Laughing at weeds running out the door

These fasteners here belong in the 'overkill' department.  I bought locking fasteners for the CV joints - made by Stage 8.  I did a fair amount of searching and reading up on the IRS rear suspension while I was trying to determine what I needed and wanted.  One common theme was that people complained about the bolts on their CVs coming loose.  Since I'm going all out on this conversion anyway - it only made sense to add these to the list of improvements.

And while we're on the subject of 'unscheduled purchases' - I stumbled into a conversation on Facebook about fenders and wound up buying NOS rear fenders.  They don't have the trim holes in them but they're otherwise really nice parts.  They are in South Carolina and will be shipped to me in the next few days - and I'll put them in the rafters in the garage to keep them safe.  Nice to know that I don't need to worry about the cost of body work on my OG fenders any longer.

Getting back to the project at hand: I am expecting the box of IRS rear suspension parts to show up on Friday.  The rebuilt transmission should arrive mid-next week and the engine should be rounding the bend and near finished real soon.  I can't wait to hear it fire up with that Python exhaust on it...

The new pressure plate, throw out bearing and clutch disc showed up today.  The AN fittings and hose are due tomorrow.  I bought a trial size of the oil cooler hose and the fire sleeve after talking with the manufacturer - I may see if I can cut and fit the hoses myself to save some time/money.  I won't know about brake lines until the subframe is back on the car so that will wind up being a late in the process decision - along with the location of the oil cooler and the filter mount.

The pan and the subframe are due to be ready for pick up at the end of next week - it'll give me about a week to get it back together before the Crystal Lake show (last of the season around here) - so I think I'll be able to make a bit of progress but it won't be enough time to drive the car to the show...but who knows - maybe I'll have a stroke of good luck and it'll all just go back together.

As my self-imposed deadline of September 15th goes whooshing by while I'm in the garage surrounded by car parts - I have to keep in mind that I'll likely have near zero time to wrench on the car once I start back full time in the working world.  Things are getting close...

Background Tune: "The Wolf" by SIAMÉS

Kinetic energy

The cargo light arrived yesterday - it's absolutely beautiful!  I took a few pictures of it, wrapped it back up and put it away.  So nice to have this checked off of the list!

Somewhat impulsively, I bought these OG mats from T3HQ.  I think they'll look good on new carpet when the car is done.

The wayward jack point showed up yesterday as well - nice to see it came before I had to go chasing after it.

The timing for the pan work is a little iffy...I want to get the IRS conversion done and then paint everything at once but it might not quite work out that way...flaky people are fucking up my progress.

It seems like the pan will get done/painted and installed along with the front beam, and then the rear end will get done later...I'm going to check with the shop to be 100% sure that's how it'll work out.  Probably better because then I won't feel rushed to get it done all at once.

The trip to Adam's shop was productive - I got a bare IRS subframe for a pretty good deal.

I dug through a pile of torsion bars and didn't find any for a Squareback.  I decided on site to buy new spring plates so I left the dual spring plates there as well.

Later that day - after consulting with a few others, I figured out what I needed to buy and did just that...I have to get this thing moving forward in a big way.  I found trailing arms in Indiana, and almost everything else was purchased new.  All I need now are torsion bars and axles.  I should have those secured by Monday.

The next day - I got the stock pockets off of the IRS subframe and then realized that I should have just left it alone so that the shop could make their own jigs and speed up the process...sucks that I got a little ahead of myself because I don't know that the jigs are going to show up anytime soon.  The project can't really go anywhere until those pockets are welded in...

The Fast Fab bracket arrived and it bolts right up to the oil filter mount/thermostat.  I think this is going to need an extension made but I have to wait until the exhaust is on the engine...lots of contingencies to deal with at this point.  It would also be pretty fucking awesome if it just fit as it is.

The Setrab oil cooler now has fittings and a thermostatic switch to turn the fan on and off...just need the hoses now.  Feels super close and a little far away still.

Engine parts finally shipped and will arrive on Wednesday.

I'm looking forward to next week - lots of fun stuff coming to the door.

A couple of NOS parts arrive

Some new parts came in today.

311 705 679
Reinforcement plate
for sub-frame mounting, front

311 255 961/962
Slide for heater outlet, left/right

I bought two sets of these because they're plastic and I like spares.

As a result of the parts selling, I've been able to move three plastic bins of parts into the cabinets with a proper bin location.  I'm currently working through a physical inventory to update my records - should be done on Monday.  The inventory project has revealed some parts that I know I'll never use and don't need.  I've stopped mid-count to post ads several times so I don't forget or change my mind.

Speaking of Monday, I should have an update on the pan situation by then as well...I kind of sat on it until I knew the circumstances and costs surrounding the engine rebuild and the shop was trying to finish up a couple of other projects before taking on more work.

Perhaps I can be driving this car by September...just in time for Fall.

Road trip

I received an email very early this morning about the possibility of having the car picked up today.  A few hours passed and I got a call from the driver.  Fortunately, I was ready to go so I agreed to transport today after making arrangements on the other side of the trip with Jim - a friend of mine who shares interest in these old cars.

Sharing the trailer to Illinois is this stupid clean '68 Shelby Mustang.  It is VERY clean and absolutely amazing to see in person.

Getting the truck turned around on the skinny streets of this subdivision was a challenge that Mike (the driver) was well prepared for and he managed it with ease.  His equipment was all very new and in excellent condition.

The second, and final, shipment of NOS pan boots arrived today.  They're in super nice condition.  I think that a leather punch will open up the early version's clutch bowden tube holes - the odds of finding an original small diameter bowden tube are slim to none at this point.

I got another NOS rear hatch hinge stay - and immediately noticed that it wasn't the same as the others...well, shit.  The others are obviously suited to later model cars (even though the part number didn't change).  I'm not 100% sure what the extra holes are for but non-matching is a deal breaker for me.  Looks like I'll have some more parts for sale soon.

This is the set of the super nice Swedish reflectors I bought from a seller in the UK - they appear to be in very nice condition.  I just hope he sends the box on its way very soon so it gets here before we move!

I'll some day find a nice set of French reflectors and put them all on display.  Seems like a weird thing to collect and display but I can be sure there aren't many others collecting the same thing.

Back on four tires

The car is back on the ground.  This looks like a LOT more progress than it really is.  None of the steering bits are installed (steering box/tie rods) and the front of the car is empty.

I think I may have found the right height for the left side...the steering box and tie rods are not installed, no shocks and the fuel tank/fuel are also absent.  With that weight, the front should settle down about another inch...which should be the right height for the car.

The right side looks a touch too high but it could simply be the photo angle because there's not a ton of room on the right side of the car.  I'll have to hook up the steering bits and roll it out into the driveway to check it out before I snug it all down to spec.

I also discovered that I have a bad bearing on the left side that I'll need to get swapped out so it's coming off again.  The right side sounds good (no sound) so that's one less thing to worry about for now.

Now that the first batch of pan boots have arrived, I've started discussing the second batch...I asked for photos of the second batch because of the age related cracking on the one piece I received.  Another odd discovery:  Three of them have a larger diameter clutch bowden tube opening (14mm vs. 11mm).  As long as they're not cracked real bad I'll finish the transaction.  There are a few other miscellaneous parts in the order as well but nothing terribly exciting.  I'm at a point where I'm being very selective about what I buy and the rest of it will be getting sold off...

More of the good stuff!

One of the now many inbound boxes showed up today.

I ordered this at the last minute - not really thinking that it would come in looking decent.  I'll be damned if I wasn't totally wrong - it's almost 100% perfect.

Scored two more bolt on generator belt covers - I'm now up to 5 for one car.  It might be time to let a couple of them go, huh?

Steering box plugs - something super simple that turned out to be quite hard to find.

In addition to these, I also found the adjusting screws (311 415 263) and the smaller oil seal (311 415 277).  I'm thinking that the next trip to RediStrip will include the pile of steering boxes that I have - I'll see if I can get them cleaned up and rebuild a couple of them for spares.  It can't be that hard, right?  :)

These have been sought out for quite some time now...I was able to find the left sides rather easily for a few years - the right sides disappeared for a while but I found two - one to finish out my collection and, potentially, one for a fellow Type 3 owner.