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The Journey Begins - Series I V6 Restomod

Aladin Sane

Diamond Level Sponsor
I was thinking of mounting my fuse box under the dash. I can see were under the hood may be easier.

As a chemical engineer, I will be even more daunted.
 

Barry

Diamond Level Sponsor
I was thinking of mounting my fuse box under the dash. I can see were under the hood may be easier.

As a chemical engineer, I will be even more daunted.




About 40 years ago, I hired a newly graduated Chemical Engineer (and varsity hockey player) from Clarkson University in upstate New York. A couple of months later during a project meeting, someone said "Dave, you're a chemist, what do you think about that approach?"

Dave promptly and proudly responded "I AM NOT A CHEMIST, I AM A CHEMICAL ENGINEER!"
 

Bill Eisinger

Platinum Level Sponsor
I was thinking of mounting my fuse box under the dash. I can see were under the hood may be easier.

Common sense would indicate that putting the fuse box under the dash would be better for a bunch of reasons…heat, moisture, etc but it’s so much easier to put it in the engine compartment. Not to mention it’s a lot more convenient to change a blown fuse if you have to.
 

Aladin Sane

Diamond Level Sponsor
About 40 years ago, I hired a newly graduated Chemical Engineer (and varsity hockey player) from Clarkson University in upstate New York. A couple of months later during a project meeting, someone said "Dave, you're a chemist, what do you think about that approach?"

Dave promptly and proudly responded "I AM NOT A CHEMIST, I AM A CHEMICAL ENGINEER!"
I graduated from the University of North Dakota which is a huge hockey school. I played basketball for them, not hockey.
 

Aladin Sane

Diamond Level Sponsor
Common sense would indicate that putting the fuse box under the dash would be better for a bunch of reasons…heat, moisture, etc but it’s so much easier to put it in the engine compartment. Not to mention it’s a lot more convenient to change a blown fuse if you have to.
Once I get the car back, I will take a hard look at fuse box placement. Since the dash is out, I will take a hard look at placing it inside.
 

sunalp

Diamond Level Sponsor
I've always mounted the fuse panel under the dash. I put it on the large panel right behind the tachometer.
Done it my car and many customers car. Makes the wiring almost invisible. It's also not all that hard to change fuses
although you do have to get a down a little lower than the inner fender!
Looks great!
 

Bill Eisinger

Platinum Level Sponsor
That’s a good place as well…I’m doing an EPS in my build so that area is blocked by the EPS motor in my case.
 

Dan Moore

Donation Time
I put mine behind the kick panel on the drivers side
there is a cubby hole there then ran all the wires up to the panel
By the way electrician here don,t worry you guys got this and remember you can always get an electrician to check it :)
Dan
 

Bill Eisinger

Platinum Level Sponsor
Finally got around to sorting out the instrument panel to my satisfaction. I was originally going to make one harness to plug everything in with a single connector but for a couple of reasons I've gone in a bit of a different direction. The Speedhut instruments came with a generic power/ground harness which simplified their wiring a great deal so I went with that and then just lashed the instrumentation wires themselves into a bundle along with the power/ground harness. It's not as neat and tidy as it could be but it's going to work well.

I left the ignition, headlight, and wiper switch out of the bundle...it's easier and cleaner just to bundle those wires separately out of the main harness and attach them to the switches with spade connectors which still allows the dash to be easily removed if the occasion arises. All of the heating controls came pre-made with plugs or connectors so they are ready to go. The other change I made from the original layout is that I ditched the alternator "dummy" light and used that position for the "Hazard Lights"...since I'm going with a voltmeter rather than ammeter the alternator light doesn't provide any additional useful information.

I've had second thoughts about including the clock but I think it adds to the vintage look....it will likely be more of a pita than it's worth especially since I'm going to have a flat screen stereo/entertainment unit in the console but I still like the look.
 

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Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
Looks very nice. I like how shallow the gauges are. That will make other things a lot easier.
 

Bill Eisinger

Platinum Level Sponsor
I hesitated posting this because it turned out to be a failed exercise. We finally got the engine on the dyno and had a number of issues…primarily, because the 2.8l V6 isn’t an engine that commonly is built for performance, my dyno guy had to scrounge or fab the right fittings just to get it hooked up. Then, once we started, the dyno drive plate (which again was sort of cobbled together) separated and acted as a brake during the test runs and we had corrupted data. So, the end result is a very nicely running engine that, based on my engine builder’s computer calcs, should be in the 170-180 hp range (with the Sniper EFI). In my opinion, the 200+ hp engine continues to be an urban legend except possibly for specially race built engines.

Our plan was to test the engine with the stock manifold ( which has been machined, EGR ports plugged, etc) along with the stock 2150 carb, then with a Holley 350, and then with the Sniper EFI. The head work has all been done per DanR’s info and Pruett’s book. We unfortunately never got past the first step so ultimately I’ll put the car on a chassis dyno just to get an idea of how we did. I wish we could have followed through with the original plan because I think the info would be valuable to the V6 community but I’m kind of out of time and $ (for this task anyway).
 

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Bill Eisinger

Platinum Level Sponsor
Still (slowly) plugging away…a long ways to go yet but taking care of some of these details feels like progress and uses up some of the parts that are scattered all over.
 

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Bill Eisinger

Platinum Level Sponsor
Another incremental step…A/C condenser mounted and twin 9” pusher fans installed…stuffing an A/C system into these cars is definitely a challenge…DanR can attest to the dozens of phone calls I made to him trying to figure it out!
 

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