24 November 2007: agidius came by, and we did some more poking at things. Another compression test yielded everything looking good (and the same), so we went to my dad's to get a torque wrench in order to put everything back together. Nobody was able to come up with anything other than "put it back together and run it, hopefully it'll settle down." Ken's going to talk to some people he knows, and I'm going to talk to a local speed shop to see if they have any ideas, and we'll compare notes and see what we have.

23 November 2007: My dad came over, and we got the engine out of the car, and the 1/2 head off the engine. The bore was very clean, the rings looked great, there was no hole in the piston, there was nothing apparently wrong with the #1. So then we worked on getting the header apart, which we also accomplished. So now I'm going to reassemble the 1/2 bank, and run some more compression tests. Maybe the bad value was a fluke? But then that raises the question: just what is the problem?

20 November 2007: I worked on getting the 1/2 head off today, and thought maybe I could get lucky and not have to take the engine out of the car. Almost. I can see threads on the back side of the head as it runs into the body. And of course I can't see into the cylinders well enough to be able to figure out what's wrong. I also did a little cleaning out of the garage, and pulled apart a set of half-shafts and CV joints that were gunked with old grease; they're still gunked, but at least they're apart, ready for cleaning. It's now possible to actually walk all the way around the car, without having to step over anything. Amazing.

22 September 2007: I decided to try to get the engine out of the car today, and failed. I got all the hoses and wires unhooked, but I couldn't get one of the slip-joints of the header apart. I tried banging on it, pulling on it, putting the hydraulic ram on it, to no avail. I probably need another set of hands. I dunno.

03 September 2007: I finally got around to doing the compression test I've been needing to do since the last time we went to the track. The #1 cylinder reads 70 psi, and the rest read 100. I'm not totally thrilled about the 100s (seems that almost-brand-new engine parts should be a bit higher than that), but the big difference on the one cylinder means I need to yank the heads and see what's what. Incidentally, the plugs on #1 and #2 looked pretty good, the #3 plug was a soot bomb, and the #4 plug looked like it had been running super-lean. Not sure what, if anything, that means.

01 June 2007: We went out to the track, and after some low-end tuning, I noticed a fairly large wet spot on the grass underneath the passenger-side head. Turns out that the breather fitting in the valve cover had been leaking oil pretty severely; I was down about 2 quarts. So that was pretty much the end of my night. I didn't even make it to tech. I've known for quite some time that the heater hose and hose clamps that made up the breather system would eventually need to be replaced with AN fittings, but the cost was a bit on the high side; it appears that now is that eventuality. On an up note, there was no fire, and there was some decent racing at the track.

15 May 2007: I ordered a couple parts today from MA Motorworks, including an aluminum oil filler cap (yaay!) and the one piece of engine tin I'm lacking. Some of it is back-ordered, so hopefully that stuff will show up before track day.

12 May 2007: Having gotten the jet kits in this week, I did a couple small tweaks - installed the zero-bypass accelerator jet, and bumped the mains up one notch to 140s. The resulting drive was good, but the stupid oil filler "cap" reared its stupid head again. Having no clock to compare, the mains felt like they might be a little stronger, and the transition to the air-correction jets felt a little more pronounced (it fell on its face a little harder). Until I get some actual hard data, of course, this is all just conjecture. The idle jets and accel pumps still need work, but it was just too damn hot, and I've got too much other stuff I need to do today, so it'll wait. I've got a few weeks until track day, so it's not like there isn't time.

08 May 2007: The jet kits arrived today. It's amazing how something so small could cost so much money! Also, the trip to the track for tuning (say that three times fast) will be on 01 June.

28 April 2007: I finally got off my butt and installed the new Bilstein shocks this morning, and then took it for a drive. Those old shocks really were trashed; the new ones were solid as a rock over the lumpiest section of road nearby. During the drive, I managed to blow the top off my oil filler cap - it's nothing but a threaded ring now. Cheap plastic parts. I ordered the carb jet kits last night from Carbs Unlimited. They should be here in a couple weeks, so then I'll just have to do some baseline jetting, and then out to the track.

25 March 2007: At long last, I finally got employed again, so I ordered some rear shocks for the VW. They should be in by Tuesday, so I'll put 'em in next weekend. Then I just gotta score some jet kits, do a little boresighting on the tune, and take it out to the track for fine-tuning.

14 July 2006: Well, we went to the track, and managed to get 3 passes in. Times were fairly poor, and got worse as the night went on, though speeds increased. Not sure how that works out. The scale was on, so I got the actual weight of the car: 2300 pounds (1330 front/970 rear). It turns out that the rear shocks got trashed in the fire, because I was having wheel hop problems something fierce on the burnout. HotRodV6 got video of the first pass, and Jon got video of all three, but everybody seems to have lost their videos. Buncha slackers.

13 July 2006: I started working on the new panel to cover up the hole in the front firewall. I managed to get the top riveted in, but the sides and bottom of the non-pre-bent panel are going to take one person holding it in place, and the other person drilling. So I'll wait until agidius is over tomorrow to finish that up.

08 July 2006: I did some sketching on the wiring system, and have the system for the turn signals all ready to be built. agidius came over and we worked on the tuning some more, and did a bit of driving too. The new jets make a world of difference. I did some tweaking on the accelerator pumps as well, and they're a whole lot better now too. It still does some popping at lower RPMs, but it might be rich now, instead of lean like it was. We took a midday break to drive over to EPO, where I found a couple switches for the turn signals and e-flashers. We also drilled out the last few rivets from the front bulkhead, in preparation for putting a new panel in there. And last but not least, we put the windshield and rear windows in, and hooked up the rear parking lights. More tuning this week, since we hit the track on Friday.

07 July 2006: The idle jets arrived today, so I went ahead and changed the old ones out. I had to take the carbs off, since there is not enough room to the sides to get the sideways screwdriver I have in there. While I had them out, I should have done the needed accelerator pump adjustments, but didn't even think about it. agidius reminded me of that later on the phone, while I was inviting him over to help with tuning tomorrow. One of these days, this will all be done, and I'll be able to look back and laugh at all the missteps. That day, unfortunately, isn't today.

05 July 2006: This morning, I ordered the (hopefully) final parts that I need to make this thing run properly: larger idle jets. I ordered 57.5s, based on the information on aircooled.net's site. Hopefully they'll get here by Friday, so I can have the weekend to tune and most of next week to get some miles on it. Track day is only a little more than a week away!

30 June 2006: agidius came over today, and we worked on tuning the carburetors. What a black art that is! We got the carbs approximately sychronized, the idle about set, and the mixture pretty good, but it still runs pretty badly. Then the timing looked a bit off, so I rolled that around, and now it runs even worse. And the accelerator pumps are set way different, and I'm not sure what needs to happen with those; it still takes a good bit of effort to get the engine to come off idle without bogging. We stole an illegally-posted sign from the side of the road and used it to mark 2 miles along the feeder road, and calibrated the speedometer. On the return trip, I had the car up to about 70; felt pretty good except for the bumpy road I was on at the time.

24 June 2006: At long last, the car is running again. agidius came over, and we moved the fuel pump to below the fuel cell, and that was the trick that made it happen. It was a bit of a hassle getting everything arranged under the car, but it worked out well enough. No fuel leaks this time, and the loctite should prevent anything from backing out. Also, the correct rear brake hose appeared Friday, so we did that replacement and bled the rear brakes. The carbs are pretty badly out of sync, and the timing is about 5 degrees earlier than I'd like it to be, so I've got some tuning to do later in the coming week.

16 June 2006: My dad came over this morning, and we worked on the car until we couldn't work any more. The verdict is: the fuel pump needs to be moved below the fuel cell, because it's not powerful enough to suck the fuel up out of the cell. I had that fear in the back of my mind when agidius and I mounted the fuel pump where it is, but I took a "wait and see" attitude. Well, we waited and saw, and it's not working. So I gotta move it. <sigh> On a bright note, we filled the fuel cell up all the way, and tweaked with the settings, so now the fuel gauge reads 'F' when the cell is full. Nice!

15 June 2006: During my errands this morning, I scored another four bolts to hook down the other taillight holder, so that's done. Just need to get bulbs. I managed to eliminate the last fuel leak - turns out the right-hand carb just needed the inlet filter plug tightened. No big deal. I started to replace the left rear brake hose, which was fried in the fire, but aircooled.net sent the wrong part. My dad is coming over tomorrow sometime to help get the engine timed and running.

12 June 2006: The parts from aircooled.net came on Saturday, but due to not getting to the mail until late, I wasn't able to get them until today. It took a whole 10 minutes to get the points and condenser in and somewhat correctly gapped, and then I gave it a try. There's spark and fuel in the engine, and I can almost get it to idle with my foot on the floor. Sounds like timing problems, and of course that requires a second pair of hands (which, of course, I don't have at this moment). I also looked around for wet spots, signaling the dreaded leaking fuel, and sure enough, it seems like the filter plug on the fuel inlet of the right-hand carb is leaking, and fairly badly. And of course there's basically no way to get a wrench in there, so I'll have to take that carb off. It's always something...

10 June 2006: I puttered around a bit this afternoon, and didn't finish anything. I drilled out most of the remaining rivets from the previous fuel cell alcove in anticipation of cutting and fitting a new flat panel there. A few are being difficult, and will require a second pair of hands, but most of the usual suspects are getting ready for their national meet next week, so they're unavailable. I also cut and fit the taillight wiring, and got enough bolts to hook one lamp holder down to the fender. The store didn't have enough bolts to do both, and I don't have any bulbs either, so that's unfinished as well. I just didn't have a whole lot of interest in working on the car today, but since I'm planning to go out to the track soon, I figure I should try to be ready for it.

08 June 2006: I ordered the last few parts I'll need for a while today, from aircooled.net. Points, condenser, and a couple rubber parts which were very badly damaged by the fire - the rear window rubber, and the left rear brake hose. I'm guessing they'll be here by maybe next Wednesday or so. For whatever reason (greed, most likely) all the Pertronix sets are now double the price that they were when I bought the breakerless ignition before, so I'm just going to back to the non-bank-breaking points and condenser for now.

03 June 2006: The to-do list made it down to zero entries, and then I had apparently hooked the breakerless ignition up backward, so it's dead now. Which means, of course, that the car didn't start today. The prices on those ignitions have literally doubled since I last bought one (they're about $75-79 now), so I think I'm just going to pick up a points and condenser (a mere $7 a piece), and get it running that way. I'll do that sometime this week, I suppose. But on the bright side, things are even improved since last turn-on day; ALL the electric stuff seems to work, including oil temp (new sender and ground), and fuel level seems to be doing something. I didn't get the taillights installed, so I'll need to do that sometime soon as well. We're still on for the track on the 23rd.

30 May 2006: I spent a couple hours working with the rear wiring harness, getting it into a loom, and feeding it through the hole in the firewall. A couple of the wires are way too long (like by a couple feet), and the taillight ground wire which I built long ago is too short. Not too bad, considering none of them were in the car at the time. I've got to splice the battery-charging wire into the main power wire, get a battery cable, ream out the ring terminals for the OP and OT senders, and make sure everything is hooked up in the fusebox correctly. The battery probably needs a spot of charging too.

28 May 2006: I managed to score some tape for the final cut of the second regulator-to-carb fuel line, and finished up the fuel system. It's now loctited from end to end, and done, done, done. And after struggling with it, I managed to get the oil filter off - finally! I also put a quick fish through the firewall in anticipation of pulling the wiring harness through. I think that'll be on the docket for tomorrow. Current goal is to turn this sucker on again on the 3rd of June. It's just electrics, which won't take too long once I get to it. It's just the getting to it that's the problem...

20 May 2006: Today agidius came over, and we kicked butt. The fuel cell is hooked down, the fuel lines are about 95% locktited and torqued, the header which reappeared from coating yesterday is installed, and the throttle linkage is cleaned and installed.. There's one regulator-to-carb fuel line to make and install, and all the rear electrics, and I'm pretty sure that's it. Sweet!!

09 May 2006: I headed down to the local UPS place and sent the header off to Jet-Hot today. They say expect about one to two weeks for the part to return, so I guess we're looking at late May. It'll be totally sweet when it comes back!

08 May 2006: The car has nice shiny rebuilt carbs. The rebuild kits came in last Wednesday, and after disassembling one on Saturday and realizing that the Chem-Dip just wasn't taking care of business, I decided to try using my dad's parts washer. I used diesel as a cleaner, and man that stuff works great! Both carbs took about 5 hours to clean and put back together, and then another couple hours to put back into the car. I busted out the dremel tool to match-port the carb-intake gaskets, which went fairly smoothly. I was having a lot of trouble getting a couple of the nuts to go down easily; one of the studs backed out, and the other was just very gummed up with something... I put the one that backed out in with threadlocker, and ran down all the threads with a thread die. Whoever came up with the idea of a ROUND thread die is in desperate need of some killing! I also ran a tap through all the nuts, and found that, wonder of wonders, a couple of those were mangled beyond usability. So, with freshly cut threads, the carbs are, at long last, back on the engine. I was so tired that I didn't even try to hook up the linkage. Another day for that.

23 April 2006: Got back at it again this afternoon. I didn't really feel like doing more electrics, so I worked on the hold-down straps for the fuel cell. They're cut to length, drilled, and shaped, and I drilled one of the four needed holes in the body, but the bolts I have are too long. Also I ordered the rebuild kits for the carbs this morning, so those could possibly appear by the weekend.

21 April 2006: I got out into the garage today, and spent a lot of time looking at the circuit diagram, and thinking about what wires go where. I'm pretty sure I've got everything figured out now, and it turns out that the only wires I need to cut and fit are the rear parking and signal light leads; everything else was already done. I finished up all the wiring in front of the footwell (fuel pump, fuel level sender, lights, speedo sender, brake light switches), so I'm about halfway done with the electrics. I'm going to try for a little more work this weekend, so maybe I can finish up the electrics and move onto something else.

28 March 2006: Got back in the garage after the aborted day yesterday, and got a whole ton of stuff done. The tires are aired up, the carbs are sorta in, the plug wires are in, the trunk lid is back on, the dash is hanging in there, the oil filter lines are in, the valve covers are on, the hood pins are back on. Lots of work. And I went through a TON of old parts, throwing some away, and packing the rest in the car for towing to the new apartment on Thursday. I'm getting so sick of packing things, I could just scream...

27 March 2006: Got the other halfshaft in, and the fourth fender back on, but I had to run out to the new apartment complex, so that's all I got done today.

18 March 2006: I actually got out into the garage for the first time in a long time today. I figured that with my upcoming move, I should probably assemble at least some of the larger parts, to make it easier to haul around. And of course this stuff needs to get done eventually anyway. So I got three out of four of the fenders, and one of the two half shafts back on. I was going to mount the taillights, but I apparently threw away the needed mounting bolts and backing plates from the old ones. Ah well, at least there's some progress!

21 November 2005: agidius came over and we got a good amount of work done. We did some fitting up of the front cooling tin (cheap aftermarket cooling tin, didn't even close to fit), and mounted the fan shroud. We figured out the mounting for the fuel cell, which has had me scratching my head for a long time. We also mounted the fuel pump, and since that was finalized, we finalized the routing for the main fuel line, and cut and put the ends on. We also had to move the fuel cell breather line a little bit. After we got all that done, it was becoming fairly clear that to go any further with the fuel system, we were going to have to make a parts run, and with me in my unemployed state, well, let's just say I'm being careful with my finances these days. So we moved on to some of the electrical system, which is about halfway complete. We pulled the cut wires out of the box, and I racked my brain to remember what some of the stuff was. We mounted the light harnesses in the front, and then the rest of it was either too hazy in my memory, or needed too much work (it was starting to get late), so we gave up on the hard labor for the day. After that, we boxed up the header, which has been in need of sending to Jet-Hot for about a year now. I need to either send for another quote, or see if the current one is still valid, but that can wait until I have an income once again.

07 November 2005: I went through all the old, crappy parts I've had sitting around in my garage since this project started, and decided to throw a bunch of stuff out. The old cooling tin, the air blower parts, the interior parts, and a bunch of other stuff that I'll never use again got piled up and marked for death. I figure I'll bleed 'em into the trash over the next several weeks, so the trash guys don't freak out. There's probably more stuff that needs to go, but this will do for now.

14 March 2005: The parts I ordered last week showed up today, and everything is fine except for the rear plate - I ordered one without fresh air holes, and the one that showed up had both fresh air holes and heat riser cutouts, neither of which I want. So I gotta send that one back. They also sent two breast plates (read that one however you like), and of course I only needed one of those. But the Drag-Fast shifter is like modern industrial sculpture or something - it's an awesome looking piece of gear. Maybe Tuesday or Wednesday I'll throw some of the parts on the car.

08 March 2005: I recently picked up a copy of Gran Turismo 4, and whaddya know, it's gotten me wanting to race my own car, in real life. Well, I gotta finish building the thing first, so tonight I ordered some parts that I've been putting off for a while. Mostly engine tin that was too badly messed up in the fire, but I also threw down for a Scat Drag-Fast shifter; supposedly the throw on those things is tiny. Jon says he had one for a long time, and he loved it. So basically once I get the engine tin all in there, I have to mount the fuel cell, plumb up the fuel lines, finish up the wiring harness (now with turn signals and parking lights), and I think it'll be ready to run again. I want to redo the dash, since it came out looking really cheap, and with nice sharp corners, but that will wait until after it runs.

22 January 2005: agidius and teeleton came over again today, and we got the engine in. There was a whole lot more pushing and shoving than I remember the engine requiring, but it's all bolted down. I spent some time looking for some of the parts I need to replace (heater tin, IDA rebuild kits, etc.) this morning, but haven't ordered anything yet. I sent a quote request to Jet-Hot for exhaust coating, so we'll see what they have to say.

08 January 2005: agidius came over, and we got some very good stuff done. Since plenty of people were bitching about the routing of my fuel line, I finally caved and agreed to route it through the frame tunnel. We pulled the stock fuel line out, and wallowed out the grommet holes to accept an AN6 fitting (what, you didnt think I was going to build the lines in place did you?). While I was grinding away, Ken broke out the drill and drilled out all the rivets that held in the shin-killer panel where the fuel cell used to go; it's going to become a flat (well, curved), non-shin-killing panel, since the fuel cell is moving to the spare tire bucket. The fuel line is currently run through the tunnel, but it's obviously not hooked up to anything, and will need to come out again when I cut it to length and install the second fitting. We reinstalled the transmission, and got the engine poised for installation (it's sitting on the ground, but at least it's in the engine cavity) when we realized that installing the engine without the jack (and somebody else to operate the jack) was just not going to work. We also pulled out the battery box.

07 August 2004: agidius and I hooked the hulk up to the Blazer and hauled it down to Northwest Recycling. What a cool place! They have a car shredder, among other things. We waited in line for a good half-hour, and checked out others' stashes of stuff they brought in; some interesting collections of junk. Once we got into the yard, we got everything unhooked and the tow coupler unbolted, and they stacked the hulk up with about 4 other cars, and just took 'em away. Way cool! And I got quite a bit more money than I'd expected - the total came to $30.80. Lunch was on me!

06 March 2004: I got back out into the garage today to clean up some more parts. The heads and cool-tins are now ready to go back on the engine (maybe next week). I also took care of the CV joints which have been sitting around waiting for cleanup for a few weeks now. They're cleaned up, oiled up, and bagged up, waiting for reinstallation. I also picked up a few tools. Pretty low-impact day.

21 February 2004: I went out to the folks' and started stripping the body today. I threw out a lot of fried interior parts, and managed to strip off the shifter, ebrake handle, doors, and got started on the steering box. I also removed the tow bar. It'll be a couple weeks until I can get out there again, since I'm going on vacation over next weekend. I'll snag the drive train and steering box next time, and recover my good wheels and tires then too.

16 February 2004: We got back with the body early this morning (about 02:00), and stashed it behind the folks' garage. The trip up was pretty exciting - it snowed and/or rained fairly hard most of the way across Arkansas. And then the trip back was thankfully uneventful; it was dry and clear the whole way, and apart from a few initial flats on the body, it behaved very well on the road. The body itself is actually in even worse shape than mine. The heater channels are half gone, the bolt points on the rear shock towers are completely rusted off, half the fenders are missing, and the back deck is in full-on swiss cheese mode. However, the shifter is a short-throw EMPI with the trigger lockout, the tranny is reportedly known-good, the steering box feels very non-sloppy, there's an ebrake handle in very good shape, both doors are very good, the trunk lid is good, and the CV joints look to be in very good shape. And once I strip it, it'll probably be worth at least a couple dozen dollars in scrap. Not the total loss I was thinking when I first saw it in person.

09 February 2004: I found a body for the swap. It's a 71 SB, which from all my research will fit on my frame. Price was a scorching $76. The catch: it's in south Illinois. Hopefully agidius and I will be able to get up there this weekend to pick it up. The folks have agreed to let me stash it in their backyard until I need it. I just need to make some phone calls to scrapyards to see what they'll pick up and what we have to bring in.

08 February 2004: I spent some time pulling stuff out of the car, preparing for the eventual ditching of the gold body. The fuel cell, front harness, and steering column are out, and apart from the master cylinder reservoir, I think that's about everything that needs to come out. I also spent some time with the front harness, adding some wiring for the parking and turn signal lights. No soldering on those yet, but the lines are cut and stuffed into the looms.

31 January 2004: I went out to the folks' to pick up the electrical stuff; the 10/12 push-on connectors weren't quite like I thought they would be (they were HUGE), but everything else was just right. They even sent a printed catalog this time - cool. I came back and soldered up all the connectors on the wiring I had already cut. I think I'll do some preliminary cutting on the parking and signal wires tomorrow. Still looking for a good body; agidius has been sending ebay auctions, and I've got a couple other people looking, but THE ONE hasn't surfaced yet.

26 January 2004: The parts from Motorworks came today. Everything looks great, except the taillights - they've changed the park/brake lights to be a single dual-filament bulb, and the lens looks a little off. I'll try 'em out, and if they suck, I'll junkyard some others.

25 January 2004: agidius and I pulled the heads off the engine today, and everything looks very very good. The #4 intake valve was apparently the open one, and all the f.e. crud that got in there just soaked up the oil and fuel and turned into sludge, which was easily cleanable. Finally some good news. Also, I've been thinking about it, and talking about it, and I think that starting over with a new body is the answer - body swap! The search for a good, not-too-expensive body begins. Then I can redo all the things I did wrong with this current body, and I won't have to do any fixage of the burned (or smashed, or rusted-out) panels, and it could happen that I end up with a serviceable paint job, at least in the short term. We also cleaned up a bunch of parts this afternoon, including the transaxle, which is looking pretty spiffy compared to yesterday, the carb bodies, the half-shafts, and the pushrod tubes. I'm gonna POR-15 the half-shafts sometime this week. That'll make 'em look really nice, and be protective at the same time.

24 January 2004: I spent the afternoon poking around in the garage. I pulled the other half-shaft, and the transaxle, and the body and frame back in there look really bad. I'd like to get the body off so I can get at the frame, but that's so much work. I'll have to think about it some more.

22 January 2004: I ordered the electrical parts from Waytek today. They should be here sometime early next week too. I'll be drowing in parts!

21 January 2004: I ordered some parts from Rocky Mountain Motorworks this afternoon, including the few parts I need for the engine dis/assembly, the CV joint boots, and the rear light assemblies. Hopefully they'll show up before next weekend, so I can get some of that stuff going.

17 January 2004: I broke out the spools of wire, and built up a new rear main harness today. I did change the color of one of the wires, just so it wouldn't be confusing. I had an extra pair of trailer harness hookups, so I went ahead and soldered the new wires onto the connection block. And of course I've bought all the quick-connect solder connectors at all local EPOs, so I'll have to order some. I'm sure Waytek has 'em; I just have to figure out what they call 'em.

16 January 2004: I finally got some heater hose and clamps for the breather filter, so that's done. I also spent a little while pulling out the remainder of the rear main wiring harness. I'll probably wait until the engine is back in to rewire, but that's one less thing I need to do.

04 January 2004: agidius came over, and we did a lot of cleanup on the body. I wire wheeled the remaining burned paint, and agidius hosed everything down to get the remainder of the f.e. crud off. Then we did a quick wipedown with acetone, and primered the bare spots. It all looks (and smells) so much better. We also did some scrubbing on the rest of the cooling tin; most of it came quite clean, but I need to take most of it to the folks for some minor polishing on the bench grinder. Also built a couple more fuel/oil lines since I got some hose parts at Clear Lake Speed yesterday. I was thinking of pulling the heads today, but I'll hold off on that until I get the pushrod tube seals later this month.

27 December 2003: agidius came over today to help pull the engine, which we actually finished. I blew most of the powder off the engine with the air hose (which took forever with my tiny little compressor). The powder stuff didn't stick to the aluminum block and heads much, but stuck much more to the iron cylinders. I hope any powder which got inside any cylinders didn't stick in the bores too much. With the very limited running time the engine had, I should be able to hone them up again, if necessary. We also noticed that ALL FOUR of the CV joint boots are melty, so they all need to be replaced. The throttle-cable and clutch-cable tubes are both melty as well. Bleh. At least it's not as stinky in the garage any more; seems that it was the f.e. powder.

19 December 2003: We went out to Houston Raceway Park tonight, and it was a complete disaster. I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

17 December 2003: I went out to the junkyard today and picked up a seatbelt and a windshield, since it looks like the lexan is NOT going to get here in time. agidius came over this afternoon, and we started in on the windows and the battery box. Since the battery is still in the clutches of the BMW, we couldn't finish that up, and the rear window was being such a pain, we didn't finish putting in the windows either. But we did get a lot of stuff done.

16 December 2003: I picked up the battery box at Clear Lake Speed today. Looks like it'll fit pretty well, and obviates the need for the battery strap I was making. The Bimmer still has a death grip on the red-top, so I'll try mounting it all up tomorrow when I return from the junkyard.

15 December 2003: Just found out that my lexan isn't going to be here until the 18th. I don't trust that it'll either get here on time, or that I can do the cut-n-fit in one night. So it looks like I'm going to have to buy a damn window at the junkyard this week. And it also looks like I'm going to have to get the battery box after all, since the battery must be closed off from the driver's compartment (which it isn't) to run at an NHRA track. On a good note, the speedo sender is hooked up (minus an e-clip on the wheel end of the cable), and wired up. So I just need to calibrate it, which I think we can do on the way to the track this Friday. I'd like to put some miles on the engine on the way to the track, but I don't know if that'll be possible.

14 December 2003: Got to work this afternoon doing a few of the things that needed finishing. The hood pins are all in, though they still need more tweaking. The hood goes down all the way, and the pins are located pretty much correctly, but it's a stone bitch to get the hood off again. It'll probably just take a little work with the dremel. I also built a couple of wires for the speedo sender, but didn't install it in the car yet. I finished cutting the hole in the battery strap, but since the battery is actually not currently in the car (it's standing in for the Bimmer's dead battery right now), I couldn't go any further.

10 December 2003: I took the speedo cable and sender out to a speedo repair place to get a new sender end installed. It took about an hour, and cost a lot more than I expected, but it's done. Maybe we can get the speedo finally hooked up and calibrated this Sunday. I did a little reaming on the hood pin holes, and got things a bit closer to where they need to be. I also started making a battery strap, but while cutting out the hole for the front clip, I got hit again with the scourge of the dying batteries. And for some reason, agidius's sabre saw isn't working. Hmmm.

08 December 2003: I picked up the tow bar after work tonight, and hooked it up, so that's ready to go. I also did a little more work on the hood pins, drilling the other hole in the hood. We apparently didn't measure quite right, because the hood sits a little bit too low. I couldn't really ream the holes because it was getting pretty late and Mr. Wimpy Ears would probably complain.

07 December 2003: After we got back from Autorama today, agidius and I did a little work on the hood pins. Of course both of the batteries for my drill were more or less dead, so we didn't get a whole lot done. We did get the front pins mounted in the body, and one of the holes in the hood before final battery death.

06 December 2003: Got down to Clear Lake Speed today and picked up some hood pins. I also snagged a Y-fitting for the front fuel lines (the T just spreads the lines out way too much), and a filter for the fuel cell breather. I was at agidius's working on his truck, so no work today. Maybe I'll start on the hood pins tomorrow before we meet to goto Autorama.

03 December 2003: I ordered the polycarbonate for the windows today from Pierce-Ohio. They said it should ship within 7 days. Then I get to figure out how to cut the stuff. I'm thinking a sabre saw with maybe a metal blade will probably do the trick, and then I can probably smooth the edges out with a file. The first track day for this car is now set - the 19th of December. All I gotta do is finish up the windows, get a seatbelt, and pick up a tow bar. And maybe get the speedo hooked up and calibrated by then.

26 November 2003: Took it over to the alignment shop, and got 'em to swap the new tires in and do the alignment. I had 'em dial in a little negative camber while we were there; the tie rods weren't even close. It rides SO much better now. And just because I wanted to get some real miles on the engine, I drove back from the shop. It handled very well, and more to the point, it was WAY more responsive than the old engine ever thought of being. I wasn't even all the way into the throttle, and it was definitely pushing me back into the seat! And wouldn't you know it, we drove right by a Metro police guy, but he was talking on his phone and didn't apparently notice me. I will not look that gift horse in the mouth. It's track time once I get some lexan for the windshield.

25 November 2003: I had a flash of inspiration - why not do a little bending on the too-small headlight connectors, and maybe they'll fit? Well sure enough, that worked like a champ, so now the headlights are connected and working great. I also talked to Junior, who's coming out tomorrow to tow me over to the alignment shop. Maybe I'll drive the car back from the shop, to get a little running time on the engine, and to heat it up really well for tuning the carbs.

24 November 2003: What's cooler than a running car? That's right, one that moves under its own power! I put the carb back in (the JB Weld took care of the leak), and hooked everything back up, and took 'er for a spin down the alleyway. Sweet! The clutch is just right - a big WOO goes out to agidius! And after bleeding the brakes yesterday, they're much better too. It's not nearly as loud outside, since it doesn't have a garage around it to concentrate the sound. I also put the trunk lid back on, just because I was bored, and I was sick of moving those little parts around on the workbench. I tried to put the gas pedal back on, but it was being a bitch. I'm going to try tuning the carbs a little tomorrow, and maybe if I feel daring I'll actually take it out for a short drive.

23 November 2003: It lives! Twenty-nine months to the day after I took the engine out, the new engine is running. Once we got done with the two obligatory "crap, we forgot <item>" runs, and ended up forgetting other stuff but just winging it, and having to pull the starter to test it (which ended up working just fine), it fired almost right up. No eternal cranking, though it was kinda sluggish at first. But then it roared to life, and I do mean ROARED - I was prepared for it to be very loud, but maybe not quite as loud as it is. I gotta get a muffler. Then Teeleton and HotRodV6 had to skedaddle, and agidius and I worked on all the piddly little stuff - agidius spent a good while adjusting the clutch (which is set up fantastically now, woo!), we bled the brakes, and I JB Welded one of the carbs which had a leak out of the fuel line fitting. We also put the fenders back on, hooked up the brake lights (which work fine), and started working on the headlights, until I noticed that the "standard" size quick-disconnects wouldn't fit on the headlight prongs. The oil temp gauge doesn't register anything, because I think the sender is not grounded. And the fuel level gauge doesn't register anything, for an unknown reason; we have full continuity, the lines are all hooked up to the right posts, and the gauge goes to E when we turn the master switch on. But the important thing here is that it runs, it runs, it runs!!!!

22 November 2003: I put the fan shroud back in, and it was a bit easier than I remember it being. All the wiring to the coil (distrib cap, Pertronix Igniter, tach, ignition switch) are sized and soldered where necessary, and all is hooked up and ready to go. And that means that all wiring that needs to be complete to have a running engine, is complete. Oil drain plug is in, awaiting oil. If I can't find a drill bit to enlarge the new hole in the driver-side for the breather hose, I do have enough hose to just hang it over the side of the car for now. I also made the parts store run for oil, a fan belt, a nut for the alternator, and an oil filter, and to the gas station for some fuel.

21 November 2003: Against my better judgement, I pulled the fan shroud (again) to drill some holes for the coil. The coil is all mounted, but since putting the fan shroud on is possibly about a 5-hand job, I'll wait until turn-on day on Sunday to put it back on (when Teeleton and agidius are coming). Or maybe tomorrow, so I can go pick up a fan belt, while I'm getting oil. I also drilled a small hole for the upcoming big hole for the driver-side breather line. To finish up the hole, somewhere I need to find a 7/8" drill bit that will fit in my drill chuck. Not apparently a simple task. And yes, you did read that right - it's turn-on day Sunday.

14 November 2003: I found a few quick-disconnect ends which had some insulation, so I stripped off the insulation and soldered them up. More excellent soldering! Woo! Everything except the two coil wires are now ready to go. The oil pressure wire is cut to length and has the appropriate end soldered on, but it's not hooked up yet (haven't installed the sender, because I'm not 100% sure about the thread). Got some light out of one of the rear light assemblies too. More WOO!

13 November 2003: I got out in the garage tonight and messed with the last of the wiring. The alternator and oil temp sender are all hooked up, the brake lights are ready to go once I mount the fenders, and everything in the engine compartment is loomed up. I've still gotta mount the coil and oil pressure sender, so those wires are just dangling free right now. And of course, I need 6 more quick-disconnect wire ends to finish up the taillight ground wires and coil wires, and I only have 3. Despite these constant setbacks, there's very little left between now and starting.

09 November 2003: It's showing brain activity, but no pulse just yet. agidius came over again, and we kicked ass. Everthing in front of the firewall is completely wired. The dash is painted and pretty much completely installed. The battery is wired up, and all the switches that we flipped work fine. We've gotten response out of 5 of the 6 gauges, the fuel pump turned on for a short second, and the dash lights work great (looks too sweet with the garage lights out). It even looks like the Fuel Safe guys calibrated the level sender that they installed in my fuel cell. Too cool. The remaining gauge that's not really responding is a temp gauge, and isn't getting any signal at all, so I'm not surprised. Sometime this week I'm hoping to get the brake lights wired up and tested, and maybe start on some of the other engine wiring - there's a whole 6 or so to fit and hook up. No pics, because we were working hard today.

05 November 2003: The IDAs came in the mail today. They're HUGE - they stand about 13.5" above the heads, where the IDFs only stand about 10". They both also really need a rebuild, since the throttle action is very sticky on both. But getting a pair of carbs like that, at that price, a rebuild kit is a small extra price to pay.

01 November 2003: Went down to BAP today and picked up an oil filler neck. The gasket that came with the filler was a shade on the thick side, so I spent a little time with the dremel gently thinning it down, so the vent port would point in the right direction. Went on like a charm, and now 2 of the 3 breather ports are hooked up. Still gotta bore a hole on the left side.

30 October 2003: I messed with the breather this evening. I ground down the insides of the breather ports in the valve covers, just to make sure they'd clear the rockers. I then hooked up the passenger side hose; all done there. I measured and cut the drain hose, which plugs into the filler, but wouldn't you know that the stock filler port is way too large for that hose. And I also found out that I either lost or threw away the non-stock filler neck I used to have, so I'll have to get another one. It never ends. Then I went to hook up the driver side hose, and there's no similar hole as in the passenger wheel well, so I'll have to do some surgery.

24 October 2003: The breather kit came in today, so I poked around in the garage a little tonight, mounting the breather box to the firewall. It's on there with sheet-metal screws for the time being, which isn't good, since sheet metal screws always end up stripping out. It's just what they do. I pulled the valve covers off, in anticipation of drilling the holes for the breather, but wouldn't you know that none of the drills here have chucks large enough to hold the necessary 5/8" bit. Looks like I'll have to take the valve covers out to the folks' drill press. Then I cleaned up my bench, because it was a total mess, and it was driving me crazy. I think I'm going to stay with the plain-jane, non-braided-stainless hose that came with the kit, since it'll probably cost me another hundred bucks to get the fittings and maybe more hose. Later for that.

20 October 2003: I finally ordered the breather box kit from The Real Source today. I'm pretty sure that's the absolute last engine part I need. I just need to mount a couple more things up (the coil, the breather), and finish up the wiring, and it'll be running time!

19 October 2003: agidius and Will The Thrill came over today, and we worked on the electrical system... again. ALL wiring (save the one that splices into the alt-to-fusebox line, that goes to the battery) is now in the car. None of the rear stuff is hooked up yet, but it's all in there, in the loom, and all that. agidius and Will took care of all that stuff. While that was going on, I was cutting/welding/grinding the dash mounting brackets. The two top brackets are done, with a little judicious welding of the screws to actually attach the dash, and the part that both mounts the fusebox and mounts the dash right hand side to the car, is mostly done. Some more bending needs to occur, since I apparently didn't measure right. Imagine that, something not fitting properly, despite measuring.

13 October 2003: Dude, I totally scored on eBay today! I won an auction on a pair of 48 IDA carburetors and intakes. Sweet! And I got 'em for a nice price too. Double sweet!

04 October 2003: agidius came over again, and we did more wiring stuff. Turns out we forgot a couple wires up in the front, so we finished them up. Then we worked on the loom, and the front harness is done, done, done. Well, except for hooking up the headlights, but the fenders aren't even on the car, so yeah, whatever. We finished cutting out the hole in the dash for the fusebox (though it's not mounted yet), and started fitting up the wires for the switches. We also got most of the brake system wiring ready to go. A good productive day.

29 September 2003: The wire loom kit I ordered from JC Whitney came in today, so I'm good for loom for a while now. I poked around with some of the wiring this evening, and cut and crimped some more of the dash wiring, mostly the switch connections. I attempted soldering one of the connectors, but either I was doing it wrong, or there was something wrong with the soldering iron - it just didn't seem like it was getting very hot. I also tried cutting some more on the dash for the fusebox hole, but it was pretty loud, and one of my neighbors likes to bitch at me when I make noise. I think I'm going to have to cut out some strapping to brace the back of the dash, since the area around the fusebox hole is pretty flimsy. I've still gotta make the mounting brackets for the dash anyway. Maybe I'll hit that early tomorrow evening, before Mr. Wimpy-Ears goes to bed, or whatever.

27 September 2003: agidius came over today and we hit the wiring again. The front harness is pretty much complete, and the dash lighting is done, at which time we ran out of connectors again. Next weekend, we'll be trying to finish up the rear harness. I'm going to take a count of the number and type of connectors we need, and then get 10% more, so we won't run out again. We also started cutting out a hole in the dash for the fusebox, but dammit if my batteries weren't both dead again. <sigh>

13 September 2003: Agidius and Teeleton and I all went down to Clear Lake Speed to pick up some parts; what a cool shop. Got a red-top battery, and also some hose and fittings to put the oil temp sensor in the oil path. We also stopped at EPO for crimp wire ends. And then we went back and started in on the wiring harness. We stripped out the old one, and started measuring and cutting some new wires. The front harness is pretty much complete - the headlights, fuel pump, and fuel gauge sender leads are all run, and almost all connected (gotta get some bigger ring terminals for the fuel cell static ground). We also fit all the gauges up in the dash, and worked on some of the wiring for them, but we ran out of male spade connector ends. It's always something. So we built the oil filter feed line, with the temp sensor in the middle, and hooked that all up. We also fit the dash up in the car, and bolted it down on the steering column - it looks totally sweet!

07 September 2003: Started in on the dash again today. The batteries were fully charged, and after getting all the way through 2 of the 6 holes to be cut, they were both dead again. I went out to the folks' and finished up. Once I got everything clamped and braced, it went very quickly. I think it took me all of an hour to get the remaining 4 holes cut and smoothed. I did both bends, and fit everything up in the cockpit - fits great! I may need to bend the main bend a little further, but it's damn cool right now.

01 September 2003: Finally got out to the store for saw blades and a file, and hit the dash a bit. I decided that I needed to start out with a pilot hole along the edge of each hole, so I drilled those. I got a little bit of sawing done before my batteries finally died. If not for those batteries, I would have gotten much more done. Maybe it's time to look at some tools with cords...

22 August 2003: Took the dashboard blank out to the folks' to bore the gauge holes out with the circle cutter. The cutter, which was listed to work with metal, didn't really. It dulled into unusability pretty quickly; it was probably only supposed to be used with aluminum. My dad suggested using the hole cutter as a marking tool, and finishing up the holes with a sabre saw and a half-round file. Sounded like a good idea, so that's what'll happen. Gotta hit the tool store for the blades and file.

21 August 2003: The fuel system is COMPLETE, and it looks TOUGH! agidius came over today, and we finished up TONS of stuff. After we finished mounting the fuel cell, we hooked up the fuel cell breather line, and then started on the dashboard. We laid it out on posterboard, and cut out a piece of sheet metal. I'm going to cut out the gauge holes and maybe make the bend tomorrow out at the folks'. After we finished that up, we started in on the pedals; the new throttle cable is installed, and the pedal cluster is mounted once again. Unfortunately, the clutch seems to want a whole lot more adjustment than seems proper, but as it stands now, it barely starts to disengage the gears with the pedal on the floor. That's for another time, since it was 22:45 when we finally called it quits for the day.

11 August 2003: I got out and finished up drilling all the holes in the fuel cell mount backing plates, so all of them are done. The only holes left to drill are on the front ends of the straps, and in the body where the straps hook down in the front. The driver's side strap might need a little more bending; we weren't very impressed by the way it fit on Saturday, but we had run out of time. We might be able to get back after it this coming Sunday.

10 August 2003: Picked up the rest of my wiring order at the folks'. I am now totally loaded for wire; I could mess up the entire harness about 5 times, and still have plenty left. Jeez!

09 August 2003: Got tons of work done on the fuel cell today. Teeleton and agidius from the HASTE clan came out and helped. Despite the fact that we didn't actually finish up and get the fuel cell mounted, we ended up pretty close - a lot closer than I would have gotten in like 3 days of work. The way I wanted to do the mounting, while fairly straightforward, turns out that actually getting all the parts together and screwed down is something like a 3D jigsaw puzzle. An extremely hard 3D jigsaw puzzle. But there's not a whole lot left on the fuel cell, and after that it's just wiring and a few other small things on the engine, and maybe we can turn it on...

08 August 2003: Got word from my dad that the rest of my wiring showed up there; I'll have to go pick it up maybe Sunday. Work day tomorrow!

04 August 2003: The non-special-order part of the wiring order came today. Man, that was fast! I'm guessing the striped stuff will probably get here definitely by next Monday, if not by this Friday. But in the meanwhile, I'll need to start working on the dash, so I'll know how much wire I'll need to cut. My parts-to-buy list is starting to get pretty short. Finally!

01 August 2003: I have FINALLY been able to get a response from a wiring supplier, so the order is on its way. Waytek Wire is the place to go; order minimums are only 250 feet per line (as opposed to 500 or 1000 for most other places I've seen). Hopefully that stuff should start showing up next week. The couple of striped wires I've got on order have a 3-day lead time, so that probably won't get here until after next weekend. Then I can start building my harnesses, and finally get some things into motion. Work day next Saturday; agidius is coming, and maybe I can get another person to come out too. The fuel system is on the docket, and we're going to finish it up, dammit! Or else!

29 June 2003: I got around to cutting and installing the throttle linkage arms today, and despite having NO instructions (thanks to Berg's sucky "instructions"), it went in with no problems. I was concerned about getting to full throttle the way the linkage seemed to want to go, but my fears were unfounded. Full throttle is no problem. After that was finished, I started measuring the 2"x1/8" steel I got the other day for strapping the fuel cell down, and decided it would be easier to bend with a torch. I also measured around for a thrust bearing to go behind the alternator pulley; just gotta make some calls now, I guess. Then I washed the BMW, and that was it for the day - it's getting to be summertime in Texas.

09 June 2003: I measured, drilled, and tapped the holes in the fuel cell frame for the studs. They came out damn good, despite my not having quite the right drill bit (the dremel tool comes through again as a reamer). The junebugs were out in force tonight, so they got what they had comin' to 'em...

01 June 2003: I went to Home Depot and Lowe's in search of some decent flat head machine bolts to use to hold up the front end of the fuel cell frame, and in addition to finding exactly bupkiss, I had a flash of inspiration. Why not use studs? I can drill and tap the frame, since it's got some thickness, and studs can be pretty long... Sounded like a winner plan, and I had just the studs too - old main studs. They're really strong, already threaded on both ends (metrically, no less), and it turns out that the shorter ones are just the right length (with a touch of cutting). I can weld the tops into the frame as well, and it should work out great. I also found a bin for 2"x1/8" flat steel at Home Depot, for the fuel cell straps and windshield anti-cave strips, but they didn't have any left. I've probably got some old bolts I can use to fasten those down too. Reuse! Can't beat it! I came home and chased all the threads on the studs, and decided that after yesterday, that was a good enough work day. Lame, I know, but that's a big weight off my mind.

31 May 2003: I finally finished up the fuel cell mounting, uh, "alcove". And I think that covers it for cut/shape/rivet for a while too! Woohoo! I really detest doing that stuff, though I think I'm starting to get the hang of shaping sheet metal a little bit. I was going to start cutting the carb linkage to size this afternoon, but I just ran out of gas.

28 May 2003: Finally got the carb fittings all finished up and installed, so I got the carbs bolted onto the engine. I also put the fan shroud back on, and of course the "air spout" for the oil cooler that goes through the front plate was being a pain, so I had to reinstall that after I put the shroud on. I then started trying to hook up the throttle linkage, and it turns out that the threaded rods are too long, so I'll have to cut them. One step forward... and stop. And the bonus deal: Berg's instructions for hooking up the linkage totally SUCK. I'm just not going to buy any more parts from them.

17 May 2003: Got out to my folks' to pick up my new bottoming tap, and finished tapping out the carb fittings. Took a whole 2 minutes per carb. Man, doing work like this is so easy when you have the right tools for the job. But if you don't... ugh.

05 May 2003: Finally found a source for bottoming taps that was both in the country, and not godawful expensive, so I ordered one (and a few other tools I needed). Once they arrive I'll be able to finish up the carbs once and for all, and get the engine all ready to fire.

03 May 2003: I finally did most of the remaining work to flatten out the fuel cell location. Even though I borrowed a level from Ken, I didn't manage to level the thing. If it had been a 2-person job, level-ness would have been no problem, but holding the metal down, checking the level, and drilling the rivet holes all at the same time just isn't quite possible with one person. I've still got to cut, form, and rivet the end pieces, but it's looking much closer to done than it has of late.

27 April 2003: Welded up the fuel cell frame, and FINALLY did some decent welding. Now to finish up the sheet metal work, and mount the frame.

26 April 2003: I went out the the folks' place to cut the angle iron into a fuel cell frame. The Porta-Band thing was too cool; it's a miniature bandsaw (probably 5-6") with a hacksaw blade, and it goes through metal pipes and stuff like butter - ideal for doing something like this. Made the cuts and ground them to exact 45 degree angles with the angle grinder (the porta-band is heavy, and hard to hold steady for non-90-degree cuts). Probably do the welding tomorrow. I'll get some pics then, since I forgot the camera today.

21 April 2003: I finally got off my duff and went down to the Home Depot to find some angle iron, and whaddya know, they had exactly what I needed. I also picked up some more cutting wheels and rivets, since I usually manage to go through both those things mega-quick. So this weekend, I need to get to work flattening out the front and making the fuel cell mounting frame.

06 April 2003: I picked up a fuel pump blockoff plate yesterday at BAP and installed it. One more thing off the big checklist. Gotta get moving on this stuff again; it's not going to run unless I finish up. Gotta finish up the carbs, buy wire for the gauges and switches, and finish up the fuel cell mounting stuff.

02 March 2003: I took the carbs out to my folks' for a consult, and everything looked good, so my dad and I went ahead and drilled and tapped them to 12mm/1.5. Everything went pretty smoothly, but I need to score a bottoming tap to get the actual threads down far enough to screw the fittings in all the way. After that's done, I can do the final fuel line hookup, put the fan shroud back on, and hook up the throttle linkage.

27 February 2003: I finished up the front bulkhead tonight. Forming the last part was actually pretty easy, since I'd figured out exactly which bends I needed to make with the other side piece (half of it was by hand, i.e. no tools). It riveted in with no problems (other than the fact that the hand-tightening chuck on my drill never gets quite tight enough, and the bits slip). One more big thing crossed off the to-do list. Saturday I'll look at flattening out the fuel cell location, but I may need to get more rivets to do that - I've almost killed that 100 box already!

26 February 2003: I picked up my parts from the machine shop today, since they won't be able to make the fittings without putting me in the poor-house. When I was screwing the hose nipple back into the carb, I had a flash of inspiration - there's quite a bit of metal around that hole, so I might be able to enlarge the hole in the carb, instead of trying to shrink the fittings. It seems like a 12mm/1.5 thread would fit in all that excess metal pretty well. The depth might be a problem, but I can always hack the end off the fitting. I'll get a second opinion (and maybe do the drilling) this weekend. I also picked up some more 1/8" drill bits this afternoon to finish up the riveting, and I scored a vise while I was there. Now I can finish up those damn AN fittings at home instead of trekking all the way out to my folks' place.

22 February 2003: Got the remains of the fresh air box air-chiselled off, because it was getting in the way of some of my rivets. I cut both of the side pieces for the bulkhead, and got the left one shaped - man, what a struggle. I think I tried about 5 or 6 different paths for the crease, and finally just started riveting it from the bottom, and once I got enough in, started whacking it to shape, which actually worked pretty well. I finished riveting the bottom of the center piece, so I'm ever closer to having a proper bulkhead. I fit the steering wheel again, and there is a TON of room for the gauges, now that there are no lumps in the way. Sweet! The third piece of the bulkhead is cut, but not shaped; I just plain ran out of steam. I managed to break the 1/8" drill bit on the last rivet hole in the left piece, so I'll have to hit the hardware store before any more riveting takes place.

21 February 2003: I called the other machine shop today, since they hadn't bothered to call me. They want to charge about as much as the first guy did (about $200), so I'm going to have to figure out something else for these damn fittings.

19 February 2003: I ran out to Katy to pick up my parts, and grabbed an AN8 bulkhead connector for the breather line while I was there. I also finally got hold of the machine shop guy, and went over there; he said it'd be extremely expensive for him to do it, but he gave me another place to try. The other machine shop was pretty optimistic about prices and possibilities, though the guy who'd actually be doing the work was apparently not there today. Hopefully I'll hear from them by tomorrow. I installed the air cleaners this evening, and they're pretty damn cool. I'm not totally sure whether or not I'm supposed to leave the velocity stacks on the carbs; they come pretty close to the top plate, where they might not get a whole lotta flow, so I've left them out for now. I'll get a second opinion from one of the other monkeys. Oh, and I also scored a bigass box of rivets today, and finished up the remaining holes along the top; this Saturday will be rivet finish-up day, I hope.

17 February 2003: Got the call from Martel Brothers today - my parts are IN! I'll go pick 'em up Wednesday. I tried to goto the machine shop today, but nobody was there. I'll call 'em tomorrow and see if they'll be there Wednesday, since I'll be out and about anyway. This evening, the riveting has begun. I got most of the top of the center portion done by the time I ran out of rivets. It's always something.

16 February 2003: Did a whole bunch of different things today, but didn't finish much. I installed some new pegboard hooks on my workbench for my wrenches and a few screwdrivers. I cut and bent (with the help of Nickbot) the center piece for the front bulkhead; the Nickbot brought one of his own metal-cutting projects, so we hit it the power tools. I mounted the oil filter mount under the left rear fender, and ground one of the random holes through the body a little larger so one of the filter lines would fit through; turns out that particular line is about 2" too short anyway. I found an insert for the stock fuel pump hole and stuck it in the engine. I'm headed to a machine shop on Monday to get a couple fuel-line-to-carb fittings made, and I'll see about a pump block-off plate at the same time.

08 February 2003: I finished up the rest of the fuel lines this afternoon - there is now a complete path from the fuel cell to the pressure regulator, and (sorta) beyond. Both the long and the bulkhead-to-regulator hoses fit perfectly; it's a thing of beauty, I tell you! I also figured out that the fittings on the carbs are 10mm/1.0, not 12mm/1.0. The various fitting companies make AN4-10mm/1.0 adapters, but I don't want to have three inches of adapters coming off my carburetors. The 3/4 carb is close enough to the firewall as it is. I think I'll just need to call up the Acme aluminum guy and see if he can make a couple AN6-10mm/1.0 adapters for me. I'll get to pick up my air cleaners and electrical switches sometime next week; the guys at Martel Brothers didn't have that stuff in stock, so they had to order it. But that's more stuff off both the parts list and the stuff-to-do list.

05 February 2003: Yesterday I made a very detailed list of the things I had left to do, and it's helping a lot already. Today, I finished torquing the top left engine mounting bolt (and it's quite long, but not apparently too long), pulled the fan shroud, inserted the throttle cable tube into it, ground some recesses for the throttle linkage and installed the main part of it on the shroud, installed the fuel pressure regulator on the firewall, and installed the distributor. I also had a look at my fuel lines, marked two which needed to be shortened, and located and measured where the fuel cell vent line is going to go. A very productive day! More piddly little stuff is DONE, which means less I have to do! Saturday will be a trip to a local braided hose supplier (and hopefully some other parts I need), finishing up the fuel lines, and then forming and fitting the new bulkhead pieces.

04 February 2003: It's settled: welding, spot or otherwise, is out. Rivets are what's going to happen. It's fast, it's easier, it's surely less expensive, it's probably just as strong (not that this is a big strength area), and best of all I know how to do it. This Saturday, it's cut, form, and RIVET. The fuel cell frame will still have to be welded, I think, but that might actually be doable, since it's a good deal thicker than the body panels. I don't have the angle iron yet, so that's academic at this point. I'm also compiling a complete list of things that need to happen, and things that still need to be bought. It's mostly nickel-and-dime stuff, but it's all necessary. The job list is longer than I want to think about, and though most of them are small and self-contained, most need to be done in a certain sequence. It never ends...

29 January 2003: Fuel system stuff today. I mounted the fuel pump on the cross piece, and it went in without any trouble. I fed the long fuel line through the passenger-side heater channel, and it's a little tricky making the 90 degree turn where the heater channel starts. Getting the AN8 breather line through there might be even trickier, especially since there'll be an AN6 line getting in the way too. There was a hole in the front cooling tin for the reverse light leads to the transmission (which won't be used, of course) that's just the right size, and in the right place, to install the bulkhead union fitting. So that's installed. The long fuel line turned out to be a bit too long (I'm not surprised; I included lots of slop in my measurements), so it'll need to be shortened. Which isn't a bad thing anyway, since I need to replace the (stripped) fitting on the pump end with a 45 degree angle fitting. I think I'm going to have to pull the fan shroud to get the fuel pressure regulator/carb lines mounted to the firewall, but not today. I also managed to get the mangly throttle cable out, by jamming another piece of wire in and jiggling it around. I took the throttle cable tube from the old fan shroud, cleaned it up, and will have to install it in the new fan shroud when I get a chance.

19 January 2003: Finished up the rest of my fuel lines today. I may have stripped one more fitting, but I may have also cut that particular line (the one from pump to regulator - the long one) a bit long. So it might actually work out OK. But I still will have to get one more fitting; surely there's some place I can get them locally?

17 January 2003: The rest of my fuel line stuff came in today, so I'll probably head out to the folks' this weekend to finish them up (finally!). Just gotta do a little measuring first. And I'll try not to strip out any more of the connectors this time...

12 January 2003: I ordered the remainder of my fuel line gear today. Hopefully it'll be here by next weekend.

11 January 2003: Teel and Ken came by, and we installed the engine today. Man, it's been so long since there's been anything in the trunk of the car, it almost looks a little weird... Teel and I came up with an alternative plan for connecting the fuel system together - I'm going to run the hoses from front to back not using the pipe in the frame tunnel, but full braided hoses through the right side heater channel. I also tried to get the mangly throttle cable out, but it got stuck about halfway down the frame tunnel. I can't push it back, and I can't pull it any further, and it's fully gooped up with grease. No wonder I always had to add more spring to the throttle linkage, so it would actually return to idle.

08 January 2003: I tried to do some more welding on the bulkhead, but it just wasn't happening. I banged the piece out, threw it away, and ground off all the excess crap. I'm going to make another piece, and try renting a spot welder, which ought to work much better. I'm not sure if it's my fault, since my welding experience is nil, or if this cheapo welder is just not up to the task. Maybe a little of both.

17 December 2002: I started welding the middle section of the front bulkhead in, and didn't do too well. Two small sections showed decent penetration, but the rest of it was just crappy. Grind it off and start again, I suppose.

14 December 2002: I worked on my fuel lines again, and it turns out that I forgot to include three fittings on my diagram, so I ordered three too few. Damn, and I was hoping to finish the hoses up this weekend. With all the stuff that's going on these days (holidays, shortness of cash, etc.), it's probably not going to run this year. I still have yet to get time to weld the front bulkhead in.

08 December 2002: Started building my fuel lines today, and of the 9 hoses I have to make, I finished up 6. Not bad - 2/3 of the way done. Of course my fingers hurt like nobody's business from all the squishing and pressing and whatnot; it's quite clear to me now why the people who will make these hoses for you charge so much. I only managed to perforate one finger once, so it could have been much worse. On the down side, the 12mm/1.5 fittings that were listed for Weber carbs, don't fit; the proper size appears to be 12mm/1.0. And guess what size nobody makes...

06 December 2002: Both shipments of the fuel line stuff came today. Looks like this Sunday will be fuel line day.

01 December 2002: I started over on the bulkhead with a completely new piece of metal. I made a makeshift brake out of my workbench, a toolbox full of tools, and Brenda standing atop the toolbox. The bend was easy, and only a little more banging was needed to flare the sides out just the right amount. I had to cut the top corners off so the piece would fit in, and fit it did! Now I just gotta get motivated to weld it in.

30 November 2002: I ordered the fuel hose and fittings today, so hopefully I'll be able to get all those made in the next couple weeks. It's still possible that the car will run before the end of the year, but it's going to be some work. I want to put the engine in the car to both get it off the floor and get ready for running, but I don't think that would be a good idea until I get the front bulkhead welded up. Tomorrow I should be able to get some more work in on the bulkhead; I think using multiple pieces is probably the way to go on that, so I'll continue along that route.

27 November 2002: I banged on the bulkhead replacement most of the afternoon, and just wasn't getting anywhere. So then I thought it might make things easier if I did it in multiple pieces, since the complex curves at the sides might be easier if there isn't a big crease along the whole piece. I got somewhat close, but it got late and I got tired.

25 November 2002: Got back from racing school today; man, that could not have been more fun! I didn't have time to get any pics, so nothing exciting to show. I'm totally ready to get out and start driving after all that, but dammit if my car has no engine.

18 November 2002: I picked up my driving gloves at Pro-Am this afternoon, so I'm all set for racing school later this week. I hit the airport on Thursday morning, and start driving on Friday!

17 November 2002: I started banging the replacement bulkhead to shape, and it was moving much more slowly than I'd hoped. The sides are more-or-less curled up like they need to be (the left side needs a bit more work, but it's close), and I just need to do the crease along the length. I also did some wire-wheeling of the undersides of the fenders, and the fender wells, just to clean some of the crap out. That's some nasty stuff in there.

16 November 2002: I cut the replacement piece for the bulkhead. It's just flat at this point, so I'll need to bang it to shape tomorrow.

10 November 2002: I got a jack to brace the frame tunnel, so I finished cutting out the front bulkhead. It came out pretty quickly; I was surprised that I was able to cut through the left side of the fresh air box so easily, when the right side was such a pain in the ass. Now I just need to cut, shape, and weld in the new flat piece, so I can cut the right-side footwell and fit the fuel cell in more properly. I also figured out how to remove the hood hinges; the clips are pretty simple once you figure out the trick. I banged on the front right fender and ground it down to try to get rid of some of the dents. I also ground down the rest of the spiky things in the engine compartment, so I wouldn't stab myself anymore.

09 November 2002: I picked up my racing shoes today at Pro-Am. They're black high-top Simpson shoes, and having them on is like wearing slippers, they're SO comfortable. They should have my gloves in by Wednesday, and then I'll be all set for racing school later this month.

27 October 2002: Finished porting out the exhaust gaskets today, which was some seriously mindless stuff. I also did some test welding on the piece I ripped out of the dash already; I got some good beads, but ran out of time and energy to chop off some of the new metal and try to weld it to my test piece. It seems that the real key is to have a clean surface, and you get much better results. Welding a painted surface gives you nothing but crap.

25 October 2002: With the help of the Nickbot, I picked up my metal from the metal supplier this afternoon. I now officially have a shitload of steel! And on the way back to my place, the fuel cell (re)appeared. A good day for parts all around. Now to figure out how to weld the stuff; apparently voltage control is the key to doing body work. If all goes well, I could possibly have most of the front end done this weekend...

23 October 2002: I went to the metal distributor and the junkyard today, and came home with the upper engine mounting bolts. If I'd had a truck, I would have gotten the metal too. But I have a quote, and all I've gotta do is coopt somebody's truck and pick the stuff up.

20 October 2002: I picked up a grinder and cutoff wheel at Lowe's today (and got hassled by the receipt-checking dude by not letting him see my receipt, what fun). I started hacking out the front bulkhead with the grinder and sawzall, and the middle started sagging, so I stopped. I figure I can get a jack and put some upward pressure on the frame tunnel to get rid of the sag. But the passenger side of the bulkhead is lying on the floorboard now. There's a BIG catch, however: the hood hinges mount on the parts I have/will cut out, so I need to build some new mounts somehow. I had the idea that it might be easier to relocate the hinges to the front of the hood, which would allow me to put hood pins on the back, and also allow me to install a dry-break much easier. Locating the hinge point properly is going to be the important step; mounting 'em up is just more welding.

19 October 2002: Went over to the folks' today and talked to my dad about wiring of the gauges and whatnot. I think we've got it all worked out, so the next step is to actually wire it up. Luckily, I don't need to actually buy too much wire; I just need enough to hook all the dashboard stuff up, and two leads to the engine compartment (o/t and tach).

18 October 2002: I am now registered to attend the Skip Barber 3-day racing school - at Laguna Seca! The weekend before Thanksgiving in beautiful Monterey, California, learning to push it to the edge; what better vacation could there possibly be? Man, I'm pumped!

16 October 2002: I called up Racer Parts Wholesale today, and got the fuel cell all straightened out. I'm sending back the 15-gallon jobber and the level sender, and since they're having to order the 8-galloner from the factory, they're going to get the sender factory-mounted for me, and have it shipped directly to me. That's some seriously kick ass customer service. They estimated about a week until it shows up here. I have some metal work to do between now and then, so the delay isn't critical.

12 October 2002: Fooled around with mostly body stuff today. I sanded the front apron and sprayed it with primer. I also banged on the right rear fender a bit, and hit it with the sander and primer. It's still got a ton of crappy paint on it, which is all cracked and needs to come off. I guess I'll have to hit it with paint stripper. I hit the transaxle with engine cleaner, and it took some of the crap off, but I probably need to do it again. I also did some more measuring and looking, and the fuel cell is NEVER going to fit in the hood; I need to both get a smaller one (no problem, because Racer Parts Wholesale seems to have a pretty good return policy), and cut out most of the dash-bulkhead and replace it with a flat piece of metal (time to learn how to weld?). I also did some quick testing with the gauges, and both the tach and speedo will be visible behind the steering wheel.

11 October 2002: I puttered around a bit in the garage, doing this and that. I finished up wire-wheeling and painting the header - looks good. I installed the bottom studs for mounting the engine onto the tranny. I went through most of the boxes looking for the top two engine mounting bolts (didn't find 'em), and threw a bunch of stuff away. I also took the Torque-Meister to the two crank/flywheel pairs that I've had around - that thing has more than paid for itself now. The newer of the two came apart with almost no trouble, and the crank is trash. It was a rebuild to begin with, so it's been turned down, and somebody did the most godawful 8-dowel job on it, except it looks like they did the other 4 with an angle grinder or something. Gah! I don't think it's weldable, though it's worth an ask. The flywheel is in prime shape though, and hasn't been 8-dowelled yet. The other crank is held together with some sort of supernatural force; the gland nut is out and in the trash, and I can wiggle the crank around, but damn if that thing won't come away from the flywheel. The 4-dowelled crank is likely OK except for the rust on the cam gear and rear bearing journals (not sure if it's grindable or not), but somebody did about 3/4 of an 8-dowelling job on the flywheel. Some weird combinations of stuff there, but I may get a useful pair out of all the parts. I also found 2 sets of rods, and a variety of other engine parts, some of which might be useful, some of which got trashed.

03 October 2002: The fuel cell came today. I now have to spend some time figuring out how I'm going to mount it in the hood. And dammit, I haven't even had the thing for a day, and already I think I'm going to have to drill a hole in it to install the level sender. Not cool. Gotta call those guys up and see what the story is. I wire-wheeled and painted the exhaust megaphone today as well; the only part that's left to do is the merging section.

02 October 2002: I finally got out to my folks to pick up the Torque-Meister tool (the gland nut torquing tool), and man is it easy to use. It applies nine times the force to the nut that you apply to it, so you've only gotta put about 30 ft-lbs on the torque wrench. Now the flywheel is fully torqued down, and the clutch is back on. I also wire-wheeled and painted a couple more pieces of exhaust header today. I ran out of high-temp black just as I finished painting the second piece. Now the only parts left to paint are the megaphone and the actual merging part of the header (the largest piece). And I'm figuring out that I would really like having a painting booth, because fighting the wind outside is a pain.

01 October 2002: I puttered around with a few things today. I put on the billet oil drain cover - there's no WAY that thing is going to warp, like the rest of them do. And not only that, but it looks sweet too. I installed the new plugs; nothing too exciting there. I wire-wheeled off the rust on some of the exhaust pieces and painted them with high-temp black. It won't necessarily stop the rust, but it'll definitely slow it down a bit. I also took a few minutes to reinflate the scrub tires, which might make it a little easier to push around; none of them had more than 9 psi. Whoops. Ah well, they're scrub tires anyway. Oh, and I finally got a fan, so I won't sweat to death in the garage anymore.

26 September 2002: I ordered the fuel cell today. I've measured around the hood, and it'll fit, but I just need to work out whether I want to cut out the fresh air box, or cut down the sheet between the strut towers. The fresh air box will probably be the ticket, since it doesn't give any kind of structural support; the sheet connecting the strut towers probably does. No matter what I do, I'll have to create some mounts somehow.

24 September 2002: My parts from Jegs came today. The fuel pump is HUGE - the thing must be 6" tall. And here I was thinking it was half that size... The regulator has 2 outputs, so I don't need any goofy tees to split the line for the dual carbs. The speedo unit looks like it's going to take a bit of finagling to get it working, but it's doable. I can probably take the driver's side steering knuckle off and work it that way.

22 September 2002: I pulled the car out of the garage today and did some sanding on the hood. I took most of the lumps and stuff on the driver's side of the hood down with the disc, and then smoothed it out with the 3-d sander. That thing is pretty neat. It started drizzling, so I had to put the car away, which is not a 1-man job. I'll have to make sure to call somebody to help push it back up the driveway next time.

21 September 2002: I ordered a synchrometer, thick billet drain plate, and plugs/wires/coil from The Real Source. I think the only other thing I need (besides the fuel cell) will be fuel lines, and a breather. Berg has both of those things, and even does custom metal hoses for fuel and crankcase ventilation. Two more orders (and a spot of work), and it should run.

18 September 2002: After hemming and hawing about the roll cage for so long, I've decided to say "screw you guys" for now, and concentrate on things which I can do, like installing engines and fuel systems. I've ordered the fuel pump, regulator, fuel level gauge, and speedo sender from Jegs, and I'm about to order the fuel cell, now that I've figured out which one is going to work. I've also made some inquiries at some wiring suppliers, and unfortunately they're quite expensive for what I was planning - ~$700, just for wires, and I would end up with many hundreds of feet extra. I'll have to trim down my wiring desires a bit, so I can actually afford it.

22 July 2002: I had an empty half of a 2-car garage available, so Junior and I towed the car to my house today. Since the car has no windows, I had to put on a pair of sunglasses and keep my mouth tightly closed, especially when it started raining. Whew! Brakes worked great, alignment was really poor (as expected). I'm still looking for a roll cage builder, and I found a few more people to call from various sources. The engine is basically complete, except for all the top-end stuff which won't get put on until it's in the car anyway. It's just sitting on the bench right now, looking lonely.

22 May 2002: I got a call from Jegs today, and it seems that my speedometer is about to be off backorder. Woohoo! So I'll have the full set of gauges, but nowhere to put them (yet).

12 May 2002: Finally got all the parts for my clutch today, including the alignment tool, so I installed it. Simple enough. I've been talking to various people about doing my roll cage. Three people have the info, but nobody's gotten me any numbers yet. This is very frustrating.

22 April 2002: I spent a little time doing small things today, since I didn't have to be into work until later in the afternoon. I ground on the rear tin a bit, but it's so far off, I'll need to drag that over to the big grinder this weekend. I pulled the pulley off; a little puller magic and it was done. I scavenged the oil cooler from my parts pile yesterday, so I spent some time cleaning it up. It looks so much better now. I've gotta find a source of nuts; turns out that even though I have enough nuts to fasten everything onto the engine, most of them are rusty and crappy looking. I also need to get a bunch of lock washers to go along with the new nuts.

17 April 2002: The pushrods came back today! I installed them and set the valve lash, so everything's cool. I've now got about everything on the engine done except for the actual oil pump and the stuff on the top - oil cooler, carbs, distributor, throttle linkage. Now I just gotta get things in motion and get the car painted. I've decided that I might give up waiting for the interior to be done before doing the exterior paint, just because getting info from these roll cage guys is apparently like pulling teeth. Doing the paint myself, while nice, is just going to be way too much hassle; I'm going to see about either Earl Scheib or Maaco, since this car will surely get bumped and banged a bit. It would be a waste to get a super-expensive paint job, only to have to get more expensive touch ups after most races.

13 April 2002: I poked around with a whole variety of stuff today. I finished up the priming oil pump and installed it. Instead of welding a socket end onto the pump's drive shaft, I just notched it for a flat head screwdriver. I installed the pulley, just to see how everything fit. Seems fine, though I have to pull it off again to get the priming oil pump out on crank-up day. I also toyed with the cooling tin a little more, checking to see how the cylinder tin worked with the intakes. It looks like I'll have to grind or cut some of the tin away so the intakes will go on. I went through my parts stash and found some stuff that I need to get on - the alternator stand, the alternator, nuts to mount both, and the clutch-mounting bolts.

08 April 2002: I did some fitting of the newly-ground cooling tin, and everything looks very good. I also did some bending on the doghouse tin, and it marginally fits; more work is required there.

07 April 2002: I spent a few hours with the grinder, shaving down the cylinder cooling tin. The flanges around the exhaust manifold mating surfaces were actually too tall to get the manifold on, so I ground them down. Should be pretty good now, though I borrowed the dremel tool from my dad in case they need some more grinding. I also found the old oil pump cover and drilled it out for the priming pump. I kinda missed the spot that we marked (duh), so it may require some more grinding with the dremel as well, to get the cover to fit properly. Then all I'll need to do is weld something onto the end of the pump's drive shaft, and it'll be ready to go.

30 March 2002: Flushed and bled the brakes today. Royce helped out as "the foot". The fluid that we flushed out looked like mudpies or something; it was fully nasty. The stuff that I got was some DOT4 racing brake fluid. The name Super Blue wasn't just a clever name - the stuff was really blue. All four calipers were running very blue with very few air bubbles when we stopped, but I'm going to let it sit for a week for any remaining air to work itself to the top of wherever it's hiding. I'll bleed 'em again next weekend to make sure everything is good. I also ground some excess metal from part of the cooling tin, so the doghouse cooler shrouding will now fit properly. Got some more grinding to do on other tin pieces, but it's getting closer.

23 March 2002: I went to the car for the first time in a long time, and did various tasks. My main goal was to get the rear brake lines bent to shape, which I did. They're not the greatest jobs in the world, but there's a complete path from the master cylinder to the rear calipers now. Next weekend, I'm going to try to flush and bleed the entire brake system. I also dragged the driver's seat down from the parts stash, and did a little testing. I was basically testing how much layback I could stand in a racing seat; I pushed the stock seat all the way back, and there was plenty of room. I also removed some more of the wiring, this time the rear light harnesses.

22 March 2002: The gauges came today! They're purty and stuff. Now I need to start measuring and figuring out just how I'm going to mount my "dashboard".

20 March 2002: I sent the pushrods off today. The post office said they'd be 3-4 days in transit, and the Berg folks said they'd be 5-6 days in transit back to me, so if they take 2-3 days to do them (I'm sure they've got other jobs before mine), we're looking at late the first week in April. Seems a long time, but that's what has to happen. I guess I should take some time this weekend to bend the brake lines and do a little body work.

19 March 2002: I scored some isopropyl alcohol, and spent a few minutes cleaning up the excess RTV stuff from the flywheel and back of the block. I RTVed in the cam plug, and put the flywheel back on. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to torque it down quite yet, but I'm sure something will present itself. I tried to take the pushrods to Scroggins today, but they don't cut pushrods, and practically nobody else in town does either. The only guy who would do them can't get to them for a month, so I decided to have Berg do them. I also figured out what a few of the mystery studs and nuts were for (mounting the oil drain plate); there are still some mystery parts, but fewer than yesterday.

18 March 2002: I checked my gauges order at Jeg's, and it looks like the speedometer is backordered, but everything else is on its way. Still need to figure out how I need to hook the speedo up anyway...

17 March 2002: Didn't have a lot of time to mess with the engine today, since I had tons of other stuff to do. I did manage to get the flywheel off, however, so I'll be able to clean it up and get the cam plug RTVed into place once I score some isopropyl alcohol.

16 March 2002: Took the bottom-end cooling tin that I picked up at the parts stash last weekend and a pair of valve covers out to the folks' place and cleaned 'em up and painted 'em with high-temp black. They don't match the rest of the chrome tin, but they're ready to go. The final backordered part of the engine tin order also showed up a couple days ago, so I picked that up from the folks' as well. I ordered the gauges today from Jeg's, so I'll at least be able to start on the wiring and the box that I'll be putting the gauges into. I also found a set of rocker-arm nuts with another set of rockers I had around, so I don't have to go crazy trying to figure out the right size replacements to get. I also took one of the old oil pumps I had lying around and started molding it into an oil system priming pump. That operation will become a little clearer as I get closer to actually using it.

12 March 2002: I spent some time with the adjustable pushrod, and got it set to the right length. The instructions say that it's easier to use when you're test fitting the engine and have no pushrod tube in the way, and they're not kidding when they say that. I'll probably get the pushrods into the machine shop tomorrow to be cut to length.

06 March 2002: After having moved a few weeks ago, I finally got organized enough to be able to do some work on the engine. I pulled apart the old stock rocker assemblies, which had a good amount of burned-on oil. I "hot tanked" the rockers and mounting blocks (in the dishwasher; works great, don't knock it 'til you try it), and assembled the new rockers. The tolerances are all good, though I can't find the nuts to actually torque the rockers into place. I need to put the adjustable pushrod into action and get the pushrods cut to length before I final-torque the rockers anyway. The breakerless ignition also came last week, and I fitted everything up today. Looks good! I just need to get a new distributor seal and clamp, and that'll be ready to rock. I tried to get the flywheel off today so I could install the cam plug and clean a little of the RTV crap off the flywheel's back side, but I need some puller magic to get it off, and the one I have is not nearly big enough.

15 February 2002: Since a few people were complaining about the arrangement of this log, I've done something about it. The entries are now sorted newest to oldest, and only the last dozen are shown on the main page. You can goto a separate page which will show you all the comments, again sorted newest to oldest. I was bored at work, and felt like writing some scripts...

14 February 2002: The long block is complete. I don't think I'll have time for anything else before moving this weekend, though I think the next thing will probably be either cooling or oiling. Oh, and I need to build the rocker arms out too. Decisions, decisions...

13 February 2002: I finally found a couple of potential sources for roll cages. aircooled.net lists one that could work, though they only list that it's NHRA-legal. No idea how close that is to the SCCA requirements (which seem to be used by other racing groups than just the SCCA). I also found Ron Lummus Racing, who makes the one that aircooled.net sells, and might be able to custom-make one if necessary, too. I've sent them both some email, so we'll see what they have to say.

08 February 2002: The 3-4 cylinders and head are installed. The cool-tin does indeed replace the stock air deflector, and went on about as easy as can be. After almost forgetting half the stuff we needed to put on (cool-tin, pushrod tubes, RTVing the cylinder spacers), we got it all right. We also did a quick test fitting of the intake manifold; seems nice and snug. Now, since we know what we're doing, when the other cool-tin comes in, we'll be able to knock the 1-2 side out in no time. Yeah, sure.

07 February 2002: The 2-day shipping was much better than expected - the parts came today. The expected back-ordered things were back-ordered. The only thing that was not good was the fact that even though the cool-tins were shown as a pair in the catalog, they are sold as individual units. I'm not sure why anybody would need just one, but I only got one. So tomorrow I can only install one head. Annoying. And for those who are following along at home, the cool-tin apparently replaces the standard air deflectors.

06 February 2002: I ordered the engine cooling tin today. A couple of things are back-ordered, but the cool-tins will be here by installation on Friday. I also included the breakerless ignition in the order, but of course that's back-ordered too. I gotta go by my parts stash at the car to find the cylinder air deflectors, since I'm pretty sure that the cool-tins don't replace, but rather augment, the deflectors.

05 February 2002: I installed the head studs and checked the end-gap on the piston rings tonight; everything looks OK there. I read over the instructions for the cylinder spacers, and they need to be RTVed to both case and cylinder, and need to be torqued before the RTV sets up, so the seal will be good. So I need to order the cool-tins pronto, since it looks like Friday night will be the big head installation time.

03 February 2002: The pistons are installed on the rods. I still need to order the cool-tins, because they probably need to go on at the same time as the cylinders. I'm still not sure whether I need to still use the stock air deflectors that go between the cylinder pairs when using cool-tins; anybody?

05 January 2002: We spent the afternoon assembling the short block. All the tolerances seem to be correct, so we are looking good. We got a lot farther than I expected we'd get on the first day, which is very cool.

27 December 2001: We have engine.

23 December 2001: Since I haven't messed with the car in forever, I got back into it today. I yanked out the fusebox and the entire front wiring harness. Since I only needed the brake wiring from the front harness (3 wires out of the dozen or so), I went ahead and split it all out. Some of the places where wires came out of the harness were held together with some gluey crap, and I managed to damage one of the brake wires. Luckily, there's another wire that should serve the purpose just as well, and it's a more proper color; the damaged one is black-with-yellow, and it basically goes through the horn (no horn any longer) to ground. Since brown is the ground color, and I've got an extra brown wire, I'll just use that instead. I brought the fusebox and the dash wiring home, and I'll probably play with it tomorrow. A quick check on the UPS package tracker shows that the engine is coming, all 253 pounds of it.

20 December 2001: Another call to Berg this afternoon let me know that, at long last, the engine is finally on its way here! It was shipped yesterday, and UPS is estimating that it should be here on the 27th. Just in time for my vacation...

14 December 2001: Since the Herr Schmidt folks called me yesterday to let me know that it was done, but there was no way I was going to be able to get out there until today, I went on lunch today and paid 'em the moolah. The job looked very nice. The former sunroof was kinda, well, lumpy, but nothing some body filler won't take care of. Chuck was also nice enough to shoot a couple of the spots I missed with primer, and also checked out a couple of other things - turns out I put the back calipers on the wrong sides. Duh. I also called the Berg folks this afternoon, and apparently the person who does the case machining has been on vacation this week; they said they'll be able to get it out by next week, since that's all they're waiting on.

11 December 2001: I called up Herr Schmidt for a quick status check, and they said that Chuck (who had been sick) is back, and working on my car even as we spoke. They estimate Friday, or if all goes speedily, Thursday. Cool! Maybe some body work this weekend, between all the holiday parties. The sunroof welds might need a little TLC and primer, though it'll probably look neat with an oblong piece of a different color in the middle of the roof. I'd also like to hit more of the inside with POR-15.

10 December 2001: I sent the HUGE cashier's check off today (finally found some time to actually do it), so hopefully I'll have parts by this time next week.

05 December 2001: The tow dude came to pick up the car, and get it into the shop. The guy at Herr Schmidt is apparently behind a little, so I probably won't see it until next week sometime.

04 December 2001: Got a message from Tim at Berg yesterday on the answering machine, so I called him back today. I've got to send them an IMMENSE money order so they can ship me the parts. They're doing the heads right now, and they've gotta machine the case too, but they estimated they'd be ready to ship by Friday or next Monday. Woohoo! Finally, the engine will arrive!

03 December 2001: I called Herr Schmidt, and we're on for delivering it on Wednesday, for work Thursday. I wonder if it'll be back in time for the weekend.

02 December 2001: The complete roof was a bit much to fit into the car for transport to the shop, so I cut it in half. That went pretty quickly. I also figured out the trick for getting the steering column out - gotta take the bolt all the way out, because there's a recess in the end of the column. So once I figured that out, the old column came out and the new one went in in about 10 minutes. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up my piles of crap, throwing out parts which were useless (a heater box with holes in it? random interior bolts?). It's much cleaner now, which makes me very happy. No body work today since it was raining.

01 December 2001: I picked up a steering column (with all the proper bushings and stuff) and a roof panel at the junkyard today. Looks like I'm on schedule to get it into the shop for welding this week.

29 November 2001: This weekend will probably be more of the same... bodywork. I'm going to try to get an upper-half of the steering column, and the front half of a roof from the junkyard on Saturday, and get it in for welding next Wednesday. It's also come to my attention that none of the SCCA classes allow modification of the displacement of the engine. What's up with that? In addition, they don't allow fuels other than gasoline, much at all in the way of ground effects, changing of the intake system much at all (I couldn't put EFI on this car, since it wasn't available as stock, and may not even be able to mount multiple carbs either), and I may not be able to use an electronic ignition. So instead of modifying my engine plans, I'm going to find a racing group which will allow such modifications. Putt-putting around the track with a 60 HP engine just isn't really appealing to me; I could do that on the street. I want to actually go FAST when I race, dammit!

21 November 2001: More body work. I realized that trying to rough-sand the bondo by hand was going to not only totally exhaust my supply of sandpaper, but also take ALL DAY, so I opted for the grinder. Man, that got the job done in no time at all! I spent some time wire-wheeling the back deck, since the rust was starting to rear its ugly head again, and hit it with the POR-15. Even after it dried, it still looked freshly-wet. I think I'm going to try doing the underside of the deck and more of the interior when I get a chance.

20 November 2001: Body work today. I really don't like doing it, but it really has to be done. I poked at a couple of the under-surface rust places, and they were rotten all the way through. I drilled and bondoed those spots, so hopefully everything will be OK there. I also sanded a whole lot. I want to try to hit the inside with the wire wheel tomorrow, and get some POR-15 in there, to forestall the rust. I was meaning to call Berg today, but I keep forgetting. Tomorrow: more sanding. Ugh.

19 November 2001: Junior and I got the last of the front suspension in today! Woohoo! The tie rod was giving us trouble initially, but we put a 2-arm puller to good use, and it gave us no further static. Now that everything's back together, the steering is awfully limited; I only get about a half-turn before the now-inverted tie rods hit against the sway bar. I'm considering reverting the tie rod ends, by inverting the metal adapter thingies, to get a more normal travel. I don't know if heating it with a torch (probably the best way to get the adapters out) will mess up the hardening or not, though. And putting them in a freezer will probably not get the job done.

17 November 2001: We got the suspension almost back together. BAP-Geon didn't list the left-hand-thread tie-rod end, so I've having to get a whole tie rod assembly. Kinda stupid if you ask me, but that's the way it is. Since I'm taking all next week off, it should finally be done on Monday.

15 November 2001: I called up BAP-Geon and they have the tie-rod ends, so I'll pick 'em up after work. Saturday will be Spindle Install Day, which should complete the suspension work. Another thing to mark off the list! Woohoo! I also talked to a couple body shops, and got some quotes for welding in the floor pans and welding the sunroof shut. I'm going to go see a floor-pan job that Herr Schmidt's welder did tomorrow after work; they'll probably get the work, since they're a Volkswagen-specific shop, and they're far less expensive than the other places I called.

10 November 2001: I got the spindles drilled and the new tie-rod end bushings installed; it went fairly quickly and easily once I got the correct HUGE drill bit. Unfortunately, both of the tie-rod ends are pretty well shot, so I'll have to replace them when I install the spindles on the car.

09 November 2001: I just got off the phone with the Berg folks, and it looks like the crank manufacturing is going very much slower than they expected, and my order will be approximately another 4 weeks. It's possible that my carbs/heads/intakes are already done, but nobody was in the shop when I called, so I'll check back Monday to see if they'll ship me the heads now. This waiting is starting to get very difficult!

05 November 2001: I'm going to try for boring the spindles on Wednesday out at the folks' house, in anticipation of an install this coming weekend. This week should also hopefully bring a call from Berg. If they don't call by Wednesday or so, I'll give 'em a shout to see what's happening. I also have a lead on a body shop which might be able to do the welding on the floor pans and sunroof, which I'll have to follow up this week sometime.

03 November 2001: Got the remaining bushings out of the new control arms, and got the control arms, new sway bar, new struts, and the strut-tower brace installed. All that remains of the front suspension is to bore the spindles, and put 'em back on. Getting close on this one, finally!

31 October 2001: I went to the junkyard today in search of control arms. Turns out that the ones I pulled off the car were both bent - yikes! The bushings are pressed out of the new ones, and if I get a spare couple of hours this weekend, I'd like to start putting the front suspension back together. That should take half a day or so. Then I need to do more sanding... with a respirator this time.

27 October 2001: I found a place who could get the bushings out of the control arms and the tie rod ends out of the spindles, so that's done. I didn't have time to do anything else. One of the control arms may be bent; they don't look the same. I can't find any part numbers that would indicate if they're supposed to be the same, or possibly not. Anybody?

22 October 2001: I have learned the lesson of body work the hard way: NEVER sand bondo without a respirator. It feels like I've been sanding on my lungs. Ack!

21 October 2001: Didn't manage to get the control arms or spindles into the suspension shop, so I'll have to get 'em in sometime this week. I spent the day sanding down the bondo spots, and a few other rough spots, and shooting them with more primer. They look much better than they did, for sure. There were a few spots I missed because I ran out of sendpaper, and because I have to take the rear fenders off for two of them. I also tried to get the upper part of the steering column out; no love there. Gotta hit it with the Kroil.

19 October 2001: This weekend will be dedicated to putting the front suspension back in the car. I think I'll try to get the parts into the shop to get the bushings and ball joints and tie rod ends pressed out tomorrow, which hopefully won't take very long. Then I can drill the spindles for the bump-steer kit, and start putting things back together. We'll see what happens.

16 October 2001: I got the slide scanner today! Woohoo! So now all those pics that have been forthcoming for so long will finally be available.

14 October 2001: I decided that I needed to get some stuff done on the spindles before I tried putting suspension parts back on the car, so I messed with the transmission today. I got everything apart, and couldn't find the broken piece. Hmmmmmm... Well, I can toy with the gear ratios and stuff once I get the car running, and not have to have the tranny out for weeks at a time, waiting for parts. I also started tracing out the windows for eventual reproduction in polycarbonate.

13 October 2001: The track event only barely happened today, since it was raining most of the morning. So instead of trying to drive fast on a wet track, I managed to get the struts apart and back together today; they look gorgeous! Tomorrow, I'll try putting some of the front suspension back in the car, and see how far I get.

11 October 2001: I was curious what was happening with the engine order (it's been about 5 weeks since I placed it), so I called the Berg folks up. Turns out that the crank is still going to be another 3 weeks, and the heads are going to be until the end of the month (about 3 weeks), so by 12, I should have an assembled engine. Kinda a pain to wait so long, but this engine should be well worth the wait...

10 October 2001: Managed to get the differential out of the old transaxle, and I found a couple pieces of broken metal which are probably why the thing won't shift into 1st or 2nd gears. All the gears in the differential seem to have all their teeth, so it's probably something in the actual shifting compartment of the transmission, so I can't tell what it is yet. I gave several tries at getting the top nuts off the strut assemblies, to no avail - those suckers are on there. I also saw some pics in the Bentley manual of a tranny which has a different front mount than mine; the different mount would allow use of the solid front tranny mount from the kit. I think I'll have to get some thick metal and make one myself, since the one from the kit will obviously not fit.

07 October 2001: The races were really cool, and I got lots of photos of everything but the main event; heck, I didn't really even get to watch the main event, since the crowd got a little unruly. But it was fun, and I am tired and sunburned.

05 October 2001: No work this weekend - I'm going to the races! The Texaco Havoline Grand Prix of Houston is this weekend, and I scored a pass to be a track marshall, which apparently allows me access to pretty much everything. I'll be taking many pics, so stay tuned.

30 September 2001: Robin didn't come through with the epoxy stuff, so it was just suspension work today. My goal for the day was to remove all the front suspension parts which were up for replacement. The only things that are left up front are the steering linkage, and the tie rods (minus the outboard ends). Everything else is off. The next task is to take the parts to a suspension shop and get the bushings pressed out and the ball joints replaced (3 out of 4 are shot). Then I've gotta figure out how to get the bearing mount off the old struts; supposedly it requires a special tool, which looks complicated and expensive, not to mention non-available. I'm pretty sure I can do it with the spring compressors, a deep-offset box-end wrench, and a lotta Kroil.

23 September 2001: The rear sway bar and shocks are in the car! And man, do they look purty - the bright red bushings look great against all the dirty grey-black metal. The old shocks were really shot. The new bright white KYBs are nice and hard - we had to use a jack to compress them to get th e bottom mount bolt in. We tried to get the solid tranny mounts in, but the front one just didn't seem to want to fit anywhere. We did get the back two in with no problems, however. Robin The Welder did a little welding on the pan, and wasn't happy with the results. So she suggested using some super-epoxy, which we'll try hopefully next week. I figure she knows plenty more about bonding metal together than I do, so I'll defer to her expertise on this one. We pulled the front fenders off to give us a little more room when we get to the front suspension parts, also hopefully next week.

16 September 2001: I got the pan fitted up and bolted in, which took all day. Robin The Welder needs me to grind the edges of the new pan a little to remove whatever paint stuff is on there, but I just didn't have anything left to do more grinding. No pics today.

15 September 2001: We're on for welding tomorrow, and I picked up the wheels from the tire store today. They're purty! We'll probably leave the scrub tires on the car until we're about ready to run, just so the new tires won't get all messed up wheeling through the debris on the ground.

13 September 2001: The wheels have been dropped off at Discount Tire, and should have tires on them tomorrow; the store where I went had only one of the tires, but some other stores in town have the other three.

11 September 2001: The suspension came today! Woohoo! Looking through everything, this seems like a TON of parts; I don't think there's much of a chance of getting all that work done in a single day. More like 3 days, I'm guessing. Depending on what Robin The Welder has going, we may be able to put some of it in this Sunday, like the tranny mounts and maybe the rear shocks.

09 September 2001: Lots of grinding on the floor pan hole today. We got almost all the excess metal out and are almost ready to put the new one in. We did a test fitting, and it still wasn't quite there, but very close. Who knew these things would take so much work?! We also yanked everything out of the hood, and gave it a good cleaning. It looks so much better now. We also banged out the decklid hinge pins, and will be replacing them with cotter pins next week, for easy engine access. Hopefully next weekend, we can either get the suspension parts in, or the floor pan in, or <gasp> both.

05 September 2001: John from Top Line Parts just called, and he's about to ship the suspension parts. I guess they either got a return or the manufacturer of the adjustable struts put things into overdrive. Whatever happened, they probably won't get here in time for this weekend, but next weekend for sure! Now if only the engine parts would appear that fast...

02 September 2001: We started on the floorpans today. Cutting the old passenger side out took basically the entire afternoon, and we aren't even finished yet! Man! There's a bit more stuff that we need to remove before we'll be ready to put the new one in. Then we get to do it all again for the other side. Gotta love that body work. Robin The Welder is happy that she won't have to lie under the car while welding the pans in, so that's good. The way they go in is pretty simple; simple is always nice. No pics today, just because there wasn't much to see.

31 August 2001: I made the engine call today, but there's a catch. The crank is backordered 4-5 weeks, and the heads are ba