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XR7-4.6's Disjointed Build Thread

150K views 1K replies 78 participants last post by  XR7-4.6 
#1 · (Edited)
Decided to change up my annual spring Cobra wheel install a bit by FINALLY reinstalling my Cobra brakes as well as check the passenger side for any rust development...

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The good:
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Oh yeah:D

The front portion of the rocker had some surface rust and pitting but like the driver side it turned out to be rock solid after going at it with a wire wheel and my trusty hammer. So that's a load off my mind.

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The bad:

This area was a bit of a concern since I've owned the car, I initially put some rust converter (not POR15) over it and hoped for the best. Just recently I was looking around and noticed a audible crunch sound when I push up on the fender liner...

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That hole used to be a 1/4" punched by the factory lol The good part is all the bad rust was concentrated to the bottom area, the upper rail is solid other than some surface rust the foam touched.

Strangely the driver side fender support has no rust in this area it seems, normally the driver side gets the brunt of the problems:confused:

The hole was actually smaller than that initially, but I enlarged it to get every last bit of this out...

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Did I mention I hate this foam? :redmad: Further opening it up also allowed me to scrape off and seal the surface rust inside and better yet get to clean metal.

I'll be posting more pics as I go...
 
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#4 · (Edited)
Good thing I didn't try torching it out before!

Anyway, I'm done:

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Well actually I still have to put the rear wheels back on and eventually flush the fluid(I just bled the calipers for now). My eyes almost popped out doing a brake slam at a nearby parking lot:D

Oh and a good way to help prevent crap building up under the fenders is to swap the steel plate spacers for round washers or spacers.

Reasoning behind this is there's a drain channel stamped into the bottom of the fender. With the large factory spacers there's nowhere for anything to drain.

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I used scraps from my dads golf club graphite extensions, nice and lightweight :D
 
#6 ·
That car isn't bad at all. My MarkVIII was a Florida car when I got it, and after 2 NJ winters, I have a little surface rust on the underside and my driver's side rail has that same rot that your passenger's side does. That's a nice trick with the spacers on the bottom of the fender. I'll have to do that on mine.
 
#7 ·
I love how you can see those red springs!! Looks great with the cobra brakes! Good job Matt!
 
#10 ·
I agree about the salt thing, it all depends on how well the owner maintains it I guess. My dad got my car in the fall of 05 from Cincinnati and drove it strictly in the cold months as a winter car. The relatively minute amount of rust and corrosion after three winters and three years of DD duty truly surprised me.

Anyway, looking good, as always. :thumbsup:
 
#13 ·
Very nice work. I'm very picky about how people modify these cars and I think yours sets a benchmark.

I've been fighting rust in the rear rockers since last summer. I have it bested so far...
 
#14 ·
Thanks man, your car was a big influence in mine, hell I copied my smoked headlights and "dechromed" tails from your 96 :D

I've got rocker rust on the rear drivers side corner, It's still solid enough to not punch through but I know I'll have to open a window eventually.


Today I painted the rear calipers, put on the rear wheels and cleaned up the IRS cradle a bit...

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#16 ·
What's up with the different angle on the exhaust pipes?
 
#20 ·
Havin' some more fun today... Warning Large pics!!

...Actually yesterday.

I decided to finish the wiring project I put on hold since fall, it basically It consists of replacing the dash harness I swapped in back in 07. While it was functionally fine initially, adding a few things to it since made it a little hacked, plus my wiring/loom skills weren't quite as refined when I originally wired it for the 97 cluster(which I no longer will be or be able to use) so I decided to redo the next harness with every conceivable factory feature I wanted by the book(or EVTM:D).

Thanks again to Rob (rmfk13) for supplying the stock harness!

So to start I added the following:

-Circuits for illuminated cruise buttons as well as the pigtail for the mark VIII clockspring
-Starter interrupt relay, ignition tamper sensor and misc circuits for factory alarm
-Clutch position switch (3 circuits; starter interrupt, cruise interrupt, and PCM reference). These will be jumped as long as an auto is in the car.
-96/7 electronic cruise control
-SC Handbrake light
-Factory foglights
-cornering lights
-SC auto ride control

-Epoxy painted dash frame, I just had to lol
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Heres the harness bare
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The circuits that are out are for cruise, I basically used the individual curcuits going to the stock servo and tied them into the individual inputs and junctions. This way I can just plug and play a jumper harness for the 96/7 servo/amplifier under the fender.

I also had to add a 96/7 electronic brake pedal travel switch as well as the pedal bracket...

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Painted black of course:D


This is C217, it goes to the ABS sensor/EVO module on LX/XR7s, on SCs it goes to the ARC module, handbrake sensor and foglight switch. As you can see, there aren't any unused terminals anymore.

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Almost fully bundled up...
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I pretty much reversed the factory tape sequence, it's hard to explain but you start in, work out, and work back in until you reach the end of the harness portion you are wrapping. Keeps things nice and tight as well as organized. All the clips are held on with friction tape, another thing used OEM.
 
#23 ·
Thanks Rob! I was sick for a few days during the week and it all kicked back in halfway through the project making it pretty miserable, the dash and seats felt like they were 50 lbs heavier than usual :tongue: Plus I ran into the stupidest little problems upon reassembly I had to solve.

I'll be starting the next phase as soon as I get my head gasket kit and timing cover gaskets, so I'll make sure to see you before hand, I'm thinking of redoing the whole engine harness while the miscellaneous RTV spots dry :D
 
#25 ·
Yep, thanks again for the trick! I updated the article to include it as well.

My only complaint (which is also apparent with the blue) is the unevenness of the lighting, I'm going to see if I can solder in some bright LED's and use some white vinyl paint on the black rubber in the right pod (it's white on the left and it lights up much more uniform)
 
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