RAM AIR Trans Am Conversion

[hesster]

Made the one hour drive down to Pontiac MI to the WW Speed Shop in a snowstorm with the damaged Fenders for a exchange.

So I know now it is more than coincidence that they had some Dents in them, as we sorted through (3) sets of Fenders in their shop until we found a set w/o any noticeable damage. I said "noticeable", cause I later found a small dent to repair after I rough installed them. They dent real easy I guess.

So we loaded them on my Truck and got them home and into the Barn. Later in the day I decided to rough install them even though it was a little chilly in the Barn because I don't run the Pellet Stove when it is real windy - the pressure differential overcomes the exhaust fan, and things can get smokey. I have a few small electric heaters that struggle to keep the temp's at ~48 degrees. The wind was 30 mph and gusts of 50 mph, so that is nasty and stuff in the yard is flying everywhere.

I am done with Winter here, it sucks, you Guy's down South have no idea.

Anyway, the Fenders went on easier than I remember on the Bandit Conversion. Then slapped on the Front Fascia with a few bolts for now.

Next is to remove the Hood, and bolt on the one from the kit. Getting the Gaps and Flush's of the Fenders/Fascia to the Hood is a real undertaking, but you just keep tweaking until it is in the ballpark, then record what shims go where.

Today I will also take some Pic's of the Pile of Parts that have arrived.

[hesster]

Good day.

Parts Pics. X-Wing Spoiler will need some work but it is the closest thing to a GM OM Dove Tail, Evo Shark Fin Diffuser, Baer D&S Rotors, Paint, and lots 'O miscellaneous Parts.

Transferred the Rear Fascia Brackets, this is not part of the ZTA instructions, and I found that the Brackets add way more structural support and control to the Rear Quarter Interface, and retains the "Spear" locking interface. Otherwise it just doesn't gap and flush out well, and I spend countless hours/days on the last Bandit Build figuring this out.

This time I used small screws and nuts for better retention as Pop Riveting tended to crack the Bracket. It is just very difficult to assemble the nuts and washers to the screws. I even cut some access windows to get the small Washers and Nuts onto the screws. And lot's of cobbling to clear the Tail Lamps, but that is where the Bandit documentation and many Pics I took came in handy. So that is ready to rough install.

Then Painted the Front Suspension Black Gloss to make it look nice.

[hesster]

Prepping the Rear Fascia for installation. This is where all my learnings from the last build should really help.

I sent a lot of time studying my old build pics of what I did to get the Interface to the Rear Quarter as good as possible. From what I remember, much of it was after repeated attempts to install it, starting with utter failure, and then multiple mods. I must have taken that SOB on and off a dozen times.

First was to Trim out clearance on the Bumper Absorber so it sit's flush into the Fascia at the License Plate area. This car has a Rear Backup Camera, so I had to cut a window in the Fascia and cobble up the mounting Bracket. The instruction said "use the new Bracket from the Kit" - there is no new Bracket so you mod and move forward.

Then cut off the "teeth" of the Rear Bumper Bracket for clearance.

So this time I preinstalled the trimmed Interface Brackets to the Fascia per the previous post, installed the Bolt "Posts" for which the Straps are anchored to, and determined where the straps will loop into the Fascia Bracket and where to drill access holes in the Rear Quarter. One is on top where the Tail Lights are, and the bottom one go's through the Rear Quarter and inside into the Trunk on the bottom of the Bolt Post. Pulling and Tightening these Metal Zip Tie Straps flush's out the Fascia to the Quarter.

Involved. Trying to get this right the first time, lots of measurements and planning.

Almost ready to do a trial mount.

[hesster]

This worked out well - First Try!

I seated only the Drivers Side as a trial because it is so easy to break the Brackets and retaining clips. Which I did on the Drivers Side Bracket pulling on the Zip Tie too hard. No big issue because replacements are available from GM Parts Giant, so I just ordered another Drivers Side Bracket, even though it still flushed out nicely without that piece to which a Zip Tie was attached.

And it is very difficult removing the Fascia, it does not pull straight off like the OEM Piece, so you have to carefully pry the retention Tabs until it pops off.

It was a struggle engaging it but eventually it all snapped together and flushed out nicely when pulling on the Zip Tie Straps. Final install will use long metal Zip Ties, as I just used cheapo HF Ties which break real easy, but are good enough to mock it up.

I have to do a little more trimming on the Rear Bracket Spear Tips so the Fascia tucks in closer to the Weatherstrip. That is easy.

That is a huge relief - I'll take it and it will not go back on again until it is Painted.

[hesster]

Took a well deserved week off for a vacation at a all inclusive in Punta Cana. Nice to leave our crap MI weather behind. Got there and immediately hooked up a IV Drip of Margaritas, and all was well.

But now I'm back, drying out, and picking away at the Project.

Installed the new Rear Fascia Bracket that I broke by pulling too hard on a Tie Strap, now I know better where to attach it and not to bull dog it. Again - this bracket is not part of the Kit instructions to remove it and install it on the Fascia, but I can't see how the hell you can possibly get the gaps/flush's right[/B] - if you look and see the (2) spears[/B] that engage into the mating Bracket on the Rear Quarter, those positively clamp the Fascia to the Quarter to close any Gap, and the Tie Straps allow you to flush it. So the Rear Fascia is ready for prep and Paint.

Documented the tweaks necessary for the Fender to Front Fascia fitment, that saves a ton of time avoiding taking the Fascia Off and Back On in trying to set gaps and flush's. Basically open up some of the mounting holes to allow some movement.

Then I prepped the Hood Shaker Scoop for the Intake Pipe. First I flattened it in a Vice, scribed where to cut, made a oblong hole and kept grinding the opening until the Pipe fit correct. That is ready for Paint, and I will install LEDs inside it after it is Painted.

[hesster]

Got some work done on the car after getting over a bad cold or probably COVID, cause I had Zero taste or Smell and was hacking a Lung constantly. Probably caught it on the Flying Virus Can (4 hour Jet Ride back from the Dominican Republic). That crap totally wipes you out.

Anyway, got the Exhaust Manifolds and Engine Stuff Painted. The XTreme High Temp Paint for the Manifolds, and the POR Engine Enamel is good stuff. Now that is done, I can add the Dress Parts and Convoshield Loom after I wire the LED's.

Then Cleaned and Painted the Suspension Parts, removed the Calipers and Rotors, and installed the new Baer D/S Rotors, and Painted the Calipers with G2 Blue Epoxy. I like the G2 stuff, it is easy to apply after a through cleaning. I learned you brush it on thick to cover everything, then use a good quality fine bristle brush to smooth it out and let it flow. Then follow up with a quick 2nd coat before it sets up from the hardener. I only mixed 1/2 of the contents and it was more than enough to do all 4 Calipers, and now I have some left over to do touch ups. I remembered you need to compress the Caliper Pistons in to allow installing new brake Pads.

I was alarmed that the Rear Caliper Bolts were basically "Hand Tight" when I removed them. That was a little scary as that is what came out of the Factory? WTF?

Yes- I did reuse the Caliper Bolts with some Blue Locktite. Of course there is endless debate on reusing the T&A and TTY Bolts. They do stretch, and if you reuse them multiple times, than it is at your own risk. They require ALOT of Torque, especially the Fronts. I went with 30 Ft/Lb + 90 degrees Rear, and 44 Ft/Lb + 90 degrees Front. I simply torque them first to the required setting, then mark the Bolts and mating surfaces 90 degrees out and just tighten them enough to line up the markings. Is is easier to turn the Steering Wheel to angle the Front Rotors/Calipers to allow better access to the Bolts, as you are really cranking on those bolts even with a giant 250 Ft/Lb Torque Wrench like I have.

I can tell you this, the "Reference" torque settings of 133 Ft/Lbs Front and ~100 Ft/Lbs Rear that you can find on the WEB is quickly surpassed as you tighten them to get to the Angle marks. Probably OK with some Locktite? Maybe, but I found that is WAY under the Angle setting.

Next is installing the Hawk Yellow Ceramic Brake Pads. Probably the best selection for good performance and Low Dust. And it get's rid of the silly anti rattle rollers on the OEM Pads.

Looks good so far.

[hesster]

Got the Brembo Stickers on the Calipers, and the Brake Pads installed.

I had a little issue getting the Rear Guide Pins to seat fully. That kind of had me puzzled, and gave up at that point for the day. Like everything else when building Cars, when you have a issue you STOP, and think about it. So today I was thinking maybe they are different somehow. Didn't see anything on the Web, so went out to look at them.

So I removed all (4) of the Front Guide Pins that I had installed, and compared all (8) Pins side by side. Little did I realize that the Front and Rear Pins are slightly DIFFERENT. I assumed they were identical and just threw all of them in the Pan to clean them when I removed the old Brake Pads and Rotors. It turns out the tips of the Rear Pins are slightly LONGER than the Front Pins, and that makes the difference on how far you can seat the Pin in the Caliper housing. You can use either Pin on the Front Calipers, but not the Short Tipped Pins on the Rear. Go figure. So installed the correct Pins in their respective Calipers with no issues, and the Brakes are done.

I rough mounted the Spoiler. Yeah - it is crude, and is going to require some shaping. Probably a lot of shaping, but I knew that when I purchased it based on the Web Reviews. I bought some Short Strand Fiberglass Bondo, so that is gonna be some work to get it looking good, and the goal is to get it as close to the Factory "Dove Tail" Spoiler as possible. I hope. I have one on the Bandit of course thanks to SSE 4 2SS, so that will be my reference.

Then pulled a Spark Plug out as a sense check since I removed the Plug Wires when Painting the Exhaust Manifolds. That looks OK, so no need for new Plugs.

[hesster]

Disconnected the Battery and wired in the Remote Trickle Charge Tap for easy plug in Charging.

Tore down the Interior. I painted those parts last in the Bandit Build, but I will maybe paint them First this go around.
Removed the Dash Trim Panels, Speedo Bezel, Shifter, and the Console. All will get Painted.
The Passenger Trim Panel put up a serious fight, getting the final clip to release near the Steering Wheel was difficult, but a narrow screwdriver did the trick.
Removing the Console is involved, but plenty of Pics to document where all the screws and clips are.
Did not break a single Clip or Part, which is nice.


Next are the Door Panels, and removing the Inserts. I will also Paint the Inserts even though they look fine as is. They will get Painted Lucerne Blue with some Blue Crystal Pearl, and then 1/2 a Bird Sticker on them.

[hesster]

Here is some technical info on Wiring for LED's and Accessories. It is somewhat involved, but planning and execution of this is critical to assure functionality and reliability. I am big on Halo's and LED's, it adds some Bling at the Car Shows, and draws people in.

I use a large and separate Battery mounted in the Trunk for all of the LEDs, as I found when you run lot's of LED's and Halo's for more than ~6 hours at Car Shows you can sap the vehicle's Battery voltage, and these car's DO NOT LIKE low Battery Voltage.

I now use a Hysincere 12V 100Ah Mini LiFePO4 Battery, Deep Cycle Lithium Battery with 100A BMS, Max.1.28kWh, Up to 15000 Cycles. Unlike most automotive 12V Batteries which are meant for a Amperage burst to start the car and then get recharged by the Alternator, this Beast holds a very deep charge and will run the LEDs all day long.

The Pics show how I typically wire each LED group, and utilizes the Trunk Mounted Battery, Fuses, Illuminated Pushbutton Switch's mounted in the Console, 12V Relays, and a few miles of wire.

The Pushbutton Switch's are of course used to turn a given Circuit ON, and are low amperage since it is only a Trigger to energize the Relay, which in turn supplies the full 12V and Amperage to the LED's. So you don't want to have the PB Switch to carry the full Amperage Loads, and you use it only to Trigger the Relay - that carries the full Amperage Load to the LED's.

Given that, you don't need bigger Gage Wire for the Low Voltage runs (~18 gage to 22 gage), and then use larger Gage Wire to power the LED's or whatever Circuit (16 to 12 Gage). A very IMPORTANT point is Ground Connections - you can never have to many!
Why are these cars hard to start especially when HOT? Lack of a good Battery Ground and few redundant Chassis Grounds.

MOST LED's draw low Amperage. The Halos utilize SMD technology, which is designed to be low-power (~2.5 Amps), and can be run for extended periods without draining the battery. However, go and stack a bunch of LED's up and wired all together and then you are drawing compounded Amperage.

I found this out in my first set-ups on my 2SS Whipple Camaro, where I first drained down the Car's Battery and had starting problems after a 8 hr Car Show. So then I installed a separate Oddysey PC680 Extreme Battery, and that also got drained - because it still does not provide a long duration Volt/Amperage Charge (Reserve Capacity).

So the "reserve capacity" (often measured in minutes at whatever Amp Load) for the Oddysey Battery is typically around 3 - 5 hours at 5 Amps, but for the Hysincere high-efficiency Lithium Ion battery it will last approximately 20 hours. Yeah - that sure allows for ALL of the LEDs to be on all day long at any Car Show.

So these Pics show the Wiring Plan for all of the Halo's and LEDs I am going to install. It will have (3) main Feed Push Button Circuits mounted in the Console -
#1 - Headlamp Color Shift Multicolor Halo's and Amber Fog Lamp Halos.
#2 - CAI Box, Fender Extractors, Headlamp Blue Inner Demon Eye Ring, and the Inside of the Hood Scoop.
#3 - Firewall/Cowl Panel at rear of the engine, and the Front Bumper Beam.
Note: I will not run #2 and #3 while driving since they are Blue, and that can get you a Ticket from the Po-Po!

Now that I have the Plan in place, it is time to string some wire and install all of this stuff.

[SlowLS1]

Great work, now you are doing the kind of work I enjoy.

Let me introduce you to https://qelectrotech.org/

Free electrical schematic software that actually works well!

I make drawings for anything I do so that I can reference later.

It helps!

[hesster]

Ran the Wiring from the Trunk to the Center Console and then drilled a access hole in the Dash Panel to run the wire into the Engine Bay. Best spot to drill is ~2" over from where the Battery Cable passes through. And rough installed the Battery in the Trunk, and bundled those wires together and spliced all of the wires into a single Battery Connection.

You want the Fuses spliced into each + wire about 6" from the Battery Connection, and I have (4) of them - (1) 5 Amp that supplies + power to the Switch's which will trigger all of the (3) Relays, and (3) 7.5 Amp for each of the (3) Relay's + Power Feed Connections. I also Grounded the Battery to the Trunk, and there will be more Ground connections at the Console.

I tried to keep the routing in the Engine Bay neat and orderly, and will bundle up all of the Terminal connections and tuck all of that mess neatly down under the Master Cylinder area.

I tested everything with a Lawn Mower Battery at the Console where the wires will ultimately be connected to the Ulincos PB Switch's and relays. I can't really final install the (3) PB Switch's until I paint the Console.

Everything works nicely. The Multi Color Headlamp Halos are pretty cool.