Mark's GT-R Build

What a difference the drill bit can make. Yesterday, I used some new IRWIN drills designed for hardened steel. They did not work. I then purchased a tungsten carbide Dremmel bit and a DEWALT drill bit designed for hardened steel. The DEWALT drill bit was amazing and went through the Audi shaft with ease. Thankfully.

The Audi shifter requires some modifications in one of the Heim Joints and the shifter cable to achieve the needed range of motion.

As you can see in the photo, the cable that transfers the four positions of the shifter laterally has a long travel, so the Heim Joint needed to be shortened significantly, along with the shifter cable. I left off the lock nut on that side to assure enough threads remained in the Heim Joint to assure the connection.

I roughed in the cable adjustments, but it seems like I need the engine running to get any smooth shifting. I can fine tune the cable adjustments later.
 

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In preparing for starting the motor, the oil cooler needs to be added to the system, as well as the trans cooler. Katech suggested using the biggest oil cooler I can fit in the car, so I opted for a 13x13 Earl's unit. My racing buddies suggested not putting the oil cooler too close to the road surface because the asphalt heats the air significantly, and I need it in the path of significant air flow. With the transaxle not really being centered, by their design, I am planning to put the oil cooler on the larger side of the transaxle, and the trans cooler on the smaller side.

Rubber mounting the frame to hold the coolers is the current project. I have the three mounting points located on the car. Tomorrow they get mounted.
 

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I worked on getting the oil cooler and the trans cooler mounted. Now to iron out the plumbing.
 

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My brother in law, Tom, a car guy from way back, had the day free and joined me in the shop. It was the perfect opportunity to use his help in getting the interior tub in place. Most of the time I am in the shop by myself, so the tub is off limits.

I am using the Audi Shifter, which is mounted, so right of off the bat, the console had to be cut for the shifter assembly.

There were some markings on the tub from Superlite in the area of the foot box, so we trimmed to their lines, but more extensive foot box trimming, both in width and in length on the driver side, was needed.

I also mounted the hand brake to the left of the driver position, which had to be cut out. The floor area required cut outs for the seats and the sub woofer amp and wiring.

I have some boxing on the interior side of the firewall to accommodate my intake manifold, which required a cut out.

Finally, the console had further cut outs for the shift cables and some of the wiring I ran along the top of the console.

Next, I need to finish the tub along the door sills, which I don't know how to do, and along the firewall. It looks like I need to assemble the body to get the fit correct in these areas.
 

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Previously, I talked about starting the ventilation in the area of the valve covers. I used AN6 hoses and fixtures, but I needed to restrict the volume of air drawn in by the intake manifold. To address that issue, my friends at Mannix Automitive, in Naples next to my shop, modified the one hose connection end that allowed for adding a fabricated restrictor to the system. The machining on this beautiful. Exactly what I wanted.

The photo shows the AN6 fittings going into the manifold on each side.
 

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In finishing the interior tub, I needed to install some of the body panels to determine the firewall - door edges. Superlite used some spacers to get the rocker panels lined up correctly with the doors, but re-installing the spacers is a challenge. The spacers want to move as you slide the body panel into position.

I solved that by using J B Weld epoxy to attach the spacers to the aluminum chassis beam. The next installation will be easy now.
 

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I am also working on the wiring, but photos would be pointless until you see the results. I have the front end electrical finished. Next on to the cockpit wiring.
 
The front end wiring is nearly complete. I have to finish the trinary switch and the clutch pressure indicator wiring. The loose harness is to attach to the headlights, turn signals and the fog lights.
 

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I am getting ready to wire up the Summit Raptor Pro wireless steering wheel switching system. The inputs to the Infinity Mastercell need to be a ground circuit, so with Allan's advice, I am using the Infinitybox inVert relays (the purple wires with the little black sections) on each of the Raptor's circuits. These photos just show the preparation.

Since I am not using the GM Steering column switching, I cut off the GM plug from the Infinity harness and will use the Infinity manual to identify which wire goes where when attaching the Raptor Pro.

More to follow.
 

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As an aside, I have a Jeep Rubicon that is almost impossible to keep looking great with the Florida sun. The black plastic fenders and bumpers fade within two weeks of my detailing them. I have tried almost every "Black Trim" product with limited success.

Next to my shop is a car detailing business owned by a lady that has been detailing cars since she was sixteen. She saw me working on the fenders and suggested using a heat gun to get them back to black. I didn't get it at first, but tried her suggestion and it really works. After the heat gun you can use one of the products and they look factory fresh. Try it.
 

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I wanted to get an onboard battery charger/maintainer to offset the parasitic battery drain. My Ferrari requires a plug in if you don't drive it for five days or longer. I wanted to have a plug-in point that was easy to access, somewhat out of view and close to the battery.

The best place with enough surface area to allow for the waterproof plug to be seated was just inside the front air intake of the radiator. I mounted the battery charger just below the main battery fuses, out of the way.
 

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Believe it or not, this is the completed wiring harness that attaches to the Summit Raptor Pro. Looks messy, but it is comprised of eight switchable circuits, with Infinity inVert relays, and all of the ground connections.

The second photo is the wrapped version of the same harness. Wiring is time consuming, especially when I don't really know what I am doing. Thanks to Allan for helping me out with a few dead ends.
 

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I am working on the wiring and it is going slowly but surely. The Infinity System is really awesome, it is just difficult to match it up with the Holley Dominator, since it is really set up for the GMPP ECU. Pictures will follow.

To get a break from the wiring, I work on other tasks intermittently. Today I plumbed the trans cooler with 8AN lines.
 

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I ordered a fiberglass Ford GT bumper from Ron (that he had molded from an original) (a beautiful piece, I might add) to get the look for the rear of the car as I would like it (first photo with the bumper taped in place). I chose to have the exhaust system built with the outlets spaced farther apart than stock. I like the looks of the spaced exhaust and working around the transaxle would have made some weird bends. With that being the case, I intend to modify the rear bumper to have two separate exhaust tip outlet openings in the bumper, with the area between the openings being filled in and having a center mounted F1 type third brake light.

To get that, I needed to make a female mold of the bumper, then I intend to modify the mold to make the opening shaped for a single exhaust tip. I will then use that modified mold to get each opening looking factory, with the space between the openings filled in.

Mold release Photo, with the last photo showing the fiberglass in place. Tomorrow I will remove the mold, modify it, then start reshaping the bumper.

I am still working on the wiring, one wire at a time.
 

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After letting the mold set up overnight, I removed the mold and had to trim the edges. Sorry about the rotation. I have the orientation correct in my files, but the transfer screws it up.

After trimming, I reduced the dual exhaust opening to a single exhaust opening by cutting a section out of the mold. I make the mold wide enough to "Clamp on to the bumper."

Putting the mold back on the bumper, I joined the sections to make a single exhaust opening.
 

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After joining the sectioned pieces of the mold with fiberglass, I cut out a section of the bumper (I was a little nervous cutting into Ron's beautiful bumper) big enough to include the two exhaust tips and the molded edge in the bumper. I centered the mold over one exhaust tip exit point, then taped the mold in place. The fifth photo shows the bumper and mold in place ready for glassing in the new exhaust outlet.

I will let this set up overnight, then develop the other exhaust outlet.
 

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