All right, I’m going to try to keep this thing updated – promise!  We’re working on a new project car.  It’s called a “Devin SS”, and it’s a great little shell.  My dad and I are building a custom frame for it, and so far so good.  Once we get near the completion of the frame, I’ll post a Google Sketch-Up schematic of it.

If you haven’t used Sketch-up before, it’s a pretty amazing 3D tool that’s free.  Just google the term and you’ll find it immediately.  In any case, once we have the frame wrapped up, I’ll update the file to reflect the work we’ve done.

I’m also going to work on getting a lot of the photos I have been taking up onto the site.   Possibly tonight.

Lastly, I think I’m going to be redoing the engine mounts for the Mustang’s LS1.  I’m not thrilled with how they look, and I’m starting to get some real interest in how we did this conversion. Maybe I’ll sell “conversion kit” on the cheap to off-set some of the costs associated with building this thing.

Yes, I know, I’m talking about SELLING something that I learned how to do – a real shocker isn’t it?  And here we all thought capitalism was dead!

Stay tuned!

UPDATE (23:55 11/19/09)

I have posted a TON of photos tonight.  You can find the galleries along the top menu.  Check them out!

Devin, kit, Mustang, products

Well, I pulled about 45 lbs worth of stereo amplifier and associated crapola out of the back of the Z today.  The previous installation was… decent.  The only problem was adjustability post installation.  There was no way to change anything once installed.  All the wires were completely concealed and couldn’t be re-tightened without removing the whole setup, which took me the better part of 5 hours.  But now that it’s out, all the rattles from the back end of the car are gone.  That in itself was worth the effort! I’ll take a picture of all the junk I pulled out later, but at least it’s done.

Oh, and I hooked up two little 6.5″ Polk Audio coaxial speakers in place of the LPF 6.5″ Boston acoustics that were in the middle headrest bar.  MUCH BETTER!

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Griffin Technology makes a cool little USB device called the Radio Shark 2, and for about $50, you get AM/FM radio on your computer.  Seems pretty slick.  I’ll probably use it for my carputer if reviews of it are good!

car, carputer, radio, USB

So I spent most of the day replacing the driver’s side headlamp housing on my Z.  What a pain in the butt.  Apparently the headlamps on the car had been converted to HIDs.  Cool right?

Not so much.

See, the headlamp housings I purchased (JDM style black outlines) don’t support the HID bulb and ballast.  I thought, “no biggie, I’ll just modify it so it fits.” Well, that didn’t go so well either.  The housings within the headlamps are completely different.  I ended up cracking the igniter wire’s insulated housing next to the bulb.  No clue if it will still work…

Ultimately, I chopped up the wire harness of each housing, and spliced them together as necessary to make it work.  All good now, and the left lamp housing is in.

Oh, and the car has been in a small crash before I purchased it.  The front left corner is pushed in a little.  The fender doesn’t line up with an OEM lamp housing, the plastic mounting tabs were broken off the HID housing, and all the mounts on the chassis were bent backward.  I wouldn’t have a problem with this if I had been told about it, but finding out the hard way sucks.  I probably would have bought a new fender and put it on at the same time just to make everything kosher.  Instead, I ended up palm-slapping the fender into the appropriate shape around the headlamp. It still looks fine, but dammit, this is my [almost] perfect car.

+150 HP, +120 Lb. Ft. of Torque, sunburnt orange, and a non-crunched fender.  Then it’d be perfect.

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