1) Passenger-side rocker panel installed. Not one single plastic interior piece (that was used) was left uncut.

2) Cut-out for front roll cage down bar.

3) I riveted the interior panels together once they were in the car. Trying my best to curb any rattling. Plus, some of the mounting fixtures were lost when the panels were cut.

4) Riveted to the partial mini tub.

5) I cut the rear speakers out of their plastic fasteners and plan to sell them as scrap. White line marks the cut line.

6) About 1/3 of this interior piece got cut off and tossed.

7) Rerouted the battery cable and alternator shutdown wire on the inside of the car this time around. Remember, form follows function.

8) Wires routed through rear bulkhead.

9) The wires viewed from the backside of the rear bulkhead.

10) Driver's-side interior sail panel pretty much finished up.

1) This time around, I chose to run the wiring to the rear-mounted battery inside the car (rather than underneath as previously done). I didn't even attempt to hide it behind the plastic rocker trim panel. I kind of like the "utility" look of having it exposed anyway.

2 & 3) Completed routing of the battery and alternator shutdown cable.

4,5,6 & 7) Neutral/Park/Start Safety Switch & Back Up Light Switch installation

8) Lingenfelter TVS Voltage Suppression wire installed onto the Biondo line lock wiring.
UPDATE: Suppression wire tossed and the Biondo Line Lock has since been replaced with another one.

9) Pulling wires for the starter hook up through the firewall.

10) Some of the engine bay wiring enters through this grommet.

1) Lokar Interior Battery Disconnect Lever Kit

2 & 3) The lever comes with this bracket that mounts underneath the shifter base.

4) Red anodized lever installed & cable hooked up.

5,6 & 7) Jegs shifter cover & wiring routing shown

8) ALWAYS put your parts in bags that are clearly labeled. I like to include the packaging labels if at all possible.

9) Overhead photograph of completed unit

10) This is the bracket that I designed and fabricated for use with the Lokar cable to connect to my existing Summit Racing Battery Shutoff Switch. However, it would not work with how everything was laid out. Therefore, this bracket ended up on the scrap pile.

so what happened?

Marriage, honeymoon, work, schooling for journeyman, car shows, grandfather passed.....life is what happened.


-----------UPDATE 08/30/13-----------

1 & 2) Junction for Alternator wire running from back of alternator to rear-mounted battery.

3) Electronics ready for fuses and relays.

4,5 & 6) Vacuum line for Summit Racing Boost Gauge for upcoming turbo.
UPDATE: Gauge sold off and replaced with Turbosmart Boost Controller

7) OBD II connection mounted to passenger-side rocker panel.

8) Wiring in interior light. Position of light is now reversed from factory location.

9) New bracket I fabricated using the bracket supplied with the Lokar kit. This will hold the Jegs battery disconnect switch.

10) New bracket mounted into position to test for fitment (before painting it). You can see the old bracket I fabricated still attached to the Summit Racing battery disconnect switch.

1) Battery disconnect bracket was spray-painted flat black to match the rest of the trunk area.

2) Jegs battery disconnect switch mounted in place. I will tie the wiring from both disconnects together so one will kill power to the other or visa versa. Both will have to be ON before the car will fire.

3 & 4) Lokar cable and switch bracket mounted into place.

5) Moving the lever back will kill power to the car. Moving it back forward will allow the car to be restarted. The lokar cable is a firm unit (nothing like a bicycle brake cable).

6) This photo shows the areas I plan to remove from the lower portions of the VFN Fiberglass Dash. It will provide more leg room on the driver's-side and better access to the electronics on the passenger-side.

7) These are the sections marked for removal from the top portion of the dash.

8) I will be cutting this furring strip down for use as a stiffener on the inside of the dashboard.

9) Cutting the furring strip with my trusty handsaw.

10) Test fitment of the furring strip. The furring strip actually came as part of the packaging for my carbon fiber roll cage protectors from RJ Race Cars.

1) Wood furring strip cut and ready to glue in place. Using as support brace after cuts to fiberglass have been made.

2) Marked location of cut on inside of dash so wood could be glued in the correct spot. Using Liquid Nails to hold it in place.

3) First section to be removed from the lower portion of the dashboard. Not only will it shave off some weight, it will provide access to the electronics mounted onto the firewall.

4) The remaining areas to be cut off on the lower dash have been removed.

5) Sections along the top part of the dash have been marked off for removal.

6) Furring strip held in place with C-clamp after glue has been applied.

7) Top of dash after fiberglass has been removed.

8,9 & 10) One last fitment check before painting the dash.

1) Smoothing out the repaired section of fiberglass on the dashboard.

2) Everything taped off and semi-gloss paint applied.

3) Painted and masking removed.

4) Jegs dzus-type fasteners installed.

1) Well I sorta forgot to tape off the turn signal indicators on the dash before I painted it, so I had to scrap the paint off with an X-acto knife after it had dried.
UPDATE: The latest incarnation of the dash doesn't include the turn signal indicators. I removed them when installing the Holley EFI Screen.

2) Window switches installed into the dashboard. No arm rests on the upcoming carbon fiber door panels, so I deleted the power door locks and moved the window switches to the dash.

3) Fuses and relays installed into the fuse block for the cars electrical system.

4) Rerouting of fuel lines to and from Aeromotive Fuel Pressure Regulator. Noticed how a Corvette was done in a recent issue of GMHTP, and I saw how mine was going to be restricting flow.

5) "Return" line from rear of passenger-side Edelbrock fuel rail.

6,7 & 8) For the fuel lines running along the top of the driver's-side of the engine, I fabricated a tray for the lines to sit in. It keeps them up off of the cylinder head & intake manifold. I will eventually line the top side of the tray with some heat-resistant shielding.

9) New Y-fitting for the feed line for the fuel system. Each line runs to the front of each fuel rail.

10) Fuel lines installed and temporarily routed. I will tie them all together at some point for a cleaner & more stable look.

1) This is the tray that I fabricated for the fuel lines.

2) Spray-bombed the tray and fire extinguisher mount (see photos 8, 9 & 10) with semi-gloss paint.

3) The Navy Blue Metallic front license plate cover that I purchased on ebay along with the aluminum grill that I also picked up on ebay. The grill pattern matches that of the side fender vents.

4) License plate cover marked and ready for drilling and cutting.

5) Drilled out the corners so they would be rounded.

6) Center section cut out and removed.

7) Smoothed out the edges with my Dremel tool.

8, 9 & 10) New location for the fire extinguisher (I believe this is location #3). Mounted on the bar behind that passenger seat. Installed the remaining carbon fiber roll bar protection that I had left around it.
UPDATE: Make that 4 different locations now. I changed the mounting spot again in January 2018 during the new rollcage install.

There is a lot of work that I'd like to do to the car, but here's how that has to play out. In order to safely work underneath the car, I have to move it onto my concrete driveway. That, in turn, blocks my other Trans Am in the garage. Leaving it outside isn't an option, so I'd much rather have it available whenever I want it. The weather is nice and I want to drive it to car shows, to work, racing, etc.... (Problem solved in 2015, so keep reading!)

1) Holding the aluminum grille in place with bolts, nuts & washers. I wanted it to follow the curve of the license plate cover as close as possible. Glued into place with Liquid Nails.

2) Before I can put the dash into the car, I needed to wire up the Summit Racing boost gauge into the existing dash wiring harness.

3) Well here goes....installation of the VFN dash. It has to slide onto the Burkhart Chassis lightweight steering column. It fastens to the car with six Jegs dzus-type fasteners.
UPDATE: I trimmed that down to four fasteners during the last dash upgrades.

4) Slide into place and fastened down. The t-shirt is draped over the Hurst shifter to protect it and the dash from each other during the install.

5) A close up of the dash. Here you can see the horn button (red push-type far left), Headlights pull-type switch (next to horn button), Power Window switches (below horn & headlights), Turn signal stalk (clamp on with green tip), Line-lock button (red mushroom on steering wheel with cord) and the Tachometer (mounted to front roll cage down bar).

6) Photo shows Deutsch connector for turn signal stalk. Everything can unplug should the dash need to be removed from the car.

7) Close up of just how close the tachometer comes to the dash. They do not touch.

8) Ok, so this photograph is out of order. It shows the spray painting done to the VFN Fiberglass Dashboard. Semi-gloss Black was my chosen color.

9) Installation almost complete. It is now ready to have all of the electronics plugged in. The odd finish to the semi-gloss paint is actually a little bit of sawdust. I had it covered up, but the sawdust still found a way to land on the dash during a recent garage project (added overhead storage space).

10) Everything is plugged in and ready to go. I will probably tie the wiring up out of the way at some point.

Before purchasing the VFN Fiberglass dashboard, I did a lot of research on it. I read mostly great reviews on it, and one or two from folks that were disappointed (but that is to be expected with any product). I have to say that I am extremely happy with the dash. It fits great, and is sturdier than the plastic factory dash it replaced. It took a little bit of planning to figure out how to mount it, but once that was done it was pretty smooth sailing. It was nice being able to mount the gauges anywhere I wanted. The top panel really didn't fit as I'd wanted, but I attribute that to a few factors. I believe I mounted the dashboard slightly lower than the factory location, or perhaps I should have had the top panel in the car while I was mocking up the mounting brackets. Then I goofed up and cut too much off the ends in an attempt to keep from scratching the painted roll cage (still managed to scratch it up). It won't be going into the car unless I can put it in when the windshield is replaced. I will more than likely purchase a piece of carpet to install up there (possibly glued to a piece of cardboard that's cut to fit).

1) A "behind the scenes" look of the dashboard.

2) Brake system mock up: Biondo Line Lock, Speedway Motors/Wilwood Proportioning Valve, Speedway Motors Kevlar Brake Lines, SSBC Residual Valve and Strange Master Cylinder w/ Midwest Chassis Manual Brakes Mount.

3 & 4) Brake components mounted to plate I welded to side of S&W engine bay front cage bars

5) Schematic identifying all the components....verifying if I have it set up correctly.

6) Carbon Fiber Roll from RJ Race Cars/Quarter-Max for use as roll cage protectors

7) The first piece to be mounted goes onto the driver's-side swing-out bar. I cut the carbon fiber to size with my Dremel.

8) Glued into place with Liquid Nails. It takes several days to fully cure, but it has held up great so far.

9) Carbon fiber protection added to the lower part of the bar where shoes could scuff things up.

10) Rerouted Lokar Speedometer cable up through floor. This is just above the footwell area on the driver's-side. Hole did not previously exist, so I had to drill it out using a step bit. Previous entry point for the cable was further up on the firewall.

1) Speedometer cable runs up the firewall alongside the steering column mount and behind the brake pedal assembly bracket.
UPDATE: Upgraded to a digital speedometer, so the speedometer cable has since been removed.

2) Drilled hole in brake pedal assembly bracket to secure the speedometer cable out of the way with a cable tie.

4) Cable tie on the end of the cable prevents the nut from sliding down the cable out of reach while attaching it to the back of the speedometer gauge.

5) With the rubber grommet protecting the cable, I used black silicone sealer to fill the rest of the hole and to secure the cable.

1 & 2) Speedway Motors Alternator Relocation Bracket on driver's-side cylinder head.

3) The alternator barely clears the sensor in the cylinder head.

4) The alternator fits in the space allowed nicely.

5) This opens up the space I need for the truck manifold and hot-side piping to pass through.

6) Finally running the new braided fuel line. Switched over all the fittings from using thread tape to ARP thread sealant. Read an article in a recent issue of Hot Rod & Restoration that discussed the possibility of thread tape pieces contaminating the fuel system.

7) Take my advice and keep all the factory fasteners from the stuff you remove during weight reduction, etc. I've gone back to my stash time and time again.

8 & 9) Ran the fuel line down the transmission/driveshaft tunnel and used existing brake line/fuel line mounting points.

10) Ditching the B&M Kickdown switch because of the quality & replacing it with this Lokar unit. The difference in quality is night & day.

I can't not continue on with this portion of the build without acknowledging this thread:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...turbo-kit.html

I have looked at it over and over! Even have a printed copy for ease of reference when I've been out working on the car.

1) Inside the Lokar kickdown unit, you'll find the switch that you need to wire into for it to activate. Found it interesting that Lokar prides themselves on American-made products, but the switch is clearly made in China.

2) Installed the Moroso Transmission Pan. Very nice piece with two locations for sensor and/or drain use.

3) The Lokar unit mounts onto the side of the transmission using the transmission pan bolts.

4) Decided to weld my band-clamps onto the truck manifolds after reading this thread: https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...manifolds.html

5) Pulled the Taiwan Ebay headers and sold them not long after listing them on Ebay. That money went back into parts purchases.

6) Purchased the oil pan fitting from a place specializing in rock-crawling. Works great with all the fittings I needed for the Moroso Oil Accumulator and oil feed line for the turbo.

7) Laying out the turbo set up began with doing multiple sketches. Being an artist came in very useful :)

8) Started fabrication of the 2 1/2" hot-side piping at the turbo flange.

9 & 10) The next fabrication involves new upper and lower radiator supports. So, I started by undoing the radiator and sitting it out of the way.

1) The lower radiator support came out without too much argument :) It's next destination is the scrap place.

2) I cut the sides of the lower support off flush with the bottom of the subframe.

3) Here's a shot of the driver's-side cut off.

4) I put this leftover rollcage tubing to good use by fabricating the new lower radiator support with it. Yes, it's a little overkill. However, I'll be hanging brackets off of it to also support the intercooler and the turbo.

5) I left the radiator connected to the block, and just let it rest on a concrete block while I welded in the lower support.

6) Now on to the upper support!

7 & 8) Removal was fairly easy using a reciprocating saw.

9 & 10) The new upper bracket mocked up in place. Ignore the radiator location. That is not where it will end up.

1) A little extra work was required on the driver's-side of the upper support. The top radiator hose mount on the stock LS radiator protrudes out on the side, and in order to fit in the spot I wanted it required opening up a spot.

2) Open ends on 3/4" tubing capped off, and bracket assembly is ready for permanent installation.

3-8) Welding in the bracket

9 & 10) Capping off the remaining parts of the exposed factory portions of the radiator support.

1) This is the piece I cut out for the upper radiator hose clearance.

2) Same piece trimmed up and hammered to the correct curve needed.

3 & 4) Welded the piece back in place. Lots of seam sealer and paint to burn off, so it looks a little nasty at this point.

5) Lower tabs installed for radiator and intercooler support.

6-9) The radiator placed in it's new location.

10) Factory V6 fan ready for some modification.
UPDATE: Replaced with an LS1 Dual-Fan Set-up and sold for scrap in October 2018

1) Factory V6 Fan with a portion of the plastic shrouding removed. Will gain more clearance for turbo and piping.

2) Intercooler with my fabricated brackets installed.

3) This is the portion of the lower bumper cover that I removed. It mounted to the metal bumper, and that is exactly where the intercooler will be mounted. Surprisingly still sturdy with it removed, but I still plan to fabricate support brackets for the bumper cover.

4) Cutting out the bottom of the metal bumper.

5) Cut the window for the front license plate pocket grille that will be installed at a later date.

6) The fan in its new location.

7) The intercooler installed in its new home. Hoping the tight confines don't hamper cooling. Will be reattaching the front spoiler at some point in the future.

8 & 9) The intercooler tucks up nicely under the car. I plan to fabricate a tiny chin spoiler for it to help direct some of the air from under the car into it. The ragged edge of the cut bumper cover will also be trimmed up. I used my grinder with a cutoff wheel to remove it :). A little dremel work will make it look nicer.

--------Update 10/31/13---------

10) For those keeping track, this is rear end #3 that has been in the car since I've owned it. The original open-type rear end was pulled in favor of a 10 bolt posi in 2009. In February 2012, I picked up the 12 bolt Moser used from the classifieds here. I stored it in the back of my garage until I'd accumulated enough other scrap & enthusiasm to pull the 10 bolt because it was to be scrapped.

lookin good! :thumb: