So this brings me to present day. Motor's out at the shop. I don't know if I've mentioned the shop's name yet, but the guy doing most of the work is the shop owner, Michael Delaughter, at Track Minded Performance in Marietta, Ga. Any Georgia people should check them out. It's a two hour drive for me from North Macon but totally worth it.
Bonus: he's doing a wire tuck for me while he's in there. Sweet! I had previously done a semi-tuck, but he said while the motor's out he'd just go ahead and finish the job.
Alex Todd (Scratchnsniff) builds depowered steering racks (hot tank, regrease, welding, removing seals...the works). He's got one done up for me and it'll be going in as well.
While it's been out at the shop, I've been working on some smaller projects.
Project 1: Gauge panel. I wanted to see how inexpensively I could do this. I like how they're coming out, but in the far future I'll probably still replace my gauges with some of Rev's.
The black centers are indeed perfect circles cut with a template. They do look a little off in the pictures though.
Parts list:
-Gauge overlay panel. Bought brushed, was sent chrome, seller gave a full refund and I just used some brushed aluminum vinyl I had laying around. Works for me. You can see the 'grain' of the vinyl in the 2nd pic above. ($20)
-White Gauges (company of the same name makes them, $20)
-Transparent red taillight vinyl (already had laying around)
-3M flat black vinyl (free sample size, lol)
-OEM(?) polished rings ($15)
-Total cost (with refund): $35. Not bad.
Project 2: Rebuilding my GV lights. Confession time - they were a bit dim the first time around, and the wiring is...not clean. I'm re-buying all parts and starting from scratch with a redesign of everything.
-I started with the model of C3 Corvette reverse light lenses that mount with screws through the lens. This means I can mount directly to the panel instead of using 20# double sided tape. I cut out the backside so I can have access to the innards, but left the mounting holes in place.
-The LEDs I am using are JDM ASTAR brand. 100% The only LED bulb that does not get washed out by the sunlight. $30 for a pair on Amazon - don't waste money on anything else. Not even superbrightleds sells bulbs this bright.
-I built a holding plate for them. I'm not using sockets and instead soldering directly to the bulb to save space. Left: switchback LED (white reverse, amber turn). Right: red LED (stop).
-Bought a Depot brand Chevy HHR taillight for $10 off eBay and harvested the reflective housing out of it.
Pro tip: I have discovered in all of my LED experiments that you can have a mega bright bulb, but without a good reflective housing, it will be a waste of time. Mirrors don't work - you need a cluster of small parabolic reflectors like OEM manufacturers use. Look at any OEM turn signal and you'll see what I mean.
-I enlarged the hole in the back and stuck on my bulb plate. The taillight function will be provided by the 90mm halo/angel eye you see on the outer perimeter of the housing. It is a red COB design. I mounted it face-outwards this time instead of upside down like last time.
-Then the whole assembly goes into the C3 lens. The HHR reflector coincidentally has a perfect friction fit around the inner C3 ring. You can see how I left the C3 mounting screw holes in place. I will cut little tabs into the fiberglass of the GV panel to bolt them down onto.
-My wife and I were gag-gifted a Mikel Knight CD once. "The country rap king." Truly awful music. So what has the exact diameter of a Corvette lens, is easy to cut with normal scissors, and has a reflective surface? Hmmmm.....
-I then went to test firing everything before I resealed and waterproofed it all.
Taillight function (90mm COB LED ring):
Brake function:
Turn function:
Reverse function:
Note: I originally wanted to use a sort of Mosfet P design so the brake light and amber would flash back and forth when the brake and turn lights are both on. However, the amber overpowers the red, so although both lights will be on, it still looks as if it flashes back and forth.
I currently have everything being sealed up by JB weld and drying at the house. Now that I know this method is a success and the lights are blisteringly bright, I'll repeat the process for the other side. I also want to build a clean wiring harness. The idea is to be able to pick the car up from the shop and have a largely plug and play solution to my previous GV rendition. I hope this helps anyone looking to do the same.
Anyways, that's my long-winded update. I guess it's time to stop procrastinating and get some papers graded, lol.
Still looking for an MP62, if anyone knows of one.
See you guys later.