Mount INMotion Cell

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Major System Category: ISIS
Task: Mount inMotion Cell
Parts: ISIS inMotion Cell Kit
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $500
Time Requirement: 3 hours
Date Started: October 31, 2013

Date Completed:  October 31, 2013

The inMotion cell is the last fused module for the power system. This is different configuration from the normal power cell. It is designed to manage forward/backward, up/down and lock/unlock (e.g. door poppers, windows, mirrors). I concluded that it is cost prohibitive for mirrors  as you would basically require an entire cell for mirror operation, and there is the size foot print issue to consider (e.g. I'm starting to run out of space).

The first thing you notice is the inMotion cell has only five fuse slots. This because the circuits are paired for up/down, on/off. forward/backward. The second thing you notice is the power leads include a black grounding cable.

At this point in the build, I still have the Passport 9500ci to shoe horn into and the inTouch Net black box to install. All of these items have to be accessible without having to take apart the car. The most inaccessible component is the Vintage Air HVAC unit. The rest of the car is literally built around this one component! My concern is if I have to get into the car for something that goes bump in the night, I don't want to be stuck dismantling most of the vehicle.

I used a Vraptor mounting plate and positioned it next to the master cell plate. These are hinged so they can be swung up under the passenger side dash.

I used one of Vraptor's Isis mount plates and a simple hinge from Home Depot to set up the mount for the inMotion cell. Originally, I purchased one additional mounting plate, but I did not end up using it. These were nice to have in inventory when the time came to get things done. The reason for the hinge is so the master and the inMotion cells can be swung up and latched above the passenger side of the cockpit. It is a little crowded over on that side, but there is a fair amount of leg room. Besides, this isn't a car built for long rides. I am building this car for myself, Sunday afternoons, local car shows and obnoxious Mustangs.

I ran the power and ground cables through the 2 inch conduit built in over the tunnel. This is an optional add on that costs nothing to do. It isn't my idea,. I came across this on another guys site. I don't remember which one anymore.

I ran the data cable through the 2 inch conduit that runs above the Vintage Air Unit and out the pre-drilled access hole to the front bay. The megafuse for the inMotion cell is somewhat different than the rest. It has 2 50 amp plug in fuses, and grounding for the inMotion celll is done directly to the frame.

I ran the grounding wires to the front frame, sanded off the powder coat and bolted them to the frame.

Transaxle Delivery

The Transaxle arrived today. It isn't just any transaxle. This one is a manual 7 speed, model 991. It is the same transaxle found  in the current production Porsche 911s. As far as I know, my GTM is the first one to sport this transaxle.

Shipping crate dropped on the Northern Man Cave floor.

This journey began March 2013. I am writing this in November 2013. I responded to a post of the Factory Five Forum (a place I have been too busy to visit over the past several months). A couple of phone calls later, we settled on a deal to purchase the 991 transaxle, plus clutch, pressure plate, fly wheel, mating collar and modification for inverted operation. Basically, this is an all in one deal designed to handle the 525 HP ls376/525 slated to end up mated to the 991.

This the normal configuration for the 991. In the GTM this is inverted. Note the blue drain plug and the shift markings.

Gbox LLC is a small shop in Boulder, Colorado. They deliver what they promise. The transaxle comes backed in a custom built shipping box. There is plenty of padding to keep things from banging on the way from Boulder to the Northern Man Cave. The top is screwed down. The best thing about this shipping arrangement is there is no shipping pallet to dispose of.

The 991 tilted on its side. The shift lever is in the middle of the transaxle. The black circle on the end is where the transaxle is bolted to the frame.

The current build site is very limited in space. Even though the engine will not be purchased for a while, it is necessary to get the transaxle into the chassis. My friends Matt and Gary came by to help me get the transaxle into the car. Normally, you take the body shell off the car to mount the transaxle. It turns out the opening under the engine bay in the chassis is big enough to slide the transaxle into the chassis. There is approximately 2.5 inches clearance. The lack of an engine is the only way this works. Again, I'll repeat the recommendation - put off the engine purchase as long as possible.

Mating collars for the 991 and an LS block. This is a custom piece. You can see the GBOX Logo at the top of the photo.

We positioned the 991 vertically with the bell housing flat on a plywood sheet on top of a dolly. We rolled the transaxle under the lift and eye balled the location to be approximately under the opening in the chassis. (B TW: Rolling the transaxle on a dolly is a lot easier than trying to find a grp on this beast and manhandling it anywhere.) We lowered the lift until it was just above the top of the 991. This means the bottom of the lift is a little more than 2 feet off the floor. Gary climbed up on the lift so he could give us a visual looking down through the hatch. I got on my knees so I could get a visual as the lift came down. Matt watched it from another angle.

Clutch already bolted to the pressure plate and fly wheel.

I brought the lift down really slow. We made a couple of minor adjustments (and we needed all sets of eyes on the transaxle to make sure we didn't do something bad). I got the bottom of the lift about 3 inches off the floor. This leaves the transaxle about halfway up to the cross member where it is cradled in the chassis.

Fly wheel. I so glad I just have to mount this in place.

Earlier, I measured the transaxle cross member and the opening on the transaxle bracket. It turns out the 991 needs an opening of 3.5 inches, and my bracket only has 2/75 inches. The transaxle bracket is the removable piece that can be swapped out between aither the Mendeola SDR or the Porsche G50 transaxles. The 991 is different enough that the bracket needs further modification. Last summer I jad the Vraptor pieces welded in place for the wing. I removed the bracket before the guys arrived to help. This made it easier, because this all comes down to brutal force to get it mounted.

These are the tabs that the transaxle needs to bolt through. They have to be cut out and moved so the inner diameter is at least 3.5 inches. When I dropped it off at Crystal Welding, I explained the situation and we agreed on the technical measurement of a smidge over 3.5 inches for the inner measurement.  

Now it gets tricky. The three of us looked down through the hatch at the transaxle. It is sitting there and it was kind of a Now-What moment. I clambered over the edge of the hatch and first stepped where the engine mounts reside. Matt leaned over the back end of the body shell, and Gary helped find things as we needed them. He thought about trying to heft it up. In the end, I tipped it backwards on the cradle. We had to be extra careful not to damage the drain plug. So I ended up standing on the dolly - this proved to be one of those dumb things that worked out okay.

I couldn't done this without these guys! Matt and Gary did a great job!

Matt held the back end of the transaxle, Gary had the 2x4 wood blocks and straps ready, and I tilted the 991 towards the cradle. Unfortunately, not only did the 991 move, but so did the dolly, the plywood sheet and my feet. I kind of did the Fred Flintstone run in place under the lift with a 200 lbs transaxle in my hands. Fortunately, we had enough leverage and the transaxle moved (relatively easily) into place. The dolly eventually slid out from under me and I was on stable ground. We strapped the and braced the transaxle in place, declared victory and congratulated each other on a job complete.

Here she is strapped and braced in place. I should have the transaxle bracket back in a couple of weeks, then she will be bolted into place until it comes time to install the engine.

Weld Wing Mount to Transaxle Bracket

<<  Mount Rear Suspension                                                 Transaxle Delivery >>
                                                                                               Racing Wing >>

Major System Category: Transmission
Task: Weld Wing Mount to Transaxle Bracket
Parts: Vraptor Wing Mount
Prerequisite Tasks: 
Additional Costs: $500 parts, $100 welding
Time Requirement: 1 Hour
Date Started: August 15, 2013
Date Completed: August 15, 2013
One of the optional items for the car is a functional wing. The wing advertised on the Factory Five site is the APR-300 67 inch wing made out of carbon fiber. The photos on the parts catalog page indicate the racing wing attaches  to the rear deck of the body shell. While the rear deck is reinforced by the transaxle bracket it is still fiberglass and it is not a direct connection to the frame. I a, mot sold on the idea that the fiber glass body shell can handle the stresses that are generated by a functional wing.

This is the universal wing mount kit from Vraptor. Four of the pieces are welded to the transaxle bracket. The other two pieces are bolted to the welded pieces and extend through the body shell to mount the APR wing.

This is where Vraptor Speedworks comes to play. They sell a universal wing mount that is welded to the transaxle bracket. A competent welding shop can weld these pieces for about $100 - in my case Crystal Welding. A wing mount that translates down force to the frame rather than the body shell. This thing is solid like a rock. This can handle whatever stresses I generated with a LS76/525 engine mated to a 7 speed transaxle on Nitti INVO tires. 

Top view of the modified transaxle bracket,

The transaxle bracket is secured to the chassis using four bolts. One of the things that concerned me was there going to be enough clearance when the transaxle is sitting in the cradle. Once the transaxle arrived, I discovered I had to further modify the transaxle bracket to handle the sleeve where trhe transaxle bolts to the bracket. I'm pretty sure there is no problem with the bolts. It turns out the Porsche 991 transaxle needs 3.5 inch sleeve, and the bracket I have only goes to 3.75 inches.

Bottom view of the modified transaxle bracket.

Hazard Wiring - Circuit 4/6

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                                                                             Weather Pack Connectors
Major System Category: ISIS
Task: Hazard lights
Parts:
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs:
Time Requirement: 3 hours
Date Started: November 7, 2013

Date Completed:  November 7, 2013

The hazard lights are one of those circuits that runs the length of the car. This circuit was assigned to Power Cell #4, which did not get installed until Fall 2013. However, the planning and preliminary wiring for this circuit took place in Fall 2012. I had to think about how this was going to work out 14 months prior to getting this done.

Hazard circuit terminal block. This located on the center aluminum panel in the front bay. This photo was taken prior to mounting Power Cell #4.

I decided that once I had the hood installed and centered, it was never coming off the car again. I made this decision for a couple of reasons:

1. There are too many systems tied into the hood (e.g. head lights, fog lights, signals, sensors, grille).
2. The hood is not symmetrical. Prior to mounting the hood, I spent three days with the cross hatch laser level figuring out that it was off center. Once I had it mounted on the car, I decided I was not taking it off again.

The yellow wire in the lower left is the hazard circuit coming out of the left front turn signal and going through the conduit along the hood above the grille.

The hazard lights are located on the four corners of the car. Regardless of the power cell location, I was going to end up running wires a long way. I have gotten better at the concept that even though car is approximately 16 feet long, a wire run like this is probably closer to 20 feet due to path down into the tunnel and back up around the engine bay.

This is the other side of the hazard circuit coming out on the right front of the car. The yellow wires run to the other signal then through the conduit to the terminal block.

I mounted a terminal block where one side is daisy chained (i.e. all sockets are wired together on one side). This means a single power lead distributes power to all ports on the terminal block. Based on my design, I knew where Power Cell #4 was going to be mounted, so prior to purchase I built the hazard circuit terminal block next to the power cell location and wired the circuit into the front signals. I also ran wires to the rear of the car for the rear signal lights. This conduit comes out at the rear of the tunnel close to the cable box for the manual parking brakes. The rear power leads are split to go around the engine bay and up to the rear lights.

The yellow wires are the rear leads from the terminal block. They run under the Vintage Air unit through a large conduit to the rear end of the tunnel. The braided cable is the cross over pipe for the fuel tanks.

By law (as I understand it), the car is required to have a physical hazard switch. The switch is slated to be mounted on the center console below the touch screen and forward the gear shift. Since I am using ISIS, I just need to run the signal wire and a ground to this switch to complete circuit.

The hazard circuit (yellow wires) split to the left and right into conduits that work around the engine bay to the rear lights. The rectangular item in the lower left background is the cable box for the manual brakes. These run under the engine.

These are circuits enclosed in wire loom that run around the engine bay and next tot he splash guards.