18 Apr 2022
Not a lot of progress on new mods to the car lately. This is due to the acquisition of two new to me Crossfires: 04 coupe (6M) and an 05 SRT6. Both cars arrived as total basket cases. Both are now nearing completion, and both will be sold to help fund more madness on the thread subject car and shop improvements. The 04 coupe I am falling in love with, so it needs to leave before it becomes my daily driver The SRT-6 was repainted, and is slowly coming all back together. It would not be a purist's car, but it will make someone very happy that it is sharp looking (but not perfect) and mechanically sound.

Back to the subject, the M113K car has completed two back to back trips to Atlanta, including some spirited highway driving and daily driving duties in and around Atlanta. This put a total of 1800 miles on the clock, and now have crossed over 7k miles total on the V8 swap. Mileage on the trip varied, but usually around 20mpg (+/-), but it got worse every time some other hot car needed to see some tail lights (LOL C7 Vette 'KLOCKME'). The only issue at the moment has to do with heat. The engine is fine, but the supercharger system is not happy. With a couple of 85° days in there, wide open throttle (WOT) blasts on the highway were confined to about 7-8 seconds each, followed by the supercharger disengaging until it would cool down. Interestingly, the car still makes a lot of power with the supercharger (SC) disconnected. IATs drop very quickly with the SC disengaged versus just driving down the road with the cruise on, otherwise.

IATs were persistently around 190°, and would shoot up to over 230°. This is due to a few factors. One, I had to disconnect an intake hose to the left airbox, as it kept collapsing under boost. This meant that the now open airbox inlet was sucking in hot air from the engine bay. Second, the SRT6 heat exchanger is pretty well marginal even for the M112K, and now it's being asked for a lot more. Third, we're now on a 77mm pulley, which makes more heat. Lastly after the first trip to ATL, it was discovered that the hose for the return from the intercooler was pinched at the frame rail where it makes a turn to head towards the pump. This severely restricted water flow. It was repaired before the second trip, but it really only made a marginal difference in the overall problem.

So now it is time to move on to the Killer Chiller install. The latest version of the kit (Gen 5 Race) is sitting on the shelf, now, mocking me as I play with other cars. I still need to work out a water tank solution. I was really hoping to put a tank in the trunk, but on the Crossfire that is not the most practical thing. It may be more like the battery gets relocated to the trunk, and a water tank is placed where the battery was. If my math is right, I can get a 2.7 gallon tank in that spot. The goal was more like 4-5 gallons, so the final solution may be that there are multiple tanks. The KC came with a 1 gallon cylindrical tank that may end up getting used in series with another tank. Still pondering this aspect. Also trying to decide where I want to mount the KC, and if I want to move the intercooler pump, since the heat exchanger (HE) will also be removed in that process. Lots of things to consider!

On the way are some goodies from Needswings, including a custom built DCAI (yay!) and a pair of Rob's modified plenums with a single crossover tube. Upon making measurements, it was decided that there wasn't quite enough hood clearance for the more standard dual crossover tube arrangement.

Wire, connectors and support goodies have been acquired for the Real Dash setup. I am hoping to install that in phases, beginning in early June. The first phase will see in installed of the red interface board (seen in pics in earlier posts). Along with it will go the W213 steering wheel. The goal of this first phase will be interfacing the following:
- Horn (yes this will change a bit)
- Android radio (volume control, etc)
- Shift paddles
This last one will require the most fiddling with the software, I imagine. It will not hook up directly to the shifter, but rather it will put paddle shift requests onto the CAN bus, and the TCU will pick them up that way.

Before any of this can happen, two other projects (are you seeing a trend here, yet?) have to be completed. Besides to two aforementioned Crossfires, I have a 1962 Triumph TR3B that needs the engine finished and installed (short block is mostly assembled) and a right total knee replacement. That little gem is supposed to happen next week, but like many Americans, I am fighting with the insurance company. Left knee will happen later this year. After almost 40 years of living with severe knee pain, I am quite glad to get this finally taken care of. My first aftermarket parts! When finished, I hope to be able to play with cars more efficiently.