997gts

See my classified here: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...ul-997gts.html

I bought this car back in August 2009 It was ok. The wheels were bent, was completely stock & generally boring. So I began to strip it I bought the metal front end from a parts importer. To say a metal front end is hard to come by in the US ( I'm from Ireland ) is an understatement. Eventually I had to settle for what essentially looked like it had been dug out of the ground. But that was nothing a huge amount of labor couldn't fix. I got the headlights, brackets, grill and front / back bumpers / brackets and all service items from a local dealer. After I had it roughly fitted up before I shipped it off to the bodyshop for a fresh coat of Bentley beluga. Got a phone call saying major progress had been made: Superlite wheels arrived. Diablo front wheel for size comparison More progress, ready for paint This happened while fitting the tires Now fully painted & assembled Back at my shop Used a series of polishing methods. Then it looked like this

Had Hasselgren build me a really nice 20v. 200bhp, 130lbs. 9,000rpm. The problem was that I spent too much time around their 16v Atlantics & decided I had to have one. Sold the 20v, saved & bought an engine from them. Crank pick up with custom wheel. Small enough to hide all wiring. Not finally spaced yet but you get the idea. Now this is what you call a dizzy block off.

Went to a lot of expense having a custom cluster face made, then sold it…. Still can’t believe all the trouble I went to having it done, only to end up selling it. Calibrated. I still have approx 3000rpm at around 60mph Here's the start of the 16v Also, my exhaust manifold for the 16v arrived today. I couldn't be happier with it. Because the collector is so big it meant that it had to be a very high rise manifold to start the collector as high as possible before it gets to the steering.

Polished my throttles & installed a Wilwood brake kit in the front. The kit was far from “bolt on” Before & During: After: Also installed a set of front Wilwoods & rear "upgraded" pads & rotors

Finally got the 16v to my shop This is the entire engine harness ! Before I brought it to my shop here she is on the dyno. 231bh on pump fuel, map number 1. 249bhp on 110 fuel, map number 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Q44W6uEpA I also sent out the chassis harness to be adapted after seeing the back of the Cosworth dash. It's not something I wanted to deal with... This is why I sold the oem style cluster.

Got a nice surprise, the chassis arrived back from being adapted for the Omega dash & wheel speed sensor. When it was 1st made it was a generic chassis harness. Since I was sending it back to be modified I decided I would have it tailoured for the actual car so all of the lenghts are now correct. The ECU will live in the glove box & that was used as a reference for the lenghts of the rest of the harness. I knew I was dealing with a competition level shop but really was sure of that when the emailed me the PDF pin-outs of every connector as well as the layout diagram for installation reference. The pics are just print screens & in the PDFs you can zoom in to see each individual pin in the connectors.... The carbon face plate has gotten scratched etc during all of the measuring, drilling etc... so I colour sanded it & it's off to the body shop today for a nice coat of clear. Then more colour sanding before finding it's new home in the car. Back from the body shop. They applied 3 thick coats of clear to give it a constant wet look I received my Mazda pilot bearing machined to fit the TRD crank as well as these exceptionally cool old school ARP flywheel bolts made for TRD USA back during the Atlantic series. Thankfully all these years they were kept oiled & never rusted.

Engine bay sanded and washed, ready for paint next week. Put one mount on the engine only to find the intake side mount doesn't fit with the oil pump. Out came the angle grinder, plugged in the mill and went to work. Put the amount on a bit of a diet and it's in. Pics once painted. Put in the adapter plate for the gearbox. Will do a test fit of the box over the weekend and maybe make the gearbox mount next week. Always hated that battery tray. Glad to have it gone... Every day she gets a little closer ! Mount finished: I have bought another one so I can take the measurements & make a much cleaner one to be the end product. The new one will be all done on the mill & the bottom right mount hole will be a bit thicker. Approx. 4mm [/url] [/url] Taka's solution: [/url] Remove the brake booster & bought this. Always hated the look of that booster ! [/url] Now that I knew that the 1st modified mount worked I set to work doing a 2nd one only with a mind to keep this one as the mount that will stay with the engine. I marked it out, milled the forward most hole properly and made the reliefs with as little material removal as possible. Ended up with just about 2mm of clearance in some places. Also made sure to have all rounded edges to try to prevent cracking. And paint. If I have time tomorrow night I'm going to put it in so I can start planning oil hoses and fuel hoses as well as gearbox mount... Finished the mount last night with a final coat of paint and installed in the block today. What a pain in the hole ! After I installed it I sat back and said, **** it. It's going in. And in it went !! Finally decided on a clocked position for the oil tank & had the base welded to it. All of my oil circuit connectors showed up. now just waiting for the hose..... Also picked up a set of sticker slicks for when I install my 13x8 & 13x10 wheels. Will look into cutting thread into them when I'm ready to install them. Already have the thread cutter... Finally decided how and where the oil lines are going. Modified the rear seat to allow the lines to pass underneath it and still look stock. The goal is for it not be obvious how the dry sump system is laid out once the interior is back in and the trunk privacy cover is back on. Put my 1st AN fitting together today as well. Wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Once I started on the 2nd one it was easy.

Treated her to a few pre-Christmas presents today Had the dash covered in alcantara Bought a Tillett B1 carbon fiber seat. Now on the hunt for a 2nd one. Think it’ll go well with the carbon door panels & center console ( haven’t gotten the console yet )

Huge thanks for Joe Leen & Dan representing Leen in the US. Top fellas to deal with !!! This is the most excited I have been since I picked up the engine....

When I got the carbon seat I found the alcantara coming away from the fiberglass seat cushions. Not being happy with that I removed the cushions from the seat. I came to find out that the early seats that Tillett made had the fiberglass backing glued to the carbon rather that taped like the late seats. This meant that both cushions broke during removal. I sanded both cushion backs & repaired the cracked sections with some carbon scraps I have in the garage. Before img]http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad112/Billy_Andrea/20130923_163020_zps10d14bb4.jpg[/img] After Shell repair Recovered & reinstalled using double sided tape.

Tackled a job I've been putting of for a while. Trimmed the left front brake disc and used it as a mount for my wheel speed sensor. Still not sure how I feel about this. Pretty sure I'll go back & modify it to make it a nicer fit. Zip tied until I figure out exactly where the wire goes..

Trial fitted the clutch and flywheel to ensure everything fits. It does.. everything is hand tight. Will take it off, torque the flywheel and put it all back. Engine in for the last time next week.

Put back in for the final time, hopefully ! Everything wired except for fuel, alternator and starter. Next job, gearbox, mount and drive shaft. Engine harness to chassis harness connector Air temp sensor placed between trumpets Inline t-stat in upper rad hose Oil pressure sensor in and wired Brake master painted to look fancier than it is. T3 booster delete in red to add some colour A look up her skirt Can't wait for the noise to be coming out of here

Well, she's a 6 speed !! Next, exhaust system....

Well today I finished the valve cover breather as well as the breather tank and vent for the oil tank. Instead of the tank breathing to the atmosphere ( into the boot / cabin ) I used a household brass barb mounted to a carbon plate that replaces the standard body plug in the wheel well. The catch tank breathes to atmosphere through the well floor exit. Also made a very brief start on the exhaust system. 1st mount measured, bent and ready for tacking. Lastly, removed, painted & reinstalled the gearbox mounts. Also mounted my new driveshaft. Next week will be all exhaust.....

Just got the car back from the exhaust shop. I decided against making it myself as the 1st couple of cuts I made weren't to my liking. it cost a bit more but I think I made the right decision. There's no way i would have been able to make it like this or weld as nicely.

Finished making the bracket for the seat tonight. I just have to soften the edges with a radius and get them painted. Drilled multiple holes to allow for adjustment. Installed the hub and steering wheel so I could get an idea of where I want the seat. Finally found a use for some M5 x 0.8 Ti bolts I have.

Nothing really to report. Time to make another push to try to get her finished. Finally took off the header & sent it out for ceramic coating. had it done inside & out in chrome ceramic. Very happy with the results...

Finally got around to installing one of the carbon door panels. For a direct fit they certainly took a lot of trimming, nutserts and aligning... Added the T3 door handles which aren't even close to fitting the oem holes. A dye grinder and black sharpie later who can even tell... Also got these countersunk Allen bolts for the seat frame with matching washers.

Got the battery finally mounted. Put the mega fuse on the positive post. Routing of the cable will definitely change. Hate how it looks... Also got the passenger seat rear cover back from the upholstery shop. Next I have to mount the fuse box & get the wiring finger out!! If I can spend enough time with it the it shoudl only be a matter of weeks until I can turn her over for the 1st time...