Ed's Daily Fun 2SS

[Eddymel1998]

Added few stickers under the hood, they're just cut vinyl so not sure whether they'll stand up to the engine bay heat, also have been thinking about styling, interior I want to keep classy, exterior I want to at least look like it's doing something aero wise, under the hood I kinda like the jet plane\rocket style thing. Waiting on parts and more paychecks for parts, side skirts should come in soon but otherwise looking like minor lower cost mods for near future.

[Eddymel1998]

So I was trying to figure out how to swap the hardline on the PCV system that runs along the fuel rail, but didn't have much luck finding out what connectors GM used, so instead I bought this pcv hose from a Corvette which uses same connectors for like $8 and will try to remove the hose and clamp some 3\8 fuel line to it, measured it with some calipers, got .4 inches or little over 10mm so figured 3\8 is close enough, just waiting on the hose now.

[Eddymel1998]

Started on installing side skirts today, only removed the rocker panels for the time, it's supposed to get real hot today so I at least used the lower temps in morning to do something, also found out there was crazy amounts of sand, rocks and tree needles trapped inside. The clips were not the worst once I figured out how they work, easily the least frustrating clips on the entire car, did end up breaking a few but I was prepared and bought maybe 40 spare ones. Will talk about the side skirts tomorrow once I have something to say.

[Eddymel1998]

Did the side skirts today, had a hard time finding what I liked so I ended up going down the dark path known as "universal aero" In my search I found a company called EZSplitters, they offer a universal option that is 4" wide and custom length, I took a tape measure to the car and realized the 5" would be perfect, reached out to them and they agreed to do a 5"x80" splitter for $485, took them about 4-5 weeks to put it together.

I kinda shot myself in the foot off the start, I was using hardware I had laying around, so I had 4 bolts per side to work with, an issue I ran into was that the bolts were just slightly too short, originally I wanted to put in a 1.5mm nylon spacer between splitter and rocker panels because of those ridges, if I had a longer bolt I thing the results would've been way better in just like that final 5% of the fitment, anyways I lined up rocker panels and drilled holes straight through, then tightened it with a fender washer on either end.


then once test fitted I outline the groves for the jack stand pads and cut them out (side note to anyone who wants to do same a respirator is REQUIRED, the dust that comes out of this, especially considering the small shards of carbon is no joke), not the prettiest end result but not like anyone is going to see it except maybe an alignment or a wheel shop


In the end it looked great, in front it even lined up with the rock guard pretty well, might grab something to fill the holes in in the future, also in the read might buy some generic mud flaps to cut up and attach to the liner to close the gap there as well


The side skirts also match the APR splitter perfectly, even the two company logos use the same exact color schemes and overall style, the lift pads are also still perfectly usable, if I had to do it again I would get longer bolts and more of them.

[Eddymel1998]

Got around to replacing that PCV hard line, took that Corvette one from earlier, cut the hose part off on each end and reused the connector with some fuel line, ran it behind the engine and along the passenger side to the front, secured it with hose clamps, it's not the prettiest but it will be covered by the fuel rain covers and probably replaced by a properly plumbed catch can down the line, for now I keep the original pipe in the backseat in case something goes wrong with this thing.

[Vicster]

I like the steering wheel! Anything that brings back the old school look or feel is great in my book!

[Eddymel1998]

Yeah I was originally worried that the shiny bits would be hard to get good grip on, but it has been great, those ridges on the back are also something I don't think I can go back from. My only worry is that since this is a vinyl wrapped plastic with wood grain that whatever the epoxy they used to seal it would wear down over the years from being fondled, whereas proper wood you can just sand and refinish, but that's a future me problem.

[JAFWF]

Tomorrow is another day

[Eddymel1998]

Schedule got hectic fast, was planning on installing dip stick and ground wire this weekend but guess time is not on my side, did get a moment today as wethar was cooling down, installed the Holley oil cap on the valve covers in prep for the fuel rail covers.

Also added caution tape on the air box and fuse cover, not a great job but I've never done stuff like this before with cutting and such, I always thought imporfections sometimes create character tho, so we will see if I might redo them. These don't look the best right now but I got more plans and I think the engine bay will come together well once I get few more aesthetic things together under the hood. Also it's vinyl tape so this is also a bit of a test on how it stands up to engine bay heat and dust.

[Eddymel1998]

So noticed that the wicker bill bolts were getting corroded so pulled one todey to get thread and length (m6x10 turns out), boy that is a lot of rust, will have to order some stainless, maybe aluminum or something similar, it's a common bolt, bet there are a ton of options, but going to need a good cleaning on the threads. There's chance that the threads are also what is corroding but some cleaning and healthy helping of anti sieze or something like that should be fine enough.

[Eddymel1998]

Found myself in a bit of a pickle, got some fancy bolts to replace on the wicker bill, but when I took the bill off saw this:

Looks like the idiot that painted this spoiler didn't do it right, almost like it was his first time ever painting any car part. Figured it's not visible but I still gotta do something before the paint keeps peeling from the freshly exposed edges, so sanded it down, prepped it and prying to patch it with leftover paint I had from painting it first time.

The problem is that I gotta get this sorted before I head out on my trip tomorrow morning, plus clearcoat is a little scarce but I found some polyurethane floor clearcoat that is gonna have to do.

Waiting on paint to dry as I write this so I can clear it, at the end of the day this is like a $300 spoiler and bill that I painted for like $50 so I'm not too worried, but still would rather have it be presentable.


Update: added the clearcoat and it does not look good but honestly it doesn't have to, it did seal pretty well, I used some 1500 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and I'll leave it be overnight, will attach the wicker bill tomorrow.

[ariZona28]

LOL! It's always something. Last week when I installed my spoiler I nicked my 3rd brake light while I was driving the 5/16 bit home with the Black and Decker. No harm. They shouldn't have put that there anyhow! Watching your updates, keep up the good work. Your car's an "Ironman ".

[Eddymel1998]

Originally Posted by ariZona28

LOL! It's always something. Last week when I installed my spoiler I nicked my 3rd brake light while I was driving the 5/16 bit home with the Black and Decker. No harm. They shouldn't have put that there anyhow! Watching your updates, keep up the good work. Your car's an "Ironman ".

Thanks, those are always the worst, scratch so minor no one will ever notice it except you, when my dad and I drilled the lower grille to fit the splitter rods we nicked the lower lip part of the bumper, it sits covered up by the rod mostly but I see it every time I walk by.

[Eddymel1998]

Swapped the bolts out, here's a pic of what they came out as, completely rusted, rust even stained the carbon fiber was pretty nasty, I cleaned out threaded holes with some pb blaster.


For new bolts I went a little fancy, figured it would be cool to have some titanium on the car and this is good time for it, was going to go with plain silver or black but as they say "when in Rome do as the Romans do" so I knew I had to get one for he "burnt" options, selection was a little limited so I went with burnt blue, they are not for everyone and kind of stick out but that's kind of the point I guess, they show up morr blue in photos but have a purple "haze" to them in person. Was surprised at the price too, about 8 bolts cost me around $30 on Amazon which is not cheap but GM sells basic bolts for these cars for more then that

Oh yea and the weight saving from these has improved my 0-60 by 4 seconds and I accidentally broke the sound barrier at a traffic light.