HM-2030 Build Log - The Storm Ahead

[Greg K]

Hey Sam,
No issues, turns with ease in both directions.
Thanks!

[Bruce N]

looks nice and clean Greg! I'm headed north Friday to pick mine up Saturday and will be working on it Sunday 

[Greg K]

Thanks, enjoy your trip.

[NTX-CLANK]

Very nice work, Greg. Thanks for the updates and video. My kit should arrive by Friday!  Better clean up the garage....

Jim

[Greg K]

Engine came home today and also had some channels added to the top and bottom of the radiator. Hurricane's vendor screwed up and the mistake wasn't discovered till someone opened the boxes    If you look closely, you can see the upper bracket in the top channel that we used as a guide for the width and height of the channel.

[FFR428]

Nice engine!! Very clean spark plug wire routing.

[NTX-CLANK]

Greg,
  I think you are setting a new standard for communication.  Did you contract with HMC to produce updated 2nd Gen assembly methods and pictorials?  The assembly guide sure needs an update, but your posts and pics/vids are keeping me rolling with good confidence.  I am ready to run my brake lines now and appreciate the trouble you experienced, but you should feel good that you are saving some of us a LOT of headache.

Your engine looks great and should have more than enough power to scare yourself.  I know you are ready to mount her and make clearance checks and driveshaft measurements.....

Have a great weekend,

Jim

[Greg K]

No contract, everyone has their own ideas as well on some things. Just sharing my experience, glad they are helping you along. I've kind have taken a little break the past week or two with some time off away, waiting on parts and only working on it on weekends since I received it.
Sounds like you are rolling along at a good pace to where you are now. I should have a couple of things to share this weekend, and you just might pass me by soon at your pace.

[Greg K]

A few weeks ago I wanted to see how the roll bar fit on the frame, no luck when I tried getting the back brace on the stub in the trunk area, couldn't even get it started. In trying, it seemed that the upper body brace was in the way or possibly the stub for it had gotten hit in transport to and from powder coat. I could see some corrosion in the tube and then measured with calipers and appeared that there was some interference in the dimensions. Got ahold of a 1.5" diameter flapper wheel and honed the end of it initially attached to the drill and was able to fit it to the stub, it was just over chromed. You can see some the copper inside at the end of the brace still after honing. I also used an extension after that to attack some of the rust up inside of the tube. Not sure if this result of the plating process or not, was pretty nasty inside.
Side pipes showed up on Thursday, they were well packed.
One other item I also addressed was the motor mounts. Tube mount on frame internal diameter is 1/2", motor mounts are made for 7/16" diameter bolts. Didn't care to modify the slots on the Prothane motor mount, was able to obtain some 1/2"x 7/16" steel sleeves that will prevent any movement between the bolt and tube mount.

[Greg K]

Was time to install the e-brake cable and handle. Drilled and tapped the upper x-brace for the cable bracket, other than that it didn't present any real issues. Not planning to do the modification some have done.

[NTX-CLANK]

"- Planned power is 347 SBF w/ carb from Prestige Motorsports mated to a modified T-5, hydraulic slave for clutch."

Hi, Greg. 
  I hate to interrupt your thread flow, but you should be getting close to mounting your engine/trans and we had discussed that you have worked out a plan for mounting the external slave for your T5. I was hoping you could share that plan with me.  I am thinking along those lines since I am not fond of dropping the trans if there is an internal slave failure.  Did you buy a conversion kit or adapt a more standard slave with a special bracket?

Thanks,
Jim

[Greg K]

Not a problem at all, I was going to wait to show what I'm doing on the clutch slave actuator till I had my bell housing and trans which I'm still waiting for. But I am using a slave from race tuning which includes the bracket, cylinder, and push rod as shown. See it here at Race Tuning

[NTX-CLANK]

Thanks, Greg.  That looks like an awesome set-up.

Jim

[Bruce N]

I have pretty much the same set up on a TKX 5 speed. I got the whole set up from MDL (Modern Drive Line). They do the T-5 as well. Great customer service and very helpful putting everything together. Greg's looks a bit more stout though

[Greg K]

As I continue to wait on other parts for my motor and for my trans package...I brought out the cockpit tub and began fitting it up. Squared it up at the rear and drilled the most rear outer holes and bolted it down at the rear. Squared up the front that looked good to me and fitted screw and nut at outer front corners of the foot boxes.
After that I proceeded to layout the frame rail center lines and drilled the other bracket holes. Slot cutout for e-brake handle will need to be made a little longer to the front. Added a few other lines for glass that'll I'll trim to to my liking. Noticed the front bottom edge of the foot boxes have some high spots that cause the tunnel area to not sit flat to the frame so I'll address that too. Still not sure how I will finish the top and front side of the foot boxes as well as the front section of the tunnel. I have a few ideas but not finalized yet.