Also rebuilt my coil assembly. I didn't paint the heat-sink for the coil module out of fear it would inhibit heat rejection, but the rest looks nice.

And for those of you that think I'm out of control - the 2nd pic shows what my original coil looked like. I'm surprised the car even RAN!

 

The old power steering pump got a rattle-can-rebuild and went in alongside a Dorman A/C delete pulley. FYI - for our cars you need to install a 1/8" shim behind the pulley to get the belt aligned AND you need to drill out the 3 bolt-holes. From Dorman they're tapped and are too small to pass the factory bolts through.

Also finally installed my shifter. I can row through 1-6 no problem.

Other than that, I ran all my aux-gauge wires in the engine bay, did some vacuum hose management, and tidied up the interior.

In the next couple weeks I'm going to tinker on wiring the remote battery, getting the interior together, and once the headers arrive I'm sending her out for a y-pipe and alignment.

I'm really shocked at how fast this is all going. I wonder if I'll get a first-start this fall???

 

I thought you needed to move the shifter forward, were talking about making a bracket - how'd you address that?


as for how fast it's going, aren't you glad you bought the clutch and were able to get that part of the mechanical done?

 

I can't make the shifter adapter until the console is in and I know how much I need to move it. In the meantime I wanted to cover the hole.

And yes - thank you for the motivation o'great enabler.

This weekend I got a lot of interior related stuff done - will post pics when I get a chance.

 

Overdue for an update - happy Friday-Eve TGO.

Last weekend I finallllly got around to finishing the Flaming River battery relocation wiring install. The kit came with everything from battery terminals, ground lugs, cushion clamps, and even zip ties. Pretty impressed.

Here's as much of the finished product as you can see in the car. The rest runs 'down' the rear-passenger seat well, under the front passenger, and through the lower-most AC box bolt-hole (which was vacant as I switched to an AC delete box).

The flaming river wires have big thick insulation, but I wrapped them in convoluted tubing and wrapped that with electrical tape. No fires here.

 

I also painted most of my interior panels. I finally got rid of the tan-painted-black panels from days of long ago, but some of the black pieces from Hawks looked pretty tired - here's how to make them look like new (better!!)...

1. Using a 2" bristle brush, apply grease remover and brush any cracks, crevices and nooks to get the dust / dirt out of them.
2. Wipe entire panel with grease remover again, using a clean, lint free cloth.
3. Wipe entire panel AGAIN with 2nd cloth for the "final wipe". I used a white one so I could see when I was no longer picking up dust, dirt, grease, etc. (Remember, you're removing years of Armor All and other greasy spray-on shine products.)
4. As grease remover dries, brush entire panel with 3-4" bristle brush to remove loose dirt, dust, etc.
5. Spray panel with an adhesion promoter (Bulldog).
6. 5-10 minutes later, spray with top-coat.
7. Grab a beer and come back in 30 minutes to admire your handy-work (optional).

Have a 3M or equivalent spray-on-glue handy too since some of the factory fabric backing is likely to be coming loose on the panels.

 

WOW! Just.......WOW!

I'll be down this weekend for an update.

 

Another solid day of progress Friday. And some lessons for the community...

I had to replace my console lid - the factory one was hammered. Hawks sells one for ~$160, Year One has one for $120, and Ricks Camaros had one for $80. I ordered the Ricks console lid and crossed my fingers. The pics show what I got.

The good: it's a quality piece, very solid, the quality of the leather (or whatever) is nice, and the stitching looks good. I'd call it a "Cadillac'ed-up" version of the stock lid.

The bad: no latch or mounting point for the over-travel stop. Probably not a big deal. The improved quality makes it worth it IMO.

 

The rear interior also went back in. TIP: the SEM plastic paint worked AWESOME on the fabric of my 'trap door' (at least that's what I call it). Just gently spray on the paint and brush it into the fabric with a bristle brush. If you lay the paint down too thick the fabric will get matted, so be patient and go slow, but it came out awesome.

Also, the BMR battery relocation kit interfered with the spare-tire trunk panel. I had to notch the rear-most, lower corner of it with a dremel. No big-e.

 

And lastly - my harmonic balancer hub came from JEGS. I got sick of waiting on Summit for the back-ordered replacement they owed me. Here's the rub...

When it showed up - it was "incorrect" just like the Summit hub was! There's no way I got 2 different "bad" hubs from 2 different mgfs - so I started measuring things. Sure enough, the hub bolt holes weren't drilled evenly spaced.

What about the balancer though? Yep, as you may have guessed, the balancer itself isn't drilled evenly. Despite the fact that these motors don't use the keyway and there isn't a "right" position to put the balancer, for some reason the bolt hole pattern isn't symmetrical.

Anyway, after I ate my crow, with a side of humble pie, I put the balancer on. Now my motor looks complete.

Pulled the hatch-motor out too. That'll get a Hawks rebuild kit. Yuck right?

 

Evening TGO,

Not a particularly productive week, but I did rebuild my hatch motor assembly, so I have lessons to share there. Notes...

I contacted EmblemPros.com to design a console emblem similar to the one that the LT1 Corvettes had. The last guy that had the car thought it would be swell to cut a Bow-Tie out of the console and back it with orange plastic, so yeah...that's getting covered up. Once I have pictures I'll make sure to share.

Here's what I learned while rebuilding my hatch pull-down system...
- The Hawks replacement guides MUST be test fit. You're just looking to see if there's any drag - and mine had a lot. I spent a fair amount of time buzzing them with a dremel drum.
- The Hawks replacement motor/gearbox is brittle just like the factory one. I had to drill-out the 2 bolt holes for the metal gearbox plate as well as the 3 mounting holes (see picture).
- I used ARP bolt grease (mo-lith based) instead of axle grease or the factory goop. The factory grease dries out over the years and turns waxy, which I think contributes to drag and motor failure.
- You can test the finished assembly by hooking up 12V+ to the blue wire and 12V- (ground) to the ground-wire that would bolt to the body. With the latch 'open' - the motor should drive fully 'up' and turn itself off. If you depress the switch on the latch, the motor should drive all the way down and shut itself off.
- Verify that your limit switch is actually shutting the motor off. If you have a bad switch it will keep the motor powered (pulling 'down') and can kill your battery.

Pretty pictures...

 

Good work, I remember rebuilding mine!

A working pull down motor is worth its weight in gold. I had serious rattles in my car before i fixed mine because the hatch wasn't making a tight seal!

 

Hey 1185 - haven't heard from you in a while! I'm sure those cars are quieter with the pull-down working. The 1985 parts car I had didn't have the motorized hatch - maybe it was a later year addition...

Saw your boys with the turbo T/As at Mark's cruise night Monday. Looking at those builds kind of makes me regret going the LT1 route, but I've always been an odd duck - no reason why my car shouldn't be either

Throw me a PM one of these weekends that you're free. We could meet at the pike or something.

 

Well...it's been almost 2 months. Yeah, I've been MIA. But I've got some good stories to share in lieu of Camaro updates (there are none...lol)

Last month the Mustang went to the dyno. I had just changed the distributor and intended to do some tuning on the rollers. But when I got there the car pulled 360 RWHP with an AFR of ~12.3 and the power was still climbing at my rev-limiter (6,000). Super stoked. I spent a couple days working on the carb tune, increased the rev-limiter to 6,500 and plan to revisit the dyno this fall. The guy at the shop thinks the motor has 380 RWHP in it. That makes me happy...

The GTO has gotten some decent mods. KYB shocks, poly strut mounts, poly radius rod bushings, poly diff bushing, new carrier bearing, and...oh yeah...I tracked it! Lookup "Palmer Motorsports Park" - it's nearby in Mass and is an absolutely awesome track. Tons of elevation changes. Front straight speeds were ~120mph into turn 1. The white BMW is my brother's race-prepped M3 and the Monte is an old "Dare Stock" that my buddy converted for road racing - it sports a 450hp SK Modified motor. So cool.

As a result of the track day, the plan for the Camaro has changed slightly. The car will get an 8 point cage, racing seats, and a 5 pt harness. Mandatory as far as I'm concerned. I also might put in the oil / steering coolers I had intended to leave till later.

I did get the PCM tuned (PCM 4 Less) and kept tinkering on the interior. But the next 'hard part' is all the welding I'll have to learn to do. But next spring is coming fast, and I want it ready.

That's all for now!

 

Respectable, sir! Still a Mustang, but respectable. :P Heheh.

I know the feels... took my wife to a Grudge match no-prep drag night and it was nuts. Gave me all sorts of weird feelings... and she didn't help at all by telling me to hurry up with the turbo's so I can go compete in the "street" class... smh. I want to do it, but... money! Plus, I'm with you completely... I have to learn to weld. And, with the power numbers I want, I will absolutely need a cage. And racing buckets. And 5-point harness. Damn this hobby!

 

Damn this hobby indeed... o'aftermarket, how may you fail me?

Jegs - don't tell me when a part is drop-shipping and will show up a week late.

Summit - make sure to mis-label parts so I don't get what I need even though I paid for overnight shipping.

Ecklers - advertise that your Champion 3-row radiator is a direct-fit even though it's a PRESS-fit between the frame rails, the isolation mounts don't line up, and the passenger-side hose barb is literally against the frame.

So yeah...sort of a frustrating week. I thought this weekend I'd be slamming my fluid systems together so I could run lines, etc - but yeah, no. Summit and Jegs made good on their 'whopsies' but Ecklers is fighting me on paying return shipping and refunding the ENTIRE bill (including shipping). I'll bet a credit-card-dispute that I get the full bill refunded.

Anyway - here's the junk Champion radiator. Sexy, shiny, useless.

 

On the plus-side - I did get a pretty big pile of parts that WILL work!

Advance Auto in town had a power steering cooler - it looked like it belonged on an R/C car and was SUPER thin/light - so instead...I bought a transmission cooler to use on the PS system. It has the same hose barb size - so I call that a win.

Also bought a motor-oil cooler, sandwich adapter, and -8 AN fittings/lines to run everything.

All these parts and I can't do anything with them yet! ARGH!

 

About the only thing I could work on was the power steering system. Here's what I did...

Both return and feed lines are from a 1995 Impala SS with oil cooler. It took some gentle massaging of the steel lines to get everything to line up, but I'm happy with it. Note the double-cushion-clamp trick I used - picked that one up at work.

Initially I was going to mount the remote reservoir on the fender where the battery used to be, but that turned into a debacle (my hand-made brackets NEVER look good...) so instead - CUSHION CLAMPS AGAIN! It was at this point I realized my Edelbrock strut-tower brace won't work without modification...lousy alternator.

On yeah - got the Hedman headers slipped in too. Passenger side - easy. Driver side: remove valve cover, brake lines, and steering rod/link that goes between the firewall and steering box.

 

In the next few days I should be getting...
- New hard fuel lines from Inline Tube
- Remaining fittings for motor oil cooler
- LT1 radiator

Why did I go with the stock LT1 radiator?
- It will fit with minor adjustments
- It has provision for all the weird little coolant lines on the LT1
- It has provision for the dual-fan shroud

Next weekend is a 4-day, so hopefully by then I'll have something to show!

 

A tale of two vendors...

I've ordered lots of parts for this build. I've had small issues with Jegs / Summit - but they typically make things right within 24 hours. Two particular vendors have stood out to me lately: Hawks and Ecklers (Rick's Camaros).

Hawks accidentally sent the wrong hatch-motor-panel back in October 2015. I didn't realize it until recently as I've been putting the interior back in the car. Last month I got a hatch panel that wasn't quite right either. When I called Hawks they were very reasonable and helpful - Bruce even called me to make sure I was happy - and as of right now they're sending the right hatch-motor-panel to me at no charge, even though they could have said "hey, it's been a year, go pound sand". Very impressed with Hawks, who I will continue to support and recommend.

Ecklers however, I will no longer be doing business with, nor would I recommend others to. I purchased a 3-row Champion radiator, which was advertised as specifically for our third gen cars. In reality - it didn't fit at all. I dealt with 4 people from Ecklers, each of whom assured me "we've never had this problem before" and that "aftermarket parts require modification sometimes" - even though the website made no mention of the required hackery to make the thing fit. Finally, after threatening to file a dispute with my CC, they agreed to pay the return shipping and take the radiator back.

So there you have it folks. I'm sure some will refute my Ecklers story while others will respond to bash Hawks, but those are my 2 experiences, and the lessons I learned.

 

It seems the champion radiator is hit or miss. I've know people who had great fitment with them but they leaked and such.

 

Saturday wasn't bad. The 4th gen radiator went in without much fuss. The little nipple on the driver's side of the radiator must be cut off, it's hollow, go ahead and Dremel that thing. The outlet of the drain also needs to be trimmed or it hits the bottom rail.

This way I can use the appropriate 4th gen hoses, which is nice. Y'think my upper mount will hold?

 

Saturday I also got the power steering and motor coolers installed. A few 1" strips of stainless did the trick. There's some compliance fore-and-aft, so I may add a stiffener, but it holds nice, no sag.

To avoid damaging the paint and build a little 'give' in to the mounts, I used rubber-backed washers. The radiator support holes i used are actually for the cooling ducts that are fed by the fog lights. When I went to finalize the hoses I realized I was missing fittings.

So I ordered more cushion clamps, fittings, and some heat-shielding from Summit. Overnight, was here by Tuesday morning.

 

Today was supposed to be glorious. Finish my hoses, start my sfc install. I started by jacking the car up in the air so I could put the wheels on and put weight on the tires for the sfc install. Then, I watched in horror as she rolled off 12" of wood blocks. There was nothing I could do.

To quote Big Bang Theory [Sheldon]: "Ah gravity, thou art a heartless b*tch."

All told, only the pass side fender took a lump, and it only cracked the paint in 1 spot, no dent or lip. I guess I should consider myself lucky...

Once she made touchdown, I realized another problem: the nose sat like a rally car. Something in the neighborhood of 2" higher than the rear. After poking around I found that the spring spacers I installed weren't seated correctly, nor were the springs. So I had to disconnect the shocks, drop the a-arms, and correct that issue.

Now the nose is ~1/2" higher than the rear, which I'll attribute to the nose, hood, fluids, etc being missing.

By 2 PM I was able to start prepping the sfcs - passenger side is almost a perfect fit, but I'm going to add a little matr'l to ensure 4 sides of weld-contact. Pics to come soon.

Hose parts came too, maybe after work this week I'll finish them.

I just want to DRIVE this thing.

 

Yesterday did not suck!

Spent the first few hours making the motor-oil cooler lines. Working in AN isn't as easy as hose barbs, but boy it looks good. Summit sells an inexpensive heat wrap, so both lines are insulated from the oil filter to the PS box. I figured it was a good idea since they pass right behind the header.

To keep them from chaffing I installed a 1.5" cushion clamp on the forward-most oil pan bolt. Not bad...

 

As the marathon continued I had to bite the bullet and try making the Alstom SFCs fit the car. Both connectors fit great in the back, but they didn't match the transmission crossmember frame at ALL. Initially I planned to add metal to the SFCs, but it was easier to just cut and bend them to fit the contour of the car.

After that, my buddy Austin came over to weld them in. He's a pro welder and even working upside-down with my prep work he made them look gorgeous. Now I need to clean and touchup the paint on the bottom of the car.

Today was a big deal. Now I'm ready for the exhaust/alignment shops, and I can finally put fuel lines in the car!

 

Looks like your moving right along. Will it be ready for next year?

 

At this point I think I'll be making hot coolant in the Spring/early Summer. The hard stuff is done, now it's just a lot of bolting-up and finishing. The only daunting part left is the wiring. I was hoping to have Pocket do a new & integrated harness, but haven't heard back. I have a couple backup plans, and I'll call plan "X" doing it myself.

Today I ordered UMI sub-frame connectors, and some misc coolant hoses and the coolant level sensor from Rock Auto. I figure: while I have the welder here, and the car is up in the air, I might as well do as much as possible.

Tuesday is the last track day with the GTO, so I may not get a ton done this weekend. I'll be happy to wrap up insulating my cooling lines and install a few odds and ends in the engine bay. Pics will follow.

 

I'm confused. I thought you just welded in Alston subframe connectors, but now you're ordering UMI subframe connectors?

 

Correct. The 2 designs don't conflict with each other (mounting points) and after seeing how thin the sheet-metal of the "frame" is where the x-member mounts, I figured another $200 was a good investment. I'd rather not have the Alstoms doing all the work and developing a crack somewhere in a weld.

Besides that, the UMIs look incredibly easy to install compared to the Alstoms. I figure I can hack it.

 

Today was the annual fall swap meet at the speedway - and it did not disappoint.

- People in sweat pants and "Amurrica" shirts: check.
- "Don't tread on me" and "Rebel" flags for sale: check.
- Overpriced junk: check.
- Occasional cool item: check.

I got some tin art to hang in the garage ("Geniune [Brand] Parts Used Here") and the biggest score of all - I managed to get a full-up 426 HEMI for $15!!! Doubt me? Check the picture!

The most impressive stuff was in the car-corral though. A super-duper-heavy-duty-Prius-eating snow thrower truck was a sight to behold. As was the 80s Chevy pickup with a 8.1L/4L80E swap. Asking price on the pickup was ~$23,000 I think - and it was ALMOST worth that kind of money. SUPER clean.

 

Been a couple really busy days...

Monday was devoted to running lines in the engine bay. Power steering lines are done and insulated, as is my positive power lead. I really dig the Painless power distribution block. Having the battery box empty is NICE.

 

Tuesday was another track day at Whiskey Hill Raceway in Palmer Mass. Shaved 6 seconds off my previous best lap and had a hoot of a time. For comparison sake - I ran 2:12s in the GTO. My brother runs sub-1:50s in his race prepped M3. Gotta get the Camaro done...

And yeah...the GTO leans like a drunken sailor. But she's fun!!

 

And today a few goodies came. New alternator, 1LE inlet elbow, and the UMI sub-frame connectors. I've got work to do this weekend

After the track day I was reminded of how inadequate even the huge "Torino" drum brakes on my Moser would be. A few months back I asked Moser engineering if I had any other options and was told: "Nope, you're stuck with them" (his words).

On a hunch I called Moser again today. Turns out I can run anything with a 2.5" axle spacing and what they call the "Big Ford New Style" flange.

That means the rear brakes are getting torn off again...to be replaced with the precious...

4 piston, 12" rotor Wilwoods.

Boom.

 

WOW !. I spent the past hour reading each and every page and I am duly impressed.
You live in the southern part of the state, and I live in the northern part. Gotta love CT weather. Anxious to see the finished product.

Louis

 

I can walk to Stafford Motor Speedway - so I'm in the Northern part of the state too.

Thanks for the kind words. This thread serves as motivation to keep going, but I'm glad to hear that others enjoy the story. And I can't wait until it's done either!!

 

Subbed.

The story behind this is really cool! You've made a lot of progress, and your build thread is really well written. Reading through everything has helped motivate me to get back to work on my car. Definitely interested to see where this is going.

 

I completely agree about Ecklers (Ricks Camaros). They sent me the wrong brake line, and they refused to make it right. Then I opened a paypal dispute. That got quick attention from some lady that worked there. After back and forth through email, I finally closed the case and moved on. I had the impression that some guy in the parts department there just won't back down and admit a mistake. I even sent pictures from articles on 1984 Z28 / Trans Am brake work to prove they sent THE WRONG *****NG PART!!

 

Evening TGO,

Ready for more welding! The UMI SFCs are prepped and mocked up, just need my buddy to come over and buzz them in. A few notes...

The UMIs are much heavier than the Alstom SFCs. I'd guess 20lbs total vs 40.

The UMIs fitment was AMAZING! They swung up into place like they were built by GM. Now, obviously they follow a much simpler path than the Alstoms, but they required zero hackery. So close was the fit on the front frame that once positioned, they 'stuck' up there without a jack.

For those contemplating doing subframe connectors - here's my advice: do exactly what I did. Putting on my structural engineer hat, the UMI SFCs probably don't provide great torsional rigidity, where as the Alstoms do. However, given how thin the sheetmetal is that the Alstoms mount to, having the UMIs in place (especially for a T-top car) has got to double the overall effectiveness of the setup. Plus - we're talking $450 for both sets of SFCs. If you're serious about handling, that's low-dough for improving braking and turning.

Oh - and for those of you tempted to not weld the back-end of the UMIs, don't do it. Hit it with a buzz-wheel and just weld it. That way the bolt won't auger out over time and you'll tie the front and rear of the car together.

I hope my Wilwood's show up for this weekend...giggity.

 

UMI sfcs welded, painted, and good to go. This car is going to be so solid...

 

BRAKES!

The Wilwoods are nice pieces. Their kit includes everything from the backing plate to the caliper bolts and shims. Pretty impressive.

The only perplexing thing is that the calipers have 4 bleeder screws and no brake-line-inlet that I can find. I guess I have to remove 1 bleeder?

Will have installed pics later today.

 

This morning I got some DIY stuff on order...

AIRAID makes a custom-cold-air kit. You can either order it with all the brackets, filter, and clap-trap, or just the plastic tubing. I ordered P/N 100-350 on ebay. It's pretty clever.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AIRAID-Unive...xV9t~u&vxp=mtr

Also ordered exhaust pieces to build my y-pipe and couplers for the cold air system. Should have some fun fabricating over the winter...

- CAI
- Y-pipe
- Strut Tower Brace

Probably need to do a PCV breather catch-can too...

 

I used an AIRAID kit too. My air filter is in the location of the passenger side battery tray. I still have half the tubing left over and have been holding on to it just in case I ever see somebody come up with a good idea how to achieve a cold air intake..... *hint hint*

 

Since I'm using the stock LT1 elbow at the throttle body, I've got to go to the driver's side. My *plan* is to run the tube into the d.side fender where the horns would normally go. If I can achieve that, I'm 1 piece of sheet metal away from a true CAI.

But you know what they say about plans...

 

BOOM! Installed and looking amazing.

Oh, and I figured out where the "in" fitting goes. It goes in the port covered by the "INLET - remove this sticker" sticker.

 

Didn't get to work on the car this weekend (grumble chores grumble) but I did get my Elite Engineering catch can, so I thought I'd share and explain why this thing is a good buy.

First - it's well built. Black anodized, feels very solid, and comes with all the required fasteners and hardware. Note - this is the LS1 98-02 Camaro can (they don't offer one for the lowly third gen) but I think I can make it work with the hockey stick bracket.

Second - unlike your typical can which is hollow, the Elite can has scrunched up metal coils (more like shavings) that the oil condenses on. Once collected it drips down into the catch can. The return line is from 'above' the can, which I think makes it less likely to 'sweep' condensing oil back into the motor.

Overall, I'm pleased with the purchase. Still waiting on my cold-air ducting, but my couplers came at least.

 

More progress - not as much as I'd like, but hell, that's typical...

I started messing around with my "DIY y-pipe kit" - that was a debacle. I need to just set aside a few weekends to fab that up and not rush through it. The hardest part is going to be getting the driver-side crossover done...but we'll get there.

Fuel lines are mocked up - I got mine from Inline Tube. I won't say they fit perfect, but they're close enough that you can make it work with minor tweaking. Not really worth showing pictures, so I'll spare you guys the boring pic.

Less boring was the Elite catch-can install. Very straight forward and (luckily) I found an easy spot to mount it. This doesn't help those of you without strut-tower braces, but I think more of us have them than don't...

It could have mounted on the motor, but I doubt all the vibration would help the effectiveness of the catch can. Plus, I think the cooler the can the more effective it will be at getting the oil to condense out of vapor form.

 

Yesterday was productive, but today was way more satisfying...Qwktrip: this one is for you. LMK what you think.

As shown in the pictures, I was able to run 3.5" ducting through the d-side fender-well, 'down' below the engine bay. Obviously I ran short on couplers (blue tape...) and need to fabricate a bracket to hold it up-and-in where it goes into the fender, but it's almost done.

Pros:
- True cold air intake
- Room for a pretty big 6" dia K&N filter
- MAF downstream from a reasonably long straight-run of pipe
- Total cost ~$210 (tubing, couplers, clamps, and K&N filter)
- Leaves 'more' room in engine bay than placing filter where evap canister usually is

Cons:
- Barely fits between fender and engine bay
- Close (but safe) from the turn signal housing (not shown)
- Will need to relocate horns
- Will need to relocate evap canister

WARNING: having the cleaner this low means it's subject to water ingestion. This can be addressed with some inexpensive plastic/lexan sheeting, or - for most of us - it won't matter because who the crap drives a Camaro in the rain???

 

One last thing for today...

The Wilwood brakes have 1/8 female NPT ports for the inlet. Our cars have M10 X 1.0 bubble flare brake lines. That obviously does not work.

After talking to Wilwood, then another company, I finally was directed to "CNC Brakes" in CA. They're a competitor to Wilwood (thus the run-around) but they make P/N 896, which is a 1/8" male NPT to M10 X 1.0 female bubble fitting.

http://cncbrakes.com

Boom.

 

Nice to see some ideas. Thanks for the good pictures.

The first thing that caught my eye is the large volume of intake tract. I am wondering if it will cause slow throttle response. You could shorten the tract length considerably by going thru the battery tray.

Another idea is to remove the battery tray and replace it with a flat element filter with an air box on the top side.