Agreed, the small base is a bit flimsy. Since the larger one you used is NA, I'll go with the small one for now.

Andys

The dash panel, painted w/SEM Trim Black and ready to install. So stealthy! I love it.

I have to say that, despite your egregious failure to get approval from the 914world design team, it looks really good.

@AZBanks - Well, then I suppose I'm really pushing my luck proceeding with the bracket design and finish with no input, eh? I went for added lightness on these, as well as rubber mounting. Another component no one will ever see...

Interesting that if you go with the flush mount approach, you have to fabricate your own brackets - Holley doesn't offer any. Thank the gods of fab for plasma tables!
These may be the smallest parts I've made on the table - at least that I'm using on my build.

Those brackets look as though they could have come with the kit, top notch work.

You know it's just jealousy talking. I'd love to have your tools and your skills.

Initial fitting of the ashtray-delete fiberglass dash top with the Holley dash in place. Silver fasteners? Black fasteners? Oh! Maybe rivets all around the outside, to echo the fire wall? I'll have to see how I feel as I look at it a bit more.

I plan a glove box delete, too, so the entire dash, everywhere, will be filled with as much nothingness as I can add.

I'm loving the way this latest set of updates is coming together.

Perfect. Love the way you think.

That stock shroud above the gauges isn't ideal for shading them. Hmm.
:scratching chin:



Lol, freakin' peanut gallery.

OH thats niiiice!!

Today, it's wiring the Holley dash. The CAN technology is SOOOO nice in that everything the ECU monitors can be displayed on the dash via a couple wires. No more wires running to the dash from every sensor!

The only additional wires needed are for anything the ECU doesn't know about. In my case, that's:
- fuel level
- oil temp
- left and right turn indicators
- high beam indicator
- 5v sensor power (for the "added" fuel and oil temp sensors)
- sensor ground (again, for these "added" sensors)

I employed that wire junction block so I could have sections of the overall harness that could be more easily installed and removed from the chassis without having to fish more/longer wiring and/or large connectors through holes in the body.

In all, I'm pretty happy with how this area of the wiring is turning out.

Some progress setting up the dash. So far, this thing is proving to be super cool. Tons of configurability and pretty easy to work with it.


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

Playing with dash configuration. I deleted a couple digital read outs that I wasn't going to use and figured I put the clock down there. Then I remembered: I hadn't yet drilled holes for the seat heater switches...

A really neat feature of this dash is that you can add "switches" to it. These can be set to do a number of things but in this case, it'll trigger the relay that powers the seat heat. The switch style is configurable but I went with the "small silver toggle". When you touch the switch, the toggle "flips up". It's pretty cool.

And I redid the high beam indicator. That dark dot just above / left of the tach? That's a "gauge" that I set to be an indicator, set to dull blue and triggered with the high beam. It's visible but far less bright than the LED set up in the earlier video.

So. Many. Options.

Wow

That is way to trick!!! Can you make the gauge glow red for a shift light or something?

I got the dash installed with a basic layout and configuration that I liked and today, I took the car to the Novato Cars & Coffee. We were well represented with @Krieger Andy, @buddyV Robert and @markhoward Mark in attendance, as well.

The car got a fair bit of attention and I received a lot of nice comments about the overall vibe of the build. I'll admit, it was gratifying to hear positive feedback from pretty serious car folks who'd never seen it before.

Anyway - If you're not into this digital dash stuff, this will be pretty boring. But if you are? This thing is so dang cool!

I worked out a way to get a more obvious visual indication that my seat heater switches are on. Take a watch, if you're curious. It's just over a minute long.

@andyrew - it has a set of LEDs along the top border that serve as a programmable, sequential shift light.

And did I say how much I like this dash?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5nbmZuQZ_U

Very cool layout and I like all of the information you can get out of that setup. Hayy 4th Chris.

So Happy you got one,,,and not mine..

I removed the sump from the fuel tank I've been running. Moving to the new fuel tank that isn't getting welded on means I needed to update the in-tank pump bracket so it drops into the sump. A little bend... bend... and it's done and slides right in.

Yes, this moves the pump up a bit so I lose access to maybe 3/8" of fuel level.
Famous last words but if I let the fuel level get that low, I deserve to run out!

Today's post may be boring, but at least it's actually sorta 914 related!

New tank all done. This version is all "no welding", as far as the filler cap and fuel pump fitment. I did spot weld the fuel filter bracket to the tank flange. Everything sure turned out nicely, IMO.

When it's apart for paint, I'll powder coat the hold-down strap and redo all the hardware cad plating.

Don't be fuelish, it is very interesting.

Looking good!!

HUGE thanks to Bob @BIGKAT_83 for personally driving these seats from GA to CA! Bob, it was great meeting you and your wife. Oh, and your pup, Henry, too!

These are the seats I purchased from @fasthonda . They are super nice and more supportive in the upper bolster area than the GT Classics LeMans seats I have. But now that I've seen then in my car, I'm not quite sure if I'm digging the look, compared to the LeMans', so the jury is still out on if I'll keep them.

If I do keep them, I'll likely have them redone in black with appropriately colored tartan inserts. I'm leaning toward the GTI tartan pictured.

But again, I can't thank Bob enough for making this happen. It's always great to meet another 914 World member in person, put face to name and shake hands with a new friend.

I like the look of those seats. What makes them look odd is the padding on the aft section of the headrest. The GTI upholstery looks good too. Especially if you go blue on the exterior.

They would look great with the other material

Yeah, I like those too. Of course they need to be covered, but otherwise those look nice to my eyes.

I like the Tartan pattern!!

Those are Skinny boy seats for sure

I like the Lemans personally, but if you tartan up those Renegade seats I might like them more .

I like the Le Mans seats more. Maybe, its the little medallion vents, (I don't know what they are called) that look classy. I'm leaning to getting the Recaros that were used on the Big Laguna car. I sat in them and was very pleased. I'm curious why are you even wanting to make a change from the Le Mans seats? Were they that bad?

@Curbandgutter Rudy - The LeMans seat are REALLY comfortable for 90% of the driving I expect to do. But they do seem a little "loose" on me in the upper body area when the cornering gets spirited.

I wanted to try something else so I bought the Renegades, figuring I could always sell them if I opted to stay with the LeMans. The jury is still out so no decisions until I've got some miles on them.

I will also say you sit noticeably higher in the Renegades vs the LeMans. I may start with having maybe 1/2 the padding taken out of the bottom cushion. We'll see.

Well. After mucking about with the throttle bodies, I'm going back to a stock LS3 intake manifold and a single drive-by-wire (DBW) throttle body.

Without going into too much detail, I've learned a LOT about these systems. Things like:
- very minor throttle openings (from idle) QUICKLY add air flow. This means you build a fuel map that looks at the TPS (throttle position sensor) in like 2% steps, up until about 20% open throttle
- from about 65% - 100% throttle, there's actually very little increase in air flow. My engine is getting all the air it needs at ~65% throttle! And let's be honest, in my case, it's not a race car so I spend virtually ALL my time at very low throttle openings
- in a light car, minor pedal movement, um... "makes things happen"

In short, ITBs, particularly my cable-driven version, make driving my car anywhere but the freeway, an experience that requires 100% attention. It's more mental work than I want to do. But please don't get me wrong. I LOVE these things. Just not how they currently work.

So for now, I'm moving to the stock intake. Of course, my Holley HP ECU doesn't support DBW so I'll be replacing the HP with a Holley Dominator ECU, building a new engine wiring harness and, as pictured, moving to a DBW throttle pedal. This is a stock Corvette pedal that I've chopped up and will connect to the Tilton throttle pedal with rod ends and an appropriate length rod.

Yes, the brake line needs to be moved - this is just initial fitting to determine linkage specs. I'll tidy it up once all the dimensions are known.

The good news is that the Dominator ECU can be used to alter how the throttle body responds to the pedal!
For example, if I want 10% pedal to only be 5% throttle body opening, I can do that.
This should make for a pedal that does exactly what I want and feels the way I want it to feel. Who-Ray.

Let this round of "doing things over" begin!

And fear not. I'm working with my tuner on converting the ITBs to DBW. It requires a bunch of custom stuff but what fun would it be if that wasn't the case?

Hi Chris - Wow. I really love the look of the ITBs. But if they don't allow you to make the car drivable the way you want, then I understand the switch. It's not like you won't have tons of HP anyway. Hopefully in the next month or so I will get a chance to come over and BS with you.

At least you don't need to cut the trunk....

Well. Clearly not as cool looking as ITBs, but not bad.

I did upgrade from the stock fuel rails to the Holley set you (sorta) see here. This to keep the same return-based fuel system plumbing I already have in place.

I have a few additional things in mind to try and recoup at least some style points. Let's see how I do.

R2D2 could fit there and talk to all the electronics for ya

DBW mechanical connections all set. Really happy with how this turned out. There is ZERO slop or flex and the linkage ratio is adjustable over a pretty wide range so beyond being able to program how the throttle body responds to the pedal, I can also tune the physical pedal travel to feel just how I want it.

But maybe the best part is that red indicator toward the left end of the custom linkage bar. It's a shallow groove which was then colored red. Why? It's a visual reminder that it's the left-hand thread end. No more guessing which way to turn the jam nuts when adjustments are needed.

It's the little things...

Those pedals look so cool and high tech. Bummer about the ITB's but in the end you do want to drive the car and not be on pins and needles and worrying about the throttle input.

Now that you've done all that work....

you should be able to get a progressive pulley for the cable TB to numb the off-idle response.

@Chris914n6 - If you check back in the build, you'll see I'd already done that. See pic for what I used. And it wasn't the off-idle response.
The ITBs ran quite smoothly - nice idle, no hunting. I find it hard to describe what it was like when I tried to drive the car quickly in the twisties. Suffice it to say, it wasn't what I wanted. So for now, I'm moving to something that's a bit less unknown.

That said, I'll post as I get back to the ITBs. I have a plan to operate them via DBW and another idea that's what I'll call "the best of both worlds". In fact, tomorrow I pick up the first piece of that effort from my machinist.

What could it possibly be?
Will it even work?

You'll just have to keep watching. Oh, and wish me luck!

Oh I like that throttle pedal setup. Very nice!

The ITB fuel rails used a unique fuel pressure regulator which can't (easily) be made to work with the new Holley fuel rails. So.

I opted to go with a Holley integrated filter/regulator that's preset to support the LS requirements. What's nice is that by mounting it at the front, as pictured (using the same mount that was there for the Aeromotive filter!), I can route the return right back to the pump and only run a single fuel line to the engine.

At the back, I'll add a Y connector and connect to each fuel rail. Each rail is then dead-headed so I eliminate the cross over line at the back of engine. In the end, it's a simpler, tidier set up.

Now it's on to updating the ECU and engine harness.

Those seats look like they have a distinct butt width limit.

Right back to non-914 related stuff:
Apparently, my car will now DOMINATE!
Beyond that, I now get to (have to) build another complete engine harness because: new ECU.

Actually, I'm really excited to do this because I know I can do a far better job. Partly because I've got some solid experience under my belt but also because I've been taking an on-line motorsports wiring course from HP Academy.

www.hpacademy.com

These folks offer courses in wiring (basics through full-on motorsports wiring harness construction), EFI tuning, engine tuning, and suspension and car set up.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through their Motorsports wiring course and it's really, REALLY good. Easy to understand, content-rich, examples of actually doing most of the things you'll need to do... it goes on and on.

I'm not affiliated w/them in any way but will happily say that if you're interested in learning about anything they teach, you won't be disappointed. Excellent stuff. Plus they're Aussies so you get the awesome accent at no add'l cost!

Today, I made up new lines to support this little Y connector. This wraps up the revised, "single fuel line to the engine" plumbing. I'm happy with how it turned out.

And you can see another reason I'm excited to re-do the engine harness: Messy / unincorporated wiring.

As I'm working through the teething issues and other parts of the development process, I found I needed a few additional wires and related connectors, as well wanting to relocate some items , i.e. O2 sensor moving to the other side header. I've also added items like the digital dash so the re-do will allow me to fully incorporate everything into a updated harness.

For this go around, I want to mount electrical components inside the car whenever I can.
The Dominator ECU is much wider than the HP its replacing and as much as I wish I could mount it behind or under the passenger seat, it simply doesn't fit - at least not without losing a fair bit of passenger leg room or notching the floor or changing the shape of the bottom of the seats. I didn't want to do any of that.

So, it's going just in front of the passenger seat. This frees up the under seat area for the various relays and fuses that will also be moved from their current location in the engine compartment.

But that means I need a way to get the various harnesses and wires from the ECU to under the seat. Running them over/around things wouldn't be appropriate. So...

I used a piece of 3" round tubing, slid it over a scrap piece of 1.5" DOM and put it in the press. Then, with a bit of hammer/dolly work, I end up with a nice, oval tube. Best of all, a couple 1.75" hole saw holes and "connect the dots" and I have the oval openings in the floor cross-member. In goes the oval tube, a bit of TIG and some metal finishing and I have the pass-throughs. Here's a pic of one done and the other about to be welded in.

Here's the mock up. The ECU is pretty much out of the way but I'll fab some sort of protective cover for it, just to be sure it's safe.
There are a couple more harnesses with separate connectors that have to get to the ECU: one for the DBW system and once for some "neat-o" capabilities I may try and use.

And yes, I tested that with the seat frame lowered all the way, the wires clear everything.

Looking good Chris. I feel your pain trying to find the right areas to add extra electrical components. I didn’t realize how messy my wiring got and relocated a bunch of stuff to the rear trunk directly behind the firewall.

I like it just for the COOL factor

Nice spot! HP academy has always been on my radar.

I really like the pass through as well! It’s those little details that really make everything nice.

Got started on an initial version of the ECU cover. The holes will be drilled, knock out punched to the appropriate size then given the dimple die treatment.

I was going to ramp down the sides but now that I've seen it in place, I think I'll make it the full width of the floor and install a hinge along the front edge for access. Yes, that means the seat has to come out to get to the ECU but that's OK with me.

And imagine that - it's going to take me a couple versions before I get something I like...

Glad to see that I didn't slow you down too much by showing up and shooting the breeze for a bit today.

I like those ovals for the ECU harness to pass thru.