Finally…preparing the GTM for its voyage out to Ken (StreetRodPainter.com) has begun. Mounted the body back on, tightened up the hatch and hood hardware, secured loose wires in the front and rear, set the hatch and hood in place. Wiring under the engine fuse panel was secured so it will not move around much when the car is driven. The rear two underbody panels were put in place, and the final two skid bars were installed.

Only things remaining are to tape everything up so it doesn’t shift during shipping, and pack up the parts Ken’s shop needs (door hardware, etc).

Took lots of pics tonight.

Productive weekend on the GTM. The fuel line was secured to the chassis with some padded clamps, and then then wire loom containing the fuel system wiring was secured to the main braided fuel line.  When I went to secure the braided fuel line to the frame I realized I had ran the line along the wrong side of the frame, so I had to drain some fuel and pull the braided line off of the bulkheads and re-route it. Kind of a pain in the butt, and resulted in a nice gas-fume headache. The hardlines were also secured to the frame.

The engine underbody panel was secured to the frame with the skid bars and the remaining exposed holes were screwed in for easy removal in the future. The previously ‘screwed on’ removable engine panel cover was riveted on instead since I made the entire panel removable. The engine panel piece was also covered with Dynamat. 

The last remaining passenger tunnel aluminum piece was riveted to the frame, then covered with Dynamat and Dynaliner – just needs suede!

My old college roomate came down to visit today and check out the build so I gave him a quick spirited ride in the go-kart. Definitely got on it a little more than last time. This thing is a blast to drive.

Since I am stumped on the engine/throttle issue I started on installing the skid system. This will protect the underbody of the car, as well as the actual body, from speed bumps, ramps, etc. Each skid bar (8 in all) is attached to the frame using tapped 10-32 holes. The process is painstaking, but the end result is worth it.  I attached the front four skid bars tonight and will tackle the rest once the engine is running properly and no leaks are found.

After working on the skid system I loomed up the oil pump wiring, and attached the hard coolant lines to the frame.

Not too much going on right now with the build. I shipped off the TAC module to Fparts today so they can send me a replacement. All the diagnostics I have done point to a faulty TAC, so hopefully the new one fixes the problems!

In the meantime I fastened the cable shift gate cable to the frame and re-wired the cooling fan grounds. FFR’s instructions have you extend the black wire from the engine fuse panel to the black wire on the cooling fans, but in reality you need to ground the black wire coming out of the fuse box and also ground the black wire coming out of the cooling fan harness itself.

I started piecing together the underbody skid bar system. This will protect the frame (and body) and keep the belly pans on as well without having to rivet them. Easy removal of the underbody panels will be nice!

I also obtained a OBDII scanner from my friend Brian (THANKS!) which will help me diagnose things easier as time passes instead of having to wait for the loaner Tech2.