Red Headed Stepchild-75 Swinger LSX Swap

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YoungDart75 said:
Here it is actually in there.
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Looks pretty good. I'm thankful this size gauges actually fit in the bezel. Maybe one day all the aftermarket gauge companies will come up with something for our A-bodies. Here's what I came up with.

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racerjoe said:
Looks pretty good. I'm thankful this size gauges actually fit in the bezel. Maybe one day all the aftermarket gauge companies will come up with something for our A-bodies. Here's what I came up with.

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I love that. Im actually on the way to go look for some of the wood grain peel and stick as well as some Cf stuff too. Then I'll make up my mind.

Also considering this matte red peel that i just found at autozone that matches the red on the dart. But yours looks awesome.
 
YoungDart75 said:
I love that. Im actually on the way to go look for some of the wood grain peel and stick as well as some Cf stuff too. Then I'll make up my mind.

Also considering this matte red peel that i just found at autozone that matches the red on the dart. But yours looks awesome.
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The first time I did it, I used wood veneer. Unfortunately the heat made it peel off the aluminum. This time around, I used a real piece of walnut.
 
racerjoe said:
The first time I did it, I used wood veneer. Unfortunately the heat made it peel off the aluminum. This time around, I used a real piece of walnut.
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I didnt even think about spraying the outside trim black like yours either. .....decisions decisions...
 
Finally got around to swapping out that hack job of a fuse panel for my new and improved fuse/relay box. Much better looking in the bay now.
Before
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After
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If the weather man is half right, we should be finally looking at good weather for the next week or so. At minimum I want to try to get all the wiring wrapped up and vacuum lines done by next weekend at the latest. Pushing for this weekend though.
 
Well I finally made some more progress after what seemed like sitting stagnant. I finally got around to removing the last couple stock connectors that I didn't need out of that driver side harness. Once the tune is done on speed density ill be losing one of those full lengths going up the driver side. Afterwards itll just be the one length from the firewall forward by itself.
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In a true lesson of KISS(Keep it simple stupid!), the car died the last time I was running it and I figured it may be just the air being forced down its throat and thought nothing much else of it. Then I noticed I had no fuel pressure. Assuming the worst I started checking Fuel pressure regulator and listening for the fuel pump. However i could hear the pump coming on so I disconnected the feed line to the FPR and was barely getting a trickle. Rather than go in neck deep, I decided to start at "is there gas in the car?". luckily I did. having the fuel gauge disconnected for a while I lost track of how much gas was in it. as soon as I put about 4 gallons of gas back in it, I had my 58psi of fuel pressure.

Lesson relearned. KISS.

But now I have the new gas gauge wired up and the new gps speedometer mounted and wired up.
 
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Got some other things figured out. After measuring the power coming from the headlight switch and its massive 2.6V output through the orange wire to the gauge cluster, I realized it wasn't an option for the gauge power so I went around it today to get it buttoned up. I also got all the rest of the gauge signal wires tapped into the oil pressure/tach/coolant temp, and voltmeter. I didn't fire it up but verified the volt meter gauges was working and I ordered a new turn signal switch so I can get that replaced and get those functioning properly asap
 
Got a little more done today. Still plugging away.

But today I got the reverse light issue figured out. I kept looking in the book and it kept saying left cowl was where the connector was for the violet to white switchover for the reverse light power. Not having any experience i didnt realize my issue earlier. After looking at the shifter and looking online I realized I needed two of these. One for the Neutral Safety Switch(current purpose for the one I have) and another for the reverse light trigger(which I didn't know/realize until today).
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Notice in the picture it has two "nub" paths to take. The lower being for the NSS, the top for reverse lights. Thus the one little nub that is only there in reverse. So I ordered another switch that I'm picking up tomorrow and then ill add the 12v key hot to it and then on the Normally open side so that when it hits that nub, it will close and send the 12v power to the reverse lights.

I shortened up the gas pedal wires quite a bit as well because I didn't want to coil up 2 extra feet of wiring under the dash. I also got the ECM mounted back up under the dah so its hidden again and tucked away.

Inching closer to the finish line guys I promise. Just wrapping up all the little stuff which seems to take the most time. Hoping to possibly be able to drive her home next weekend if I can get the last exhaust pieces welded up and reinstalled then.
 
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Damn.....yer gonna have one hell of an awesome car pretty soon!
Be careful and not hurt yourself with it....and insure it well!

When I had Stingrays, over on the Corvette forum, we all watched along as this guy built this BAD A$$ Stingray. ....only for him to kill himself with it shortly after finishing the build...

But you seem more level headed than that!

Jeff
 
MrJLR said:
Damn.....yer gonna have one hell of an awesome car pretty soon!
Be careful and not hurt yourself with it....and insure it well!

When I had Stingrays, over on the Corvette forum, we all watched along as this guy built this BAD A$$ Stingray. ....only for him to kill himself with it shortly after finishing the build...

But you seem more level headed than that!

Jeff
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Id like to think I am. Two kids and a wife, and retiring from the military in June I got a lot more to keep me going and to live for.
 
Well guys got some stuff done this weekend. It was only a couple of the less sexier items, but items that needed to be dealt with none the less, and its a few steps closer to driving home.
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I got the wiring for the horns done. My kids can confirm they're loud as hell. I finished wiring/mounting the boost control solenoid up front. Got the cooling fan wiring finished as well as all the wiring for the reverse lights/NSS/shifter. I got the new turn signal switch in the mail Friday and got it thrown in there as well. So i finally have all the interior back in the car and everything mounted and i got to vacuum it for the 1st time in probably 8 months.
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I ordered the AEM wideband as well for the car and should hopefully be making some headway on the exhaust this week so i can actually fire it up for a longer period of time, and drive it around(and home) hopefully soon. I still have to finish up replacing the turn signal socket in the grill since the old one was rusted through and not functioning anymore. Not all of the items would keep it form being on the road, but i'm a stickler for certain things. But i'm slowly getting to the finish line. not much left to do.
 
As of last night she is officially dropped off for the final exhaust fab/fit. My patience and lack of space got the best of me, so I took it in to have a pro do it.
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Made some progress today. Had to order a few more pieces that should be here by Friday so hopefully we can wrap it all up by the weekend. All depends on parts showing up on time. My AEM wideband will be here tomorrow as well.
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Just asking......why is there 2 exhaust pipes exiting the fenders?
 
5.7 hemi said:
Just asking......why is there 2 exhaust pipes exiting the fenders?
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The larger 3" one is the downpipe from the turbos. Which would be your normal exhaust gasses after going through the turbo, much like it would be coming through a Manifold or header. But because of the turbo there, it will be much quieter than your normal open header exhaust under normal driving conditions, while not In positive pressure(boost).

The smaller one is a 2" piece from the wastegates down. Basically when the wastegates open at whatever spring pressure(partial positive throttle/boost) or wide open throttle (whatever your external wastegate spring is)it will dump that exhaust straight out(much louder). Which is essentially straight header volume, and much louder than the muffled sound of the normal 3" exhaust because it never goes through the turbo because the wastegate is. Bleeding off that extra pressure so you don't build too much boost. Some recirculate their wastegates into their exhuast to keep things quieter when they get into boost but I personally love the sound of an open wastegate car.
 
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