Phase 1 Complete

Post date: Jun 29, 2015 12:19:17 AM

Sorry, new new picture of "half assembled car on driveway" - I figure you get it by now. Main visual difference is the hood got stripped and installed.

It got aligned, passed inspection, and I got about 80 miles put on it in one smooth ride! Sure, there's an errata list, but it's good to drive now. Well, not right now. I had to pull the driveshaft because the speedo drive gear got eaten up. Otherwise it's running really well.

Wipers: Turns out all along the motor just needed the wipers connected in order to work correctly. Huh. Wish I had realized that quite a while ago.

Defroster: Installed a defroster kit and a bit of magic wiring with a single transistor, a diode and a couple of resistors so the stock defrost switch can control the new unit. Works great!

Glass: Glass kit came in about two hours before the installer showed up. Just enough time to get the defroster installed. I did a somewhat poor job due to the rush, but it works and you have to look close to see any issues.

Power Steering: Yeah, yet another pump. The prior one would make a huge amount of foam when hot. So I went with a completely stock, straight-from-the-box pump. Still does it, but not as bad. Hopefully Kim Barr can cut some proper pipe threads in another pump body for me. The original pump I built had a bad burr that prevented the pressure valve from moving properly. Now I'm just chasing air.

Seat belts: Cleaned and installed. There's a fair bit of broken plastic bits that aren't reproduced, including the retractor covers for the later style with warning light connectors.

Exhaust: Shaun battled with the exhaust to weld on the mid-member locator tabs. Had to put those in there because the passenger header doesn't point quite straight downwind, so the pipe was hitting the crossmember. Got that fixed up pretty well.

Gauge Cluster: It took two tries, (read: $$$!!) but got a good woodgrain application to a new gauge surround. Looks really sharp now.

Speedometer: Drive gear gave up the ghost when the output shaft hit 4,500 RPM on the freeway. :(

Errata:

Speedo: parts on order

PS pump: Gonna try one more time with a pipe fitting, then will cry uncle

A/C: Have to modify the bracketry to work with the raised valve covers and whatnot. This could be very hard.

Wiring: Need an IGN trigger for the O2 sensor. Right now I have to remember to unplug it or it kills the battery.

Hopefully I can enjoy some cool evening cruising for the summer and start looking for a body shop in a few months.