Back to some wiring madness. Today, I check off another major milestone:
I can control all running light and headlight function with a single button on the wireless steering wheel panel!
Note that the functions demo'd only use three of the relays. The others are there for the wipers and heater blower. And it's looking like we can get away with fewer relays, based on a bit different approach.
Also, no crap about the mess o' wires. It was all about making it work. Tidying up comes later.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia-Y5RHZr84


I'm also looking at taking a more serious swing at a YouTube channel so I thought I put a little more effort into this video. I'd say "constructive criticism welcomed" but I know I'll get it without having to ask...

And a big thanks @Andyrew for taking time to talk with me about his experiences getting the Budget Outlaws channel up and into continuous improvement mode!

1. Thumbnail
2. Title
3. Intro and outro (people need to know what they are going to watch, and when it's over)
4. I think you have it on "made for kids" which removes commenting ability. Change that to "Adult" and then people can comment on your vids.


Content was good! Everyone likes tension followed by a "Win"!

After going through all that I could high beam low beam all night long

Hilarious.

Good job.

Cracker

I wantClick to view attachment

That was cool and entertaining. Nice to see you getting the electrical sorted the way you wanted. Even your wiring "mess" is neat.

Great video Chris and great job sorting out the wiring and interface.

The car is running great and I've been taking it on longer and longer drives, getting know its ins and outs. Essentially, it has two very distinct personalities:
- One that says, "Hi, I'm just a friendly cruiser!. When you roll gently into about 1/4 throttle and shift casually, just using it like a regular car. It's actually quite civilized and easy to drive.
- The other is one that gets right up in your face and yells "The F*** you looking at?!?". I'm going to take @napasteve Steve's term and call this "Beast Mode".

The transformation happens any time you push down your right foot with any sort of urgency and get much past that 1/4 throttle point. The car makes all sorts of intake and exhaust porn noises and it launches/pulls hard with pretty violent urgency.

It's a bit scary at first but I'm getting used to it.

Onward with development and completing all the little things that need completing.

Speaking of little things that need completing, I have to close up these gaps around the front chassis bars where they pass though the heater hose holes.
What to do?

Vid was fun! Keep it going!

Step 1: Make a paper template to determine needed shape and hole location. Note that the bar passes through the hole at an angle so the hole needs to be an ellipse, not a circle.

Step 2: cut a metal blank. But remember, it has to be 2 pieces so draw up two circles with a 1/2" tangent linking them.

Step 3": Cut the blank essentially in half, stamp a step in one of the sides (using up that 1/2" mentioned in Step 2) so it overlaps the other side and helps to seal it up.

Clearance as needed and... done!
Turned out pretty well. Now on to the other side.

I had thoughts of when welded, where are going to be the stress points... where would the first crack start... But dang, that combo is rigid.

That looks really good

Passenger experience in the Beast.

Warning: some foul language is necessary to adequately chronicle the events of the day.

Last Thursday I paid a quick visit to The Red Barn for a look at the progress on the Beast as it’s now drivable. I’ve been following the build from the beginning and I won’t dwell on just how impressive Chris’ skills are or how innovative this build is. This is already well documented in this thread. I’ve never driven or ridden in a 914 with anything other than a stock 4 cylinder motor. So the concept of putting a SBC motor in the 914 flips the WTF flag in my mind. I know it’s done but I can’t imagine what it even means. Hence the visit; let’s find out what it means. So after some chewing of the fat, saying hi to Lori and having a quick look at the gutted 2000ish MB soon to be race car, it was time to get down to business and get at ride in the Beast.

Engine started; idle established, not crazy loud but clearly not your normal 914 noise. Passenger accommodations are austere; stock 914 seat sans cushion (replaced with a bath towel) and climbing in over the door bar was a bit of a challenge for this arthritic senior. Once belted we set off. Putting out the driveway and tooling around at 2-3000 rpm is a fairly mild. The ride is a bit harsh and the noise level is elevated (no sound proofing yet and no rear window so not surprising). The Beast, driven in low power mode is a great cruiser. We were out about 10 minutes and turned around to return home when the demonstration really started. First a couple of pulls thru 2nd and 3rd going up to 4000 rpm. Very impressive acceleration. Then about 5-10 seconds of “ludicrous speed”. Holy SHIT slap my ass and call me Sally! Sitting not more than one foot away from a SBC gulping fuel and excreting deafening noise and vibration while g-force pinned to your seat is, well, TERRIFYING!!. I’m pleased to report that I did not soil myself but it was close. And I’m pretty sure that Chris didn’t explore that last 25% of gas pedal travel (where “super ludicrous speed” lives) as the ass end stayed planted and there was no unplanned departures from the roadway. I think Chris sensed I was a bit nervous so we returned home is cruise mode.

So now I know what putting that much power into a light vehicle means. When I was 14, I had a quick ride from Concord to Oakland in the back seat of a P-51. The Beast is kinda like that.

Thanks for the ride Chris.

Where is this dash sourced from?

I have ridden with Chris in his car- it is definitely fast but he is also a very careful driver. I am hoping he semi-finishes his car before letting it move on to the next owner.

I would love to see the body shot in primer and all the glass, interior and trim go back in/on and then drive it to work out any issues before selling. Then the new owner can paint it what ever color they choose. That is one heck of a high performance car.

@napasteve Steve, great seeing you, as always, and thanks for your ride review! It'll be interesting to see what you think on the next ride, when the car's a bit more developed. I "installed" the rear window (thanks double sided tape/Gorilla tape!) and it makes a significant difference. In fact, I took Lori for a ride and she said "That was fun!"
If approval from the wife isn't a win, I don't know what is.

And your experience is a lot like mine has been: the first time I asked the car to "get with it", it was unclear what, exactly, was going to happen! As I've added miles and tested more into the upper reaches of the performance, I've become more comfortable that, while it does have quite the bark, I'm better understanding where it's likely to bite.

So, the big news, at least from my perspective, is that in response to my "considering selling" comment, I received two offers for the car, both over my "I wouldn't take less than" price.

Interestingly, when faced with actually parting with the car, I balked. So, it's staying with me and I'm continuing with the build. At least for now...

@Cairo94507 Michael - I think it may end up staying with me through paint!

Next on the list is to address the darty steering, finalize and install the heater system, and move the Arduino / relay mashup to a more compact and rugged design. And whatever else I think up.

Onward.

@tygaboy - I am glad to hear it Chris. That car deserves to be finished and you deserve to be able to enjoy it finished before/if it moves on to a new owner.

Hazaa

And a thumbs up from the wife is BIG!!

We're the winners here!

I want to see this beast in paint. I don't think you will have any problem getting offers above the "I wouldn't consider less than" figure.

Right on Chris!!!!!!!

Glad this ride is staying in my neighborhood!!!

Click to view attachment

Chris: You are a humble realistic person. This beast is unrealistic. But especially because of the honor to the roots. Long live unrealistic results!

For the record, I absolutely HATE the name "Beast" for this car.

Knowing her as I do..... I suggest "Crazy Girlfriend".

.... you know that she's going to get you into trouble, and throughout your relationship you have grown tired of her sh#@.... but she's just so much fun! (for now, at least)

#crazygirlfriend

Call me crazy but I say "good night" to all my cars (by name) as I lock up the shop and garage at the end of the day. For whatever reason, I end up calling the 914 "little guy".

Not "John boy"?

Call me crazy but I say "good night" to all my cars (by name) as I lock up the shop and garage at the end of the day. For whatever reason, I end up calling the 914 "little guy".

Over achiever for his size.....

I would say this car is on this spectrum under redhead.. https://youtu.be/pInk1rV2VEg

That chart was funny as F.

Latest update:
- 21mm front torsion bars out, 19mm in.
- Elephant quick adjust camber plates are gone, replaced with Tarret monoball camber plates

The different camber plates let me get the caster setting into range. I only eyeballed the caster and camber settings and yes, I know that impacts the toe/alignment and there's now way I got it evenly set, side to side. But, ahead of getting aligned, I wanted to see if I could notice a difference so out for a test drive we went.

The good news is that it now wants to self center and there's a ton more steering feel/feedback when cornering.

Still a bunch of suspension stuff to sort out, but I feel like things are now pointing in the right direction, pun intended.

It's headed to S-Car-Go on Tuesday for alignment.

Chris you got the skills you can do all your own alignments at home on a semi flat surface. Matter of fact with a bit of math, and bit of time getting everything set you can do it as good if not better than 95% of the alignment jockeys out there trusting the lasers to get it right.

You can use lasers of course you can make it as fancy as you want or as KISS as it should be.

String nice thin nylon stuff, even fishing line will work.
4 jack stands or something similar to hold above strings parallel to the center line of the car.
A tape measure, metric is handy as you don't have to do all the conversion
Framing square
Painters tape

Plenty of good DIY alignment articles on the web on how too. I would do mine before each race, took an hour to do. For the camber, I just did a chart for each increment, and what that would be in degree.

Awesome! Glad things are moving along in the suspension department!!


Regarding home alignment...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILPv_skgtzE

More Lasers!

Finally got to see the car in person today - what a work of art - beautiful.

@flat4guy Bruce - Great seeing you and Greg! Thanks for the kind words and the goodies!

Back to testing:
Neutral throttle, mid corner, going maybe 7/10s. Add more steering angle and the rear starts to step out. Seems like I wasn't going hard enough to cause that behavior.

I have the Elephant bladed sway bar (no rear bar) and since I had no baseline, it was set at almost full soft. So I:
- went to just under 1/2 way to full stiff on the blade
- lowered front tire pressure to 26, moved rear from 28 to 32
- front shocks (Koni Yellows) were at 1/4 out from full soft so I added 1/2 turn more

Better. I think I'll leave it like this until S-Car-Go sees it as I know the basic alignment settings aren't correct.

@914forme @Andrew - I've decided I'm going to let the experts set it up. Once it's working the way I want it to, I'll set up a "home brew" alignment kit and check that I can duplicate their values. Once I know I can reliably get accurate numbers, I'll feel a lot better about a DIY approach.

Also, I have access to a set of scales so I can also do corner balancing! We played with these on @Retroracer Tony's and @Markhoward Mark's cars. Easy and quite telling.

Sounds like a plan as you are not taking it to Cheap alignments are us. But I know from experience how well some place do an alignment, and I just started doing them myself. Part of it was because I got poor results, and I was doing alignments about once a month. they started to add up.

@andrew that was a great video your father did a great job of how to do one with basic tools. Prefer a framing square, but that just me.

If things go as planned, I'll be doing this next weekend so perfect time! Thanks for posting your dad's great vid.

I'm filing this under the "not that you'll care" category. But then, some of you may enjoy the sillier things I'm doing on this build.

This time, it's the one-off PCB board designed by Nicco, the young man / programmer in that wireless demo video.

The MagicBox 2.0 will package all the electronics and circuitry needed for "single button control" each of the headlights (as in the video) wipers and heater blower motor from my wireless steering wheel panel. Plus, there's room for other stuff, should I think of anything. This will be enclosed in a nice little box and it replaces that giant wiring mess seen in the video. Also planned is the replacement for the standard auto relays using a tidy Bussmann relay board and micro relays.

Note there are extra boards... Who wants to join me?

Anything that makes our cars electrical systems more reliable, less bulky and simplifies things is a win in my book.

Now let's stir things up a bit, shall we? I wonder what the 914 Design Committee will think of this...

Here's a Cayman PDK. It's sitting in my shop. Other pic is the PDK-to-LS3 adapter.

My tuner is working on a conversion "kit" that will enable my 8-stack induction to be converted to drive-by-wire. This means the PDK/LS contraption will do all that fancy stuff like auto-blip downshifts, etc.

What could possibly go wrong?

While it's true I've already purchased the PDK, I haven't fully committed to doing this.
More to come as I think it through.

Key word here is 'I" closes down the discussion from the peanut gallery

Oh when has that stopped me.

Exhaust cutouts to straight pipes
Ejector seat
Electric car washer to clean all the off the car before you drive
Transponder so you can control the traffic light, this car deserves green lights

Peanuts add to the list

There is no "I" in team.

Back from alignment and first round of suspension adjustments. A noticeable improvement but there's more to do: Tte tires that came with the wheels are mismatched front/rear and the fronts are a bit old, but with full tread depth. Sooo...

I'm fitting a set of Toyo RA1s. Same 225/50 and 245/45 sizes as what's on there now.
They are being shaved 2/32 as part of the install, per S-Car-Go and the shop that's supplying the tires.

Once they have a few miles on them, it's back to S-Car-Go for the next round of adjustments.

It may need more than the 225 rear springs and a bump from 19mm to 20mm torsion bars.

Progress! And the fun continues.

@AzBanks - True, but there is a "me".

Don't forget the MEAT in team
Is that the trans that has Launch Control????

Watching and waiting......