Just some small updates recently.
Prior to my move and ultimately my engine failure, I did not have heat in the car. All the components were there, it just didn’t work. I thought maybe it was a heater hose issue originally. Come to find out, I didn’t have vent adjustment either, indicating my control unit may have failed or was malfunctioning. The lack of motor movement suggested a power supply issue, but the blower motor worked just fine (separate power source). Years ago, I moved my engine bay harness and fusebox to the back of the car and I thought perhaps, I screwed something up. I was really dreading going through it all again, but it turns out, my 7.5a fuse was blown. I tested all functions, except heat(obviously) and my motor control has been restored and hopefully with it, heat for those colder days in the spring or fall when the roads have not been salted yet.
I’ve got the modified condenser box complete and back in the car. I was going to get fancy with plastic welding a piece over the open holes in the box where the lines poke through, but decided to just put some sound deadening/insulation material over it. I mainly had this material sitting around and I did not want to order a plastic welder for use on some small items and be put back into a box for years. This works, serves the purpose intended and lets me save money for other things.
I mounted my TC4 and WB1 where the passenger airbag sits. I cut a piece of 3/16 aluminum and drilled holes for the mounting clips you can purchase through Haltech. It is not entirely accessible with the condenser box installed, but that is a 4 screw process to remove and then I have complete access to them, should I need to work on it. The thermocouple wires were run and zip tied temporarily while I got them terminated. I’ll replace the zip ties with metal units due to heat.
My VC was taken apart for cleaning. It was not scrubbed or cleaned post coating and I wanted to make sure there was no media blast left in it before we started the motor back up. Below you can see why the S14/15 VC’s are superior to the S13 units. Quite a bit of baffling internally, with no “screens” that can gum up over time. I’ll be tapping each hole and putting screws into it for ease of removal/cleaning in the future.
Prior to pulling the VC apart, I installed my Radium Engineering VC fittings. These things are very nice and are pretty easy to install. I did the old block-o-wood and mallet method. I would suggest you throw the fittings in the freezer and lube them up prior to assembly/insertion in the VC.
Apparently, I had the dreaded door panel plastic failure starting on my D/S. I’m not sure when this started and I do not recall it prior to having the panel recovered. At any rate, I used some Permatex Plastic Welder 84115 and “welded” my cracked pieces back together. I did drill the ends of the cracks to prevent them from propagating further. I’ll cover this with some fiberglass mat as reinforcement.
