Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

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sweet victory
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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Post by sweet victory » Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:55 am

The 8380 site is pure pornography. Thanks for sharing!


I'm surprised...no concentric twisted loom wrapped in raychem?! :P

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TheDeckMan
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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Post by TheDeckMan » Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:58 pm

sweet victory wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:55 am The 8380 site is pure pornography. Thanks for sharing!


I'm surprised...no concentric twisted loom wrapped in raychem?! :P
The artwork leads to a hole in the wallet with all the frames you are going to need to buy! No wrapping the fuse box wiring, due to how tight it is jammed in there and still chasing things down to ensure it runs properly I am just trying to neaten it up enough to fire her up.
996TT - Widowmaker Project -RWD, UMW Tune, H&R RSS, Phenix Engineering Control Arms/LCA's, GT3 6 Pistons, SpeedTech 3" X-Pipe, Ported Headers, 997 GT3 Shifter, GT3 Buckets, GT2 Clutch/PP, GT2RS IC's, RSS Roll Bar, GT3 Brake Ducts, Joe Toth Aero/Ducts, Champion Thrust Arms
997TT - LSD, Chrono , UMW Tune, DSC, Phenix Engineering Toe Links & LCA Bushings, Tubi Race, 3" eRams, 964RS Engine Mounts
Audi TT Track Car
Corrado SLC
https://phenixengineering.com/

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TheDeckMan
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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Post by TheDeckMan » Mon Apr 01, 2019 11:57 am

Some more progress on the Corrado, was able to button up the oil cooler the other night. After locating the vent trim for the dash it looked all brown and aged. So with some glass media sand blasting then some SEM trim paint it was as good as new.

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Then the old owner of the 997tt dropped by with his newest addition, a 2007 997 GT3. So with the snow melting and most of the roads clear it was fun to take it out for a shake down. It will be back soon as we make it a little louder and dial in some of the niggling little things on it.

Nothing like getting a GT3 dirty with some back road fun!
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Overall the 997 GT3 is a fantastic drivers car, firm suspension and good brakes. While coming from the 996tt and 997tt, being down a couple hundred horsepower is noticeable at first when powering out of corners. However on fun sweepers and lower speed corners it makes for scalpel precision. The steering and suspension is very close if not identical to my 996 GT2 Clone build. It will be interesting to compare as the GT3 gets some suspension updates and dialing in to compare again vs the 996 GT2 Clone vs the 997TT.


With counting down to New England Dustoff now progress has to kick into high gear. With only Sunday available to get things done I had a welcomed hand from my buddy Nick with his fantastic wiring skills stop up to help for the day. With him working on pairing down a few other items that were no longer needed and cleaning up the fuse box in quick order, I continued to work to get some more items done in the engine bay.

ECU bracket needed some rubber washers for the mounting of the ECU, so a quick use of the punch set and some rubber sheet did the trick.
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I finished up getting the radiator in, fans 80% hooked up, ground and power cables all set and then was able to get the rad support in and bolted up.
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Not much room with the short runner, but it works! Now time to fabricate up the intake.
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With the interior wiring done, it was time to move it over to the two post lift for the work under the car to commence this week along with the brake lines.

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This past spring one of the Corrado's that was supposed to make it up to the event ended up having a no start issue. Being that it is the old ABT Beast from the East (https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread. ... -Fall-1997), Nick and I spent some time last week trying to figure out what the hell was causing the massive power draw and preventing it from running. After moving my Corrado over to the other lift, we got the Beast up onto the scissor lift to have better access to the fuse box.
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Nick quickly pulled out the old fuse box and it became almost apparent what was causing lots of the issues. At some point the fuse box got water in it and had some not so helpful corrosion. After the new fuse box was swapped in which Nick did in record time by the way, we discovered that we were still having some issues with the starting of the car. So far we traced it back to the ignition switch as only some times the pump will run depending on how you twist the key. Oh the joys of old VW's.
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Now for the fun part, making sure both cars get to NEDustoff :eek:
996TT - Widowmaker Project -RWD, UMW Tune, H&R RSS, Phenix Engineering Control Arms/LCA's, GT3 6 Pistons, SpeedTech 3" X-Pipe, Ported Headers, 997 GT3 Shifter, GT3 Buckets, GT2 Clutch/PP, GT2RS IC's, RSS Roll Bar, GT3 Brake Ducts, Joe Toth Aero/Ducts, Champion Thrust Arms
997TT - LSD, Chrono , UMW Tune, DSC, Phenix Engineering Toe Links & LCA Bushings, Tubi Race, 3" eRams, 964RS Engine Mounts
Audi TT Track Car
Corrado SLC
https://phenixengineering.com/

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FRUNKenstein
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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Post by FRUNKenstein » Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:13 pm

Yeah, the top right corner of that fuse box don't look so good.
www.kansascityautomuseum.com
Current:
2002 996TT X50, Guards Red
1987 928S4, Guards Red
1987 951, Guards Red
1973 914 2.0 Bahia Red

2006 955S, Lapis Blue
Other toys:
1988 BMW 325i Cabriolet, Alpin Weiss
1987 Bertone X1/9, Verde Chiaro
Gone but not forgotten: 1975 914 2.0, Laguna Blue; 1999 996 C4 Aerokit Black; 1990 964 C2 Guards Red; 2006 955S Arctic Silver

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TheDeckMan
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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Post by TheDeckMan » Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:59 pm

FRUNKenstein wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:13 pm Yeah, the top right corner of that fuse box don't look so good.
Smoke got let out of it :lol:
996TT - Widowmaker Project -RWD, UMW Tune, H&R RSS, Phenix Engineering Control Arms/LCA's, GT3 6 Pistons, SpeedTech 3" X-Pipe, Ported Headers, 997 GT3 Shifter, GT3 Buckets, GT2 Clutch/PP, GT2RS IC's, RSS Roll Bar, GT3 Brake Ducts, Joe Toth Aero/Ducts, Champion Thrust Arms
997TT - LSD, Chrono , UMW Tune, DSC, Phenix Engineering Toe Links & LCA Bushings, Tubi Race, 3" eRams, 964RS Engine Mounts
Audi TT Track Car
Corrado SLC
https://phenixengineering.com/

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TheDeckMan
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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Post by TheDeckMan » Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:31 am

Ah the noise
996TT - Widowmaker Project -RWD, UMW Tune, H&R RSS, Phenix Engineering Control Arms/LCA's, GT3 6 Pistons, SpeedTech 3" X-Pipe, Ported Headers, 997 GT3 Shifter, GT3 Buckets, GT2 Clutch/PP, GT2RS IC's, RSS Roll Bar, GT3 Brake Ducts, Joe Toth Aero/Ducts, Champion Thrust Arms
997TT - LSD, Chrono , UMW Tune, DSC, Phenix Engineering Toe Links & LCA Bushings, Tubi Race, 3" eRams, 964RS Engine Mounts
Audi TT Track Car
Corrado SLC
https://phenixengineering.com/

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TheDeckMan
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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Post by TheDeckMan » Wed May 15, 2019 9:44 am

After a bit of a wait I finally found a 996 GT3RS hood to go on the Widowmaker build. This with the Manthey doors should go pretty damn well towards saving some more weight off the car. Looks like lots of things to paint this year at some point!

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996TT - Widowmaker Project -RWD, UMW Tune, H&R RSS, Phenix Engineering Control Arms/LCA's, GT3 6 Pistons, SpeedTech 3" X-Pipe, Ported Headers, 997 GT3 Shifter, GT3 Buckets, GT2 Clutch/PP, GT2RS IC's, RSS Roll Bar, GT3 Brake Ducts, Joe Toth Aero/Ducts, Champion Thrust Arms
997TT - LSD, Chrono , UMW Tune, DSC, Phenix Engineering Toe Links & LCA Bushings, Tubi Race, 3" eRams, 964RS Engine Mounts
Audi TT Track Car
Corrado SLC
https://phenixengineering.com/

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FRUNKenstein
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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Post by FRUNKenstein » Wed May 15, 2019 12:22 pm

That is some sweet carbon fiber porn right there. I don't even wanna ask how much $$.
www.kansascityautomuseum.com
Current:
2002 996TT X50, Guards Red
1987 928S4, Guards Red
1987 951, Guards Red
1973 914 2.0 Bahia Red

2006 955S, Lapis Blue
Other toys:
1988 BMW 325i Cabriolet, Alpin Weiss
1987 Bertone X1/9, Verde Chiaro
Gone but not forgotten: 1975 914 2.0, Laguna Blue; 1999 996 C4 Aerokit Black; 1990 964 C2 Guards Red; 2006 955S Arctic Silver

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TheDeckMan
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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Post by TheDeckMan » Wed May 15, 2019 1:23 pm

FRUNKenstein wrote: Wed May 15, 2019 12:22 pm That is some sweet carbon fiber porn right there. I don't even wanna ask how much $$.
I almost just want to hang it on the wall as art! But alas it will be much better on the car with the doors on the goal to get to 3200lbs or below.
996TT - Widowmaker Project -RWD, UMW Tune, H&R RSS, Phenix Engineering Control Arms/LCA's, GT3 6 Pistons, SpeedTech 3" X-Pipe, Ported Headers, 997 GT3 Shifter, GT3 Buckets, GT2 Clutch/PP, GT2RS IC's, RSS Roll Bar, GT3 Brake Ducts, Joe Toth Aero/Ducts, Champion Thrust Arms
997TT - LSD, Chrono , UMW Tune, DSC, Phenix Engineering Toe Links & LCA Bushings, Tubi Race, 3" eRams, 964RS Engine Mounts
Audi TT Track Car
Corrado SLC
https://phenixengineering.com/

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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Post by TheDeckMan » Mon May 27, 2019 7:56 am

Been a while since updating this it seems. Couple weeks ago the rams on the 997tt started acting up and being crooked, of course our fantastic friend Dave was able to quickly to get me a setup of 3" eRams so I could get the car back squared away.

:cry:
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Wrench sourced from McMaster-Carr
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Towels to protect the paint while removing the spoiler
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Had some spare techflex from the Corrado harness do-over so wrapped up the new 12v switched line to look factory.
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Success an no more annoying spoiler failure light.
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Spoilers up! Now the 997 shares the reliable electric setup like the Corrado :lol:
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While in there it was time to toss in some 964RS engine mounts, man they made things so much better with the additional power but not like the RSS ones that kept triggering the knock sensors on the 997. This sucks to do by yourself as you have to do a sort of body contorting to get the impact gun on the lower nut and hold the top bolt from spinning. Best advice is to have a friend come by even if it requires bribing them with a couple beers.

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Finally was able to take a day off work to get out for a good drive with the nice weather, ended up heading to Lime Rock for the TransAm/GT3 Cup race. This was a perfect chance to get the Widowmaker out as she had not been driven in 8 months, she fired up without an issue, so the girlfriend and I made our way to LRP. Running a little late we got to WillCall to collect our Porsche Corral passes, then headed to the main gate to pay to get in only to be stuck waiting as they had computer issues...since we were holding up the line now they just waved us through as they new the parade laps were in a couple minutes, nice savings of $120 right there :o

Pulling in we got right in line to head out onto the track.
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After a couple laps we came in and began wandering around.
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Damn I love this color, think it was Birch Green?
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Clean 308
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TransAm Mustangs and Cameros were loud!
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Only 996 GT3 Cup, chatted for a while with the owner who was the only one out there running a manual transmission car. Still my personal favorite Cup cars. Plus he was pretty much running it all by himself without a team.
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Never seen an Enzo in person, such a stunning car!
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Home Depot Air Conditioning
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Mmmmm 996 GT2 in red!
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Ended up hanging out with another 996 owner who actually lives local, so we cruised back to W.Mass together and stopped for a bite. Great to make new friends!
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And how to wrap it all up with some whiskey.
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The mean machine herself after 300 miles of fun for the weekend as she was begging to be taken to work afterwards.
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996TT - Widowmaker Project -RWD, UMW Tune, H&R RSS, Phenix Engineering Control Arms/LCA's, GT3 6 Pistons, SpeedTech 3" X-Pipe, Ported Headers, 997 GT3 Shifter, GT3 Buckets, GT2 Clutch/PP, GT2RS IC's, RSS Roll Bar, GT3 Brake Ducts, Joe Toth Aero/Ducts, Champion Thrust Arms
997TT - LSD, Chrono , UMW Tune, DSC, Phenix Engineering Toe Links & LCA Bushings, Tubi Race, 3" eRams, 964RS Engine Mounts
Audi TT Track Car
Corrado SLC
https://phenixengineering.com/

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