Buttoned up and first road test

OK, so Ed has burned some midnight oil and completed a couple of major milestones:

First of all the AC: It pulled a very good vacuum and spits ice cubes. A life's necessity as anyone in the south would attest to. I converted my AC to R134a a few years ago which also included replacing the stock R-12 Sanden SD-510 compressor to a Sanden SD7H15 d:o. Well, that compressor is now replaced with the compressor that came on the VR6 engine; it appears to be a Sanden variable displacement SD7V16 so I am staying true to my old employer. The Megasquirt ECM does a beautiful job controlling idle-up. Rock steady. 

The second thing is that he has completed the integration of the charge piping into the rear fascia. Yes, the piping will be flattened if someone rear ends me but hey, it's just a pipe.

The third big deal is the 3" exhaust has been fabricated and installed along with the 3" high flow catalytic converter from APTuned, specifically for forced induction applications.

All of this means that the car is now roadworthy and here she is purring away:

 

Ed took it for a 10 mile test trip and it... "drives like a dream". It was only set for 5 psi of boost and he said it pulls very good;nominal boost is 15 psi which is estimated to equate to about 350 hp and lbft - all changeable in the Pro-3 ECU. With MegaSquirt's app on my phone I will be able to modify boost on the fly as I'm driving... talk about a potential distraction!

For the next 4-5 weeks Ed will be working on tying up any loose ends to make the project complete and of course: a lot of testing and tuning.

 

We're scheduled for sign-off and dynamometer testing on Feb. 27. at which time I'll be there with my trailer. Can't wait!



1283 got a wash