403 LS2 FD - LS7 Build for 2020!

[MPbdy]

Hah, that'll stop it!

I also got COVID, also went down for over a week, and then also had work travel.  Do not recommend.

Yea it really sucked lol I felt like I was on 60% energy even after testing negative, and stuck entertaining for 4 hours every night while people got hammered lol.  I stopped drinking this year and it has made nights at the bar with work colleagues a lot less entertaining if I'm not feeling it lmao.

I got my ECU mounted today!  Super happy with it.  I still need to find a place to mount the I/O module, and I still have to do my I/O harness for sensors, relay control etc.

Put a nutsert in the sheet metal to attach a bracket, and my old man came up with a neat idea to make a standoff out of an old valve cover hold down - threaded M6 on one side and 10-32 on the other.  Threads onto an M6 stud that probably held down the factory ECU or something.

[digitalsolo]

That's a slick mounting solution.   Pretty OEM overall.

[MPbdy]

September gets crazy busy for us.  Managed to get a solid 5-6 hours in yesterday on wiring and cleaning things up.  Most of it spent shoved up under the dash.

Its at that stage where it feels like a lot of work goes in, but no apparent progress is seen lol.

A few things - The Holley harness has a beefy 10 gauge power and ground that feeds the ECU which connects direct to the battery.  I was able to get this out of the engine bay, run it under my carpet and into the bins where my new battery is completely out of sight.

I also cut the main harness and my transmission harness loose and pulled it back into the car, fixed some tangled bits, and routed it back behind the brake line like I was supposed to do when I put the engine in lol. 

Also was able to get some loom around some of the wires that branch out of that area to clean it up a bit.  This really cleaned up the wiring in the engine bay.

Lastly, spliced my Halfspec AC controller back into the car.  I was going to integrate it into fully into the Holley, but with the limited I/O, and already having the AC controller on-hand it was easy enough to patch it back in, and this saves me multiple I/O.  I can run the AC now with no I/O, or with a single input probably get all the functionality I could hope for.

I believe I have also figured out a clean way to tuck all the excess harness inside the car.  So far it appears like the majority of it will fit in a cubby hole behind the ECU in the passenger kick panel, and there should be room for the rest of it behind the plastic if there's any excess that won't tuck away nicely.

Last piece is going to be finding a home for the I/O expansion module, and making a new harness to run to my sensors and relays.  The expansion module is about 3"x4" x2" high.  I'm hoping I can just stash it behind my dash as I'll already have my CAN extension harness running that way for the digital dash.  What's nice is power and ground is fed via CAN.

In the I/O harness needs to be:

Speed sensor input (input)
Cooling fan relay (output)
AC activation (input)
Clutch switch/2 step logic (input)
Flex fuel (PWM) (input)
Alternator voltage control (PWM) (output)
2nd fuel pump relay control (output)
Oil temperature (input)
Tach signal (output) - Holley puts out 4 pulse per rev only from the ECU..

Future plans if I have extra I/O:
Activation wire for a keyed 12V source front and rear of the car (could be shorted together) (output)
Coolant pressure sensor (would've caught my coolant leak much earlier) (input)
PWM wire for a potential different Electric water pump (output)
??? not sure what else but if I have anything leftover I'll just send spare wires to the front and back and tuck them away somewhere.

[digitalsolo]

Wiring, the more work/effort you put in, the less it's noticed. 

[MPbdy]

That’s a great way to think about it!

The kickpanel is a fema disaster zone. It’s tough since it’s all hacked and spliced into the stock wiring, and I’m tucking about 2 feet of extra Holley wiring lol. Would be nice to start from scratch someday, but once the panel goes on it has never been a concern.

[digitalsolo]

I totally agree on finding the time/making the effort.

I built the Aston harness "quick and dirty" (or my version of it, anyway).   I'll get back to it and do a mil-spec setup eventually, but I'm more worried about it working properly first.

Cars are more fun when they drive, turns out. 

[MPbdy]

Got another full day in on the FD on Friday!  Street car status.  Also ran the car for a very long time to get the AC charged.  Probably 30 minutes total of idling?  Got up to 200* with the AC on full with it 90* outside and the car sucking in its own hot air.  It was nice to stress it a little and have no issues.  The new trans felt especially nice once the fluid was hot.



One minor step backward, found that my replacement passenger steering rack boot gets pulled off the rack when turning the wheel.  Super cool lol.  Had a huge puddle of fluid and grease on the rack after I parked it from my drive around the block.  I ordered an OEM replacement for $65 for one boot lol.  I guess for the better, otherwise I probably would've taken it for another joyride lol.  I could drive it anywhere like a normal car now which is a fun milestone.

My old Halfspec AC controller is working perfectly picking up RPM signal from the Holley, and disengaging the compressor at 4800 rpm.  Only thing I didn't get quite right is the cooling fans aren't coming on with the AC for some reason I must have spliced it back in wrong.  Ideally I'm going to run the AC signal into an ECU input so I can have an IAC kick and control the fans from the Holley.

My thought that I could have a breather tank hooked to the valve cover only and it would minimize the smell was a failed experiment.  When it got hot it was breathing a lot out of the tank.  I believe just boiling off moisture, but the smell wasn't nice at all. 

I really don't want to run a full PCV setup, but I'm considering running the exist port of the catch can into the fresh air side of the throttle body.  It wouldn't offer any suction, but also wouldn't be a vacuum leak.  The mightymouse catchcan has a flap in the vent that only opens under pressure, so I'm hoping it would stay closed and the vapors would make their way to the intake instead of out the breather.  Open to any input on that idea lol.

On a similar note I'm really starting to question if I should have cats on the car....I'll wait to finish a tune before deciding that but man its just smelly all over at the moment.

[MPbdy]

This engine still amazes me at how smooth it is when reving.  The car has never ever felt this smooth it makes me really excited to actually drive it.  I guess I need to credit either the shortblock, or the clutch, but I'm leaning toward the clutch.

Its not just the vibration though, the engine note sounds smoother too and revs up and down very clean. 

Really really stoked to be this close, and starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Like it might actually be a nice car again at some point. 

Sorry more just boring idles and revs lol.  It should be doing something cool here real soon (soon in my speed, so see you in December).

[digitalsolo]

Jealous of AC.  I need to get my AC finished, it's just always "next on the list".

Congrats!

[Cobranut]

Wow.  How did you get your A/C down to 32 degrees? 

What refrigerant are you running?

[MPbdy]

Wow.  How did you get your A/C down to 32 degrees? 

What refrigerant are you running?

Just R134a. Seemed way too cold to me too - I think the temp gun was freaking out lol it would read lower and lower the longer I held the trigger - down into the 20's which is physically impossible lol.  I grabbed the most realistic temp I could for a picture.  Made for some chilly finger tips though I'm not going to argue haha.

I was pretty dumb thinking I'd ever drive this thing with no AC on the street lol.  It's the best with the windows down and the roof popped, but realistically the AC is a necessity. With the solid roller engine I was going to put an external oilpump/vacuum pump where the AC compressor is.  Now even the solid roller engine has a normal style oil pump on the crank snout - no reason to pretend haha.

[MPbdy]

Jealous of AC.  I need to get my AC finished, it's just always "next on the list".

Congrats!

You ever consider an electric AC compressor?  Seems up your alley haha

[MPbdy]

Forgot to mention the new electrical system is one of my favorite upgrades for this car so far.  Having the battery shutoff in the rear bin, and a much larger battery is soooooo nice. Luxury upgrade, but well worth it.

After idling for 30 min and getting heat soaked the starter spun the engine no problem.

[kinger]

Forgot to mention the new electrical system is one of my favorite upgrades for this car so far.  Having the battery shutoff in the rear bin, and a much larger battery is soooooo nice. Luxury upgrade, but well worth it.

After idling for 30 min and getting heat soaked the starter spun the engine no problem.

Its the little OEM+ things like that on a mod car, that make me really enjoy the car.  Weird but I love that stuff!

[MPbdy]

Forgot to mention the new electrical system is one of my favorite upgrades for this car so far.  Having the battery shutoff in the rear bin, and a much larger battery is soooooo nice. Luxury upgrade, but well worth it.

After idling for 30 min and getting heat soaked the starter spun the engine no problem.

Its the little OEM+ things like that on a mod car, that make me really enjoy the car.  Weird but I love that stuff!

I think it comes down to owning and driving one for years you really start to learn what is important, and how exciting it is to have a reliable non POS car lol.