Fuel Line, Start, and ...... Go Kart!

July 28, 2014 -

  I think I had mentioned last time that upon starting up the fuel pump the fuel line was leaking.  After taking apart the end from the fitting I could see that there wasn't a good flaring on the hard fuel line.  I tried to flare it with my hand tool but I think the larger lines are harder to flare by hand (as opposed to the smaller brake lines which I flared a bunch of times successfully.)  So I went and bought a new one yesterday.  Here's what the line looks like flared from the factory:

  After work today I tried putting in the new fuel line and promptly kinked it using the wrong slot in my line bender tool.  I went and bought another fuel line, happy that was only a $9 mistake.  After putting this one in and starting the fuel pump there was no leak in the back but the front was leaking.  Not quite yet down in the dumps, I thought I would try tightening the fuel line nut into the fitting a little more.  (It was in such a hard to reach position with two wrenches that maybe I didn't tighten it enough?)  After about a 1/2 or more of a turn I ran the fuel pump again and there didn't appear to be leakage.  So then, I thought it was time to turn the key in the ignition all the way.

  And since that worked....

Rear Brake Fix and Seat Heater

July 26, 2014 -

  If I haven't mentioned this before the rear brake caliper was *really* close to the wheel, touching the driver's side wheel in fact.  Factory Five admitted that I had the wrong mounting bracket and sent me a new one.  Here you can see the new one next to the old one.  Notice how much shorter it is, which will let the caliper sit lower and give the wheel more clearance.

  After getting everything back together, now you can see daylight between the brake caliper and wheel.

  I also started working on putting a seat heater in the stock seats that come with the kit.  The bottom cushion was pretty easy.  The vinyl cover there is lightly glued on to the foam cushion and peels off fairly easily.  There is some padding backing the vinyl and that tended to rip as it separated from the foam.  Just go slow and keep your fingers close to the materials making contact and it'll come off ok.  I used the cobra heat seat heaters.  The tape they come with is pretty useless but I sprayed some Sprayway 92 adhesive and that stuck pretty well to the foam and seat heater.  I started working on putting the seat heater in the back and that is a much bigger job!  You have to remove about 40 hog rings to pull the vinyl covering off the back. Here's what that looks like.  (The seat heater is red.)

  I'm in the process now of putting the hog rings back on.  It's a job worth splitting over more than one day.  In the picture you can see the seat cushion flipped over forward and the seat heater wire coming through a hole I made in the foam so that it will come out below the seat.

Start Attempt #1

July 20, 2014 -

  I tried to start the car.  First there was no sound of the fuel pump going.  I went around back and pushed on the electrical connector to the pump and it started.  So that connection doesn't sound the best... I was later told it needed some crimping but it is a plastic part so I'm not sure how you crimp plastic?
  Then as I got the starter to start turning the engine over my friend told me to stop as there was a massive fuel leak in the fuel line where the hose from the filter comes into the hard line.  I also found some small leak up front but I think I fixed that by tightening a hose clamp.  The rear leak wasn't fixed after tightening the nut on the hard line to the fitting.  Factory Five is sending me a new hard fuel line fitting.  All I can think of is that it just isn't sitting right in there.  They are also sending me new rear brake brackets since the rear brakes are way too close to the wheels.

E Brake and Various Stuff

July 15, 2014 -

  I've done a few various things.  I put on the emergency brake handle that I assembled in my living room over the winter.

  It didn't fit the greatest so I used the dremel to chop off the end of the forward most bolt on the handle which was rubbing the aluminum panel when the handle went down.  That helped but then the Factory Five guy told me to bend the bracket on the frame.  Well that was pretty difficult with the panel on.  I couldn't get a very good grip on it.  That would've been nice to know earlier.

  I also added the ground strap to the engine.

  I felt fortunate to find a bolt leftover that fit nicely into an engine block hole for the ground strap.  This is the first thing in the manual I can remember in quite some time that has been straightforward and complication free.

  I added some of that heat shield sheath to the alternator wire plug that ran right next to the header.  (You can see more of it going under the header protecting the clutch cable.)

  I have also been working on gathering up wires back into bundles as they run back into the engine compartment from behind the dash.  You may not believe it but this is cleaned up from what it was before.

  Challenges I've run into along the way are finding that the driver's side rear brake caliper was rubbing the inside of the wheel.  I had to remove the brake and take out some washers on the caliper mount bracket.  I don't think its rubbing now but its so close on both sides in the rear wheels its got me wondering if I was sent the wrong part somehow? Or is this how it should be? Will be finding out soon. I also tried putting on the emergency brake cables but they don't seem quite long enough. A problem to be solved tomorrow I guess.

Kill Switch

July 13, 2014 -

  Today I put in the battery kill switch.  This took a long time as I wired in a type II self resetting 20 amp breaker in parallel with the switch.  This took several trips to stores (ran out of electrical tape too.)  I enclosed the power cable in a protective plastic sheath that comes with the kit and zip tied it up in the transmission tunnel away from the drive shaft.  I also cut the cable to length but ran shy of totally finishing this as I need to buy a larger ring connector to solder on.  I also had to cut and file a hole for the kill switch (which took an extra dremel recharging.)  But here is the switch in the center rear cockpit area.

  I've read that this can count as a theft deterrent device and help discount your insurance.  It is partly for that and partly to prevent electrical fire in case of component failure.  The breaker is there to allow a little power for the computer's memory and other auxiliary things like a clock to stay on with the switch open.
  I also put a little of the thermal protection on the wires and plug that go into the alternator as they were very close to the header.

Battery

July 12, 2014 -

  I put the battery in the battery box today after some padding I put in the bottom, front and back of the inside of the box had its adhesive (silicone) dry.  This is an Optima AGM type battery which has no fluid inside of it.

  I also attached the ground strap to the frame after removing some of the powder coating so that a good ground connection can be made with the metal of the frame.  The challenge here was getting a drill under the car and up high enough to make this hole.  I couldn't get the drill squarely on the frame so the drill bit wanted to 'walk' away if you will.  I ended up starting a small hole with a special dremel bit first.  Once there was a small hole, the regular drill bit could stay on the same spot even if it was at an angle.

  Lastly, I affixed the clutch cable to the F panel and put some thermal wrap on it to protect it from the heat coming off the header.  While the manual mentioned either the engine or the 3/4" tubing as an attachment point, there is no good spot on the Coyote engine and this bracket was not in a position or shape to reach the 3/4" tubing.  I have read about others doing this on the forum and I don't think the clutch cable pulls so hard that this will be an issue.

Coolant Overflow Tank

July 6, 2014 -

  I put in the coolant overflow tank today.  I've done some other small wiring things but they aren't good photo candidates so I don't bother posting much about them here.  The overflow tank is the tall shiny tank here:

Air Intake & Vacuum Tube

July 3, 2014 -

  Today I got the K&N 4 inch air filter for the air intake.  I put that on and I think it looks pretty good.

 
  I also finally figured out (with some help from the community) how to get the vacuum port on the fuel pressure regulator (5/32 inch) connected to the vacuum port on the engine (1/2 inch.)  There's a narrow hose they give you that'll go right on the regulator no problem.  There is a plastic adapter with a hose barb on one end that goes in the small tube and the other side of the adapter is NPT threaded.  The trick is to put some silicone on the threads and clamp that threaded end onto a 1/2" hose that you can then clamp to the engine vacuum port.