No kidding. I don't even hate the red. o_O

Hahhaha well done!

I'll be in my bunk.

It's a little herrafrush, yes. I don't actually know if mine is any higher than this these days, but i've also mangled my fenders to clear big rubber.

I think i'll try to re-work my sheetmetal to clear the 255/40-17s i'm going to try to cram under it.

 

Don't remember what this picture was for.


Mechanically finished.






And then.... i pulled out of GRM $2014 Challenge.

I'm reasonably sure the car will run, and run hard. Starter cranks hard, fuel pump primes, and engine harness is still pretty much as it was last time it ran.

The good news stops there. Whether it's something i messed up when gutting the harnesses/converting to manual everything, or a broken 25 year old wire(s) somewhere, the car is suffering from crippling electronic failures and would be unsafe to drive. Wipers don't work at all, lights are malfunctioning in the most interesting ways i've ever seen.

It all points to a huge grounding issue, but spending hours combing through those harnesses again are something i don't have the time to do, nor does it really make sense to do at all from a logical standpoint.

Shelving this again until after the holidays, focusing on tracking down a cheap old Montero or Trooper to slog through winter with, or prepping the Miata for snow duty.


When i revisit, i'll probably be throwing the body harnesses in the trash and re-wiring all the lights and wipers from scratch. Will probably also make a gauge blanking plate and just go straight to Autometer tach, speedo, and fuel level gauges.

Challenges i see with this:

1) sourcing all new connectors for lights, wipers, and such

2) Getting the turn signals and wipers to work on the factory stalks again

3) The engine harness plugs into body harness in three locations. However, i can't see any reason why anything but fuel pump should be integrated. I'll probably have to do some weirdness to keep the engine happy, but i think i should be able to figure it out with a couple frustrating days of work.

3.5) I'm unsure if i want to give up the factory gauge cluster, and if i keep it, i'll have to figure out some more body/engine harness bullshit. I'm guessing most of the stuff outside of fuel pump that interfaces between the two harnesses is for gauges. Coolant temp, egr bullshit for CEL, tach, etc.



So basically... now i'm on the lookout for the cheapest lights/wipers harness kit i can find, and/or where to find all the other plugs i might need. If i'm going to do this, i'm not dicking around with attaching pigtails or re-using old plugs.

 

Posting this just to re-host so i can see.

 

Car doesn't work? Why not buy some tires?

Shaved 255/40-17 RE-070s in foreground, 225/50-16 RE-11s in rear. Car still has some good 225/50-16 Star Specs on it at the moment, so i'm good on tires for awhile.

You can also see the Erebuni front bumper assembly leaning against the Escort in that picture.

Now... time to shop for some 17x9 +17ish or 17x10 +5 wheels. How will this work? I have a fender roller and a Map gas blowtorch.