The excitement is building

[Guy]

wow a lady that can do almost anything, i always tried to get my wife as she was my co-pilot flying . Tried to teach her just to be able to land in case something ever happen to me but she was into it . but since my co-pilot passed away i sold my 2 aircraft was just too lonely flying not sure at my age i will ever fly again . VERY NICE Island GIRL !!

 

[Island Girl]

3 steps forward . . . . 1 step back . . . .


So I went to put the new rear in . . . how hard can that be . . . .

Radius rods lined right up and I was cruisin' . . . . little never seize and tighten up a bit, then I go to jack the thing up to set the shocks in place and connect the panhard bar . . .

Shocks drop in easy enough, good to go there . . . . . feeling like I'm moving right along . . . grab the panhard and connect the first end, and WTF . . . damn thing's well over an inch too long.

To make a long story short . . . . some one welded the panhard bar tab in a different location than on the original rear, . . . well closer to the center.

Anyway, I cut about 1.250" off the bar length, and if I can get the one end re-tapped with another inch of threads, I'll be OK, otherwise I'll need a new panhard bar made.

I ordered a couple taps from McMaster Carr so I'll have one for hardened and stainless steel and a left hand one. . . going to see if that gets me what I need before I add to Josh's headaches . . .

With the panhard issue at least partially resolved, the rear is about 3/8" off to the right, as it currently sits . . .

I put the axles in and the brake mounting hardware, then slid the rotors on, and finally felt like I was making progress again.

The brakes went on without major issues and the E-brake cable wasn't too much trouble either.

Of course no good deed goes unpunished, so the braided brake lines are an inch or two too short, at least with no weight on the back end, so I have to see what Summit has to resolve that little issue.

All in all . . . . it's been a really long day, but my baby is back on her own wheels with plenty of wheel to body clearance, and rolling happily about.

Was too wrapped up in the work to get a lot of pics, but hope you enjoy these:

Picking up where I left off yesterday





New rear panhard mounting tab, notice it's fairly vertical . . .



Old rear panhard mounting tab, about 2.5" farther outboard, but at a considerable angle so the bar itself only needs to shorten about half that much



If I can get another 3//4" to 1" more thread depth in that lower rod end, I'll be golden

 

[Neshkoro]

Looking better all the tine!

 

[old round fart]

You don’t need the left hand tap. They are crazy expensive. If the rod is tapped at Spirit the wall thickness will be easy to tap to shorten it. Be sure to use Tap Magic and wood to protect the paint from the vice or hold the other rod end to keep from turning. You are an awesome buckethead.

 

[Island Girl]

You don’t need the left hand tap. They are crazy expensive. If the rod is tapped at Spirit the wall thickness will be easy to tap to shorten it. Be sure to use Tap Magic and wood to protect the paint from the vice or hold the other rod end to keep from turning. You are an awesome buckethead.

LH tap was only about $16 or $18, so not that expensive . . . the left hand threaded end is still rather tight, even after working it some today, so might as well fix it now. . . .

I have a new can of Tap Magic on hand, so hopefully, the panhard issue can be resolved.

Also ordered some 24" -3AN brake SST lines, ( Russell, DOT approved ones) enough to do the front brakes too, if they seem a bit on the short side . . . .

Spirit kits come with 18" lines

 

[fluidfloyd]

Island Girl... Before you shorten that panhard bar you might want to wait until you have the car on the ground at ride weight. That bar is ideally installed level to the ground. Just a thought. Always good to have a left hand tap just in case.
George

 

[Island Girl]

Island Girl... Before you shorten that panhard bar you might want to wait until you have the car on the ground at ride weight. That bar is ideally installed level to the ground. Just a thought. Always good to have a left hand tap just in case.
George

I've actually already shortened the bar, did that Sunday after measuring the difference in positions of the mounting holes on the old versus new rear end housing.

Just down now to getting back to a normal depth of thread for the RH end, so the end to end measurement can be properly adjusted.

With luck, my taps from McMaster will come in time for the weekend, but more than likely, that package will come on Monday instead. . . .

Not really a problem as I have the shifter and shift position display kit to install on the transmission, which should keep me busy.


Anyway . . . .

Couple items from Summit finally showed up . . . and the fuel tank is now all ready to go.

I added the rollover valve, and the outlet, stainless steel NPT to -10AN fitting, finally got here after several weeks of waiting.

Since the outlet is on the bottom, I went with the most durable fitting I could get, just for the extra peace of mind.

 

[DonnyRay]

Wow !! That's a lot of progress..

 

[DonnyRay]

I'm glad to see you moving forward. Waiting for shipments to arrive can be a pain in the badonkadonk.

 

[Neshkoro]

Badonkadonk!

 

[Island Girl]

Little Saturday Update . . . .

With the new rear end housing installed in the rear, and some new brake lines and bits ordered, I figured it was time to check out the front end.

Brakes went on sweet and without any problems at all, except I couldn't find the caliper bolts, so had to run to NAPA.

With the brakes installed, I figured why not have a run at seeing how the new 34 style grill shell fits and looks . . . .

First thing is to take off the shock mounts to see how the grill sits in place, as it has lower side flanges that sit on top of the frame rails.

The 34 grill usually is used with friction shocks, but I have regular hydraulic shocks, so I have to be a bit creative on the grill mounting and make a couple of reliefs for the shock bodies.

It would have been way easier if Spirit had swapped the shock mounts side for side and mounted them to the outer side of the frame rail, but they came in normal Spirit mounting configuration, and the holes on the top of the frame rail didn't line up enough to simply swap the mounts side for side, and making new mounting holes in the outer side of the frame rails

Now that I mention hole alignment . . . what a crap job someone did on the top holes . . . must not have had the brackets clamped in place when they drilled the frame.

The bolts weren't even tight . . just barely snug, as the poor alignment kept things from coming together properly.

At the least, I'm going to have to slot the holes almost 1/8", or have to go to larger bolts . . .

Either way, it's a buttload of extra work for me, and I'm not a happy camper . . I expected better workmanship.

But moving on . . . I cut some reliefs in the grill's mounting flanges for the shock mount brackets, and a little relief for the shock bodies, and it just fits into place with just enough clearance where the top shock eyes mounts to the brackets.

Tomorrow I'll do a bit of fine tuning on the reliefs and drill and tap a couple mounting holes for the grill, weather permitting.

My McMaster Carr order didn't come in time for this weekend, so I'll have to finish the panhard bar mod next weekend, try to see how the radiator fits in, and fine tune the brake lines and hopefully, fill and bleed the brake system.


A few progress pics:

 

[skinny mike]

So...you really planning on driving that piece of jewelry? On a road? I think it's beautiful.

 

[old round fart]

To keep from grinding on painted parts can you put a shim between the mount and the frame to align the holes?

 

[Indycars]

Girl that's a shame they didn't get the holes lined up properly, but she sure is beautiful !

 

[rodder25]

Hello, where did you get the front brake disc inside rotor covers, they look great.

 

[HenrysT]

get some sort of pads or rags for your jack stands and jacks and are you using washers on those heims?

 

[Neshkoro]

Trailer Queen!

 

[Spanky]

Trailer Queen!

If I am correct, that will be far from true about this car. I bet IG is gonna drive the wheels off of it!

 

[Neshkoro]

You’re correct Spanky. I was just kidding. With the power that thing will have, it’s going to be a blast!

 

[Indycars]

I call dibs on the first ride !!!!!!!