40 years in the making...

[RustyBucket]

How did that work out for you ?? I’ve seen that technique and the cooling off with an air hose immediately after the metal is hot is to reduce warping .

[GoldHawg]

The copper behind helped a bit, but on all my holes in the firewall I had the air hose after 2-3 quick tacks. Hopefully not too much warping.

[RustyBucket]

I had a 3/8 thick by like 1 1/2 copper grounding strap hunk to experiment with . Might have had a better out come if my cheap-o welder was of a better grade at the time. I final broke down for a ‘yes’ mug/tig/stick box. It seam to do the trick, despite my lack of skill

[notoptoy]

Amazing work and some damn fine fabrication as well. Thanks for sharing.

[GoldHawg]

Lots done the last two weekends, even though I didn't have my regular helper. I finished cleaning the floorboard of any factory material and wire wheels, then epoxy primered then por-15 and a top coat. I finished getting as much of the factory undercoating off as I could, then my friend Mike sprayed epoxy primer on it (yesterday) and today I was able to apply the raptor bedliner to the underside, and the inner fenders, and the raised part of the underside of the hood. Masking took forever. Glad it's done.

[RustyBucket]

Wow that Really looks fantastic!! Helluva lotta work! The A/C bump out under the fender looks like some super secret James Bond ‘Q’ inspired modification!!

[GoldHawg]

Frame back from the powdercoaters, but I have several other parts of the suspension in this week for powdercoating and then I can assemble. I got my helper back today and we finished getting what we wanted done prior to spraying the whole car in epoxy primer. Next weekend will be the bodywork on the tub, and I can slowly add more parts to the frame build up.

[theunz]

Body and frame are looking good, but that wall of machine tools looks great! I would love to have a lathe and mill, but then I’d have to learn how to use them.

[RustyBucket]

I second Mike M.'s comment .... but would add, when would I have time to learn how to use the tools..??
The progress is Impressive !!!

[GoldHawg]

Another good day working yesterday. I picked up key parts of the suspension that I decided to have powder coated on Friday and started installing. The rear suspension is installed and much work done on the front. I started assembling Spriso's BBK with the fancy coleman rotors, but I need to finish regreasing the bearings and install a new seal on the hub, then these can go on. My helper Tim came to start doing the filler work on the tub and he also did some work using the 2 part heavy bonded seam sealer (which is sandable) to fill in some of the crevices in the engine bay area. My body shop friend continues to come and perform quality assurance (and he can't help himself but pick up the body hammers and do a bit of the work. He's got the fenders, hood and trunk at his place and getting them ready for paint and they should be ready next week. Unfortunately the body work is putting dust everywhere in the shop. This is gonna be one major cleanup job on the other side of this build!

[GoldHawg]

Continuing work on the front suspension with two steps forward, one back. Michael Spreadbury recommended I get 1.75" wheel studs from futofab, but I couldn't connect with them and since I had some 1.5 on hand (stock 1.25) and he mentioned he sometimes used a small spacer I thought I might get by. But alas, no joy so I'll knock these out and get the longer ones. Good news is that the Rotas I have easily clear the caliper w/no spacer. Yes I know I've got the wrong one on (bleeder screw down) but this was just to check clearance, and gets to the second issue. The aluminum 30mm z32 calipers I took apart for rebuilding and on one the bolts that hold the two halves together were very difficult to remove for some reason, and the aluminum side got messed up. I tried retapping it to clean the threads, but when installing tonight it bound up again, and doesn't want to come out. I found a single caliper to replace it on ebay so I've ordered it. But it is great to see a wheel on. And oh I didn't tell you I had the lower control arms reversed and lower ball joint bolts backwards. But I did take this apart like 8 years ago. But JT looked at my pics and corrected the error of my ways. Eventually it will all be back together and be so nice. BTW, I love the BBK that Michael sells and the way the rotor spins the hubs (w/new NSK bearings). Michael sent me the details on the braided lines and they should arrive on Friday. Two steps forward one step back.

[david premo]

Just a comment on something I noticed, it appears that the brake caliper in the photo is installed upside down. In order to bleed the air out of a break system the bleed fittings are always located on the highest point of each surrounding component to allow air to rise to the top and be purged. As I see it in your photos, yours look to be upside down. Am I looking at the photos correctly?
Dave

[spriso]

Dave is correct about the calipers-- the bleeder does need to be at the top to get it to bleed correctly, just move it to the other side and you will be sorted.

Happy that you like your brakes and your wheels fit without a spacer-- winning!

Michael

[notoptoy]

To be fair, Goldhawg pointed that out himself in his post!

[GoldHawg]

At this point I certainly don't mind people pointing out potential errors that I'm already aware of. Especially since sometimes I'm not (like I mentioned with the LCAs). And I certainly understand people looking straight at the eye candy pictures and not reading the post--who can't love that awesome Spriso BBK!