"I don't wanna say that I'm lost 'cause it gets worse then it gets better"

 

After making 8 versions of this bracket - I think I have the winner!  Oddly enough, making the bracket is less than half the cost of one of these hoses so it was worth it in the long run.

Chatted with the engine builder yesterday - he needs another two weeks before he will be ready.  That'll buy me enough time to finish dicking around with random stuff and have everything ready for him when he comes by to pick it up.

One down, several to go...

"Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity"

Not a whole lot going on lately - I received the updated bracket and in true form - it's just long enough to make one of the hoses too short.  So the options here are to either make the bracket shorter and use the existing hoses or get new hoses made at a nearby shop.  The revised brackets are the cheaper option and I've dumped plenty of money into this car already so I'll be ordering those soon.

The weather got real cold and the garage is pretty much the same temperature as the outdoors so I haven't done much other than clean the garage.  I'm hoping that next week I can drop it off at the engine dude's house to be pulled apart/cleaned and put back together.  By the end of January, I should have the engine back and the hoses figured out (finally).  It'll be a runner and that's a good little bit of progress.  That leaves me with the task of installing the time-sert and getting the rear suspension back together so I can get the car back on tires.

The updated parking brake cables arrived as well - they appear to be the correct length - I'll know more once I  get the parking brake completely installed (which kind of requires the rear end to be done and the rear calipers installed).  Hard to get a lot done when it's this cold and the garage is not insulated.  The weather has been really fucking weird this year (55°F one day and 12°F the next day) but I'll take advantage of any opportunities that come along to get something done.

I honestly don't know how much longer I can drag this out...

“You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.”

 

Received the second hose and it fits - for the most part - I revised the bracket design to make it 12mm longer for a better fit.  In a week, I'll get the revised brackets and, fingers crossed, they'll be a perfect fit!

House projects are winding down (finally) so I should have a little more time to get this car dialed in so I can drive it next Spring.

The front apron arrived on Friday - packed in two taped together Home Depot boxes that were very beat up.  Not the best packing job but it was fine.

Today I dug out the wire wheel for the grinder and stripped all of the paint off of the outside of the shell to see what was underneath.  I found a very thin layer of bondo and somewhere around five layers of paint in various shades of auto parts store rattle can.

Above the license bump - which had no bondo on it - are two holes.  No idea why they're there but they're poorly filled/covered up.  There was a decent amount of surface rust under the bondo so it's a good thing it got stripped down.

This is the worst part of the apron (so far) - it's the lower middle.  Loads of small bumps - sort of like my face back when I was in high school.  Truth be told - this looks worse in the picture than it is in reality - partially due to the not quite perfect stripping job I did on it.

I suspect this is why the bondo was applied because there aren't any other real noticeable issues elsewhere on the piece.

I may have gotten ahead of myself by stating that I could take this off of my list...I'm going to keep looking for a better piece.

"Let it come and let it be"

A bit of progress today...I made several revisions to the existing bracket to hold the Jaycee oil filter bracket because it has larger diameter mount holes and the bracket has been 'beefed up' through a small adjustment.  This time around - I had them cut out of 1.5mm thick plate steel - so instead of getting one bracket for $45, I got eight test pieces for less than $30.

Of the brackets modified - this one is the closest to correct.  The holes for the exhaust studs are perfect, the hole spacing for the filter bracket is perfect...the bracket, however, is about 12mm too short, which causes a problem for the hoses coming from the engine.  I'm waiting for the last hose to be shipped to me and then I can confirm my modification (make it 15mm longer and adjust the location of the mount holes).  Once that's confirmed, I'll have a couple made in aluminum.  If I get a wild hair up my ass I might have one made in titanium for the hell of it...

I got in touch with the cable manufacturer - they shipped the cables two weeks ago...to my old address in another state.  The cable shop is going to make another set and ship them to the correct address so I should have those before Christmas.

Did some recon while at work today - there's only ONE fucking hydraulic hose shop in the area that can make brake hoses and get them certified - it's in Chicago.  I'm going to have to figure out how to get out there to get the brake hoses made up so I can stop by while I'm there for work as well.

The more I think about all of the modifications I'm making - the more I think it makes sense to go back to an electric fuel pump.  I kept the bracket from the previous installation so I'm going to put it back to work with a new fuel pump that I've had moving house for the last year or so...should be a simple modification to incorporate.  I like the modern touch of an electric fuel pump combined with the reduced pile of hose in the engine bay.  The safety relay is going to show up this week.

I also have a new wire harness from ISP West - the wiring on the car is getting really brittle but it's far too cold to be screwing around with wiring so it might have to wait until next year.

What appears to be a super straight, rust-free Mickey Mouse front apron found me a couple of weeks ago.  After a bit of 'back and forth' with the seller, we agreed on a price and I sent him a UPS label. I should be seeing that show up in the next week or so.  It's got the later license plate bump and the later divider but the MM lower front. An odd combination that couldn't be better suited for what I'm doing!  It's nice to wipe this off the list - it's the last body part I needed for this car.  Maybe I can sell the pieces I remove from the car and recover some of my investment.

Leaves blow in, a little time passes

Gene Berg welded and balanced fan to replace the stock unit arrived today...they told me that they don't weld the fins because the crank mounted fan doesn't spin fast enough to warrant the work/weight.  Makes sense - my engine isn't a high rev unit.

Bought a new wire harness just in case I get a wild hair up my ass and decide to replace the wiring in the car while I wait for the engine to be rebuilt.  I've got some wiring issues to work out - namely cracked/broken wires.  Seems like it might be more fun to just replace the whole thing.

Still waiting on the last hose I ordered, the parking brake cables and the nerve to do a time sert on the right side rear subframe.