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.

Leaner and meaner

A nice hot day was best put to use by setting the rubber mat in the driveway to make it more pliable.  After 20 minutes, I was able to get it into place.  The floor of the car looks a lot better when it's covered up and it'll be a little quieter.

Another perspective of the floor mat in the car.  One definite downside is that it fouls the accelerator pedal assembly because it's not stock.  I'm using the later pedal bearing that's self supporting and does not use the bracket welded to the floor (for a few reasons).  The shifter, which is also not stock, does not sit/fit as well with the floor mat in place.  And I've discovered that, at least when hot, the mat slides around with very little effort.

A clear shot of the passenger's side of the car - the floor is riddled with holes and rust through from approximately the same place as the seat rails begin.  I'm not sure if that's going to be covered by the ISP quarter panel replacements or if I'll have to use the pan halves.  I'd prefer to keep the original metal but the rust is ultimately going to make that decision, I suppose.

The driver's side is in much better shape (or at least it appears that way).  Once the dust has settled a bit in Illinois, I'd like to pull the body off the pan and restore the pan completely.  I've done the suspension bits so it's 2/3 done.

In other news:  Knowing that I have a remedial level of knowledge of carburetor tuning, I dug up some information about how to do a basic tune on 40 IDF carbs.  After some trial and error, I was able to get them to run pretty nicely (albeit a bit rich).  I took it out for a quick drive and once off the line, it runs strong.  The 'off the line' part stumbles because it's running rich.  I may try to lean them out a bit tomorrow if I have time.  I think I've learned a little about carburetor tuning and accomplished a little along the way.  It'll be nice if I am successful at getting these to work better.

The steering on the car still feels super loose on the front end.  The fuel tank is near empty and the spare tire wasn't in the trunk but it still felt loose for what was there...I may just be biased due to the very flat feeling in my daily driver with AWD and fairly wide tires.

Soon, it'll be time to tackle the doors...I've got 24 days before we move and probably half that before the car is picked up.  The pick up date will be determined in the next day or two.