XCLR8TN's BRG LS6 Build

[I<3flippyheadlights]

Too bad she hasn't updated this thread since last year.....

[LostSoulMiata]

Too bad she hasn't updated this thread since last year.....

I text her right after I posted up. She knows

[Speed rock]

PayPal ready

[XCLR8TN]

Workin on an update, hold your horses!

[WASABI]

Workin on an update, hold your horses!

Take as long as you need Jess... we all know it's gonna be good!

[XCLR8TN]

If anything is doubled in here from previous pages, I apologize. I'm doing a mass update of build threads on separate forums that are all at different stages of the build


UPDATES

I bought universal steering rack boots, somehow both of mine were torn. The dealer wanted $60/side and I'm not about to pay that! I haven't had a chance to put them on because.........

The wiring is almost done!

A few people helped out and eventually what happened was:

-Speartech engine harness
-Painless (T-Bucket) chassis harness
-Kept OEM rear end light wiring (tucked--running through the rocker)

Most of it is wired up in the car, all of the front end light wiring is routed but not attached. I still have one bug to work out with the running lights... I have no idea why but they only turn on when the headlights are on (ie: the "running light" setting doesn't work). I'm wondering if it has to do with how the Mazda combo switch is wired compared to the Painless relay/fuse block set up. I gave up on flash-to-pass (I don't think I have ever used it). I managed to get a spare set of o2 harness extenders that I chopped and wired up the o2s finally!

What I'm waiting on:
-Turn signal lights to arrive (tomorrow)
-I need to figure out what size LED running light I can fit in the headlight opening
-How to seal the Morimoto H1 projectors for use in the foglight holes (home depot special)

I cranked it over real quick yesterday (no fuel and coils unplugged) just to make sure all the wiring was correct, and it is. I plan to add gas, flush the fuel lines, fill it with coolant, and then it should be good to go as far as starting it. I put oil in it a few months ago.

For a car running the bare minimum, there are still a lot of wires. It will get all tucked up, I was just working with routing stuff last night and this was how it was left. I can't even give you a number of times I had to cut a zip tie, undo electrical tape, or reroute wires, so I stopped making it pretty until it was DONE.

Everything under the hood got the heat shrink/adhesive filled butt connectors, the ones under the dash are normal butt connectors. I looked into the aviation grade solder-filled connectors but.... the normal kind are more readily available and I don't expect this car to see too severe weather conditions so I don't think there will be a problem.



I temporarily mounted the gauge cluster as well. I reused a Mazda connector on the gauges so I can unplug them easily.








A few little things here and there, too.... found a lower radiator hose that works (had to splice in a tube in between two pieces after searching through 3 parts stores inventory to no avail), the top one is a clusterf*ck due to how close the rad is combined with how much room I have next to the Mezeire water pump. I'll try and get pics later but it isn't the prettiest thing

Put some heatshielding (Spliced tube--DEI I think) on the fuel lines running near the exhaust as well.

Oh, and the exhaust is done. Still trying to find someone with a booth big enough to allow it to be ceramic coated. :/ I may end up trying some heat shield mat with better adhesive than the real thin gold and silver foils. Neither of those wanted to stick to my heat shield paint in the tranny tunnel, AT ALL.

The tips didn't quite turn out how I wanted, but I can only do so much because the mufflers have only so much area to exist in, so when they are angled like they are I ended up with a tear drop-shaped tip instead of an oval. It's hard to explain but I tried everything, and it took days lol.

This was before I cleaned the hole in the diffuser up and painted the whole diffuser:



Tires and wheels mounted:





Picked up a seat:



Sneak peak at what's to come:



In other news, I picked up a new DD and only modded it a little bit. Just K&N/Borla catback/BBF GT3 4 point bar.

[LostSoulMiata]

Busy, busy bee you are Jess! Looking great so far, I'm sure you can't wait to drive the hell out of it

[XCLR8TN]

Small updates.

Got a new (used) multifunction switch after determining the stalk switch was bad on my old one (wtf).

Mounted a coolant overflow and bought some distilled water/water wetter which will be going in soon.



Wired up the water pump finally. Fans are also wired up. Wondering how to put a switch on at least one of the fans so I can turn it on whenever I want, but still retain the ECU kicking them on at the right temp.

[XCLR8TN]

Moved the car out, put some water and gas in it....




Flushed the fuel lines...



I have a small leak and I can't tell if it's coming from the fittings on top of the tank or the tank cover seal so I'm going to try and look at that tonight.

[XCLR8TN]

Little updates:

Found the OEM turn signal connectors and wired those up so I can use the Depo smoked turns I got last week.

Modified the bumper bracket to fit the intake.



Next I'll be putting on new steering rack boots, taking the exhaust back off and dropping it off to get coated next week.

[LostSoulMiata]

[XCLR8TN]

LOL. Literally just dropped the exhaust off to get ceramic coated

Soon!

[— kung fu jesus —]

is it done yet?

[—Martin—]

Yeah, is is done yet?

[XCLR8TN]

Well I've been working on:

-Fitting the projectors into the foglight holes
-Finally torqued all of the suspension/drivetrain bolts and marked them this time (I could never remember which I did before as I assembled the car)
-Put the rear sway bar and new steering rack boots on (Autozone universals work perfect)

But in addition to that I did this:





After figuring out something in the tune was off (DTC wasn't on), and that I had unplugged the fuel pump... it started up. Being the idiot I am I decided to let it warm up to operating temp... and wait for the fans to make sure they would kick on when they should. They did, but they didn't bring the temps down. They hovered around 203-205 (fan 1 kicks on at 195 and fan 2 at 197, both kick off at 190). I figured out why later......... I totally forgot to take the piece of cardboard out of the front of the radiator that I was using to shield it while I worked on the car. So really, no air was going through the radiator at all, the car wasn't moving, and the LS didn't over heat lol. Win! It still needs burped, also.



If anyone has any ideas on the digital tach... it shows only in increments of 100, and is approx 200 rpm off. It shows 700 and the laptop shows 962rpms at warm idle. The wire going to the tach input on the gauges comes directly off the wiring harness Speartech sent me (which I assume is coming from the ECU). Yes, the tach on the gauges come preset for a V8.

Any thoughts?

Excited the car started and nothing blew up, got crunched, or caught on fire.