Sly's Panthers

[sly]

Now for some gratuitous scenery pics with the Cake and a few other pics from this past weekend in Leakey, TX and from around the "twisted sisters" hills.

[sly]

Thanks.

[Salty Dog]

Very nice

[sly]

Pi Clock... take 2.
no rainbow screen or scrolling boot text and no more corruption of the RTC on boot up due to using UDEV instead of rc.local to init the time.

[sly]

found out why the LEDs were not working in the grill (the ones controlled by the "scanner"). The control box I had made was full of water. Apparently I didn't manage to seal it completely. The only thing I was able to salvage out of that was a relay harness. Bah. Everything else was corroded/rusted/soaked. The mosfets I figure are fried or so hydrated as to be shorted anyhow. Put in the new LEDs and wired them all together and controlled by the power switch in the dash for the old scanner. Car probably lost about 4-5 pounds in wire and electronics and another pound in water inside electronics.

some of the trash


the all or nothing accent lights

[sly]

And now for more adventures of "Because I Can" by Sly

The PiClock is installed in the Cake now... here's a pic of the Altoids tin case and mounting behind the instrument cluster with lots of zip ties to arrange everything and keep the video cable from coming loose.


And a video of the boot up process. The screen switches between the backup camera (when activated) and this clock just fine.

[sly]

And now time for fixes/mods to the beater gonna beat Mad Marquis...

A552 copper radiator and dual electric fan (V6 Contour/Mystique/last run Cougar). Universal coolant tank behind the bumper, because space. Low speed trigger on HVAC blower because the relay was there. High fan trigger on 99C sensor in the upper hose. Replaced the blower motor relay harness because small wires are melty and ran the fat wires up to the connectors so there won't be any melty on this harness. Blower is happier on high now too. Put my clamp meter on the power feed to the fans for giggles. High from dead stop pegs over 40A and run at about 27-30A. Low speed runs around 17-20A.

Pics:
Fabbed up rad bracket - Grinder and paint make me the welder I ain't. (cept I didn't paint it and I'm going to replace it with a regular full size bracket later)


fans - the cage actually has mounts for the lower side supports of the fan that just set down. The upper bolt mounts I had to trim off, so I have a bolt on support up top that presses the fan to the radiator (no pics of that).


Coolant bottle - yes, access by popping grill out... meh


Kinda need a funnel to have any chance of getting coolant into that thing too

[sly]

Apparently the OD-OFF switch is on the same fuse as the instrument cluster and autolamp relay and a number of other things and the wires to the button fried... but not at the joint in the shift tube like is the usual issue. They melted to nothing about half an inch from the harness behind the knee panel. Replaced the wires to the harness and ran them to a test button I kept from the trailer lights I put on the "Extend-a-trunk" truck box on a cargo carrier. Works like a charm. Debating on labeling it. Probably not. I know what it is.

Pics:

[sly]

Now that the subwoofer box is no longer in this car, I used my bad, but effective welding skills to relocate the anchor for the spare from the bottom of the trunk to the stock location. Last of my white rattle can to coat the mess after I wire wheeled it clean and then shoved everything back in. After I get the shed, I might actually have a place to store the extra tire.

[sly]

This one is a 2 way, 3 port pneumatic switch, BTW.

[sly]

Recirculate switch to force recirculation and shut out the outside world completely no matter what setting is in use...

[sly]

Backup camera installed in the Red Velvet Cake. Took out a vent for the monitor.

[sly]

Figure I should post this pic here as well...


also, info for giggles and turds...

88 MGM - 4th owner - in family since 2nd
93 Vic - 2nd owner possibly - haven't verified this
2K Vic - 3rd owner - in family since new - COMPLETE service records

[sly]

more toys on the vic now.

got the tach put in the vic. kinda works... the circuit I built to condition the tach signal from all of the coils apparently died and is just passing signal... so at idle it says like 2-3K but get above 800 or 900 rpm and it registers properly. The fix would be getting one of those autometer inductive signal taps for the power line to the coils and hooking that up. Not gonna happen any time soon so meh.

Made it easy to get out of the way too if needed.

[sly]

Vic is pretty much ready to go to SF now.

Cleaned up the tow wiring in the trunk. Removed all the vampire taps and put in one of those plug and play 4-flat kits and soldered in my reverse light tap.









and because...


Got the air spring helpers in... also took care of the aero rear bumper cover sag (mine wasn't bad yet, but nip it in the bud for better longevity)... and pumped up to full rake for the initial leakdown test. Considering the paper tags on the springs are on the exhaust side and not looking bad, I doubt I'll need the exhaust shields.