'92 coupe build

[notchthis]

more and more parts have been showing up so I guess I'll start a thread so I can keep track of the progress the car.

The plan for the car is a turbo 408 under the stock hood with viper t-56, built 8.8, to make a clean daily-driver capable car that will be able to hold its own against the newer performance cars.

I'm building the car in stages, but collecting parts in any order as the deals pop up.

stage one: viper trans, aftermarket gauges, suspension

stage two: 408 swap, built 8.8, and body work/paint (since the motor will be out), still debating about mini-tub or not, but since its stage two ive got time to decide

stage three: turbo setup

the car:

'92 coupe factory 5.0/5spd red/black interior.

the day I picked it up christmas eve 2010, with a cracked C4 trans (previous owner bracket raced it, and neutral dropped it like an idiot and cracked the housing in half):










Up to this point I have done the following mods:

-swapped a t-5 back
-m2300k kit 5lug conversion with red anniversary calipers
-maximum motorsports caster/camber plates
-lakewood 90/10 front coilovers
-1 coil cut rear stock springs
-Bullitt front and rear seats
-MRT hood support struts
-HID conversion from DDM tuning (bulb conversion, uses stock housings)

couple pics:
















In the next couple of weeks I will doing the following:

-Viper t-56 (real viper, not viper spec), MGW shifter, Spec stage 2+ clutch
-speedhut gauges in a florida 5.0 cluster
-swap in tilt column for better fitment with the gauges
-catted x-pipe and 3" VRS tailpipes (still need to decide on mufflers)

This past weekend I started doing my steering column swap. Got the airbag column out in less than an hour, the hardest part was getting to the steering shaft nut/bolt. Some college buddies were in town and called me to go out to the bars just as I got the column out, so it got put on hold haha. Hopefully I'll get a chance to get the "new" column in tomorrow after work.











teeth were chewed up on the speedo cable. wont be needing this anymore, new speedo is GPS, so i dont need to hook it up to anything perfect for the viper trans.







PB blaster works wonders, shot it down the steering column shaft loosen it up to pull it out


after it soaked in, with a couple pulls, I was able to get it loose


all the way out



I'll get more pics tomorrow, once I get the column back in.


parts I have waiting to be installed:

-viper t-56 (picking it up from the shop this weekend)
-Quicktime conversion bellhousing
-koni yellow single adjustable rear coilovers (will be swapping out the front drag setup as well)
-maximum motorsports extreme duty LCA
florida 5.0 cluster with speedhut gauges (speedo, tach, water temp, oil pressure, volt, fuel) and wideband, electric fuel pressure and boost (eventually)
-freshly machined F4TE 351 block .30 over
-low-profile 6061 intake elbow
-90mm Accufab tb
-90mm LMAF

more to come

[925GT]

Looks like it was hit under the drivers door or is that just the lighting?

[notchthis]

Originally Posted by 925GT

Looks like it was hit under the drivers door or is that just the lighting?

yea, i think the previous owner tried to jack the car up there i'm hoping to get that fixed this summer. other than that the body is super straight and has zero rust on the underside

[jfitts23]

who did you engine machining? and what turbo kit your going with.

[notchthis]

I've got the receipt somewhere, i got it off a guy in a trade who had it done at a shop in MD. Although i'm thinking about just selling it and having woody at fordstrokers build the 408.

As for turbo setup, i was originally going to go with on3, but after seeing some people fumble with the fox/351 setup in terms of fitment of the downpipe and such, im likely going to have a setup custom made. I plan to keep a/c, p/s and most setups wont let
you, especially on a 351 base. I know a buddy who has built a couple setups for various cars and he knows his stuff when it comes to turbos and does good work.

We'll see though, thats later down the road.

[925GT]

Originally Posted by notchthis

yea, i think the previous owner tried to jack the car up there i'm hoping to get that fixed this summer. other than that the body is super straight and has zero rust on the underside

You might just be able to pull that out with a stud gun and a slide hammer.

[notchthis]

update:

got the '89 tilt steering column in, really easy swap (didnt get a pic when it was light outside). Still got to deal with the horn, and cruise control, but thats not high on my priority list for right now. Once I have everything else wired up then I'll take care of those.




Picked up the Viper t-56 transmission Saturday. The guy who rebuilt it, Paul owns a transmission shop called "Trans Works" in Middle River, MD (about 10-15min north of baltimore). I found him and the transmission through a Viper forum I joined in order to locate a transmission for my swap. He's a real cool guy, very fair prices for a rebuild and had tons of manual transmissions at his shop he was rebuilding including one from a '12 Boss 302.





Here is the quicktime 6050 viper conversion bellhousing, starter-plate, and the parts used to run mechanical linkage on the viper mid-plate. I was fortunate enough to get the parts of another member on here who had already done the swap but was switching to a LS-x motor and was going to use a hydraulic clutch setup.









Spec Stage 2+ 26spline clutch:





Started getting everything back together:





So now its time to get the trans in, but unfortunately my expected 2nd set of hand was busy so I put getting the trans in on hold (I need to get the trans mount figured out anyways).

I started wiring in my speed hut gauges.

Teaser

Day time:



Night time:

[notchthis]

gauges are wired up. I'm going to need to trim the bezel a little bit, but should be too hard and still look clean

[Wicked03GT]

Those gauges make me happy in the pants...

[notchthis]

havent had much time to work on it the past couple weeks, been busy with work.

I ran into some slight issues with the trans, had to grind down some areas on the the clutch-fork pivot that was hitting the quicktime bell:







now everything fits nice and tight.

Also while it was out I figured I would do the "anti-venom" mod, which is supposed to provide better/smoother shifting, and very popular with corvette/camaro guys (hence the name) and cobra guys as well. It basically puts a tiny plastic washer on this bolt, which contacts the shift linkage inside the trans. We'll see how works, although I have no baseline to judge the improvement.



Also, this weekend I picked up a set of '85 GT/'93 cobra tail lights, in pretty good shape with minor scratches on the lenses but nothing too serious. I was able to use buffing wheel attachment on a drill (similar to the headlight restoration kits) to clean up the majority of the marks. The center sections are faded as usual, so I'm painting those as well:

[indy2000]

cool project, subscribing for the t-56 install.

[notchthis]

thanks indy!

this morning heres what I did, much better in my opinion. I had to drill out the tail light mounts on the car to move the tail lights outward a little, every car really is a little different!



before:



after:



hoping to finish the t-56 install today. the trans is currently 97% in, but ran into the clearance issues in the trans hump since the t-56 is way bigger than the little t-5. I'm gona pull it back out and you a BFH on the tunnel, its only one little spot on the pass side

[notchthis]

stock rear springs and shocks are off and rear koni coilovers are on now:

out with old:





in with new:






i'll set the ride height once its back on the ground.

[notchthis]

well ran into a slight set back with the trans install. Looks like the pilot bearing needs to be cut down a little bit, even with the conversion bellhousing (I had the pilot bearing machined down to the stock 5.0 diameter). You can see how close it is to bolting up, less than 1/2"...so close yet so far. at least now I can get measurements to get a driveshaft made in the mean time.

[notchthis]

no progress since the last post, been busy with work and had to go to wedding last weekend.

I sold the rear coilovers that I just put on and picked up a set of matching front and rear koni adjustables.



I'm planning to cut down the pilot shaft part of the input shaft this weekend and get the trans in *fingers crossed*

[notchthis]

my 3/8" spacer from Quicktime showed up this past week. took the trans and bell back off and put it on, everything bolted up nicely!



The conversion cross-member I have however needs a little reworking since the trans is now 3/8" further back than the standard t-56 and has some clearance issues on the driverside.



this is the trans fluid that is recommended, still not sure if I'm going to run this ($25/quart from chrysler dealership only) or the GM synchromesh that alot of cobra guys swear by.

Since the trans is bolted up and in for good, I installed the MGW shifter. This is the first MGW shifter I have ever messed with and just sitting in the car with no fluid in the trans it feels 100x better than the hurst shifter t-5 I had in the car before. Cannot wait to get the car back on the road.

[Toll Road]

Enjoying, following your progress. Those gauges are nice man.

[bubba89000]

Nice build ! Where did you get your Koni coilovers ?

[notchthis]

Originally Posted by bubba89000

Nice build ! Where did you get your Koni coilovers ?

thanks! I picked them up from a member on here. you can get them from maximum motorsports.


I'm hoping to make some more progress this weekend, hopefully get it out of the garage

[Mustangmichael]

Nice build! Like to see these kinds where you go a route less traveled. Forget about wiring up the cruise, it's not gonna work without the VSS you removed when you did the trans/gauge swap. You'll have to come up with a VSS that will work with your factory cruise wiring.
Surprised that viper trans worked, but it's cool it did. So this 3/8" spacer you got, where does it go? between the trans and bell or somewhere else?
Like the tailights too. What are you gonna do with your old ones? My 93 coupe needs some new ones.

[Racerbox77]

Would like to see more pics of the gauges!

Sent from me

[Racerbox77]

Originally Posted by notchthis

more and more parts have been showing up so I guess I'll start a thread so I can keep track of the progress the car.

The plan for the car is a turbo 408 under the stock hood with viper t-56, built 8.8, to make a clean daily-driver capable car that will be able to hold its own against the newer performance cars.

I'm building the car in stages, but collecting parts in any order as the deals pop up.

stage one: viper trans, aftermarket gauges, suspension

stage two: 408 swap, built 8.8, and body work/paint (since the motor will be out), still debating about mini-tub or not, but since its stage two ive got time to decide

stage three: turbo setup

the car:

'92 coupe factory 5.0/5spd red/black interior.

the day I picked it up christmas eve 2010, with a cracked C4 trans (previous owner bracket raced it, and neutral dropped it like an idiot and cracked the housing in half):










Up to this point I have done the following mods:

-swapped a t-5 back
-m2300k kit 5lug conversion with red anniversary calipers
-maximum motorsports caster/camber plates
-lakewood 90/10 front coilovers
-1 coil cut rear stock springs
-Bullitt front and rear seats
-MRT hood support struts
-HID conversion from DDM tuning (bulb conversion, uses stock housings)

couple pics:


















PB blaster works wonders, shot it down the steering column shaft loosen it up to pull it out


after it soaked in, with a couple pulls, I was able to get it loose


all the way out



I'll get more pics tomorrow, once I get the column back in.


parts I have waiting to be installed:

-viper t-56 (picking it up from the shop this weekend)
-Quicktime conversion bellhousing
-koni yellow single adjustable rear coilovers (will be swapping out the front drag setup as well)
-maximum motorsports extreme duty LCA
florida 5.0 cluster with speedhut gauges (speedo, tach, water temp, oil pressure, volt, fuel) and wideband, electric fuel pressure and boost (eventually)
-freshly machined F4TE 351 block .30 over
-low-profile 6061 intake elbow
-90mm Accufab tb
-90mm LMAF

more to come

Would like to know why you had to swap the steering shaft?

Sent from me

[bkoons85gt]

Making Good Progress, slow and steady is good!!!!

[notchthis]

Originally Posted by Mustangmichael

Nice build! Like to see these kinds where you go a route less traveled. Forget about wiring up the cruise, it's not gonna work without the VSS you removed when you did the trans/gauge swap. You'll have to come up with a VSS that will work with your factory cruise wiring.
Surprised that viper trans worked, but it's cool it did. So this 3/8" spacer you got, where does it go? between the trans and bell or somewhere else?
Like the tailights too. What are you gonna do with your old ones? My 93 coupe needs some new ones.

thanks! the 3/8" spacer goes between the starter plate and the bellhousing. still allows for the starter to bolt up no problem. the LX tails are already gone, sorry man.

[notchthis]

Racerbox77, I'll get more pics of the gauges this weekend

Originally Posted by Racerbox77

Would like to know why you had to swap the steering shaft?

Sent from me

I actually didnt switch the steering shafts, it was just collapsed from sitting and in the process of loosening it I pulled it out.

[notchthis]

Well dont know if any work will get done on the car, the power went out last night and isnt expected to come back on until monday...perfect timing for a storm and all weekebd is supposed to be 100+ outside. Wind speeds were clocked at 79mph last night around my area, pretty wild. Fortunately no damage, but another storm to come tonight

[Racerbox77]

If you don't mind sharing what did the gauges and cluster cost you? I went to both sites and the Speedhut gauges (very cool) are very expensive. I came up with $1200 total.

Sent from me

[notchthis]

Originally Posted by Racerbox77

Would like to see more pics of the gauges!

Sent from me

here are some more pics I just took with the iphone, they aren't that great. if you want better ones i can try to snap some with a real camera later. i tried to capture how they fit in the bezel, i did very minor trimming on the gauge surround and you cant really tell.

ignore the dirty car, its gona get cleaned once its out of the garage!











in the "run" position it takes a second or two to acquire the gps signal from the satellite


this could get fun


and even more fun










as for price Racebox, you aren't too far off, i've got a little more than that into them because i bought a dynojet wideband with them. there's a vendor on svtperformance that sells them and occasionally he will have decent deals. I was going to originally use autometer gauges, and when pricing all the gauges out (all electric gauges), it wasn't that much more money to step up to the speedhut's and the speedhut's have way more features than the autometers. Plus I wanted to be different.

[notchthis]

power came back on so was able to get some fans going in the garage. i picked up a stock '03 cobra aluminum drivehshaft, which is factory 27spline and swapped out the yoke to a 30spline spicer yoke for the viper. both use 1350 ujoints, so no need for a conversion u-joint. the shaft needs to be shortened, which i was expecting so I got it up in the car to get measurements so i can send it out tomorrow. it needs to be shortened about 2". i'm going to pick up a 1350 cobra flange (~$25 from summit) here are a couple pics:

swapping yokes:




cobra 27spline on the left, 30spline on the right


new yoke on the driveshaft


in the trans


at the axle end

[jturmanator]

Nice build! Whats the plan for stuffing a 408 under the hood?

[notchthis]

Originally Posted by jturmanator

Nice build! Whats the plan for stuffing a 408 under the hood?

thanks! ive always liked your car!

plans for the 408 under the stock hood are to use the HPM 3/4" drop mounts, 6061 intake elbow with a vic-jr intake converted to fuel injection or a professional products hurricane intake (basically vic jr copy-cat that already has fuel injector provisions)

heres the elbow with 90mm opening (ive got a 90mm accufab tb), its only 4" tall:



based on my research and calculations, i should have about 3/4"-1" of clearance. should be plenty to catch people by surprise

[Mustangmichael]

Originally Posted by notchthis

thanks! ive always liked your car!

plans for the 408 under the stock hood are to use the HPM 3/4" drop mounts, 6061 intake elbow with a vic-jr intake converted to fuel injection or a professional products hurricane intake (basically vic jr copy-cat that already has fuel injector provisions)

heres the elbow with 90mm opening (ive got a 90mm accufab tb), its only 4" tall:

based on my research and calculations, i should have about 3/4"-1" of clearance. should be plenty to catch people by surprise

Who makes that elbow? It's sweet.

[notchthis]

6061.com makes the elbow, but for some reason i couldn't get their site to open. if you just google "6061 intake elbows" you should be able to get to it.

[buffhomer]

I'm gonna be using that same elbow with a Victor Jr. intake on my 327, great quality.

[notchthis]

some little progress this weekend.

got the driveshaft back from the shop after having it shortened 2" (now 41.5" u-joint to u-joint) and also picked up a 1350 8.8 axle flange from an '03 cobra (new from summit) so I can run the 1350 u-joints instead of using a conversion joint



also installed the "glo shift" oil filter adapter, which has 3 fittings for oil pressure gauge and i will also use one eventually for a turbo feed line.





with the fittings sealed with teflon tape


Called up the Chrysler stealership to get the transmission fluid, which is specific to vipers...They sell it for $39.50 per quart! After searching on the viper forums, and talking with a couple guys on there, I ordered some amsoil trans fluid ($14.80 per quart), which they all said was smoother than the stock fluid, should be here in 4-8 business days.



The new trans crossmember brackets are tack welded on, should be able to get them fully welded on some night after work this week. I also mocked up my bassani x-pipe and looks like everything is going to fit nicely.

once the fluid shows up, I should be able to fire it up and take it for a spin!