Leaderboard

Been a long week but got everything completely stripped and got some epoxy primer layed down on all the metal surfaces. have plenty of body work to do but atleast its sealed and protected now. Hopefully in the next week or two i can get the bodywork done and get some color on it. I did talk to john and his comment is "I don’t claim to be an expert on bonding. But in my experience cracking at a bond line is often due to inadequate surface prep both the underside of the fiberglass and the underlying metal), poor bonding agent, not enough bonding agent, cheap body filler, and/or excessive flexing of the unibody. On the other hand, I know a lot of guys who do the bolt-on installation. For performance applications, it can be an advantage for working inside the wheel well". With that said I think I will spend the time to make the fitment as good as possible and make a last minute decision based on how well it fits/looks.

Front end got tidied up quite nicely and I made new brackets for my intercooler. The drier clears, but I'll have to place the trinary switch on the #6 line instead of the drier. No big deal, but I wasn't able to make the rest of the hoses while I was here. Used on the threaded holes for the original airbox for one of the top brackets, and an existing hole made by the previous owner. The brackets on top aren't supporting weight, just preventing it from tipping forward or back so it doesn't torque on the lower brackets and bend them. Only downside is the brackets look slightly lopsided but the intercooler is centered! Took the car to get aligned and they told me there was play in the steering shaft from a cross threaded bolt. Looks like the end wasn't all the way in and the bolt had never crossed to the threaded side. I loosened everything, chased the threads, and got everything tightened up. Also added one of the missing trim pieces. Looks much nicer. The car as a hole is feeling pretty good, and nearly everything is great. I'm just at a loss with the rear end. I know it'll probably help slightly when I go to the 3.54 rear and everything is rebuilt but there's just this persistent vibration. Flipping the driveshaft 180 somehow solved most of it, but I still get the occasional buzzing and it's driving me crazy. I'm about ready to go back to the stock control arms, oem spindle pin, stock mustache bar, and a kameari mount on the original front diff crossmember. Everything on the car just feels so great except for the rear end buzzing or squeaking. So much of the car is damn near perfect that the small issues like that are a distraction from enjoying it as much as I could. Alignment rescheduled for today, so we'll see what they find or if it solves my problems.