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I got a tradition with my dad that I took over, every time we buy a new vehicle we stop at Mc Donalds on the way back and get a milkshake. This also gives us some time to look and admire our new purchase. We will probably continue this tradition this weekend as I’ll be looking at a 2015 BMW M550D touring (almost 400hp diesel station wagon) as a new daily driver.

The first ice cream trip is a great payoff for the hard work.

08-25-2026 ATLAS Z UPDATE: I had a few minutes this morning, so I went ahead and prepped my new front brake calipers, by mounting the brake pads in and getting them ready for install. I got the calipers and pads from Z Car Depot.

spent the last few days focusing on fixing some steering geometry. If you guys remember this car came with the 240sx knuckles and if you've ever done any research on that swap, its hot garbage. I spent some time adusting ackerman right off the bat and made it so it was drivable and made a small adjustment last week. My plan has always been to modify them and get all the geometry dialed to how i like it and then scan it. and make a billet version that is modular and can be tweaked in from there. Anyway. This weekends goal was to dial in the mechanical trail and some roll center correction. The 240sx knuckle on the wrong side of the car made the mechanical trail very large so the car had very very heavy steering feel. I did some measuring and made a decision. Clipped off 8º of angle off the ball joint mount. and offset the mount to where i wanted it. Designed and machined an adapter block and welded it on. came up with a quick bumpsteer kit as the knuckle needs to have the tie rod mount lowered by a good bit. didn't take good photos but the car drives SO MUCH BETTER. steering feels great. "light" (for manual steering) but centers still centers well and has good feedback. Took the wife to get ice cream last night and what a great feeling that was after a year of work.

08-23-2026 ATLAS Z UPDATE. Today was another tough one. 4+ hours in getting the clutch master cylinder rod screwed in to the custom clevis on the pedal arm and then everything bolted back up, adjusted and set up. VERY hard for me to get in there, and I am old, so it is a ball breaker. I knew it would be and put it off for months, today I did it. I managed to get the trim piece I mentioned yesterday painted silver and then after the clutch, I tackled the next issue. I don't know how, but there is no bar from the brake pedal arm to the switch so the brake lights will come on and go off. So, I simply took some sheet metal, bent and hammered a 90 and then with a sharpie and my angle grinder cut and formed a piece that I am bolting to he brake arm, that will stick out and push the brake light switch closed when the pedal is released. I drilled 2 holes through the arm and this sheet metal bracket It's hanging up painted and will be install with 2 1/4X20 bolts and nuts. After it was done it was time to relax a bit with a couple Coors and look around, I taped one of my atlas emblems to the front corner of the hood. I don't know If I will use it there or not, I can either paint it flat black to contrast on the gloss powder coat, paint it datsun metallic blue like the engine compartment, or I don't know, any ideas?