I actually purchased a set of micrometers and dial bore gauge so I could measure my own clearances right after I bought this engine. I figured the money they cost would be offset by the savings from paying someone to assemble my block, not just thus time around but every time after as well. I’m a bit intimidated by it, which is probably why I’m slacking on my assembly, but I’m confident I can do it. The way I look at it, nobody else is going to care as much as I do that its perfect and I take pride in knowing I did something myself.
I extended the windshield wiper motor harness a few inches today so that it can be tucked under the motor and plugged in underneath the cowl instead of inside the bay. It came out ok… But I may pick up a spare and see if I can do it a little better. I’m not 100% happy with how it came out.
And started de-looming more of the main harness to gain access to more of the wiring I need to alter. This is my nightmare right now…
This may be the last time I get a chance to work on it for a while. I’m waiting on an answer from a property management company about whether I got a house I applied to rent. The house is really nice, but the garage/shop is HUGE. I’m really hoping to get into it. Moving sucks but as soon as we got settled in my progress should really pick up. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Still no luck getting these damn tie rods off the rack. I got my flare wrench . It was a bit too wide so I narrowed it down on my bench grinder so it would fit in the gap. It just has too much slop, I think I’m going to have to try the next size smaller standard wrench. I believe its 5/8"? Have to double check that.
I did get my hole made for the passenger side wiring. Still don’t have my drill so I just used my dremel to open up the original hole.
Anybody know of anywhere to get the OEM pins for the engine harness plugs? I need to get some so I can move forward with the engine harness. I need both male and female pins for those connectors in order to do it the way I want to.
On a side note I got the house. I can’t wait to get everything moved over to the new garage. It has so much space its ridiculous.
So you are gonig to mount the wiper motor on the inside of the original location?
Have you checked out the Shaving/Tucking thread on H-T? I think there’s a link to the OEM wiring connectors and pins on the 1st page - it’s not easy to find though, there’s LOTS of info in there. And congrats on the house. I’m jealous, the garage you’re in now is HUGE by my standards, probably 3+ times mine, haha.
No, it wouldn’t fit. I’ll just be running the wiring through there instead of out the side or bundling it in the engine harness.
Yeah I have read a lot of that thread. I clicked a couple links that took me to sites that probably carry them. You just have to sort through a ton of miscellaneous pins, connectors, etc. to find them. I’ll spend some more time looking into it though. I think I’vevsettled on a plan of attack now that I’ve dug deep enough into the OEM harness. I’d like to create a subharness to extend the necessary wires rather than cutting and soldering that many connections. I just need to head to the junkyard and grab an obd1 harness as a spare to steal the necessary parts from and then if I buy the pins I should be able to tailor it to the exact size I need.
I’m really excited to get this new spot. My current garage isn’t small but I’m out of space. My entire interior is currently in my guest bedroom at my current house because there’s no space in my garage for anything else. The new garage should be able to fit 4-5 times as much stuff or vehicles. I look forward to filling it… Lol
Either you’ve got more than car parts being stored or you’re not being efficient with your space… My garage is 8’x19’. The hardest part is keeping all the parts organized and tidy when you’re dealing with so many things at once. I’m in a constant state of mess and trying to organize. It’s one thing if you’re just doing an engine swap or suspension, but when you’re tearing down the entire car you end up with parts all over! I always told myself I’d never be “that guy” who keeps car parts in his house - but sure enough my spare bedroom is now a storage area while I work on this project.
I like your plan of creating a sub-harness. In general they can be a bit messy and soldering would give an overall cleaner look, but with a subharness it’s harder to make a mistake and you have options for returning things to stock easier if you needed to for some reason later on down the road. Once again you and I are on very similar trajectories. I figured out my plan of attack as well. All headlight/bumper light/fan wiring will get tucked into the fender/frame rails, then I’m just going to relocate/clean up the original engine/main harness connectors. It’s not ideal but it’ll look OEM but more hidden or at least more tidy. And if I decided later I could do bulkhead connector, but then I’d just have to tear apart the dash again 
I like your ideas of an OEM-oriented clean up versus the whole bulk-head/milspec connector route. Seems so commonplace now days.
The subharness idea is nice, too. Perfect solution if you plan it out right. Definitely keep us in the loop with how you tackle this, I’m interested to see the outcome!
A simple, clean harness looks great imo!
Nice buy with the welder! Pretty decent machine, made in Italy too. How’s the condition? Did you get to try it out first? And I’d recommend finding consumables and stocking up a little bit. Get a couple new nozzles, 5-10 contact tips if you’re just learning how to weld (you’ll burn those up for sure, lol) and a new liner. A little bit of basic maintenance on a MIG welder goes a long way in terms of weld quality.
Nice start on the tuck though. Looks like you’re chugging along. I forgot how much of a headache those were, lol
Colin- I pretty much only have parts in the garage but you nailed it. It’s very disorganized. However I don’t just have the parts from this car in here. I also have everything I tore off the red DA before I scrapped it, almost 2 complete interiors, 3 sets of wheels, bumpers, fenders, suspension and just about any other DA part you can imagine. I like having spares and I’ve accumulated a ton of parts over the years. I’ll be getting rid of some of it during the move. I don’t intend to keep it all…
I think your idea for your tuck is well thought out. For a strictly race car anything more than a mild tuck would probably be overkill and probably more problematic if you needed to do any troubleshooting. I’d like to hear about it as you go, keep me updated!
Unified- Thanks! I’ll post up my progress as I go. Hopefully everything goes smoothly and maybe it’ll help others in the future.
Mrpenny- Thanks! I’m pretty happy with it. It was a much better deal than the other units I was finding for sale locally. I turned it on and made sure the wire fed and everything but I didn’t actually weld anything. The guy I bought it from was a pretty cool older guy, he assured me it works great and told me if I have any problems to go ahead and give him a call. I need to fill my tank and I’ll be sure to check out getting some replacement tips and nozzles. Noob welder ?, what is the liner?
Haha, I’m like you. My room is filled with interior parts, wheels, etc…And the garage has just as many extra parts as well. It does come in handy when you need something right then and there though.
Watch this, should explain it pretty good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j5ZmAemC1c. Although, I tried looking for a liner for your welder and couldn’t find one, so you’ll probably have to just settle for blowing it out. Which is cool because that welder probably hasn’t been used enough to need one, now that I think about it, lol.
Thats a good video, thanks for posting that up! I didn’t know those were model specific, hopefully there’s no crimps or obstructions I can’t blow out!
I’m going to pick up my keys to the new place today!
So here’s the shop/garage. So much space!
Holy shit, that’s awesome! I’m super jealous!
Seriously!
I’d love to have that much space just for cars and projects.
Yeah I’m stoked!
Wow, I leave this site for a few months and suddenly a whole lot of builds pop up. Love the wire tuck in progress.
Thanks man! I’m itching to get working on it again. I need to get it towed to my new place.
Finally an update. I haven’t had any chance to work on the car recently but I did get it towed to my new house.
Today though… I took a 7 hour drive to pick these up. I’ve wanted a set of Gales forever…
