Someone Else's Problem: What is Dead May Never Die - EyeMWing's sorta big red box

Back in, buttoned most of the way up, test startup...
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Yessss.

Spotted an intermittent fuel leak where the line hits the rail, so I'm going to give that a looksie. It looks like somebody used a newer style plastic quick disconnect to fix this once before, and that may well be why it's leaking.
 
Eh. Gonna leave the fuel line alone. No sense borrowing trouble. Pushing the connector tight fixes it. I'll wrap some safety wire around the connector to pull it tight to the rail.

There's also the faintest whiff of coolant from somewhere. And the temperature gauge doesn't work. The sender is located in satan's asshole so I'll just assume with no evidence the idiot light sender works and call it a day. It's only a 3000 mile trip mostly in the mountains, what could possibly go wrong?

4LO doesn't engage. Suspect the linkage needs to be adjusted. The 4wd light no longer works. Wondering if i forgot to plug the thing in.

Broke the mech fan shroud. Will need to invent something to affix the big ol missing piece of it.

Need to finish stereo install. Need to install CB. Need more 12v jacks for charging computers and phones and cameras and shit. Might go straight to the battery with that....

Need to go to the DMV and get license plates.
Need to get tires.

I work all day tomorrow, so nothing is getting done there (I can order tires I guess)
 
Wow it's coming together! Cannot wait to hear how it does on the rally
 
Test drive complete.

Need a drivers front caliper. Maybe a redo on the pads up there, too.
 
Did the accessory wiring today. CB radio and an absolute mess of USB ports and 12v jacks.

Since it isn't really a permanent install, I decided to eschew dicking around under the dash and just run 12ga marine cable (so rated for salt water, oil, gasoline, diesel, cold, heat, abrasion) from the battery, down the fender, exit near the door hinges, duck inside (crushed in the weatherstrip) and then mount all this shit on the passenger side dash.

Of course, on the passenger side, there are no convenient cable-sized holes into the fender. So I had to make one. Remove the washer bottle and cue the step drill to drive a bloody great big hole into it.
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Lesson: That bottom hole doesn't actually go into the fender. It goes into some effing void cavity, presumably for smuggling whatever drugs fueled the Chrysler engineering teams. That UPPER hole actually goes into the fender.

Then cut some MDF and drill some more whacking great big holes in it. Add a ratsnest. Use a scrap of MDF to make a junction plate. It's probably safe, right? Rebuild that plate 95 times because you keep connecting the wires wrong. Heatshrink your connections.
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Cram it into the napkin tray thing.
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The wires routing out the front are the marine cable and the radio power wire (the radio is mounted on top of the dash)

Fit and finish are excellent.
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That blue LED is going to be my enemy (that's a USB charger with a blue LED voltmeter)

I didn't take a picture of the completed battery area, but it's got a giant coil of leftover marine cable sufficient to relocate this shit to the center console if it doesn't work out ergonomically.

I bunged the radio to the top of the dash pad with drywall screws. It weeble wobbles around something awful, and I'm sure somebody's gonna be pissed that I put holes in an otherwise pristine dash pad. But I legitimately couldn't find anywhere else to mount this that wasn't going to take a day of careful cutting and fitting. There is virtually NO empty depth in the dashboard of this thing.
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Brakes and final finish work tomorrow. Depart for rally Monday night. Rally Tuesday.
 
Done.

Brakes on.
Spark plugs changed.
A million tiny tasks accomplished. Cargo packed.
Runs pretty decent, actually.

Did have an incident during the spark plug change, where I literally ripped the plug wire in half with a gentle tug. Replaced that one with a random Small Block Chevy wire we had laying around. It's like 2ft too long but whatever.

Incidentally, we discovered the driver's seat wobbles around all over the place. We tracked this back to one of the mount bolts having been broken. Angle grinder and drill came out, made a new hole, blasted a bolt through it. The driver's seat STILL wobbles around just as much. The only difference is that the floor now bends with it. So YEAH.

We painted the wheels glow-in-the-dark white. Why? Because it was either that or glitter.

STILL ain't got a shift knob, Think we're just shippin' it without. Might pick one up on the road.


Now I need to pack my luggage...
 
Bruh.... when do you work to make monies for these projects?

Love this no matter what. :D
 
I am a software architect. What does that mean? I'll tell you when i figure that out.

All told this one was pretty cheap. The tires were far and away the worst, and i way overpaid for pads and rotors buying them locally. The calipers, weirdly, were cheaper locally.

The hotels on the rally will cost more than the whole build (if i were solo I'd just car camp). The entry fee is only $50 less than what I paid Rick for the car.
 
@wingusanddingusmotorsport on Instagram for the rally photos. #lemonsrally for the full feed.
 
Rally is over but clutch is going. Can't hit reverse without shutting down the engine anymore. Found this out parking at the hotel. It was fine getting out of the space at the grocery store 10 minutes before...

I beat the clutch up real hard on this rally.
 
Dude that is awesome, glad it was fun!
 
I hear the kids these days like cold start videos...

Which you won't be seeing because my iPhone trashed the audio somehow.

I parked this thing after the rally 2 and a bit years ago. Haven't touched it since.

Battery was so flat the lithium-ion jump box didn't detect it was even connected to anything - and thus the 'trust me, just turn on' override button wouldn't work (apparently that's only if it detects reverse voltage, not NO voltage). Conventional charger brought the battery up to, what, on the dash gauge, reads as all of 9v.

Fuel tank is almost completely empty, so everything that's in it should by all rights be completely sludge.

Stupid thing started right up.

Dumped a 5 gallon gas can in it and drove it to the gas station to fill the rest
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Not visible from this angle: All the snakes fleeing the engine bay. Oops.

Todo:

1) New battery/electrical cleanup
2) Recombobulate transfer case shift linkage
3) *shrug* clutch now seems fine. Guess I'll ignore whatever was happening there.

Edit:
0) Figure out where I put the updated registration sticker for this thing, and put it on.

Edit part 2:
I've had this thing HOW LONG?
 
Shit man, I remember first meeting Rick in that thing. That was….. 2016? Or so?!
 
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