June 2016

Cage Progress

I went down to visit my cage builder to verify some final measurements.  It's mostly assembled and tacked into the car. I should have the car back in about a week.

Father's Day

My daughters and wife bought me this awesome MIG machine for Father's day. They're awesome! Also, my cage builder called. My car is ready for pick up. I'll have it back tomorrow.

Back to Work

I've been slacking off for the last few weeks.  As much as I wanted the car back, it was kind of nice to relax for a while and do some other stuff.  I'm having trouble getting back into the swing of getting work done and making progress.  That being said, the cage is fantastic.  My daughter jumped in and helped me get it painted.

Raw Cage with the removable "Petty Bar" in place

Driver side. He added some NASCAR style door bar curve for me

Paint looks great.  Hammered Finish Black

Passenger side

My new front wheel hubs arrived.  I pressed out the stock studs and pressed in the extended ARP Wheel Studs.  Of course I dinged two threads on one stud. Hopefully I can clean that up with a M12x1.5 die.

Interior Clean Up

I decided to button up the cockpit area before I move on to the suspension.  I installed my tach and warning lights.  I think it's looking pretty good for being a first effort. I have some minimal wiring cleanup to do and I'll be done.  After measuring the resistance of the stock ABS warning light circuit, I decided to add a resistor in series with the warning light to protect the ABS computer.  I'm still waiting for my resistor to arrive.  I'll install my harness eye-bolts later this week and I think it it will be done until I reallocate my battery later.  I took a whole series of photos of the finished interior.

Cockpit Cowl Installation

I decided to go with 1/8" ABS.  I patterned it up with cardboard first.  I wish I'd taken more photos of the patterning process. Oh well.  It's held in under the hood with three bolts at the top of the fire wall. I'm going to add some bracing off the roll cage with cushion clamps.