305 replies to this topic

[JonnyBMX]

looks so nice mate, goood work may upgrade to summin a bit faster one day

[cptkirk]

Chris, any updates?

[krazy]

Awesome work Chris! I am a California native as well and LOVE reading through your progress. How did you learn to weld like that, I want to learn, but I don't know where to even begin to start! Keep up the great work!

[Chris C]

As always, I appreciate the comments guys.

I'm working on wiring right now, but I'll cook up an update for you later this evening. I promise!

[Kaison]

I'm in love with this thread!!

Such a perfect car!

I feel like flying over to see it in person!

I'm in LOVE!!

[Nick Warwick]

unbelievable car mate well done

[Joe250]

Chris,

I just re-read your entire build. The car just keeps getting better. I especially like that last photo. The car looks really mean. Any updates?

Joe

[Chris C]

Well, I guess I have a few things to show you all.

Wires:


Wires:


Wires:


Wires:


It's a complete fusebox/universal harness kit from Painless wiring, and it's extremely well thought out and remarkably simple. That being said, my buddy Brandon has been dropping by and helping out, since he's probably run a few dozen of these kits before. He was also kind enough to fab up a fan relay setup as well as a circuit for a spare relay, which you can see lurking behind the dash. It also has a battery+ bus on the panel as well for all dash components. No more decrepit Lucas wiring! You can see the fusebox mounting better in this picture:



$50 stainless Ebay header, who could resist? Worth it for the weight reduction and looks alone. I'm going to suck the bottom up closer to the oil pan though, since right now the collector flange sits about 1 1/2" off the ground which is no good.



My apologies for the crap photos, it was late and dark and I didn't feel like dragging a flood light out. I need to take some proper pictures one of these days. And as always, I appreciate the kind words!

[Teapot]

Looking for the right word... ah, yes ...

Gawp –verb (used without object) Chiefly Northern U.S.
to stare with the mouth open in wonder or astonishment; gape.

That's about it, really. Amazing. Keep the pix coming.

[cptkirk]

I'm with Teapot ^^^^^^^^^^

Top work.

[Kam]

Build still looking awesome mate with some nice attention to detail at every point throughout, seriously top work dude!

You might aswell pick up some more headers at that price and stack them up in the garage, everytime one goes as it sits too low just swap it over!

Are they for the 1800? is that why the collector is further down due to the taller block?

[m_brady15]

Hello Chris,

Great build buddy, just looked through it all, its amazingly tidy.

I love the centre console that you have made, looks lovely.

I see that you used a universal wiring loom from painless. I saw that you wrote some info about it but I was just wondering how you found the fitting of it? Did you go for the 18 circuit? Did it have wires for everything that you needed? With that kit what happens about earthing the wires? Did you have to buy anything else for it to work with the mini?

Sorry about all the questions but im looing at doing it to my mini

Many thanks and best of luck with the rest of the build.

Miles

[Chris C]

Teapot, cptkirk, m_brady15, & Kam; thanks for the support, it's quite the motivational tool! Gawp? That one is out of my dialect!

Kam, everybody could use a couple spares. It's for the d-series, the 4-2 flange sits right below where you can see. I'm fairly certain a DC sports header has the flange in around the same spot. The biggest problem with the header is that it comes out too far from the head, and you can't really run a grill with it. I'd like to build my own header at some point so I'm probably just going to run it grill-less for a little while.

m_brady15, I'm using the 12 circuit kit #10102 for a non-GM columned vehicle. The kit is great, I only have good things to say about it. It comes with an assload of extra wire (I snipped almost 10' of extra wire from the tail circuit), which is nice, as well as a bunch of various connectors and very comprehensive instructions. I'm not done wiring it yet so I can't really give a definitive answer as to whether or not it is a complete kit, although I know the 12 circuit does not include a circuit for an electric fuel pump. It also does not come with ground wires, which isn't really that big of a deal since all you have to ground are the gauges, lights, and the engine to the body, all of which are pretty simple. I'm using the Painless brand "powerwrap" stuff as well, which seems to be good quality.

I say do it! Having a modern fusebox with blade-type fuses and flashers/relays built in is so nice. Ditch that Lucas crap and step into the 21st century.

[dirtdiggler]

this thing is looking so damn good, keep up the good work.

by the way i am also going to put a d16z6 in my mini and was just wondering how hard is the fit? and i would really like to keep my car rhd?

[Chris C]

Thanks dirtdiggler, the motor is not exactly "easy" to fit, are you going to be purchasing a kit or building your own? In hindsight it would have been much, much easier to fully notch the firewall instead of messing around with the intake for so long. If you want to keep the car RHD you will probably have to notch the toeboard in order to give the rack some clearance. As it sits, I've probably only got 3/4" of clearance between the transfer case and the LHD rack.