Made some changes

looks great

Is that coil on plug designed to eliminate the opti-spark and did you notice a big difference in performance?Very impressive wagon Jay although everything you work on becomes impressive after you are done.

Great looking car! Love the new wheels and all the tasterful mods! Keep the pics and updates coming!

silverfox103 wrote:

What about the roof?

Carbon fiber vinyl wrap to the rescue...

- J

my friend did the same thing to his car when the clear coat started lifting

Interesting treatment on the roof. Love the underhood! The wheels look fantastic too.

Nice car all around. Keep the pics coming!

-Mike

Getting the wagon ready for WFMA... Or not.

One of the (many) things I wanted to get done was to complete the brake upgrade I've had waiting in the wings for the October WF.

So after taking way too long to get the parts made, I've finally completed the next phase of construction using the 360mm rotors from a E55 and a set of CLS55 8-piston calipers:

Reworked NOS 9C1 knuckles, fitted with trimmed dust shields and caliper mounting brackets:



Cut down rotors equipped with longer studs:



'91-'92 F-body spindle nuts & indexing washers:



Rotors in place:



Rear view:



Refinished calipers:





Calipers installed



Top view:



Rear view:



Previously I had borrowed a set of wheels from Chris to get by until I could complete the next step of my plan. While they did allow me use the car, the combination of cut springs and the spacers needed to clear the calipers pushed the tire out enough to scrape the fender occasionally when riding alone and much more frequently with two people in the front seat. That is one of the main reasons I didn't bring it to WFNY, as I wasn't comfortable taking it so far from home with the interference. But for occasional use they served to keep the car on wheels until the parts were ready for the next step.

In order to return Chris' wheels, I had traded some parts along with a small amount of coin to Doug for the Coy's that were on his Fleetwood, planning to install them on the wagon. I had already bench tested another set of 18's I had onto the new setup and they cleared everything just fine.

So yesterday I began to gather up the pieces and test fit everything in preparation for the install.

Or so I thought..

Placing the Coys onto the new setup showed the flush mounted air stem hits the caliper. The spokes hit the caliper. Even the drop center hit the caliper. In short, the wheels managed to hit everything but the lottery.

So what to do? The Coy's are already wider on the front side than the wheels that are on there and scraping, so reusing the existing spacer isn't going to work.

Reluctantly, I resolved to forgo the brake upgrade for now and just get the Coy's onto the car to have something to take to WF.

So off came Chris' wheel and the spacer, to mount the Coys.

So I set the wheel on the studs and immediately know I'm in trouble:



The spokes don't have enough curvature to clear the ML55 calipers:



And oh by the way: One of the things I have always fought with this car is that the body isn't centered on the frame. It isn't off by much, like 3/8 of an inch, but with the calipers and 340mm rotors back there, things are exceptionally tight when it comes time to get a tire in on the short side. So far I've managed to creatively juggle wheels and shims in order to get the wheels on.

Measuring things up beforehand, I already knew I was going to have to readjust the body & frame alignment to get the wider Coy's on in back before the front began to throw fits, but things are really starting to get out of hand.

This step was intended as an interim step before I upgrade one last time. I had the 360mm rotors on hand, and trading Doug for the Coy's saved me from laying out the coin towards a new set of tires for the 19 inch wheels that are required for the next round. Perhaps I'll just skip this one and go right to the final configuration. But the real issue is that even if I get the machine work completed in time for October's meet, I still won't have enough left in the budget for the new tires.

So at the moment, I'm not sure how I'm getting to WFMA. Not real thrilled with things as they stand, but we'll see what happens...

- J

What to do when you want to mod something and have an unused 52mm throttle body on hand:

Several years ago a few of us got together and constructed a handful of oversized throttle bodies for our LT1 cars. To begin, used throttle bodies were purchased so the cars wouldn't be down while the modifications were being made. The bodies were completely disassembled, cleaned and then bead blasted. Next, the air passages were bored out to 52 millimeters from the stock 48mm diameter, and matching throttle blades were fabricated from aluminum sheet stock.

One originally was installed into a friend's Impala, and as the original engine has since been removed to be replaced by a 454, it will be moved onto his wagon shortly. Another was slated for a '92 Corvette, where the owner desired the throttle body bypass mod, so the anti-icing coolant passage was milled off the IAC housing and a block off plate fabricated to seal the unused passage. Next, a TPIS airfoil was installed, and lastly, an MBA Products 'Vette top cover was obtained to finish it off.









As these things go sometimes, the car was sold before the new throttle body was installed, so consequently, it has remained on the shelf since it was completed.

The other day I was thinking that it was about time that something was done with it, so rather than just sell it on, why not see it get some use by installing it on the wagon?  The late LT1's utilize a different style IAC housing than the '92 & '93 LT1's, so a corresponding coolant cover was readied for use. Since this car has had the coolant bypass mod for some time, just replacing the custom housing with a stock cover seemed a bit lame, knowing all the other work that had been done to convert it to 52mm.

First, the pressed in barbs were extracted from the housing:



Then the holes were tapped for 7/16”-20 thread. That size was chosen as the holes are already the correct size once the tubes are removed:



Next, some O-ring straight thread plugs were installed, mostly because they were on hand. If you wanted to do the same, a pair of setscrews and some Loctite would work just as well, and probably be easier to find.



The completed IAC housing:



As installed:



Finally, the Corvette cover was replaced with something more fitting for the wagon:



And as seen on the engine:





Enjoy...

The sheep wanted to know, is that a nitrous plate between the throttle body and the plenum?

Looks like a string of extra injectors sitting there on the aluminum bar
.

Jay, you are bringing your wagon to wagonfest this year right?

lakeffect wrote:

The sheep wanted to know, is that a nitrous plate between the throttle body and the plenum?

Almost. It is a set of auxiliary fuel injectors for adding make-up fuel under boost. The injectors would be controlled by something like this:



The supercharger project has stalled, so I’ve been busying myself adding/upgrading the support systems when time permits.

Here is a photo with the throttle body removed where you can see the spray bars:

buickestate wrote:

Jay, you are bringing your wagon to wagonfest this year right?

Uh, maybe. I still have several issues to address before it is ready, including a set of lower ball joints and a myriad of small details that can no longer wait for another day. The big brakes still won’t fit, even with the 18” BBS wheels, so hopes of just replacing everything with the 5/8” spindles & lower control arms didn’t pan out.

I haven’t really minded riding along with Doug & Chris the past few years (actually prefer it as the ride is more pleasant with someone to talk to) but I’m wondering if people might like to see it there for a change.

JaySS wrote:

buickestate wrote:

Jay, you are bringing your wagon to wagonfest this year right?

Uh, maybe. I still have several issues to address before it is ready, including a set of lower ball joints and a myriad of small details that can no longer wait for another day. The big brakes still won’t fit, even with the 18” BBS wheels, so hopes of just replacing everything with the 5/8” spindles & lower control arms didn’t pan out.

I haven’t really minded riding along with Doug & Chris the past few years (actually prefer it as the ride is more pleasant with someone to talk to) but I’m wondering if people might like to see it there for a change.

Though I would love to see the wagon, I would rather know that you took your time and made it right, as you envision it. Rather then rush through the work it needs and cut corners just to drive it to wagonfest.