Very cool…….that will make a perfect mold for your carbon layup. I’m not sure you’ll even need PVA with an ABS form.

now do it again with the shiny side up







If it hasn't occurred why yet sleep on it...

@Chris914n6 - Close but no cigar for you.
The heat shield goes between the exhaust and the trans. The mold was formed on the underside of the exhaust, with the shiny side of the mold face up, since that'll end up being the "outside" of the part that shows - if you were to see it when it's attached. The inside of the final part, the side that faces up (the rough side of the part that I suspect you think I want to show) will be covered with heat reflective foil.

Cool with me I hate cigars

Now that you've slept on it did it yet?

This is what happens when you leave the door unlocked...you never know who you'll see at the Red Barn!Click to view attachment

Early arrival at yesterday's EASY gathering.

Nice! Did you just buy a sheet of ABS from Tap Plastic?

Next time, I expect you to add vacuum form to your bag of tricks. You're half way there.

It's been a minute since I posted. Some personal stuff happening on the home front that's required my attention. It's mostly settled down so back into the Red Barn I go.

I'm adding an oil cooler because why not? The first step is mounting the thermostat. A happy accident is that the shape of my rockers allows this to fit underneath, even when mounted on rubber isolators. The thermostat is from Improved Racing and it's a tidy little package.
Now to make lines back to the engine and work out the cooler side of things. I may just run a loop of hose until I come up with something that appeals to me.

New exhaust back from the getting Cerakoted. I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm foregoing the heat shield for now as I'm not happy with the ABS mold but I'll be giving it another go in the future.

Exhaust PORN!

Truely beautiful!



The Improved Racing stuff is always so nice...

Chris, could you try the mold out of thinner sheet that will form crisper lines and transitions?

I think based on my limited research and knowledge you'll probably want to do a second mold because if you lay CF in your initial sheet you'll basically end up with a duplicate of the exhaust size instead of a larger radius that you would need to fit around/over the exhaust?

It'd be a shame to cover up that exhaust anyways!

Oh boy... Wheels headed off to be refinished. In a new color. Which can only mean:
I'm about to pull the whole car apart for paint. And no, I won't tell you what color it's going to be. You'll have to wait and watch.

@Nogoodwithusernames - I used a heat gun to "open up" the ABS mold so it's not the same size as the tubing. I made a couple carbon pieces and just don't like them. As to covering the the exhaust, the heat shield mounts on the underside, between the exhaust and the trans so won't hardly be visible.

You're two steps ahead already! For some reason I had in my head they would be on top of the exhaust even though you've already said between exhaust and transmission. Looking forward to paint.

Just a thought. Why not design and mount the shield on the trans?

Very nice!

It's finally going to happen!

Click to view attachment

I can not wait to see what color Chris has selected for this amazing car.

Yellow is faster. But considering the car, any color would be faster.

I here it’s going to be gold.

Black on black on black no chrome would be perfect for the beast.
Or Maybe a dark gray.

@sb914 - In retrospect, I probably should have gone with Gold.

Nah!

I see Vegas is taking odds on the color choice if anyone wants to place their bet. Vegas locals are happy for this distraction from the F1 preparation.

Guess…..some shade of blue

Ohhhhh… just the wheels… going with Cairo’s prediction

So if you flipped the shinny side you could do the layup on the abs and have an air gap designed in and still look form fitting.

I know what I'm hoping for.

But also looking forward to seeing this car in color even if I'll miss the rough-and-tumble vibes.

I assume you’ll be using traditional colors for the flames.

For those interested in more details re: wrapping up the new exhaust:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsvDqGNuqi8

Proving the old adage "it's not what you know, it's who...", I posted a reply on a thread from some guy asking about engine swaps, invited him to come to the Red Barn to check out the madness... and he did! Andrew is his name and, as it turns out, 3d printing is at least part of his game.
We were looking at the LS car and how I needed trim pieces for the door bar verticals. I sorta kinda described roughly what I was looking to do...
Fast forward to this past week and Andrew texts me a pic with a "how about this?"

Are you KIDDING ME? They're awesome!

So, here's Andrew making the handoff and the trim rings in the car. WAAAAAY big improvement over the razor cut rubber grommets there at the front, eh?

Big thanks to Andrew!

The best Forum ever!

That’s awesome, they look great!

That does look bitchin; we have a great community!

Nice!

If anyone wants to print their own (I printed them from glass fiber PETG, mostly because the PET is very strong and the glass gives it a nice matte finish) you can download the STL here:

https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-pri...s-collar-342582

I also uploaded the Fusion360 file if anyone wants to tweak it for a different size tube.

Its sized for M3x14 socket cap screws and nylock nuts. Its also actually 1 part that lines up as a pair.
Regular PETG would work as well, but IMHO doesn't look as nice.

If you don't have a 3D printer (why not?) upload the STL to somewhere like Fictiv and they will print it for you. I recommend MJF PA12, which should get you parts at about $5 each, or $10 for a pair (I got that price for x12). The PA12 will be around the same strength and has the same nice matte black finish.

Or find a friend and ply them with beer or something.

This, very much this.

I'd also suggest trying a vacuum bag to try and get the ABS to wrap really really tight (like free-form vacuum forming). And then you can also leave it to cool with the vacuum held so you don't get as much springback.

If you're at all interested in some add'l wiring process detail, you may like this episode. And it may not seem like much but finally working out how to make the wipers work the way I wanted, all from one button on the wireless, was a major mental milestone for me. Enjoy!

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

Totally enjoyed that; the level of craftsmanship and attention to detail is up in the stratosphere.

"It's just what the cool kids do." Loved that! Just confirmed how uncool I actually am as I looked at my drawer full of butt connectors and fabric electrical tape.

Here's the latest. It's geeky and nerdy and probably not interesting to most.
But it's part of the build and I want to document as much as I can so once the car is all done and goes up for sale, interested parties can learn all they want about the details.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9Y6QLRDIZk

I used that exact heater core in mine. Perfect size for it and it does produce decent heat. What I did NOT do was plumb a bypass so that when it's 100 degrees outside the coolant just loops around and back to the water pump without going through the core. Initially I put a single valve from a Rabbit to stop the flow but it still got a little warm up there. Planning to fix that this spring.

Nice work on the heater, looking forward to next segment(s). I used the cable operated version of that valve and was a little worried about the length of the cable run from dash to valve, but it seems to be working well so far.

Very nice and as usual thought out very well!

@East coaster After seeing your use of that valve, I started looking for the same one and stumbled on this servo-controlled version. I have no idea where the heater core will end up so a wired version is perfect for my TBD solution. Thanks for paving the way!

@"Chris H." Thanks for letting me know it works! I don't need much heat but it's good to hear it should do the job.

delete

Just watched the heater video...

You missed one of the most important facts about that heater control valve!

That is not JUST a heater control valve!

That puppy is a heater BYPASS valve which is significantly better than a control valve!

It recirculates hot coolant back to the engine (or wherever you want on your car).

Many modern engines REQUIRE flow through the heater circuit during all operations as the engineers use the heater circuit for additional engine cooling or air bubble clearing purposes. My Miatas HAVE to have this with a stock cooling system routing.
Modify the Miata with a rear of head located thermostat housing and you can kill the heater circuit off at will, but stock routing will die quickly without the heater circuit.

Add a simple control valve and you blow the head gasket 500 miles down the road!

Most of the modern stuff runs no control valve at all. You have blend doors that direct the airflow around the heater core during hot months. As the door gaskets age, you get "bleed through" heat. The heater system is usually 5 times stronger than the AC system and on a 15-year-old vehicle you can have enough bleed through to have 25-35 degrees of heat added to the system. You end up with AC that sucks hard!

The fix is complete HVAC box rebuilding which usually requires dash removal OR adding a heater control valve on engines that can have the heater circuit removed.

Have one that uses the heater circuit for more than just heat?

You have to have a control valve that makes a loop instead of just closing it off.

Those critters always have 4 ports just like what you have there!

Lots of internet garbage about the LS1 style engines requiring a heater circuit!
Many swear you have to but GM themselves put a simple vacuum-controlled valve, just a 2 port shut off valve, in the Holden based 04-06 GTO. This puppy does NOT recirculate and the LS2 installed in this car works fine without the heater circuit.
The difference in AC temperature between a Camaro and a GTO at MAX AC is 10+ degrees!
The GTO I fixed problem was below 32 degree vent temps (saw 18F!) and it was COMPOUNDED by not having something the size of a toaster inside the car at 200 degrees!

4 port heater control valves are "THE WAY" in my book and the one you found looks NICE.

PM incoming for your source!

Rick

When you have an engine (like the LS) that does not require a bypass valve this is what I suggest and use often.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/uac-hv1227c

These fit on mid 2000s Toyota and is a barrel valve internally.

It will hold any setting you put it on forever...

It's a simple 2 port that does not recirculate and from Toyota it's expensive.

I haven't had an aftermarket one fail yet...

It has two 5/8" fittings.

I'm betting I've installed 50!

We can add a valve for $100 or rebuild your HVAC box for $1500.

The valve WILL actually make the car colder than it was originally!

All customers choose this method!

Source for the heater valve, in case others are interested:
https://www.oldairproducts.com/product/heat...lve-kit-50-1555