Change of Plans 2013

Let's do this.

This whole debacle started years ago, when I purchased this car in 2004. I was in love with the FC3S, and finally was able to have one of my own. I got a convertible and decided that the N/A set-up wasn't tight enough and decided I wanted it to be super tight, so I dropped a 13bt into it. I originally planned for the car to be out of commission for about two months, but it's been at my dad's shop for 7 years.

I've had the car "running" for a few weeks now, but there were a few problems. Primarily, the car was a royal bitch to start. I could pour gas into the intake manifold and it'd fire right up, however it'd still not want to start when it warmed up. I wanted to dig deep into the problem today, but my plans quickly did a 180 and at the end of the day, the engine was sitting on the ground in the shop with the engine bay bare.

When I started the build, I wanted it done as fast as possible since it was my daily driver. Luckily my family had a boat load of cars, so I just drove my sister's old car as she had just gotten a new one. Since I was in a rush to drive the thing, I skipped some steps that I now wish I hadn't. Namely I hadn't really done a super clean job of swapping the engine, and the engine bay was still dirty.

Removing thangs.

As I was taking the manifold off of the car today to chase down the gremlins, my dad was telling me that I should probably just yank the motor because it'd be easier to work on and I could clean up the engine bay. It struck me at the time as a good idea, but I contemplated it for a good bit. Finally I decided that this was the new course of attack and started the procedure. Three hours later the engine was on the floor, and we were done for the day.

I've already got my next stretch of the build set-up in my mind. I'm going to dismantle pretty much everything from the doors to the nose of the car. I'm going to pull everything out of the engine bay and drop the subframe to repaint it. Each bit of hardware in the bay will get cleaned up and reinstalled, or replaced with new hardware. I want to reduce the amount of clutter in the harnesses, because a good chunk of the car's emissions control equipment has been axed.

The engine bay will receive a new coat of (probably) black paint, and underneath the car will get a fresh paint of undercarriage coating. Since I'll be dismantling a good bit of the front suspension, I'm going to order a new set of bushings, along with some more durable motor mounts to lock down the engine. Also while I'm under there, every bit of metal I can cram into the sand blaster will get refinished to look practically new.

The engine will also be thoroughly cleaned and reconditioned. The internals in the engine should still be fine, as the rebuild has less than a mile on the engine. I've ran it for a few hours total at idle, but it's never seen much road time. I want to refinish as much of the components on the engine as I can, just to make the engine something to look at when I'm done with it. New gaskets and vacuum tubing will make sure the engine runs properly.

I plan on doing all of my gauges while the motor is sitting on the floor, because it will just be easy to do. Drill and tap oil temp and water temp senders, replace the oil pressure sender with an aftermarket unit. I want to reroute my boost controller lines, and just generally clean up it's install. I will probably fab up some brackets to hold the solenoids, as well as the blow-off valve.

I'm not entirely sure if I will go full stand-alone YET, but it is in the works. I plan on doing a Megasquirt kit and building my own harness from their harness kit. Along with that Megasquirt I am looking to up the injector size along with a new fuel pump, so I can up the boost. Having the motor out of the car makes it tempting to start that project, but I would probably be easier to do with the engine already installed, so I can properly route wires.

My overall goal for the car is to have a very clean swap with moderate power. I wouldn't want anything over 300 horse, because that is just ridiculous. The car already weighs hardly anything, so 250ish would probably do fine. I want to eventually get the car re-painted red and maintain the stock convertible look, but maybe add some aggressive touches to it. I plan on running a conservative mesh wheel at 16", but I may look into a wider 17" if the mood strikes me.

I can already picture the final result in my head, and the only thing left between me and that vision is just me taking my time and doing it right. Luckily I have the means and the time (sorta) to do it right, I just have to be patient and realize that I'll be much happier with the car done properly in a few months rather than a dirty one now. I've already waited several years for this moment, and I can wait a few more weeks.

I plan on updating this page frequently with updates of the build, so check back regularly for some pics and words.