Horn - Circuit 1/9

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Major System Category: ISIS Wiring
Task: Mount Horn.
Parts: Horn and ISI wiring
Power Cell: 1
Circuit: 9 - ORANGE
Master cell: BLUE/YELLOW
Prerequisite Tasks: Mount Power Cells
Additional Costs: N/A
Time Requirement: 2 hours
Date Started: March 30, 2013
Date Completed: March 30, 2013

Anybody who has stuck their head under the front hood of the GTM realizes that space is a premium commodity. Since I moved the header tank to the engine compartment, moved the window washer fluid bottle to the passenger side, mounted the ISIS power cells on the center panel above the cooling fans and plan to mount the Escort 9500 radar/laser detectors behind the grill on the reinforced area below the radiator, I needed to find a home for the horns.

This is the bracket I fabricated to hold the horns. It is bolted to one of the eyelets for the Corvette overflow tank. This was replaced by the header tank.

I ended up mounting the horn on the passenger side ahead of the wiper motor and window washer fluid bottle. This is where the Corvette overflow tank is normally installed. However, I have replaced the overflow tank with a header tank mounted above the fuel pump behind the fuel tanks in the engine bay to eliminate the issue of "burping" the coolant system.

These are the mounted horns on the passenger side just forward on the middle panel. The horn is bolted to the bracket that is bolted tot he frame. The pig tail connector has the extended wires attached. The green one is connected tot he power lead coming off the power cell and the black will be attached to the forward passenger side ground point.

I fashioned a bracket out of angle aluminum so I could use the the eyelet on the frame for the overflow tank to secure the horns.This uses the Corvette bracket that comes with the horns. I ensured the hood and the Vraptor hood louvers had sufficient clearance. These louvers drop into the hood area approximately 1 to 1.5 inches.

I extended the pig tail connectors so I could reach the front grounding point, and connect to the horn circuit. I did the normal butt splice, cover in heat shrink insulator and wrap in black electrical tape.

The Forums - Wealth of Knowledge

I haven't written much since I ordered the kit. It is supposed to ship 2 weeks from today! I haven't been idle during the dead time between planning and the GTM's arrival. If you plan to build a GTM, then become a member of the forums. There are two of them:

• www.ffcars.com
• www.thefactoryfiveforum.com

There is a wealth of knowledge and experience. There are people who will answer your dumb questions. There are ideas about improving the design. There are 3 items that I discovered on the forums.

1. Setting up the chassis is really important. Do it wrong and you have beast fighting you on straight aways and something totally unmanageable in the turns. Do it right and you have a car that will keep that dopey grin plastered on your face. The chassis set up thread is a gold mine. There are so many things that a marginal guy (like me) never considered: spring rates, shock recovery, tow in values, suspension issues. I want to build a safe car, and paying attention to the information presented here will make that possible. Yes, I will end up replacing the kit shocks, and using the sway bars that I upgraded on my Corvette, but the end product will be something that will have extraordinary handling. The replacement components can be ordered to accommodate the Ram Pro Lift I plan to add to the build for the front end.
2. Everybody has a handle on the forums. Mine is DocGlock (for those who know me, they understand). Another guy goes by the handle Fastthings. He approached his build starting with the body. There are over 25 YouTube videos that go into great detail on how to fix things on the body. Fastthings shows how to measure the symmetry of your chassis using a laser level. He offers advice about working on the doors and the windows. He shows how to mount the fender louvers (without pop rivets). He points out where he grinds down things on the chassis, welds new things to make it stronger and better. 
3. Another guy goes by the handle Crash. He has a site called My Race Shop. One of the design issues that has caused problems is the location of the coolant overflow tank. This is the standard tank located on the right side of the engine bay for the Corvette C5. In this configuration it works fine. However, in the GTM configuration it is still mounted on the right hand side of the forward bay and the tubing is routed through the tunnel to the engine behind the cockpit. The problem is the coolant tank ends up below and too far away from the engine. This can cause steam meltdown (not a good thing). Crash's solution replaces the coolant overflow tank with a header tank deployed above the engine and behind the cockpit.

These are three items I have found on the forums. There are plenty more examples. So if you plan to build one of these exotic cars, join the forums. They are free. They are informative. They are a valuable tool for the GTM builder.