Finally got back to work on the car! Last Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day. A little chilly in the morning but it warmed nicely as the day rolled on. I mainly worked on getting the pedal box in place and bolted down. The last little bolt took quite a bit of cajoling but eventually it fit. With that done I attached the Master Cylinder and hooked up the brake lines. Woohoo, I had pressure although there isn’t any break fluid in there yet. I also did a couple of other little things like attaching the motor mounts and the engine hangers. Test fit the water pump and it looks fine. I’m short one bolt but I think I might be able to get away without it. If not I’ll probably just pick up a generic one in order to supply some clamping force on the top of the pump.
I test fit the headers and they are tight up in there. I’m going to have to look at some others and make sure they look right. Good news is that they look like they will easily clear the motor mounts. Others have had problems with the headers barely tapping the passenger side mount. Then again, when it’s sitting in the frame that might change.
I’ve also been working on getting the rag joint to fit in the one piece column I got from Tri-States. Something’s hanging it up and I can’t tell if it’s the rag joint or the inside of the shaft. Worked on that a little but then set it aside.
I was looking over the donor parts pile I have and something funny occurred to me. About half the parts are throw aways. I won’t toss them until the kit’s done but it’s kind of cool to know there aren’t a whole lot of donor parts left to go in the car.
I’ve made goals for myself with this car and it seems like I keep missing them. Life happens and I find myself a month or two since I last touched it. I’m getting to the point where I’m comfortable with the fact that I’m only making occasional progress with it. There are other things in life that I wouldn’t want to be missing out on. Still…with the weather warming up…I’m having visions of cruising along with the wind in my hair, my arm up on the door getting toasty from the sun, a permanent grin plastered across my face…
On a side note, I want to thank everyone who’s taken a moment to leave a comment in the guest book. It’s really nice to see that people read this and get something out of it. Makes maintaining this web page a lot more enjoyable.