"Ray's AKA demonfire's XR4Ti build up"

[DSPXR4ti]

Fun vid a friend made of Matt and me having shenanigans @ the local autoX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpzI7tLe3UQ

You guys have some very painful courses.

Ben

[Ray]

Yes, i know. Some of them are amazing, but we're so limited in our lot size that... well, you see what we get.


Edit:

Some progress...

Have not really had much time to work on the car, but i did start a couple off season projects.

I still want to change up the cooling system, build a custom intake manifold, and finally dyno tune this stand alone - that might wait until march however as i have a few other things going on right now.

Projects started - Go on a diet and cool off. This involves removal of 37lbs off the car, from the worst possible place... the roof. Thanks to Grayson for the inspiration. I will be putting about 2.5 lbs back in there to fill the hole. Give or take.

Hood vent construction, and fixing a few of the dings on the hood that have been bothering me. I bought an HVLP paint gun, i'm going to try my hand at that as well.




Working on making the bits to finish the vent:


TIG'd in..


Body work. Unglorious. Only have about 3 hours into sanding right now, figure another hour or two of that, then it's "prime time"




Moonroof Removal:



interior tray dropped.


the offending bits


Prepping to make something to fill the hole left behind.


And a couple layers of 'cloth later


That's setting up right now, then it's trim out, test fit, figure out a way to make it stay there, etc.

[John Brennan]

Lookin' good, Ray.

LOVE the center vent idea. Lots of us call it the Wilky Vent, which I think is most appropriate.

If you were looking for a place to put the vent that makes it the most effective, and the least intrusive in terms of having rainwater or washwater entering the engine compartment, the empty space between the radiator and the front of the engine makes an enormous amount of sense. I would definitely like to do one of these.

[anglin]

What a great action shot!

[whitelx]

how do you keep sparks an what not from burning up the interior? I want to remove my electric roof and weld in a patch panel from the rear roof section of a sunroof car. Been trying to figure out a way from burning the car down short of removing the entire interior.

[Ray]

John - yeah, Wilky definitely inspired me to do this

Anglin - credit goes to the photographer!

whitelx - we just used a large flat piece of cardboard attached to the inside of the car, and taped off the inside glass.

[Ray]

The fiberglass insert has taken me probably 10x longer than a steel one would have... but it's (less than) half the weight.

final mock up - sealant is curing now.

[Ray]

Autobody = expensive as hell for materials. I'd hate to say it, but if i knew what i was getting into, i would have stuck with rattle cans... okay, maybe not, but $100/ quart paint is crazy. And that's actually the economy stuff!

First coat of diamond white...



almost done with 3rd coat


Also did my mirror caps as they were wicked faded. Tomorrow is wetsand and buff... and cut up that C&R radiator to weld some AN-16 fittings on... heh.

Oh, and the sunroof plug.

[jetrinka]

looks really nice man! I tried my hand at body work once with one of my cars rear bumper covers... It turned out alright but I swore I would never do it again... On top of being expensive, I hated all the excessive prep work needed. lol

[Ray]

Slight update on my car:

Mike's radiator is out, guy should be coming today @ some point to pick it up.
Picked up a C&R radiator from anglin, welded on AN-16 fittings...

Yep, decided to convert all coolant lines to stainless braided, and further reduce the amount of under hood coolant lines by removing the sensors from the intake manifold. Welded the bungs onto my expansion tank yesterday, and took an opportunity to practice aluminum welding again by redoing a few of the welds on the tank, mostly for aesthetics as that was my first aluminum project and the welds were... well, my first aluminum project.

Waiting on a couple of AN-16 steel fittings (t-stat housing, water pump). Major props to http://www.summitracing.com - the original fittings i had ordered in early dec were on back order until 27 Dec - no biggie, i figured, i wouldn't be able to get to it until this week anyway. I re-checked on 27 Dec... and they were pushed back to 12 January. Emailed summit's customer service, asking if i could swap out those fittings (the canton racing ones) with some aeroquips and i'd paypal the difference of $2 each... a couple hours later they emailed me back, said they'd cover the cost and ship them for me. Nice!

Apparently i've also been lax about posting pictures here. I'm sure like only 2 people actually check this thread now being that it's insanely long, but hey, what the hell.

So i learned a lot about paint. I am still considering re-shooting the car, and while i'm in there fixing up a couple of the dings that have been there since before creation... but the scale of time commitment is daunting given the whole two kids, full time job, and this car has to be ready to kill cones in only 3.5 months - that's 14 weeks.

wetsanded, and hit with a buffing wheel (thanks to Adam for letting me borrow that)


And switched from rubbing compound to a polishing compound:


Fittin's


Moddin' the coolant tank to accept some sensors



Hoping today, after i do some firewood, to change some wiring around to get the sensors in the tank, finish mockup with the radiator - becoming a tight fit with the charge tubing, relocated alternator, and -16 AN fittings all trying to occupy the same physical space.

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Apparently i've also been lax about posting pictures here. I'm sure like only 2 people actually check this thread

Nah, at least 3.

Is that replacement panel for the sunroof removable?

[hEaT]

Looking good. Can't wait to see the braided bling in place.

Also, isn't the stainless line heavier than rubber...?

[Ray]

Apparently i've also been lax about posting pictures here. I'm sure like only 2 people actually check this thread

Nah, at least 3.

Is that replacement panel for the sunroof removable?

No, it's glued in. I was thinking of making it removable but couldn't figure out how to do that and still have it be water tight.

Joe - yes, probably, but remember, i'm also removing hoses and that piece of steel and my lengths of hose are getting shorter as the C&R lower fitting is also on the pass side... so i bet it's a net loss.

so :p

[DPDISXR4Ti]

No, it's glued in. I was thinking of making it removable but couldn't figure out how to do that and still have it be water tight.

The factory one isn't water tight - that's why the tray has drain lines! Oh wait, never mind, you no longer have a tray!

[DSPXR4ti]

Apparently i've also been lax about posting pictures here. I'm sure like only 2 people actually check this thread

Nah, at least 3.

Is that replacement panel for the sunroof removable?

No, it's glued in. I was thinking of making it removable but couldn't figure out how to do that and still have it be water tight.

Joe - yes, probably, but remember, i'm also removing hoses and that piece of steel and my lengths of hose are getting shorter as the C&R lower fitting is also on the pass side... so i bet it's a net loss.

so :p

Hey Ray

#4 here, ahh.. have you thought about going to 16" slicks? the reason I'm asking is because have you been thinging about your weight in the CP class because your XR's weight starts off at 2450 lbs in the CP class but right now with your 17" wheels you get a 200 lbs penalty, so 2650 lbs. Slicks would be fun and you wouldn't have to worry about you weight

Ben