Ecostang

Thank you and to TMS

TMS do I get a refferral fee or something

Ecostang

Instructions....ya.....I have to recommend them for everyone! I've learned the hard way that an hour spent on the couch researching whatever I'm about to work on usually makes the time working on the car quicker and more enjoyable. At th end of the job there's a good feeling knowing you did something exactly right. Torque specs are also good to adhere to I'm sure you know. Usually I'm surprised how little torque some of these bolts take.

Last night I researched changing my gears, I plan on taking apart the rearend today and mostly putting it back together. I found a mobile mechanic that works at the race track near my house that's going to help me setup the gears properly. I get to help and learn, use all his tools, and should only cost me $150 or so. Seems like it's worth every penny

Ecostang

Got my rubber in on Friday

Ecostang

I also got 3.31 rearend gears, rebuild kit with all seals and bearings, hardened axles, girdle, mini-spool, adjustable panhard and new aluminum one-piece driveshaft.

I had to buy an open diff to use the mini spool, I'll have a 30k mile trac loc diff with 3.73 gears leftover if anyone needs it.

Ecostang

Any hardcore drag racers out there? My car has a line loc already installed for the front brakes, I'm ordering a JMS launchmax transbrake tonight. My plan is to order a racing steering wheel with 2 buttons, one button I plan to use for the transbrake and the other for nitrous. I'm not exactly sure how the transbrake will act, I think if you push the gas hard enough it can roll forward. My questions is should I wire the transbrake and the line loc in to the same button so that when I'm holding at the line I've got the trans locked and the front brakes locked? Do people do that? The idea would be that I would roll up to the line, apply the brake, push the transbrake/line loc button, let off the brake, get on the gas, then release the button on the 3rd yellow.

I would have a separate switch on my console for the line loc by itself for doing burnouts, basically if either switch gives the solenoid power it will loc the front brake lines.

I'll have a WOT switch for the nitrous in series with button on the wheel, basically I'll need to be at WOT and push the button for nitrous. This way when I'm staging and I'm at WOT with the transbrake I won't be spraying nitrous, as soon as I let off the transbrake I push the nitrous button. This gives me more control over the nitrous and makes it safer, spraying while staged can cause intake manifold explosions.

Any flaws with this plan???

Ecostang

I had an idea that I cleared with Lexiion to make sure it possible, the consensus is that it should work.

I really wanted to keep my stock steering wheel, I really like the idea of an airbag and I didn't want to pay $500 for an aftermarket wheel/hub setup and have coiled wires connected to both sides of the wheel. That would get annoying trying to turn.

I asked Lexiion could we use the stock steering wheel and stock buttons to make this happen, change the volume button to nitrous for example. He said no, the buttons didn't work like that. There are several buttons on 2 wires, no of them are on/off function.

I thought more about it and had an idea. Why not make replacement buttons for the OEM steering wheel that uses high quality racing buttons instead. I can get our designer to make plastic boxes using our 3D printer that replace the existing buttons and then install a momentary button in it. I can use the factory wiring through the clock-spring and connect to these wires in the dash, basically disconnect them from the radio and cruise control and repurpose them.

This is one of the buttons to be replaced

Ecostang

I would use a button similar to this. I would need to drill a hole through the back of the wheel to allow enough room for it. Odds are the wires would come out the back of the wheel, then turn immediately 180 degrees and go back in to the wheel to connect to the wires in the wheel.

These would be cool to use for shifting an auto too

Ecostang

Installed both Lakewood 90/10 struts today

Ecostang

Gutted the rearend and replaced all bearings and seals

Ecostang

Got the abs rings moved over to the new axles, installed the studs, got them read to install the new gears and mini spool

GatorV6

Awesome progress, this drag setup is getting serious! I can't wait to see this thing put down some times!

Ecostang

My list is getting shorter for sure, I think that this coming weekend will be a milestone for the project. Suspension will be finished, semi-bullet proof rearend will be finished including the 3.31 gear swap, the new driveshaft will be installed, and the auto transmission swap will be done. If I can get the car back on the road by Sunday and get a data log that will be awesome.

I'll be installing the nitrous and welding the cage up next. I have 3 weeks before my wheels come in so my goal is to have the car ready to go to the track when the wheels arrive.

Ecostang

This is what the steering wheel button looks like with the buttons removed. This is actually going to be pretty easy. I'll just grind the plastic flat and then finish it off with a piece of 1/4" aluminum painted black. I'll drill through it all to install the switch. Simple and it will look nice.

Ecostang

Ground flat like this, I can either have a piece of 1/4 aluminum cut or I could 3D print a piece to match. I haven't decided yet, I need to get it drawn up either way.

Ecostang

Last week I spent roughly 6 hrs installing the the trans cooler and cooler lines. Total PITA!!! My car came with auto but it was a 2010 auto, all the 2011+ is different. Different shifter, trans linkage, cooler lines, different cooler.

I tried for nearly 5 hours to install the cooler lines before I gave up. The lines are bent metal and stiff, they need to go through part of k member. No matter what what I removed, which angle I tried, which direction they went it....they weren't going through. Looked like I needed to drop the K member! I was so frustrated I didn't even post anything about it. In an effort to not let this defeat me I took the lines, cut them in half, and had Boulder Hose add stainless steel braided flexible lines to half. These went in much easier and last night I completed the job

I also installed the shifter, linkage, and linkage brackets to th trans....went smoothly.

Ecostang

I welded this half circle on to my upper control arm bracket to strengthen it up. I used a piece of cardboard to trace it and then cut out a piece of metal from the pattern. The hardest part is welding upside down!

I welded it on a little crooked....I didn't notice until afterwards . Oh well, shouldn't effect the performance

Ecostang

Welded up the axle tubes to the housing, pretty common when beefing up the rearend. Just have to stitch weld it about an inch at a time, let it cool, weld another inch. Don't want the tubes to get too hot and distort.

This is overkill at my power level, but I'm trying to build this rearend one time and be done. Once power increases the rearend will be ready.

Ecostang

Back to a 2 pedal, that's everything to make the switch to auto

Alex (Lexiion), I think there are a few wires we still need to deal with

Ecostang

I also pulled off my gt500 sway bar, saves weight and isn't needed for straight line racing. Pretty common for dedicated race drag cars to have these removed. I'll put it back on once I get it street legal, just remove it for racing events. It's easy to swap on and off.

GatorV6

Very nice, I didn't even know you could weld the axle tubes with everything still on the car. I pulled my front sway bar back when I was trying to hit 12s NA. I kept forgetting to put it back on so I ended up just leaving it off for a good 5k miles or so. Honestly I barely even noticed it was gone in normal driving. Granted pretty much all the roads around here are very straight lol.