Little update. Jesse has been very busy with work so not much has been done to the FD. This weekend was dedicated to the 8. It got a full clay bar, wash and Zaino so it is looking pretty damn good.

He spent a lot of time perfecting the carbon/kevlar air box and it looks really good. We need to bring it to a painter and have it clear coated and then it will be finished. I had the radiator and the inter-cooler anodized black. They look pretty sweet all black.

We bought a huge roll of that 3-M carbon fiber wrap stuff and Jesse has been wrapping a few little things in that. He is also wrapping the backs of the Bride seats with the carbon fiber to get rid of that gaudy silver sparkly back. It has turned out to be a bigger project than he planned, so that may take a while before it is done.

I should have a package arriving from Japan this week. My project has been the interior and I just had to have this little goodie. Will post picks of it once it arrives.

Some progress shots

The black inter-cooler with the airbox

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1732.jpg

one of the fuse boxes wrapped in the carbon fiber stuff

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1728.jpg

And Speedjunkie, this one is for you. This shot of the fuse/relay box is from underneath the car.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build169.jpg

I like the black radiator and IC. I got my IC powdercoated black all except for the fins. Other than that my engine bay will look quite a bit like yours, sorry haha.

Thanks for the pic! I ended up mounting mine a bit different. I pulled it down and bolted it to the front of the crossmember with the lid facing towards the front of the car. But I did use the riv-nuts.

It's looking good Joffs!

Oh, now you've gone and done it. Gonna have to have that!!! ;)

My splurge for the FD finally came. Since I am doing the look of a Spirit-R interior, I thought I would put one true Spirit-R piece in there.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_0020.jpg

It looks amazing in person. The gauges are not white like they look in the picture. They are kind of a shimmery silver color. Very nice. I can't wait to finish the interior. It is going to look incredible.

NICE. Better not be some lame April Fools joke:smilielol5:

Holly Anal Cavity BATMAN !

How did I miss this thread :smash: Great work :drool5:

UPDATES!!!:bigear:

In keeping with the Spirit R interior, I got the Sake Bomb Spirit R footrest. It is pretty solid and the texture could rub calauses off the bottom of your feet. :ugh2:

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_2241.jpg

Thankfully going to SevenStock got Jesse motivated in working on the FD again. He made a promise to have the car completed by Feb of 2012. I don't think that will happen, but just having him in the garage is good enough for me at this point.

Nice piece, I should be getting mine in the mail next week. Good to see your project back on track.

This build is fantastic.
'nuff said,
Keep up the solid work!

P.S. Your carbon fiber will probably be the reason I have wet dreams tonight.

Indeed, I am still working on this car when I get the spare time:

Rubber mounts for oil cooler:
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/7c11867c.jpg

air gaps blocked for radiator:
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/72addaad.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/0457d978.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/9a3fc7ab.jpg

Rubber mounting for V-mount radiator:
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/69c5613d.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/d2da5150.jpg


The stock FD fans are pretty good and not many after market fans seem to compare. However I did find one that moves more air, are IP68 all weather rated, and use a more modern electric motor design that should last a lot longer than the stock fan motors.

Making an all aluminum fan shroud with only materials from Home Depot.
Step 1, Frame:
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/a7710a09.jpg

Step 2, sheet aluminum top:
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/3ac474d7.jpg

Finished shroud: This sucker fits really snug and tight since I had the benefit of building it perfectly for the radiator I have.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/b48a3f60.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/e63bb1a6.jpg

I used more rubber weatherstripping to seal/cushion the fan shroud:
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/2fffc213.jpg

Very nice! What's the purpose of the angle iron that separates the fans and the short pieces on the outside edges of the fans? Do they have a high/low fan speed like to stockers and will they operate off of the stock fan relays?

Thanks!

The sheet aluminum is very thin and won't support the fans weight. The angle pieces down the middle hold the nutserts for the fan mount point in the center. The other 3 of 4 mounts are around the perimeter in the aluminum tube frame. The short pieces in the corners are further reinforcement for the frame which I probably didn't need, but had extra material handy. I like using the "L" angle material since it is so much more stiff than regular aluminum straps for a given weight.

The fans are not two speed, which simplifies the wiring enough to allow me to simply get rid of the fan relays and the old sagging ugly rubber fan relay mounting that doesn't seem to age well. I'm going to use a big simple single relay and some simple electronics with a radiator fin temperature probe to turn on the fans.

I like the idea of switching the radiator fans based on a sensor more relevant to the radiator temperature rather than engine temperature. I can set the activation temperature to somewhere much lower than the coolant thermostat (and therefore at a lower temp than the engine wants to steady-state at) and still not have to worry about having the fans on 100% since the fan will be activated only when there is significant hot coolant flow through the radiator. This radiator is a 4-pass radiator so I should be able to play games with probe location to adjust hysteresis and whether I'm monitoring radiator inlet or outlet temperature easily too.

Very nice as always!