a shorter blade length.
Mike
Last edited by Mikey 97Z M6; 09-16-2011 at 11:10 PM.
09-17-2011, 10:37 AM
#4
Thanks guys. It's good to be working on the car again even though I'm still low on funds lol...
Yeah, the Vic Jr and 4barrel (4150) style throttle body will extend the rpm capabilities and make more hp above 5000. How much hp depends on the cam and valvetrain capabilities and how high you're wanting to rev.
The L76/LS3, as well as most plastic manifolds for the L92 heads, are pretty much done by 6200-6400 rpm which is fine for a street car. The cam that's in there should easily peak at 6700 and rev out to 7200. I figure I was giving up quite a bit of power up top with my old setup so I sold it to fund this project.
Once I get the coil packs relocated I'm gonna pull the engine and finish up the cowl mods. Should give me a lot more room to work in there too. Eventually I'll be picking up a 3" raised SS hood to cover up the hole left under the windshield lol....
Mike
Yeah, the Vic Jr and 4barrel (4150) style throttle body will extend the rpm capabilities and make more hp above 5000. How much hp depends on the cam and valvetrain capabilities and how high you're wanting to rev.
The L76/LS3, as well as most plastic manifolds for the L92 heads, are pretty much done by 6200-6400 rpm which is fine for a street car. The cam that's in there should easily peak at 6700 and rev out to 7200. I figure I was giving up quite a bit of power up top with my old setup so I sold it to fund this project.
Once I get the coil packs relocated I'm gonna pull the engine and finish up the cowl mods. Should give me a lot more room to work in there too. Eventually I'll be picking up a 3" raised SS hood to cover up the hole left under the windshield lol....
Mike
