[Gator67]

Installed the Terminator X Max harness through the firewall (in a 2" hole behind the RH frame rail). Everything is fairly hidden and connectors landed where they're supposed to. We won't be using several of the connectors and was considering de-pinning them to further clean up the wiring (e.g., IAC, TPS) but will wait until we get it running first just in case.

The OEM door hardware was in great shape, so we just cleaned and lubricated everything. We used my last set of NOS glass channel weatherstrips and NOS outside door handles. Assembly and adjusting went smoothly. The Pilkington glass is super clear, not splotchy, and fits great...nice and tight against the Fairchild window seals. The doors open and close with a nice thunk, and with hardly any effort, so the Metro door seal & Fairchild window seal combo was a winner for us.

We also installed the inner fenders, mostly to get a sense of where the radiator and fan shroud would land. It looks like there's plenty of room.

I've only ever installed the fender and inner fender attached together. Wondering if it's a lot harder to install the fenders with the inner fenders attached to the car? This way I could continue to work on the wiring & A/C lines in the engine bay without worrying about messing up the painted fenders. Thoughts?



We bought a cold case 2nd gen LS swap radiator. The only odd thing is that the upper radiator hose fitting is 1.5" rather than the LS standard 1.25". There are adaptors available, so not a huge deal. The lower radiator hose will end up being close to the subframe but should be OK.

We also bought a Spal brushless fan & shroud set-up from Derale. Expensive, but very high airflow for 12" fans (4400cfm together) , and having PWM will be nice...and much easier wiring since there's no need for relays. We were planning to control them using the proprietary Spal temp sensor, but there isn't an ideal location for the 3/8 sensor on the hot side of the cooling system--at least not without adaptors--so we plan to control them through the Terminator X. Spent some time on the phone with Andrew (Dr. EFI) yesterday to talk about this strategy and wiring it up with the trinary switch. Andrew is super helpful and knowledgeable about this stuff.

Should not take much fabrication to make the shroud fit perfectly on the radiator. The pair also fit well in the car...was relieved to find no interference with the steering box. All for now...

[Gator67]

It took a bit of work, but we finished up with the radiator and fan shroud. Need to think about some baffling between the sides of the radiator and core support. Also have to find radiator hoses that will work. Going to order tires tomorrow...not many choices in the sizes that we plan to run (335 30 18 and 275 35 18), Continental Extreme Contact Sport 02 or BFGoodrich G Force Rival S 1.5. I run the latter tire on my 70 Formula...super sticky but not great in the rain.

[Poncho Dave]

Looking great so far, that car is going to be a blast to drive! In regards to the fenders, I usually install the inner fenders after the fenders. I just unbolt the bottom heel and pull it out a couple inches to squeeze the inner in place. You can probably leave those inner fenders in place, but will be a little tricky, but what about building a car isn’t!

[Gator67]

Needs a little more adjusting, but one down, one to go! We installed the fender and inner fender together as one piece. Will be more challenging on the other side because we have to snake the ac/lines through the space between the fender and inner fender.

[Gator67]

Installed the RH fender.



Tires arrived, 335 30 18 and 275 35 18, so we could figure out how much back space we need before ordering the wheels (Forgeline TA3, polished lip race gold centers with the spoke faces machined). We came up with 8" for the rear wheels. Exactly 2.5" more than my 70, which makes sense because the rear end on my 70 was narrowed by 2.5". We went with factory width on this car so the dish on the front and rear wheels would look the same. The fronts are more tricky. Ridetech said 6" so we tried the fronts on my 70, which are 6.125. I thought these would fit well because the rotors on the AERO6 brakes are thicker than what Ridetech normally uses. No interference anywhere, but would look better if they tucked in a bit more. I think 6.5" will be as far as I can go before I start getting rubbing on the subframe on full turn.

[Gator67]

Finished up the A/C lines, air intake tube, radiator hoses, etc. Engine bay is almost done...just need to install coolant overflow tank, battery and wire up the starter, alternator, & fans.



We decided to go with shorter coilovers & springs in the front. We originally deviated from Ridetech's standard set-up and went with a taller shock and spring thinking we'd need more ground clearance, but even at the lowest setting we we were basically at factory ride height. The stance is better now with Ridetech's standard set-up, but there were some unintended consequences. For one thing, we ripped a boot on one of the lower ball joints while trying to separate the spindle, so we'll be replacing a ball joint today if it comes in. Second, lowering the front end changed the geometry somewhat and we now have less clearance with the subframe (and also the rear of the upper control arm)...so we're going with a little less backspace (6.25). Here's what that looks like.

[Gator67]

Started to work on the dash. Took several tries, but we finally got the color right...matched to a piece of vinyl on the original dash beneath the lighter. Deviations from OEM include a switch for the electronic parking break next to the lighter, subwoofer level control in place of the parking brake handle (the EPB switch didn't fit there), Vintage Air control panel, Retrosound radio (5 channel amp in the trunk). Not shown is the Dakota Digital RTX gauges. We also started on the dash harness...a bit of work ahead of us there. Not too much left, but still a lot to do.

[Gator67]

Installed the headliner, dome lamp, and visor brackets. The shiny new visor brakes were impossible to twist, so cleaned up and installed the original ones. Next up are the headliner side trim pieces, sail panels, kick panels, and then door panels. Seat covers I ordered from Legendary in December finally arrived. We'll get the fronts covered now. Will have to wait to do the rears until we can drive the car to the upholsterers. We had to narrow the rear seat for the mini tubs and so the foam and seat covers need to be modified to fit. We probably won't get much done for the next couple weeks.

[Gator67]

After 6 weeks, the Forgeline TA3s arrived yesterday. We measured and ordered for lug nuts today. The only issue is that for some reason Forgeline included a second valve stem hole and fitting (maybe for a pressure sensor) in the back of the front wheels (but not the rears), and the fittings interfere with the lower tie rod end. I'll call Forgeline on Monday to ask what I can do...hoping there's some sort of plug to replace the fitting. I don't want to grind on the tie rod end or use a wheel spacer. Once that situation is resolved I'll schedule the mobile tire installer.

[Poncho Dave]

Love the wheels!

[Gator67]

Forgeline overnighted a couple short valve stem hole plugs, so no more interference with the tie rod ends. The mobile tire installer I like to use is completely tied up until the end of next week. We bought Gorilla lug nuts to fit the 1/2 studs...had to go with two different sizes, 1.9" for the front wheels and 1.4" for the rears, to get the top of the lug nuts more or less in the same position and flush with the face of the wheel. They look really good. We also did some measuring and ordered up some 2 AWG battery cables from BatteryCablesUSA.

[Gator67]

Got the tires mounted and balanced yesterday. We did a good job estimating the offsets we needed. We played around with the ride height a bit and got it exactly where we want it. The only issue is that at that Ridehight there's no preload on the springs when it's up in the air. So I spent an hour talking with Ridetech and ended up ordering a new set of coilovers and springs that are about an inch shorter, should work perfectly. I ended up going through the same thing with the DSE setup in my Formula. I suspect it's because these systems are based on Camaros, which has a flat rather than arched wheel opening.

[Gator67]

Got the new coilovers installed and dialed in the ride height. Also had a driveshaft made. Once that was installed, we checked the driveline angles with the suspension loaded/car on cribs. The Holley engine mounts placed the engine a little higher than ideal, so we knew we'd have to use some shims to get the tail of the transmission to where we thought it needed to be...around 3 degrees down. With the rear pinion pointed up 2-3 degrees we thought we'd be good. But the rear end ended up just slightly above the tail, which meant the working angles would be too high, and we'd risk have annoying vibrations. We played around with pinion angle, ride height, etc., but couldn't quite get it to where it needed to be unless we got the transmission tail up another .5 degrees (shimmed 1" total). But that put the transmission too close to the floor in the area just ahead of the shifter hole. Rather than pounding the heck out of the floor with a big hammer, we decided to remove a small section of the floor. We still need to fabricate and weld in a small patch in that area, but at least the driveline angles are perfect now.

[Gator67]

My son was on fall break, so we were able to make some progress on a bunch of little things. He fabricated a patch for the transmission tunnel and welded it in. Plenty of room now for adjusting driveline angles. He also welded tabs on the axle housing for the brake lines. We ran the wiring for the electronic parking brakes. We also glued welting onto the wheel spoilers and mounted those loosely...need to make a couple adjustments there. Hopefully this week I'll have some time to tackle more of the wiring. I need to build a Metri-pack 630 connector for the fuel pump, and then the fuel system will be ready to test. I also need to build connectors for the Raingear wipers and a couple other accessories. Getting really close...should be able to start her up during winter break.

[Gator67]

The electronic parking brakes cleaned up the bottom of the car, but more wiring than I expected. The bottom is completely done except for exhaust. Speaking of exhaust, the Ridetech 4 link set up doesn't leave much room for the exhaust over the axles so we plan on going under. I did this with my 70 Formula, and it worked out well. Not sure whether I should buy a complete 3" stainless exhaust system, or individual pieces. Either way, making it work will require a lot of cutting and welding.

[Gator67]

We're down to a single page of items to complete this project.

Biggest challenge so far has been finding someone to recover the seats. We thought about trying our hand at this, however, the rear seat covers will need to be modified, and this is better left to professionals (the seat is narrowed 4" to accommodate the mini tubs).

We drove back into the wiring this weekend. A friend's been telling me to try Deutsch connectors and a specialized crimper, so I bought a kit on Amazon...wish I would tried them sooner! Much easier and quicker to make (and disassemble) than Weather-Pack/Metri-Pack. The Deutsch style contacts also provide sturdier connections with smaller gauge (e.g., 20awg) wire than WP/MP style terminals.



Also installed wheel flares.They were the originals, and fit well. The welting needed some adjustment where it folds over at the top, but not too bad for our first time doing this. We used 3m trim and emblem adhesive.

[Gator67]

Been slowly plugging away with the wiring. Need to bench bleed the MC, and then make lines to the calipers.

Here are the seat belts I had Ssnake-oyl do for us. It took about two months, but worth the wait. The webbing is really close to the original color. Obviously the covers are darker but look great with the other interior parts. The rear set they made should work well (can't go with retractors given the car is mini-tubbed). Was thinking of switching the buckle covers to the metal ones for a more factory look (I have a reproduction set on hand), but a real pain to get the covers off with this style IIRC (any tips?), and these painted ones look fine to us.

[Gator67]

Finished the brakes, all bled, and no leaks! We used 3/16" nicopp for the small hard line sections...also used the Eastwood professional flaring tool. A lot quicker than the small hand tool. The only difficult part on a car like this is figuring out where to run the lines to avoid any chance of interference given full turn & suspension travel.

[Gator67]

DSE's mini-tub installation instructions call for widening the rear armrest panels. I did this with my '70 and it turned out nice, but it was a lot of work, and I'm not sure how they'll hold up over time. For this car, we decided to stretch the panels around the tubs. We tried the repo panels, but they were too stiff, so had to use OEM. We had to modify the seat belt area to make it sit flatter, and had to use a short self-tapping screw to hold down the rear edge towards the bottom, but nothing else was necessary. Turned out much better than we expected. Even had room to lay down 4mm closed cell foam on top of the Dynamat...this really cuts down road noice. There are a couple little adjustments we'll make and then call it good.

The OEM sail panels fit well too...so almost ready to install the rear glass... We should use urethane for this, not butyl tape, correct?

[Poncho Dave]

Wow, looks great! Gonna be a very comfortable and tight car to drive.