Chris' GT Build

[csamsh]

For the future...support the chassis, use a jack under the pumpkin, then you can just kind of roll the rear axle around.

 

[sheizasosay]

For the future...support the chassis, use a jack under the pumpkin, then you can just kind of roll the rear axle around.

This sounds like pure intelligence manifested as characters on a post.

 

[Lucky_13]

This sounds like pure intelligence manifested as characters on a post.

Agreed. Probably going to save me a lot of busted knuckles and foul language.

 

[csamsh]

This sounds like pure intelligence manifested as characters on a post.

I feel like I've leveled up, if you must know

 

[claudermilk]

A slight detour in the build. Turned a major brain fart/screwup into an upgrade. I got in a hurry while tired & getting rained on and pulled the car off the floor jack & onto the steering rack. This broke the cover & controller PCB, forcing a tow home & a new rack. I went ahead and got the Ford Racing rack since I had to spend the money anyway. It turned out to be cheaper than going with a locally-stocked OEM rack, too. Now I know for sure any upgrades on the front control arms will not cause me an issue.

Carnage:

I will also be getting a second set of jackstands, the ZL1 Addons jacking pads, packing a windbreaker in the track bag, and not cheaping out & renting a damn garage space from now on.

I also have gotten RE-11As mounted on the AMR wheels I grabbed on the crazy sale AM had a while back. What a difference this made.

 

[daveyboy]

Nice build

 

[claudermilk]

Thanks. Super mild in this crowd, but it's fun all the same, and still early stages.

 

[claudermilk]

Finally did the sound tube delete. Since @Sky Render had lots of extra caps, I grabbed one from him & stopped by VatoZone to get the hose clamp & master cylinder cover to complete the "kit"

I also got some "help" with installing it. I could not say no to "Can I help? Pretty please. Pretty please. Pretty please."

So, probably way too many pics for such a simple mod, but here they are.
Silly piece to remove.

Cut 15mm off the cap since it's so deep.

Installed. Got to clean up the dirty corner & figure something out about that flaked paint patch (WTF, it's only 3 years old.) I'll also have to come up with a prettier clamp than the basic worm gear.

Best part of this install. Later in the day, I witnessed this:

 

[claudermilk]

Watson Rollbar Install

After the last track day, I realized it was time to step up the safety aspect on the car before any more go-fast mods. So, I bought a Watson Racing 4-point roll bar and a set of G-Force 6-point harnesses. I know not everyone around here likes the Watson bar as much as the Maximum Motorsports one, and without my need to retain use of the back seats for DD duty, I likely would have gone the MM route. As it is, only Watson offers the ability to set the bar up to be a bolt-in/bolt-out affair, so that was my only choice.

Sourcing the bar became something of a comedy of errors. They were supposed to be in stock, but after a few days it turned out they were going to powder coating. So an additional week waiting; not a huge deal in the grand scheme, but a little frustrating. Then I mis-remembered the street number where I was having it shipped (not to my own home); thankfully i have a nifty shipment tracking app and intercepted that issue with only a couple days delay. Finally, the box was completely trashed and the hardware bundle & instruction sheets were nowhere to be found. JDM & Watson jumped on that & got me the missing parts before the weekend so I could still get the install done.

Anyway, on to the install.

First was to remove all seating and the rear quarter trim.

Then, set the main hoop in place and mark the OEM B-pillar gussets for drilling. I took the advice from previous installs posted on the board & drilled 1/2" holes to allow wiggle room--that was a good tip. Once the gussets were removed & drilled, they got loosely attached to the bar.

At this point I ran into two manufacturing issues. One is powder coat thickness. I had to do this eventually to all the welded-on nuts:

(not sure what happened to this file, but you get the idea)
They pretty much all had their threads gummed up and had to be chased out with a tap.

The other is I also found that the holes in the bar's feet all had just enough to make the holes barely allow the bolts, AND a couple were just far enough off that the plates could not fit correctly even without the OEM gusset involved. In the end, I had to slightly hog out all the bolt holes on the feet. Getting everything to align on the main bar became a bit of a circus and I was wishing Watson had done what MM did & just fabbed up a gusset with the proper threaded holes ready to go. As it was, I ended up having to abort on the first day due to these issues & a late start.

After taking a break to blow things up on Saturday, I started early Sunday and got the alignment issues resolved on the main hoop. I elected to spot-weld the nut backing plates in rather than screw around trying to align & drill more holes to rivet the plates in place. No pics as it's been ~8 years since I welded. Suffice to say the tacks are ugly, but sufficient. No, I won't make a living off my welding "skills."
Anyway, got the gussets all set up & finally into place.

Next up is the downtubes. These proved much easier and seemed to almost drop into place. Happily, Watson DID remember to mask off the interlocking parts here, so they fit great. The feet land right on top of a sheetmetal seam, so seam sealer needs to be chiseled out of the way both top & bottom. At this point--being tired--I made it an official car project.

I was kind of anticipating doing this so reacted quickly enough that I only jabbed myself *just* enough to draw some blood. It's not an official project until you bleed on the car, right?

After setting the downtubes in place, I got the shelf marked & drilled. Then had to crawl under the car & pick the seam sealer out of the way underneath. That was almost the biggest PITA of the whole project.

Once that was complete, it was a simple matter of putting the downtubes back in place for a final test-fit, then putting some RTV form-a-gasket around the perimeter of the backing plates & around the bolt holes and bolt it all up.

So the semi-complete project:

It was getting later in the day at this point & I had already decided to save cutting the trim panels for another time. I ran into a challenge with the harness mounting, so that will be the next project.

 

[D98GT]

That's a great informative post there. I do like the simplicity of the WR bar and being able to remove it when needed. Congrats man, it always feels good to complete "big" tasks on the car/

 

[Sky Render]

So how long would it take you to unbolt and remove that bar? An hour or so?

 

[swflastang05]

looks good, are you going to install a rear seat delete carpet kit or something?

 

[claudermilk]

So how long would it take you to unbolt and remove that bar? An hour or so?

About half that. I've converted back to DD mode and even with it being a) the first time, b) needing to reinstall the interior trim panels, and c) putting kid seats back in, it took about 35-ish minutes. This even with the added challenge of sitting the 4-yo next ot the driveway for a time-out while doing it. I anticipate getting the install/removal down to 20-ish minutes once I get it to a routine & no additional challenges.

looks good, are you going to install a rear seat delete carpet kit or something?

I'm thinking about their rear seat delete kit just to make things neat. But--this will be a weekend-only configuration, so I can wait on that a while. It can be a little messy looking for the track day.

 

[Sky Render]

I assume you take the seats out, then unbolt the bar, then put the seats back in? Sorry for all the questions; I've just wanted to put a bar in myself, but I want to still be able to use the back seat from time to time!

 

[GoinDrivin]

Great project and the car looks great! Be sure to post pics of everything installed. I'm thinking of doing the same install on my '05 and building it into a track day ride. Since I don't use the back seat either i'm thinking of doing a rear seat delete type of setup. Are you staying with the stock seats?

 

[claudermilk]

I assume you take the seats out, then unbolt the bar, then put the seats back in? Sorry for all the questions; I've just wanted to put a bar in myself, but I want to still be able to use the back seat from time to time!

For the initial install, yes; you need to move around so much & install/remove the bar with the OEM gussets attached that it is way easier. Now that it's set up, the seats stay in place; there is plenty of room to slide the bar out with the seats moved all the way forward.

Great project and the car looks great! Be sure to post pics of everything installed. I'm thinking of doing the same install on my '05 and building it into a track day ride. Since I don't use the back seat either i'm thinking of doing a rear seat delete type of setup. Are you staying with the stock seats?

Yes, sticking with the OEM Recaros for now. I will definitely post pics of the rest of the install and the finished product.

 

[Sky Render]

For the initial install, yes; you need to move around so much & install/remove the bar with the OEM gussets attached that it is way easier. Now that it's set up, the seats stay in place; there is plenty of room to slide the bar out with the seats moved all the way forward.

Oh, wow, that's awesome!

Did you have to do any crap with resetting the BCM or anything after reinstalling the front seats?

 

[Mark Aubele]

I didn't when I installed my MM bar.

 

[jraskell]

I'll also have to come up with a prettier clamp than the basic worm gear.

Are you trying to keep the ability to return it to stock? If not, I'd just jb weld the cap on.

Otherwise, can you not just rotate the clamp 180° so the screw is mostly out of sight underneath?

 

[claudermilk]

Oh, wow, that's awesome!

Did you have to do any crap with resetting the BCM or anything after reinstalling the front seats?

Nope, just plugged them back in & all is good. I barely turned it on with the seats out anyway (just enough to get the windows up & down during lunch breaks).

@jraskell: Yes, as much as I can. I obviously now have a number of extra holes poked in the floor (and a few more to come), but those can be plugged & covered. The ugly worm gear clamp works fine for now--when it really bugs me I'll go find one of those shrink clamps or something.

So hopefully this weekend I will have time to do the harness install. Reviewing threads here, SoundGuyDave gave me a great, detailed answer to this very problem (http://s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59691&highlight=eye+bolt&page=24). Since I have the eye bolts already, I'll just drill the necessary holes by the seats & do it that way. I am hoping I can get away with using the same bolt for the lap and anti-sub belts.