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Haven't updated in a while. However, I'm very excited. I should have the car back at my shop to finish out wiring and plumbing within two weeks. Latest pictures:
Rear Seat upholstered to match fronts:
Cage back in:
Side glass in and front end assembled:
Dash in. Did black matte on the mai dash for contrast. Matte Blue on the upper dash to minimize glare. Don’t mind the steering wheel - it’s temporary. Gauges are Livorsi:
Rear almost done. Bumper is back on, but don’t have a pic. Inside the racetrack is matte black for contrast:
Finally up on cribbing blocks to start the wiring:
Got most of the dash and fuse-block part of the wiring harness finished yesterday. I should have some free time this week and hope to finish off the wire harness
2.5 days of work and the American Autowire Harness is in. Was a bit easier than I thought. Wiring left to do:
- Doors - Get power, power windows, power locks and two sets of speaker wire. I already had holes for everything except speaker wire, so just need to enlarge
- Main power - Just received my roll of 1/0 welding wire today, so I can get that done. Unfortunately, my kit from American Autowire didn't have the MEGA fuses or block. I bought it so long ago, I doubt they'd send me one. I have a circuit breaker I can use, so no major loss. Routing the cable from the trunk should be fun.
- A/C binary or trinary switch. The binary switch Vintage Air sent me is female and needs to be male. Again, bought it a long time ago. Probably just have to buy one. Suggestion on binary vs trinary? The ECU already controls the fans and turns them on at 207
- Halo headlights. Gotta find a spot for the controlers
- Courtesy Lights. I'm not using the factory ones, but LED strips instead. I'm going to wait 'til I make sure everything works to tie the harness up and fabricate mounts for the LED strips
Pictures:
Had to cut a space next to the fuse block for the pedal wire, OBD and a couple other things:
Rear harness running behind the II MUCH filter:
Battery mount in and battery installed (delivered today):
Switches and the only left over wires. The one switch without a cover is for locks and the only place it would fit. The round switch on the bottom is for the wipers:
2.5 days of work and the American Autowire Harness is in. Was a bit easier than I thought. Wiring left to do:
- Doors - Get power, power windows, power locks and two sets of speaker wire. I already had holes for everything except speaker wire, so just need to enlarge
- Main power - Just received my roll of 1/0 welding wire today, so I can get that done. Unfortunately, my kit from American Autowire didn't have the MEGA fuses or block. I bought it so long ago, I doubt they'd send me one. I have a circuit breaker I can use, so no major loss. Routing the cable from the trunk should be fun.
- A/C binary or trinary switch. The binary switch Vintage Air sent me is female and needs to be male. Again, bought it a long time ago. Probably just have to buy one. Suggestion on binary vs trinary? The ECU already controls the fans and turns them on at 207
- Halo headlights. Gotta find a spot for the controlers
- Courtesy Lights. I'm not using the factory ones, but LED strips instead. I'm going to wait 'til I make sure everything works to tie the harness up and fabricate mounts for the LED strips
Pictures:
Had to cut a space next to the fuse block for the pedal wire, OBD and a couple other things:
Rear harness running behind the II MUCH filter:
Battery mount in and battery installed (delivered today):
Switches and the only left over wires. The one switch without a cover is for locks and the only place it would fit. The round switch on the bottom is for the wipers:
Only a couple engine bay wires left:
Does your ECU have provisions for an AC pressure sensor input? Vintage Air offers it as an option for their dryer.
With the pressure sensor input, the ECU should cycle the fans based on AC pressure, regardless of engine temperature.
If not, then I would use a trinary switch, which will allow you to trigger the fan relay, provided that the ECU is triggering the fan relay with a ground signal.
Hmmmm - Didn't think about it. Just checked. I don't see one. Blue Print Engines builds their engines, but basically uses GM connect and cruise electronics with different programing (as far as I can tell). INSTRUCTIONS. I have seen the Vintage Air instructions, thank you. Looks like I'm gonna order a trinary.
Originally Posted by Project GatTagO
Does your ECU have provisions for an AC pressure sensor input? Vintage Air offers it as an option for their dryer.
With the pressure sensor input, the ECU should cycle the fans based on AC pressure, regardless of engine temperature.
If not, then I would use a trinary switch, which will allow you to trigger the fan relay, provided that the ECU is triggering the fan relay with a ground signal.
I ended up going with a Trinary switch. My issue is that the fan wire from the ECM is a positive signal that is relay'ed and fused. However, I have dual fans that require more power than the ECM is fused for. So I had to run a relay for each fan with separate power and the relay being switch by ground and the ECM signal. The trinary switch sends a ground signal. So I had to use ANOTHER relay to switch that from ground to power in order for the trinary to activate the fan. More wiring, which is fine; I'm used to relays and doing wiring...just a pain in the @$$.
I ended up going with a Trinary switch. My issue is that the fan wire from the ECM is a positive signal that is relay'ed and fused. However, I have dual fans that require more power than the ECM is fused for. So I had to run a relay for each fan with separate power and the relay being switch by ground and the ECM signal. The trinary switch sends a ground signal. So I had to use ANOTHER relay to switch that from ground to power in order for the trinary to activate the fan. More wiring, which is fine; I'm used to relays and doing wiring...just a pain in the @$$.
Awesome build, Jim. It is looking great!
I’m glad I came back to your thread as I will be tackling my wiring in the near future and this is very helpful!
Thank you for the updates! Looking forward to the finished product of all your hard work!
I’m glad I came back to your thread as I will be tackling my wiring in the near future and this is very helpful!
Thank you for the updates! Looking forward to the finished product of all your hard work!
Thank you. Trinary switch is installed and wired. Did have to use a third relay to change the ground from the trinary to a +12V to trigger the positive on the fan relays. Also found a couple radiator hoses from gates to fit. One fit unmodified and one I had to cut down, but it was a lot easier finding them than I thought. I just bent up some wire hangers to the correct angles and headed to O'Reiley's. Last thing for wiring is transmission control unit from MSD. I am confused on a couple of the wires and if the TCM needs them or the ECM does. I created another thread on that. Unfortunately, I'm traveling this week and we have people staying at the house this weekend, so I'm not sure if I'll have time to work on it. I'm pretty sure I can speak out and get the driveshaft measurements to order. Any recommendations on who to order from? And whether or not I should go with a CV Joint driveshaft off the bat to avoid vibrations?
First fire!!! After building oil pressure, connected fuel pump relay and spark plugs. It took about 5 seconds and it fired right up. This is my first time doing this, so the sounds were a little odd. Not sure if everything was right. I have four issues:
1. Power steering (reservoir, pump, steering box and hydroboost)
a. Apparently, I didn't put sealant on the adapter going in the steering box, so I have a leak there
b. The reservoir drained pretty darn quick. My son filled it as fast as he could, but the reservoir ran dry
c. Once I shut it off, the fluid came rushing back into the reservoir and over-flowed
d. I bled it again by jacking the front up, turning the wheels from left to right 5 times and pressing the brake pedal three times. Still, the second time I fired it, same thing
2. I have a transmission leak somewhere.
a. Not from the tailshaft (I have a plug there), but somewhere at the front of the pan
b. Could be the dipstick as a I had a mother of a time filling the transmission and had fluid leak all over the place, but I think I cleaned it all up
3. No Tach signal
a. I'm using the tach signal from the LS bulkhead along with a pull-up resistor (5000 ohm, 1/4 watt) to the +12v from the same bulkhead and the tach is set to 4cyl
4. MIL (Check Engine Light) stays on. No idea why. And don't have a tuner to check. Hopefully it's not bad
I went and picked up a OBD reader, so next time I fire it, I can check and clear codes. I think I may have the steering leak figured out. I think I had the wrong fittings for the steering gear. I was using the metric (M18 & M15) adapters in the steering gear instead of the SAE (11/16 & 5/8). I am HOPING that this was causing both the leak as well as the foaming and fluid level issue.
Question - Those of you using a GM ECM, are you getting the tach signal from the bulkhead connector? And are you using a pull-up resistor with +12v?
I went and picked up a OBD reader, so next time I fire it, I can check and clear codes. I think I may have the steering leak figured out. I think I had the wrong fittings for the steering gear. I was using the metric (M18 & M15) adapters in the steering gear instead of the SAE (11/16 & 5/8). I am HOPING that this was causing both the leak as well as the foaming and fluid level issue.
Question - Those of you using a GM ECM, are you getting the tach signal from the bulkhead connector? And are you using a pull-up resistor with +12v?
When I was using the GM ECU I remember having to install a pull up resistor in order for my AutoMeter tach to work. I remember I first wired in a potentiometer and varied the resistance to where the needle on the gauge was steady, then I picked a resistor with a similar value. I don't recall what I settled on. That was back in 2008. My GTO v2 build thread may have some details.
Have a couple questions on hoses to make sure I am correct.
First, this hose
I connected this from a black tube coming from the drivers side of the intake (which previously had a red cap on it) to the air intake between the throttle body and the MAF.
Second this one from the steam vent on the driver's side at the front of the intake valley:
To the radiator just below the upper radiator hose:
The hose from the intake tube to the intake is not correct. The hose from the intake tube feeds filtered air to the engine for the PCV system. Where it goes depends on how you have the PCV system hooked up.
Thanks Andrew. I questioned that one. There is this one that was already connected. I seem to remember that this is the PCV line:
If that is the case, should I just cap off the one on my intake?
Thanks,
Jim
Originally Posted by Project GatTagO
The hose from the intake tube to the intake is not correct. The hose from the intake tube feeds filtered air to the engine for the PCV system. Where it goes depends on how you have the PCV system hooked up.
The little looped hose is the dirty side. I suggest putting a catch can between the nipple on the valley cover and the intake manifold.
The PCV system also needs a fresh air source and since you have a MAF sensor, it needs to be metered air.
So from the intake tube, after the MAF and before the throttle body to the nipple on the back of the driver's side valve cover. You can also T that line and connect the passenger side valve cover as well.
The little looped hose is the dirty side. I suggest putting a catch can between the nipple on the valley cover and the intake manifold.
The PCV system also needs a fresh air source and since you have a MAF sensor, it needs to be metered air.
So from the intake tube, after the MAF and before the throttle body to the nipple on the back of the driver's side valve cover. You can also T that line and connect the passenger side valve cover as well.
Andrew
I think I found it. I have no idea how I missed it. I was hiding behind the wire harness across the top of the valve cover. Is this it?
Thanks,
Jim
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