V1 Chris_WNC's Track Frame #338 '09 LT Auto. REGISTERED in NC.

[Chris_WNC]

My PRP seats and sliders came in today.

CHRIS

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Very handsome seats!

 

[Painjack]

Everything about this is awesome. New shop building, new engine, you are gonna have a ton of fun with all of this. Take the time to label everything as you disconnect. Go overboard on that, label it, take pictures, more is better.

 

[Zoom Zoom]

Intake, throttle body, fuel injection pump, fuel injection rail - to start with.

And the water hose nipple not supplied

 

[Chris_WNC]

I’m trying not to overthink all the rad plumbing right now. Oil cooler, turbo, heater bypass, rad in and out. I’ll end up with an air to air IC so at least that’s out of the equation.


I’m trying not to order anything else engine related until I can get that donor stripped and get a better idea of what I have and what is missing.

CHRIS

 

[Chris_WNC]

I got the beast moved over to the property.

I'm in a rural area and the laser shop that I work at is next door to a volunteer fire department. I was talking to the FD guys yesterday and asked if they wanted something to do jaws of life training on. They said heck yeah! lol. I'm going to unbolt everything I can from the donor and take the shell (with doors) over to them to chop up. I might get invited to the next pig smoking.

CHRIS

 

[Rttoys]

Sweet. Blow up airbags while you are at it.

I donate old motorcycle helmets to our fd for educational purposes.

 

[Chris_WNC]

How don you set them off? Just apply 12v?

CHRIS

 

[JBINTX]

How don you set them off? Just apply 12v?

CHRIS

Oh mannnn. Russell is the KING of air bag explosions.......
He will teach you.

 

[Scott #321]

All you need is a 9volt battery to detonate the air bags. Just make sure to extend the wires to get some distance. The side curtain airbags were a new one for me.

 

[Rttoys]

How don you set them off? Just apply 12v?

CHRIS

You can cut the wires and extend them, then just tap it to a car battery. the easiest wayi like to do it, is to take the yellow connector off the car wire harness And extend your wires. Then just plug it into the air bag and pop it with a battery.

you can’t just go off the connector unplugged. There’s a shorting bar in there to prevent accidental deployment.

fun fact.
as little as .3 of a volt can detonate it.

 

[Rttoys]

Oh mannnn. Russell is the KING of air bag explosions.......
He will teach you.

the neighbors still question my sanity after the passenger bag kaboom.

 

[Scott #321]

You can cut the wires and extend them, then just tap it to a car battery. the easiest wayi like to do it, is to take the yellow connector off the car wire harness And extend your wires. Then just plug it into the air bag and pop it with a battery.

you can’t just go off the connector unplugged. There’s a shorting bar in there to prevent accidental deployment.

fun fact.
as little as .3 of a volt can detonate it.

Lol I've seen several go off inside a shop due to someone indiscriminately probing with a test light or volt meter set to ohms.

 

[Chris_WNC]

I spent about three hours on the donor this morning. Just me, some sunshine, my little bluetooth speaker, and my Xterra full of tools.

Got a bunch of stuff cleared out of the front end.

Cleared out the interior some more. Those are my bolts and misc hardware buckets in the front passenger area.

I forgot my label maker at work so I didn't go too far with stripping today. I'm going to head back out tomorrow and will swing by work to grab it on the way.

CHRIS

 

[TheNuker]

I’m trying not to overthink all the rad plumbing right now. Oil cooler, turbo, heater bypass, rad in and out. I’ll end up with an air to air IC so at least that’s out of the equation.


I’m trying not to order anything else engine related until I can get that donor stripped and get a better idea of what I have and what is missing.

CHRIS

The nice thing about the rad plumbing is that taking the oil cooler external with electric fan it cuts out a bunch of the T fittings and crazy crap. You're really just back to a 1 in 1 out system.

Nuker

 

[Chris_WNC]

I spent a few hours on the donor after gym this morning. This was my workshop for the day. It was bright and sunny with a constant breeze up on the hill. Good day to do some wrenching outside.

My goal for the day was to get the drive train out. I did the Drop the Entire Sub Frame/Drive Train method. I took out the sub frame bolts while it was on jack stands and got it ready to pop out of there. No lift yet so I used our tractor.

I lifted the front and pulled out the jack stands. Then lowered it down to where the sub frame was barely touching the moving dollies. I then unbolted the engine from the mounts on the topside which let it drop down on the dollies. Then I just had to lift the bucket to pull the chassis up and roll the whole thing out from the front end. Side note: The plastic wiring loom around the engine absolutely disintegrated when it was touched. Almost turned to powder.

I rolled the car forward toward the edge of the concrete and set the tires under the front to hold the chassis up.

I spent some time on the rear end. Pulled the rear suspension and cross bar thingy. Got the fuel tank and other components dropped and pulled out of there. All wiring has been pulled from the rear up toward the front seat area.

I have the engine compartment pretty much stripped. I think the rest of it will go after I pull the dash. That's next on my list after I watch some videos and go through some of the build threads. I'd like to have the shell bare by the end of the weekend.

Here's my mess of a parts pile. There is a guy not too far from the property that sells plastic pallets. I'm going to get a couple of those and palletize everything except the plastic trim pieces and other obvious trash. The pallets will get stored under one of the tan garage tents that I put up a while back. The drive train is going to the laser shop for me to clean and work on. That's the plan anyway! lol.

Chassis #336 is on the jig based on the Peek Into DF Kit Car thread. Mine will be starting soon.

CHRIS

 

[Chris_WNC]

I also broke off the metal tab that feeds the fuse box while trying to take off that extended positive lug. The entire bottom side just spun around and twisted the dang metal tab in two. I should have grabbed the bottom side with pliers or something before torquing on it. Doh! I'm going to bust it open next week and see how I feel about repairing it.

CHRIS

 

[comegetjoe]

That Tbird is gorgeous!

 

[Ark :D]

Don't short-change yourself on what some of that stuff is worth. I got $600 from a guy for my seats and all the interior plastic panels. He wanted to do a "SS conversion" on his girlfriend's LS. Same guy also came back to me later and paid me $150 for the rear axle beam and brakes from my 2008 SS donor. (I know you won't have that to sell but just mentioning it to reinforce the idea of the stuff having value to the right buyer).

 

[Chris_WNC]

I'll hang on to most of it for a bit until the build is completely done. Then it's off to FB Marketplace. I might be able to start adding to my tire replacement fund!

The totally trashed pieces (most of the nasty interior, lol) I won't bother with. I'll probably pull that rear bumper steel and trunk lid off before I give the shell to the VFD.

CHRIS