DRL lights and wiring - Circuit 1/8

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<< Lengthen Fan Wires

Major System Category: ISIS Wiring
Task: Wire up the DRLs
Parts:
Power Cell: 1
Circuit: 8 - GREEN
Master cell: BLUE/LIGHT BLUE
Prerequisite Tasks: Mount DRLs
Additional Costs:
Time Requirement: 90 minutes
Date Started: August 10, 2013
Date Completed: August 10, 2013
A good chunk of the front end wiring never got completed in April 2013. When I returned from the Southern Man Cave, I spent the first seven weeks working on the body. In northern climes, you really need to take advantage of the warm weather months! The GTM has been living with dangling wires from the DRLs, power cells and other things. I left them to hang down behind the grille, and it looked like a real mess.

This is an early photo of the passenger side DRL mount.  You can see wires dangling over the side. This is not the first GTM to have DRLs.

Fortunately, I have wiring diagrams worked out for these circuits. In addition, I have a spreadsheet in my master build document that goes into detail about each circuit. I will be sending this spread sheet along with my next order to ISIS Power for the remaining power cells, motion cell and master cell coder. This is because I need ISIS to prep a file that can be downloaded into the master cell for my specific circuit set up. With five power cells, I am pushing 50 circuits - there's a lot going on in the car.

This Gen I GTM in Poland mounted the DRLs above the front grille. I am finding that this area is very busy. I use the upper lip of the front grill to manage the cross connection between head lights, hazards, fog lights. I'm not sure I would want to add the DRLs there. I corresponded with this builder, and asked him about the DRLs. As in every case, GTM builders are quite happy to share their knowledge.

This is half a terminal block. Easily cut with a hack saw.

The DRLs were cut into the body to the left and right lower corners of the grille opening. The fiber glass is very thick in this area, and it is tough going. The wires coming off the DRLs is 22 gauge (not the easiest stuff to work with). Initially, I thought I would create some kind of socket to plug these into, but since I plan to add Angel Eyes around the head lights into the DRL circuit, the idea of some kind og 6 way splice become unmanageable.

I daisy chain the terminal block to create a single circuit. Then I just need a single to power or ground.

Over May and June, I worked on the Intellitronix Dash for the cockkpit. One of the techniques I used here were terminal blocks. Now six way splices are easy. The white plastic terminal blocks are very easy to customize. They come in strips of twelve connections and the strip can be cut apart with a hack saw. I need six connectors for the ground and six connectors for the power leads. That is: 2 x DRLs, 4 x Angel Eyes.

These are the power and ground terminal blocks for the DRLs. The green wire is from Power Cell #1, Circuit 8. The black ground lead hasn't been connected in this photo. The terminals were bonded to the hood using 3M 8115 panel bond.

Note: Angel Eyes cannot be installed after final paint is complete. This is probably 12 to 14 months in the future (and it could slip to Spring 2015). However, the Angel Eyes need a place to connect, so I AM building that now.

The hood mounting is problematic due to the variables associated with centering vis-a-vis the rest of the car.. I explain to people that there are 100 ways to mount the hood, and I settled on the 101st position. I have made the decision that hood will remain attached to the car and it will need to be painted in place. Everything else can be removed. To this point, a great number of things have been permanently mounted (e.g. lights, signals, parking sensors) and the wiring associated with these peripherals.

I mounted the terminal blocks above the front grille opening on the interior of the hood. This is convenient, because most of the wires can run directly to these terminal blocks. The ground is to the chassis area that supports the AC condenser, radiator and fan assembly. The power lead runs to Power cell #1 and is enclosed in wire loom. I made sure I left enough slack in the wires so the hood can open and close without pulling something loose.

Lengthen Fan Wires

<< Radiator Install                                      DRL lights and wiring - Circuit 1/8  >>
<< Install InReserve battery monitoring kit - Circuit 1/10

Major System Category: Engine
Task: Mount radiator fans
Parts:
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: N/A
Time Requirement: 30 minutes
Date Started: August 10, 2013

Date Completed:  August 10, 2013

This task isn't rocket science, but is is something you probably want to get done before you drop an engine in the car. The cooling fans on the radiator unit have two plugs. The fan itself is controlled by a temperature switch controlled by the ECU. Here's the problem, the fans are up front and the ECU is back behind the fuel tanks.

These are the wires supplied with the kit.

The kit comes with a packet containing wires in the correct color and gauge. All you have to do is connect them then run them back to the other end of the car via the tunnel. I already had a large wire loom conduit in the tunnel, so I just routed them using it. These wires run by a number of tubes and pipes carrying hot fluids. Wire loom is provided with the kit - use it. The kit comes with a long strand of wire loom, but there are needs for different sizes of wire loom. Harbor Freight and Amazon have plenty of packages to choose from.

You need to cut back the tape so the wire can be exposed and stripped for the splice.

The wires are coded: gray, blue, black and white. This is how they were paired on my equipment. I am guessing I will need to know this eventually.

Wires extended and ready to be plugged back into the fan assembly.

• Driver's SIde: Gray and Blue
• Passenger Side: Black and White

Body Shell Preparation

<< Seam Glassing                                                Cockpit rear Window  >>

Major System Category: Body (Shell)
Task: Handle issues on body, prime and seal
Parts: Bondo, fiberglass, Primer (6 cans) and sealer (3 cans)
Prerequisite Tasks: Seam Glassing
Additional Costs: $150
Time Requirement: 40 hours
Date Started: July 20, 2013

Date Completed:  August 3, 2013
At the risk of stating the obvious, the body shell is the largest piece. However, overall it is pretty easy to work. The major seams are basically on top and visible. The one exception are vents forward the rear wheels.

My build has some non-standard additions:

1. The roof scoop. This is a optional piece produced by Factory Five.
2. Replaced the Hatch mesh with Vraptor Hatch louvers.
3. Added Vraptor body louvers.
4. Added Vraptor Side Scoop Louvers.
5. Added Vraptor Wing Mounts.
6. Rocker Panel Extensions. This is a optional piece produced by Factory Five.

This looked nasty all winter and most of the spring. It only came together after I got started using the long sanding block. You can see the buildup along the hatch in the lower right of the photo, and I had not started on the seams.

The roof scoop introduces another set of seams and fiber glass feathering that needs attention. The nice thing about this is everything on top of the roof and easily accessible. The seams are straight and give way to the long sanding block. It all looked very ugly for a long time. The Dura-Block kit is worth its weight in gold.

These louvers are straight forward. Both of these are Vraptor products.

The hatch and body louvers are pretty straight forward, and do not present much of a challenge.

The side scoop louvers have seams top and bottom. In addition, the area has to be cut, sanded and smoothed out. There are curves everywhere. The space is really small. The area that extend out from the top of the louver is a major hassle, because it is up side down.

The side scoop louvers are going to be trouble no matter what you do. It is just very difficult to get any direct leverage inside here. There are seams that need attention and it is just a big hassle. If you have a lift, it helps to raise the car to chest level so you can use your body to apply leverage.

The wing mounts need to be welded to the transmission bracket, and they are currently on order. I don't think I'll be making the rear body cuts until later this fall.

The rocker panel extensions go along the bottom of the car wheel to wheel. They are large enough to protect the vehicle  from some rocks and road debris.

The rocker panel extensions are carbon fiber. So they go on after the body is painted and final install has taken place. If you ordered these, then you don't have to worry about another hard to get area, which is the lip that fits under the chassis.

You can see the A pillar where the hood blends into the contour. I do not have the hood latched in these photos. This gave me fits. The hood scoop certainly better in this shot than the one above.

My car had three areas that caused me headaches:

1. The contour as the seam comes up from the hood along the A pillar. It worked okay on the passenger side, and gave fits getting it smoothed down the driver's side.
2. The driver's side area along the hatch had to build up, because the hatch settled lower on the passenger side. I had to add about 3/16" to this area so the glass sits flush on the hatch.
3. The area between the edge of the hatch and the rear edge of the car. There are two sloping contours that I had trouble getting them sanded right. Maybe I just don't understand how to sand concave shapes efficiently.
   
   

   

   This is another top down shot. The contours on the end of the car that border the louvers is where I had trouble with the seams. The hatch is not latched in this photo.

   
   

Order Kit

Order Kit:

I ordered the kit in April of 2012. This is after about 10 months of planning and preparation for the car. So it was a big day to sit down at my computer, pull up the Factory Five order screen and actually start entering the information for the car and delivery. I'm bouncing up and down, because I was really doing the steps to order my GTM Supercar Kit. Did I know how hard it was going to be? Did I know I would really enjoy so much of what the next years would entail? Did I have a good handle on everything that needed to be done?

No.

How did I get here?

Some time in 2011, I sat down and evaluated my sports car collection. Actually, the collection only has 2 cars: a 2003 Millennium Yellow Corvette Convertible, and a 2000 Metallic Arena Red Porsche Boxster. I had a laundry list of things to do on both of these cars. I knew I wanted a third car to round things out, but what?

I tracked Ferrari 355 Ebay sales. At one point, I'm pretty sure I knew every 355 up for sale in the country. I ultimately decided against the Ferrari, not due to initial cost, but the maintenance tail. I wasn't sure I could keep it running.

Simultaneously, I watched Porsche 928. I remember going to the Minneapolis Auto Show with my dad the year this car came out. I was a junior in college. They had an engine under glass on a turn table. I loved the lines, the power, everything about the car. Of course, there was no way I could afford that car. I was having a hard time affording my Chevy Vega. I didn't know I would go another 33 years before I finally got to own a Porsche. I decided not to pursue this car, because of the nagging issues for cars that had low mileage and had just been left to rot in garages for 20 years. 

I stumbled (as so often happens) across the GTM. This car had the subtle sleek lines I love in the Ferrari. It had was based around a Corvette C5, and I figured I had the same generation Corvette in the Southern Man Cave, so there was a familiarity. It used a Porsche G50 transaxle. Gee, it has Porsche parts, so I liked that idea. It used a Corvette engine. Okay, something that is cheaper to maintain than a Ferrari power plant.

I didn't know at the time, I would build my GTM around a LS376/525 6.2 L power plant, or that I would jump at the chance to upgrade the transaxle to the 991 7 speed Porsche Transaxle straight from the factory. Of course, there was the little catch about having to build the car.

Hmmm, can I build a car?

I guess the jury is still out on that question. I think I can, and failure is not an option.

Hood Preparation

<< Fender Louvers                                                       next  >>

Major System Category: Body (Hood/Shell)
Task: Clean up all issues on hood through primer
Parts: Primer (6 - 8 cans), Primer Sealer ( 4 cans)
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: 150 - $190
Time Requirement: 70 - 90 hours
Date Started: July  10, 2013

Date Completed:  July 27, 2013

There are no short cuts here. If you don't want to do this part of the build, then farm it out.

This is close to the final version of the hood. It is basically how I spent my summer vacation. I used steel wool as a final stage prior to sealing the primer. This smooths it down close to a glass like surface.  It has been a long journey to this point, but I found I kind of liked the body work and I'm glad I didn't panic and farm it out.

The body work is the area that most intimidates me (not that I'm not intimidated about dropping in an engine and hooking up a seven speed transaxle). The hood presents many challenges:

1. Seams
2. Fender Louvers
3. Headlight/foglights
4. Grille Area
5. Hood Latch area
6. DRLs

If you peruse the Factory Five Forums, you start hearing that the car vanishes for weeks and months before it come back finally painted and finished. There is a princely sum associated with the work, and if it comes in under $15,000, it probably is a bargain. There is a ton of work that needs to be performed to get the car ready for paint.

This is an early photo from 9/27/2012. I just brought the hood back from my neighbor's garage. This looks deceptively easy. The surface is smooth. At this point, I didn't know the grille opening is not centered or that the hood is off by 3/4" or that the Factory Five hood louvers are really sub standard and that I would end up purchasing the Vraptor hood louvers. Ignorance is bliss.

The seams and the fender louvers present the greatest challenge. You can't simply grind down the excess material on the seams and say good enough. There are the following issues:

I spent more time getting the fender louvers right than anything else on the hood.  This is the louver before I did anything to it. I expected the left and right louvers to be identical. They are not. I expected them to line up nicely. They did not.  I am happy I have them, but they are very labor intensive. I spent man weeks getting these right.

• The pieces connected by the seam are uneven, so grinding everything down to a even plane removes too much material.
• The seam needs to have a fiber glass strip to strengthen the area, and this just takes time.
• The hood has seams running from edges closest to the cockpit to forward the wheel wells, then down. There is another seam that runs across the front of the car over the grill.
• Fender louver add a further complication, because they need to be feathered into the rest of the hood, and there are cuts required to make them functional. 

 

This another early photo (9/29/2012) with the Factory Five hood louvers and fender louvers taped in place. I used a cross hatch laser level to figure things. It is sitting at the bottom center on a small tripod. The best way to describe mounting the hood is that there are 100 ways to put the hood on and I settled on the 101st way. Someone who came by to see the car, asked if I intended to take the hood off when I painted the car. I popped open the hood and showed them how it was mounted, then explained, "It is never coming off again."

If you add DRLs, then these need to be custom cut and smoothed out.

Another non-standard mod are my DRLs. I had to cut into the hood just below the grille. These took some time, but eventually I got them mounted properly. It was only later that I realized I had to make them pretty. I might have to do some more work here before everything is perfect.

I think it is easier to do this work with the hood connected to the car, and the car on a lift. This configuration provides a stable platform for the sanding process (and you will do beaucoup sanding).

This is several months later (6/27/2013). The seams are pretty rough at this point. Someone asked me on the Factory Five forum why I bothered fiber glassing the seams, because other builders just ground them down. Yes, you need to get rid of the extra bonding material, but remember we are talking about the strength of the body here on a high performance car. I applied Bondo, fiber glass, more Bondo and sanded and more Bondo and more sanding... Well you get the idea. I have to say that when the front seam blended into the rest of the body I was amazed. At that point, I knew the only standing between myself and a completed car was me.

I use the following products to get the hood prepped:

This product is phenomenal. The can has two chambers: 1 for primer, 1 for fixer. You shake it up for 2 minutes, then pop a button on the bottom of the car. This opens the barrier between the primer and the fixer. Then you shake it for 2 more minutes. Now you have the perfect mix (every time) withe professional fan spray nozzle.

• SprayMax 2K Rapid Primer Filler.
• Dupli-Color Primer Sealer
• Dura-Block autobody kit

A friend commented that there was a lot of nasty Bondo to sand down. He wasn't wrong. I bonded the fender louver to the body using 3M's 8115 panel bond. I then fiber glassed the edges of the louver to the hood. I then spent many evenings feathering the louver into the hood. My bride asked me if I had bitten off more than I could handle. I admitted that might be true. I certainly wondered if this would ever look right.

Once I was satisfied with the primed surface, I went over it with steel wool to eliminate any "pebbly" surface distortions, then I sealed the hood. This stuff is pretty caustic, so get a respirator and face shield.

This is the louver 1 month later.

Seam Glassing

<< Fender Louvers                                                       Hood Preparation >>

Major System Category: Body (Hood/Shell)
Task: Smooth out seams on fiberglass shell
Parts: Bondo, fiberglass
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $30
Time Requirement: 40 -50 hours
Date Started: June  20, 2013
Date Completed:  July 9, 2013

When the body arrives on the truck, it appears to be a single body. Reality is much different. There are five main body parts:

• Hood,
• Rear body shell,
• Left and right doors
• Hatch

Main hood seam. I have the fiber glass cloth just taped in place.

The hood and body shell are delivered as single pieces, but part of the manufacture process involves bonding   different parts together. There is a seam along these joints where the bonding compound has been squeezed and forms an uneven ridge. Also the mated pieces are uneven (i.e. the mated pieces are higher or lower than the other side).

Driver's side seam  that has been sanded down. The fiber glass strip is gut and sitting above the seam.

The hood seams run over the top of the wheel wells, down to the grill and across the front. If your build includes fender louvers, then handle those first. The fender louvers will cover a good chunk of the top seam over the wheel wells. Some people choose to rivet the fender louvers in place, I used 3M's 8115 panel bond to attached the louvers. Then I feathered the ridge created by the louvers to blend into the hood (this is a lot more work).

Passenger side A pillar seam. This looks pretty rough here. I haven't sanded anything, just have the bondo and fiber glass applied.

The seams are uneven ridges along the body. If you are working with a GTM or some other Factory Five model you will notice these ridges. This is part of the body work necessary to complete the car. Most guys that can afford to build a GTM farm this out, but some of us either decide not to or don't have the money to spare. Fiber glassing the seam basically hides and smooths out these areas It isn't that hard to do and after a while you might even get good at it.

Major amount of work. The front hood seam is fully sanded. The entire hood has been sanded once using the orbital sander and secondly using the Dura Block kit. The hood louvers are easy as they are bonded from inside the hood. The fender louvers are a major time investment.

Recommended tools:

1. Orbital sander
2. Dura-Block sanding kit
3. Bondo and fiberglass material.
4. Spreaders.
5. Glazing compound.



I didn't think these were as good as they are. If you plan to work on the body and sanding yourself, then this is a must must buy!

The first thing you need to do is even out the ridge. Some of these ridges are hard and brittle, others can be a little soft. You can use a hand block or a mechanical tool, you just want to be careful about gouging the hood and body shell. Any gouges will need to be repaired. You won't be able to totally eliminate the ridge, because most likely the two pieces that were bonded are an uneven join. Just do the best you can. When you finish no one will see them anyway.

This is the seam that runs the length of the body shell. This is on  the passenger side. This car also has a roof scoop, so you can see some of that work running parallel to the body seam.

Cut a strip of fiber glass cloth for the seam you plan to work on. I would start out short and between 3/4 to 1 inch wide.

This is the passenger side rear quarter panel. The seam runs down and under the car. It is one of those awkward spots to work. It also a little loose, because I have the transaxle bracket currently removed from the frame. This bracket provides much needed bracing to the rear body shell.

Mix up some bondo (this stuff can harden up pretty fast, so get ready). For this I sometimes wore a disposable plastic glove and/or a spreader. I found my finger worked pretty well for some areas where it was awkward to use a spreader. I applied the bondo, evened it out as much as possible then, layered the fiber glass strip over it.

Rear quarter panel on the passenger side. It has bondo and fiberglass applied and still requires sanding in this photo. The body work takes a long long time to do.

I let this set up. Usually, 45 to 60 minutes, then I apply a second layer of bondo over the fiber glass strip.

This is the hardest set of seams to work on. They are curved and in a very enclosed area. This is the big brake vent just behind the drivers side door. I saved this for last.

Once this is hardened up, I go to work with the sanding tools. I use the orbital sander to get rid of the excess, then go to work with a block sander by hand. I work on it until it is fairly smooth. I am using 220 grit, although, I understand you can get away with 180 grit.

To get an idea of the success/failure of my body efforts, I test primed the front seam. For the most part this worked. I still have issues around the fender louvers and the area where the seam goes over the front flare. However, this was a big boost to my efforts, because it showed me that I could get the car to a point where the seams are smooth enough for paint. 

I keep working the seam until I'm satisfied. This gets to be pretty messy.

I ordered 2 kinds of primer for my seam test. I only applied the rapid primer filler. The other one is an epoxy primer that I will test once I am happy with the seams. I got these at 66 Auto color. This is pretty caustic stuff, so you need a rudimentary paint booth or real good ventilation and a respirator.

I wipe down everything using a microfiber cloth and water to remove the main layer of dust. Then I inspect for deep gouges or holes, and use the glazing compound to sculpt in fixes. I keep going over this until I'm satisfied. I keep working it until it is smooth to the finger test.

The fender louvers continue to cause me issues, but I am confident I came make these blend into the car.

The body work can be pretty intimidating, but wow, a little success can be a real confidence builder. I now see nothing that can prevent me from completing this project.

Install InReserve battery monitoring kit - Circuit 1/10

<< Horn - Circuit 1/9                                    Lengthen Fan Wires >>

Major System Category: ISIS Wiring
Task: Interface ISIS inRESERVE module
Parts:

1. ISIS inRESERVE kit (solenoid, switch, fuses, wires).
2. Main battery cable

Prerequisite Tasks: N/A
Additional Costs: $205
Power Cell: 1
Circuit: 10 - TAN
Master cell: BLUE/GREEN
Time Requirement: 3 hours
Date Started: April 27, 2013
Date Completed: April 27, 2013

inRESERVE is a battery monitor and kill switch. It monitors battery charge when the car is turned off. Should the battery discharge below a certain point, a solenoid pops and all taps to the battery are killed. As an added level of protection, there is a kill switch that shuts down all power to the car. It seems to me this is also a security feature, because the car can be completely turned off.

This is everything you need for the kit. I found oput I could purchase the cables I needed at Napa Auto Parts, and this proved much easier than fabricating the cable myself.

I mounted the solenoid switch at the center of the front fire wall above the tunnel entrance. Surprisingly, there is plenty of space to work with right here. There are four terminals on the solenoid:

1. Ground
2. Kill Switch
3. Starter/battery
4. Power cells

This is a nice flat spot about dead on the car's center line to install the inRESERVE module. It allows me to service this from either side of the car.

I ran the ground to the passenger next to where I mounted the horn. I sanded down to bare metal and established a ground point between the horn and the wiper motor. I plan to use this ground point for the horn, wiper motor and inRESERVE solenoid.

This is the driver's side wall next tot he master cylinders and above the steering column. I drilled my hole for the kill switch here. I can access it by reaching over the front tire.

I ran the kill switch lead to the drivers side. I ran the wire around the corner next to the master cylinders and over to the fender wall. I drilled a hole, mounted the kill switch. I put it here, because it allows me to reach through the wheel well over the front tire and toggle the solenoid. The second lead off the switch goes to an inline fuse holder (supplied with the kit). I installed this fuse and ran thee other lead back to the battery terminal.

This is the momentary switch installed. This worked pretty well. You can tighten it down and she should stay put.

The starter/battery terminal handles the following:

1. Runs the main battery cable from the solenoid to the starter. This takes the battery cable and runs it through the tunnel. There are a lot of things in the tunnel, but I think I am getting to the end. 
2. Runs the battery cable to the battery via a mega fuse,

I remembered I had this piece in the Northern Man Cave. It is pictured here with out the top plate that encloses the  evaporator unit or the am from the wiper motor. It is just placed here so I could mount the mega fuse.

The final line sends power to the power and master cells. It does this by running a lead to the mega fuse block for all power cells. It also provides a convenient terminal for taps that go directly to the positive terminal on the battery (e.g. the fused Vintage Air power lead).

This is a top down view of the mega fuse. This sits right behind the master cylinders. For build purposes, i can disconnect the cables form the mega fuse and remove this part.

The lead from the solenoid to the battery is fuses with a mega fuse block. The biggest problem I had was finding some place to put this that could actually be reached in the event it needed maintenance. The main issue is I am running out of flat surfaces to mount stuff like this. It occurred to me that there is  a piece that sits above the master cylinder that has a nice flat surface, I mounted the mega fuse here, and I can easily disconnect the cable leads from the mega fuse to remove this piece to get access.

This is the inline fuse that leads to the positive battery terminal. This is a 10 amp fuse between the  momentary switch and the battery.

I mounted the inRESERVE module on the center of the panel that is common to the Vintage Air  Evaporator unit.