This ain't no build thread!

[chiefmg]

My test drive went well, so I took her on my trip. Car ran ok during the drive although not without some hiccups. Top was down most of the way but I had to put it up the end of the first day due to rain. That was when I found out the interior was a lot warmer than it should have been. Keep in mind I always have the top down and generally use my CoolBreeze scoop when it’s warm, which is likely why I didn’t realize this before. I have already started looking at solutions for this involving insulating the exhaust where it passes through the transmission tunnel. Also, my A/C is in need of a charge because it didn’t get as cold as it should have.

As far as the engine went the AFR was higher than it should have been. Also, at the end of the second day I was in traffic and found the throttle was sticking some. Thinking about some things, I remember from a while back reading that there could be problems with oiled air filters gumming up the IAT sensors. Since mine is an open element GM type this could lead to erroneous readings. I was out yesterday and picked up some sensor cleaner along with some duct tape. I pulled the IAT out of the airbox hole and taped that up. The sensor will be cleaned and then installed in way of the intake opening on the side of the driver’s fender. It may or may not have any impact on things but I wanted to remove a possible variable. I also repositioned the throttle cable to relieve the bend where it comes out of the firewall.

I decided it would be good to go ahead and get a new IAT sensor (since it probably was contaminated by oil carried over from the supercharger) along with a Mazda coolant temperature sensor for peace of mind. Those have been ordered and will be waiting on me when I get home.

Finally, the stock radio I sent off for modification was received but when he did his initial testing, he found the CD player was faulty. I am sure I sent him the one I had been using, if so that means it got damaged in shipment. I am good at packaging things normally but apparently not in this case. I have at least one other at home so told him I would test it and send it to him to be modified. Sucks, but there you have it.

Oh, the phone holder I bought worked out well. I put it in the middle of the windshield angled towards me and it has enough extension so that I could reach it with no issues. The one I bought was this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09P35HV3H...roduct_details
I am going to glue a piece of rubber onto the side arm that rests on the dash. If it is just hanging in space it bounces when you hit a bump and I would rather not stress it too much. The rubber should keep the arm from dinging up the dash surface.

[chiefmg]

Doing some more research I found there have been instances of grounding problems with the coolant sensor with coolant reroutes. Since I was still having the occasional problem with the cooling fan not coming on I decided to remove that possibility from the mix. After measuring the diameter of the factory coolant sensor I stopped in Ace and picked up these:



A little work with cutters/crimpers and I ended up with this:



Finally got back into the garage today so I installed the factory coolant sensor with the ground wire like so:



I have a copper washer to seal the sensor, the ground lug goes on top of that. The other end of the ground wire runs to the engine lifting fitting at the rear of the engine. The ring terminal is a bit bigger than it needs to be for that bolt, I will probably change it out at some point.