Almost final final assembly
I had it in my head to finish the Suprang for the GRM $2003 Challenge, but after some all nighters, it was clear that I wasn't quite going to make it. Still, I got a lot of stuff done, and now the car is no longer rotisserie bound.
Note: Captions are on top of photo renditions
I'm trying something a little different: clck on the thumbnails for a larger picture.
First the good news: I'm lowering the front suspension assembly onto the Suprang
Now the bad news. My carefully constructed engine mount bracket is where the steering shaft and rack want to be.
So I went around the steering shaft thus
Taa-daa! Now there's plenty of room for an engine and steering shaft to live together... or is there?
Might as well install the pedals as long as I'm rotisseried. Installation is much easier when the car is shiny side down... though now all sides are shiny. I'm confused. Anyway, the "go faster" pedal is in a rotten place. I'll have to bend it around a bit later.
And now comes the locking steering column. Nobody can steal my Suprang now :)
A last loving look at the underside of the Suprang.
Some Great White Hunter pics with some contributors: Dave Williams and Eric Minman
Here's Eric helping me eyeball the engine that Dave put together for me out of spare parts in my garage. The short block has just over 200,000 miles on it, but the bores looked okay. I hope it lasts a season of autocrossing or two.
Just drop it in place, right? Well, in spite of a lot of planning and test fitting, I still had to modify the engine mounts a bit. Doesn't anything fit on this hybrid? Tough looking motor, though. The valve covers were crusy icky examples of nostalgia strapped to a 200k mile motor, but they cleaned up nicely. I should polish them when I get a chance, or maybe paint in black wrinkle finish with polished highlights.
Hmph. Well, my headders didn't fit around the steering column, so in desparation, I went to Carolina Mustang. They hooked me up with these stock 5.0 Mustang manifolds that I have ummm... modified.
Here's some exhaust detail. It only hints at the amount of bashing and welding and fitting and rebashing and...
Well this manifold came out nice. Must be because I don't have a steering column :) I hooked up the solonoid here too. Did I mention that I'm using a 1975 GMC truck harness? The alternator is a Delco model.
What's this crap? It's to hang the door hinges. Not everything was included with my Mustang, and I seem to be missing hinge hangers for one side of the car. So I made a reasonable facsimile out of nuts and steel plate.
So I hung a door. Neeto.
When I left for Florida, the Suprang looked like this. I'd fitted the radiator, bled the brakes and clutch, got the starter to spin over, rear lights working and a hot ignition wire. But it's 9 hours to Gainsville and I was very tired. I brought the MR2 to the competition and finished 35th out of 65.
A parting look at the engine
And I installed the radiator using some simple bracketry. I'm sure I'll finish this thing someday soon.
