Took it out for a test weekend...very fast and lots of fun. This picture was at the top of a hill and I was turning around to come back down.

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

A few updates that may help some people.

The pulley that I have on the supercharger is the larger one so you can get more out of this engine by installing the smaller one.

The supercharger fan never comes on. With just the normal air flow through the air scoops, the coolant temp rides around 10 degrees hotter than ambient.

I replaced the Empi raced prepped cv joints with German race prepped cv joints from McKenzie's. The Empi's were a little loud for my liking. Building note: The Empi's do allow for a greater travel angle than the German ones, by my estimation about 2 degrees. Because of this I now have to run limit straps.

Building the car and running it without powder coating it turned out to be a great idea. I had some modifications to make after the test weekend. The car comes apart this winter for the coating.

Love the LED headlights, they sure are bright!

I will post more notes when I think of them.

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

Reading posts like these never gets old. Neither do photos and videos - got any new photos to satisfy those of us drooling on the sidelines? ...any new GoPro vids?

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UNCLEJERM'S ECOTEC SMURF BUILD http://woodsbuggy.com/forum/buggy-builds/16626

Very, Very nice! May I suggest you add a roof, I'm sure you don't ever plan on rolling this thing, but its saved me before in rollovers!

Due to where we ride I am only going to add a top and side curtains. When we head West, most of the scenery is above us.

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

If you ever wondered about getting LED lights, this may be your answer. Its light out and the lights still show!

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

I love the suspension! Cruises right through some pockets.

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

Time to order powder coat and I am looking for some recommendations and some does and don'ts. For the body panels I am looking at either
https://www.powderbuythepound.com/ANODI ... AT-SK1793/
or
https://www.powderbuythepound.com/DORMANT_BLUE/

For the frame I am looking at
https://www.powderbuythepound.com/BONDED_BLACK_CHROME/

Thoughts???

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

In my experience if they recommend a clear coat you want to clear it. On my current car I used an industrial RAL color cleared twice. It has held up well and you can buff out scratches in the clear.


Posted using the WoodsBuggy Mobile App

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Water Cooled Consortium, Chairman of the Build (Former AC purist)

I like the frame in easy colors. Meaning easy to match if, or when, you modify it. Black isn't my favorite color but when I changed engines the black was really easy to touch up.

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"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." -Henry Ford

I'll stand with you on that one. Going through issue now where I need to make a few welds and can't match the current paint.

Posted using the WoodsBuggy Mobile App

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UNCLEJERM'S ECOTEC SMURF BUILD http://woodsbuggy.com/forum/buggy-builds/16626

I spoke with Steve Humphrey today about an issue I had at the end of last season. He said on a few of the class 10 cars they run in the desert series they have had to add an additional ground wire from the alternator to the frame. They were finding there is too much going through ECU and it can "dumb" out the ECU and you will need to have it reflashed. Save yourself some possible grief and add an additional ground. I added this comment to the Ecotec swap faq's as well.

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

I'm always a fan of black, say for when it get's hot!

Great tip on the grounding straps!

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http://www.alphafabindustries.com

Specializing in EFI systems engineering, design and tuning for the GM Ecotec Platform.

I finished taking apart the buggy today and getting the parts ready for powder coating.

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

Well today was another big day in the completion of the build.
I ordered an HP Tuner Pro version
Ordered the powder coating from Powderbuythepound
Finished the ten or so tack welds I had and made a few minor changes to the frame.
Finished prepping all the aluminum panels for powder coating.
Delivered all of the metal parts to the sandblaster for blasting.
I should have everything back from the powder coaters at the end of next week
I am on the home stretch!

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

Pick up some parts from the powder coaters.

Silver Frame and most all the steel components


Frame ready to go


Black chrome intake tubes, radiator tubes, upper dash and lower dash


Black front and rear suspension and skid pans

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

That is going to look nice... You gonna have it ready for this season?

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Your about to taste liquid hell!!!!!!!!!!!!
"I don't know where that ounce of weed came from officer these aren't my pants."

I figure about two weeks and I will be driving

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

I want to go faster!
I took the 3.4 pully off and bought a 3.1. I am starting to rethink I may have made the right choice by going with a supercharger vs the turbo. $80 and I added 25 hp (220 at the wheel) to the engine. Cant wait for the next run.

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

Today was a bad buggy day. I went to look at the body panels at the powder coaters today. Evidentially it is difficult to powder coat aluminum panels with a transparent and all of the panels look absolutely terrible. I am not sure what happened from the time they did the seven test panels to powder coating the real panels. It looks like they got drunk and wanted to create fugly! I called the local painter and he said painting over powder coating tends to peal. Local sand blaster says the panels are too soft to blast the powder coat off. I am so pissed.

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

Damn , you got my luck. Sorry bud


Dirtdobber

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Using Tapatalk

Depends on how they are pretty treating your body panels. You have to pre heat alum extra long before powder coating cause its soft and holds a lot more moisture. It prob looked like it had a lot of dirt or air bubbles in it. It can be done vary easy just have to take a few more extra steps

Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

Thin and thick spots and all the edges are dark causing a framing effect. No consistency in the application.

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.

After doing some research it was determined that an anodized transparent powder coat is a rather difficult powder to apply. We decided not to have the panels painted and the powder coater ordered some different powder. The hood and two side pods are being sent out and stripped because there were too many coats to get them to come out right. The rest only had two coats and we could start over. Here is the finished product on the rest of the parts.

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I should have stayed AC...I miss the constant wrenching.