psfracer
billy badass
Ok, so since everyone in this section will eventually need a parachute 
........I am going to detail my install here.
Thanks to JPC for the nice stuff. The rear bumper bar is a solid piece. I am thinking about placement of the release handle right now---thinking about putting it where my emergency brake handle used to be.
Here is what came in today. If it rains this weekend, I will be installing this instead of going to the track.
Ok, first step I did was look at the rear of the car and see any potential problems. I do have my master disconnect and the charging lugs for the batteries located on the bumper cover, as circled in the below picture. I have charging lugs so I don't have to remove the decklid if all I need to do is charge the batteries.
Remove the rear bumper cover. Its simple, just two screws on each fender well, 4 nuts with washers along the top of the trunk, and three retaining clips underneath. Once off, you will notice I already have the JPC chrome moly bumper replacement--which only weighs 1.5-2.0lbs or so. But if you have the stock bumper, removal will be easy as it is only bolted in--unlike the front bumper that also has spot welds.
The new parachute mounting bar bolts right in, and everything lined up, no surprises---which is what I come to expect from JPC. This parachute mounting bar is beefy--I weighed it and its 10lbs exactly. So it looks like I will be adding 8lbs with this bar, another 14lbs for the parachute, and 5lbs for the parachute mount. Now, to drill a 1.75 inch hole for the bar to go through the bumper cover, I measured from where the bumper cover would sit to the middle of the hole for the mount (shown below) and came up with 9 1/4 inches.
I put the bumper cover back on, completely, with all nuts tightened down, as I wanted the bumper cover to be in the exact place it will be before drilling the hole. I started with a 1/4 inch drill bit for a pilot hole, then went from there. Once I determined exactly where the bar was sitting, I used a 1.75 inch hole saw to drill the final hole. Thankfully the position of the master disconnect, as well as the charging lugs, were no issue.
Now JPC does offer a license plate hinge that allows you to move the license plate out of the way while using the parachute mount, then when you don't need it, you flip the license plate back up, covering the 1.75" hole. I, however, didn't go that route because I need the license plate to cover up another hole for where the master disconnect was previously located a couple years ago. Plus I think its cool showing the license plate, even at the track. So, I drilled a 1.75" hole through the license plate also. If you don't already have a 1.75" hole saw, you will need one.
Next up, the parachute mount, as you can see, has 4 holes already drilled in it. Simply use that as a template to drill 4 matching holes through the aluminum parachute mounting plate. I made a 2 inch aluminum spacer for the cable mount, as the further back the cable mount is, the easier it will be to turn the cable to meet the center of the chute. Per NHRA rules, the mount can be no further then 12 inches from the back of the parachute. Below is just a mock up, we will see if this is enough, or if I just end up putting a 45 degree bend in the cable mount to accomplish the same thing. Tomorrow will be putting the actual parachute on the mounting plate, and the cable routing and mounting.
So today, first step was to mount the parachute bag in between the aluminum plate and the parachute mount. I didn't want to cut the 4 holes into the bag with a razor, so I decided on taking a 5/16 drill bit, heated it up on our gas stove, and let the drill bit melt through the canvas (with the aluminum backing plate already in place as a template).
With that done, it was now time to mount the cable handle. I tried alot of different locations while in the car, with my gloves on. The emergency brake location is definitely the cleanest, but I had trouble grabbing it there with my gloves on, my knuckles kept wanting to hit the side of the center console. So I decided on a little different location that made all the difference (for me). Located basically where the emergency brake was, but on the outside of the center console. I could grab the handle here a lot faster and easier, plus its easier to work on this way should I need to. Mounting it this way also allowed me to have enough range of motion to control the cable approx 3 1/2 inches. I spaced the handle approx 1 1/2 inches from the center console with a plastic bushing.
Next was routing the cable. There is a million ways to do this, depending on your car, I pretty much went down the frame rail on the drivers side and then had the cable exit the lower left hand corner of the license plate area. I used the 4 clamps that was supplied with the cable/handle kit. Drilled a 3/8 hole in the bumper cover, then feed the cable through the hole and the cable anchor off of the parachute mount, but I didn't cut it to length yet. Initially it looked like I had about 2 extra feet of cable.
But before cutting the cable to the right length, I had to pack the chute first. I was surprised how long it was
Once the chute was packed, I placed the cable in place to see how much I could cut off and marked it. Now, before cutting, I pulled the cable in the middle in a few inches past where I am going to cut it, because you need about 4 inches of just the center cable to hold the parachute in place--so pull the cable out from the other side a few inches past where you are going to cut.
Then feed the center cable back in so you have this:
Just put the parachute chord through the bolt on the parachute mount, and your done! I am going to pack more of the parachute chord in next time, its hanging out pretty far because my brother and I were testing it. It works. Car sitting in the garage, I pull the handle, and that spring loaded parachute center pops out about ten feet.
All in all very easy to do, and I thought the hardest part was in fact deciding exactly where to put the release handle. Then, I would say working slowly to make sure you drill the 1.75" hole in exactly the right place. After that, learning how to pack the chute took about 15 minutes, but the rest is really quite easy to do.
........I am going to detail my install here. Thanks to JPC for the nice stuff. The rear bumper bar is a solid piece. I am thinking about placement of the release handle right now---thinking about putting it where my emergency brake handle used to be.
Here is what came in today. If it rains this weekend, I will be installing this instead of going to the track.
Ok, first step I did was look at the rear of the car and see any potential problems. I do have my master disconnect and the charging lugs for the batteries located on the bumper cover, as circled in the below picture. I have charging lugs so I don't have to remove the decklid if all I need to do is charge the batteries.
Remove the rear bumper cover. Its simple, just two screws on each fender well, 4 nuts with washers along the top of the trunk, and three retaining clips underneath. Once off, you will notice I already have the JPC chrome moly bumper replacement--which only weighs 1.5-2.0lbs or so. But if you have the stock bumper, removal will be easy as it is only bolted in--unlike the front bumper that also has spot welds.
The new parachute mounting bar bolts right in, and everything lined up, no surprises---which is what I come to expect from JPC. This parachute mounting bar is beefy--I weighed it and its 10lbs exactly. So it looks like I will be adding 8lbs with this bar, another 14lbs for the parachute, and 5lbs for the parachute mount. Now, to drill a 1.75 inch hole for the bar to go through the bumper cover, I measured from where the bumper cover would sit to the middle of the hole for the mount (shown below) and came up with 9 1/4 inches.
I put the bumper cover back on, completely, with all nuts tightened down, as I wanted the bumper cover to be in the exact place it will be before drilling the hole. I started with a 1/4 inch drill bit for a pilot hole, then went from there. Once I determined exactly where the bar was sitting, I used a 1.75 inch hole saw to drill the final hole. Thankfully the position of the master disconnect, as well as the charging lugs, were no issue.
Now JPC does offer a license plate hinge that allows you to move the license plate out of the way while using the parachute mount, then when you don't need it, you flip the license plate back up, covering the 1.75" hole. I, however, didn't go that route because I need the license plate to cover up another hole for where the master disconnect was previously located a couple years ago. Plus I think its cool showing the license plate, even at the track. So, I drilled a 1.75" hole through the license plate also. If you don't already have a 1.75" hole saw, you will need one.
Next up, the parachute mount, as you can see, has 4 holes already drilled in it. Simply use that as a template to drill 4 matching holes through the aluminum parachute mounting plate. I made a 2 inch aluminum spacer for the cable mount, as the further back the cable mount is, the easier it will be to turn the cable to meet the center of the chute. Per NHRA rules, the mount can be no further then 12 inches from the back of the parachute. Below is just a mock up, we will see if this is enough, or if I just end up putting a 45 degree bend in the cable mount to accomplish the same thing. Tomorrow will be putting the actual parachute on the mounting plate, and the cable routing and mounting.
So today, first step was to mount the parachute bag in between the aluminum plate and the parachute mount. I didn't want to cut the 4 holes into the bag with a razor, so I decided on taking a 5/16 drill bit, heated it up on our gas stove, and let the drill bit melt through the canvas (with the aluminum backing plate already in place as a template).
With that done, it was now time to mount the cable handle. I tried alot of different locations while in the car, with my gloves on. The emergency brake location is definitely the cleanest, but I had trouble grabbing it there with my gloves on, my knuckles kept wanting to hit the side of the center console. So I decided on a little different location that made all the difference (for me). Located basically where the emergency brake was, but on the outside of the center console. I could grab the handle here a lot faster and easier, plus its easier to work on this way should I need to. Mounting it this way also allowed me to have enough range of motion to control the cable approx 3 1/2 inches. I spaced the handle approx 1 1/2 inches from the center console with a plastic bushing.
Next was routing the cable. There is a million ways to do this, depending on your car, I pretty much went down the frame rail on the drivers side and then had the cable exit the lower left hand corner of the license plate area. I used the 4 clamps that was supplied with the cable/handle kit. Drilled a 3/8 hole in the bumper cover, then feed the cable through the hole and the cable anchor off of the parachute mount, but I didn't cut it to length yet. Initially it looked like I had about 2 extra feet of cable.
But before cutting the cable to the right length, I had to pack the chute first. I was surprised how long it was
Once the chute was packed, I placed the cable in place to see how much I could cut off and marked it. Now, before cutting, I pulled the cable in the middle in a few inches past where I am going to cut it, because you need about 4 inches of just the center cable to hold the parachute in place--so pull the cable out from the other side a few inches past where you are going to cut.
Then feed the center cable back in so you have this:
Just put the parachute chord through the bolt on the parachute mount, and your done! I am going to pack more of the parachute chord in next time, its hanging out pretty far because my brother and I were testing it. It works. Car sitting in the garage, I pull the handle, and that spring loaded parachute center pops out about ten feet.
All in all very easy to do, and I thought the hardest part was in fact deciding exactly where to put the release handle. Then, I would say working slowly to make sure you drill the 1.75" hole in exactly the right place. After that, learning how to pack the chute took about 15 minutes, but the rest is really quite easy to do.
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