Now that the fuel system and wiring are done in the rear I got going on the tank in the front. I installed the flexible hose that connects between the stainless tunnel lines and the tank. 1/2" feed and 3/8" return all the way to the engine, should be able to handle any engine I drop into this car in the future.
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I needed to modify the rubber tank mounts to clear the cage.
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Here is the before and after.
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Then I cut off all of the brackets and finished the metalwork on the tank, primer is next!
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When do we get to hear that exhaust?

Happy New Year Dane!

No front Sway bar?

I have one on my six. Apparently 2003 was the only year they were employed by the six. FP varies from 32psi @ idle to 45psi when I goose it.

I am running a Carrera front suspension with an under body sway bar. More on that soon!

Hopefully within a month or two!!! Going to try to drive it this year!

I primered and painted the tank.
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Then I installed the filler neck and repainted cap, along with the level sender.
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All with fresh gaskets.
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Since I am running such large fuel line I upgraded the tank fittings.
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It is a vw tank thread to AN adapter to hose barb compilation.
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Now that I have shifted my focus to the front I decided to pull the front suspension.
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I am running an '89 Carrera suspension, I plan on disassembling, rebuilding and repainting everything, then reinstalling.
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First I pulled the struts off, going to rebuild the calipers and get new disks and pads.
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I continued breaking down the suspension.
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I got this batch painted, sticking with the silver and black like the rest of the car.
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I added shrink wrap tubing to the metal tabs that hold the wiring harness under the tank, the wrapped the harness and installed it.
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I also installed the master cylinder and the front brake lines.
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Then I freshened up the steering rack and bolted it to the re-painted cross member.
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Finally I installed the steering rack and cross member, the brake fluid reservoir, and the tank brackets. Just about ready to drop in the tank!
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Fuel System is complete! I hooked up the feed and return lines:
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And strapped the tank down. The stripped down stock tank looks pretty good!
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Dangerously close to starting this thing!
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Love this build.....

Start up party!!

I have been making progress over the last couple months I promise!
I have been picking away at the suspension, installing the repainted crossmember, brake master, steering rack etc...
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Painting and Polishing varius bits.
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22mm carrera sway bar, stripped and ready for paint.
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We have set the all time record for rainfall this year, 45" since October first, painting has become a well choreographed dance timed to the weather channel, my yard is a muddy mess!
Despite mother nature's best efforts I got the struts painted.
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I know this will get dirty instantly but this paint is so nice!
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I am tackling the calipers next.
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Other than the brakes everything is ready for install!
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Nice as always.

I got the front suspension installed, still need to sort out the brakes but the rest of the suspension is ready to go.
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This probably looks the same to you as the last one I posted but I have reverse engineered a lot of the wiring and spliced in the fuel pump relay, tested the wiring and am pretty confident the engine wiring is ready to go.
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I don't think I have shown the fuel pump setup, I am running some kind 911 or 928 pump and filter mount I dug out of the junk pile at Renegade a decade ago, A 911 filter, and a 928 fuel pump, the date on it says 1988 so I might be swapping this out, we'll see how it works first. You can see the loose wires to the pump, I am not wrapping or tying down any of the wiring until i have a running engine.
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I also made a pretty exciting parts store run!
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I don't think I will ever live to see another build like this. Amazing.

I had mocked up the 3D printed battery mount with sheet metal screws so I riveted in some steel threaded inserts as a more permanent solution.
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Real Battery is in.
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Engine oil and tranny has been changed.
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I repainted the trailing arms and installed them, Renegade axles in as well.
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Suspension is mocked up, still some work to do here, bushings, hardware etc...
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Okay, now we are getting somewhere!
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I am glad you kept on this one! Great project and some innovative ideas! Keep it up, you are getting close.

That's really cool. I don't think it will be loud enough.

I got the battery wired up.
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Then re-installed the air filter, hiding everything.
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Hi Plymouth37,...Your Build is pretty incredible,..I would like your opinion on the Renegade cradle,..is it a good fit ,or did U need to re-work it..a little,..Thanks, !! Frank

Hi Frank,

We designed the renegade cradle to be a direct bolt in, no cutting required if I remember correctly. Haven't been in touch with them for years but I was pretty happy with the fitment on the half dozen or so cars I installed them on. The jig was based off of this car, before I cut it in half...

Can anybody spot the problem with this picture? Somehow the Carrera suspension I bought and ran years ago had one "A" caliper and one "Wide A" caliper I must have known about this and forgotten... The difference is a 7mm vs an 11mm spacer between the two halves. I decided to keep the one Wide A and order another one for the other side.
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It turns out the right side Wide A calipers are near impossible to source while the left side is cheap and plentiful, of course.
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This caliper, from a very tired mold with incorrect hardware arrived after a 5 month backorder, but not being in a hurry was a plus, it was only $65! I stripped the other Wide A I already had to match the new one.
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I stripped the rear calipers as well, still running the 914 brakes back here, mostly because of the parking brake.
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Then I finished them off with 1000 degree enamel.
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Dane I love your build. You stepped out of the box then turned around and lit the box on fire!!! Love your work man. It has been an inspiration for my build. You're almost there. But do we really get there? It's a limit problem.

Those rear springs look like a very highly loaded set-up with such low angle attachment, do you have a straight on rear view or a kinematic analysis of the loads ??

There is more discussion on this starting around page 32 of this thread, but this gives the gist of it, there is more of a mechanical advantage on the spring than the original, I doubled the springs to 400 lbs, this is totally unproven, just like the rest of the car, just need to thrash it around and see what happens!
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I wanted to do a test crank on the engine, still no gas in the tank, but a step towards running! I plugged in the master fuse and the ignition fuse.
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And as you can see things did not go as hoped... on the bright side, I now know it takes less than 15 minutes to pull the turbo! Check out the stream of oil running out from under the car!
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Here is the culprit, stripped turbo oil feed line threads in the head, from what I found this is a pretty common issue, I am pretty sure I can get a helicoil in there, bummer!
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Tell me that you will plan a party around the first start!

On the bright side, at least you didn't leak any smoke out.

Plymouth37 Thanks for the cradle info, Being that I can't weld,..I will have to order one,..I just happen to see it installed on your car,..how close to finishing are you ..??

I bought a Helicoil kit, the Banjo bolt is a 10mm X 1.25, so I am putting in a 12mm Helicoil, the inner thread diameter is 10mm.
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I think I got it installed correctly, no shavings in the head, good clean threads.
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I reinstalled the turbo, cranked it over without leaks, and celebrated by installing rear brakes. The calipers are 914, the rotors are early 911 5 lug, hubs were re-drilled to 5 lug. I stripped the rust off of the rotors and repainted the drum with high temp paint.
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The rear rotors were salvageable but the fronts were trashed, I bought some new rotors and installed them on the freshly painted hubs.
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Then I installed the front brakes.
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Just need to finish some missing chunks of the brake lines and then the brake system will be complete!
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I am so looking forward to seeing a video of this car moving on its own power. Can't wait. Terrific build and incredible talent.

Hmmm....are those seat inserts a hint of the color decision?

Those are from the interior I had in it before this whole adventure started. Still not a clue on color, the accent bits of the chassis are red but that doesn't dictate much. I'll mull it over as I finish the body work, a nice dark blue or silver with a red interior might be nice but I really don't have a clue yet! The interior will need to be redone anyway so I have options.

First step to paint is retreiving the body from Wyoming, didn't have room on the truck to bring it with the rest of the car! I was actually just in Wyoming, here is the body, waiting its turn, just like my '37 Plymouth in the background... Nice having relatives with pole barns...

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As I suspected my vintage 928 fuel pump wasn't up to the task, I swapped in a TRE performance pump, I hear good things, quieter, cheaper etc... Had to add in a hard elbow as well, the soft line was kinking into the pump.
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I am getting good fuel pressure but didn't get the startup I was hoping for. Looks like i am diving into diagnostic land. On that note I figured out a handy way to mount the OBDII port. The computer is right on the other side of the firewall, so I punched a hole into the cabin and tucked it in here.
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Now I can run codes from the comfort of the drivers seat.
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I am just sorting out the computers state of mind, nothing really unexpected. There are 3 codes that relate to the missing wrx gas tank sensors, A handful about missing emissions equipment, and 4 on the TGV I pulled. None of these should keep it from running, at least poorly, I will start probing things like coils and injectors and see who isn't doing their job...
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Dane wher did you get the hardline from pump to filter? Or did you make it?

Most of my setup is stock 928, here is how it looks in its native environment, I believe 911s and 944s of the same era had something similar.

I installed the front brake pads, and splurged on new pins and retaining clips.
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Same thing on the rear, and adjusted the calipers, parking brake and cables are installed as well. Just need to make 2 lines on the firewall and the brake system will be complete!
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Great project, so happy that you are back at it, the details are excellent.
I would like to steal your idea to use the AN adapters on the bottom of the tank for Grey Matter.

Are these the fitting that you use?

Adapter

Cheers,
Scott

This is a neat build, but with all that engine and wheel/tire, it looks to be under braked... sorry if this has been covered previously. Looks to be begging for a boxster setup.

I'm sure these will stop the car, but I'd be concerned with fade after a bit of spirited driving.

Yup, I got mine from Dan's Performance House, they also have an 8an size that I am running to my 1/2" feed line.

I tracked this with these brakes when it was 600 pounds heavier and they did pretty well. Always room for upgrades in the future though, Boxster conversion is really tempting!