Cell phone pictures for tonight, but they'll do.
First up, the 'factory' (empi?) bolt for holding my shift rod to the transmission has gone for a walk somewhere in my garage. Not overly worried about it, since it didn't seem to fit the Hagertt Performance universal joint. After cutting the end into a cone shape on the lathe, I realized I wanted to make sure I safety wired the bolt this time. I had the shifter come loose and lost all gears last summer while on a road trip. Let me tell you how quickly your heart sinks when you think you've blown a transmission in the middle of nowhere! Since I don't own a safety-wire drilling jig (and apparently none of my friends do either), I had to improvise:
With the shifter setup now 100% complete, I moved onto to the oil lines. I’m replacing the three oil lines that pass through the exhaust system, as I believe the rubber lines may have deteriorated due to heat. I’m also taking the opportunity to put the Vibrant Performance Dry-Break fittings in the lines. These allow me to disconnect each oil line without losing a drop of oil, or introducing any air into the lines. I’ve put the Vibrant fitting (black) inside two straight hose ends so I could figure out how long each section of oil line would need to be.
Before finalizing the assembly, the lower section of the hose was wrapped with Thermalflex Isultherm wrap. The lower section of hose will pass either very close, or through, the exhaust system. I’m not sure which, as I’m getting an all new system from Vintage Speed. The Isultherm wrap is a resin-impregnated ceramic wrap which is good to 1200deg F (650 C). If that isn’t sufficient, I can always do an over-wrap for additional protection.
Thanks to Rob over at
www.avrparts.com I have a perfect-condition fan shroud sandblasted, and ready for modification. The new 2110cc motor will not be running heater boxes, so I’m going to modify a new shroud which will still have the Salzburg “look”, but without functioning heater ducts. We’ll just pretend this factory doghouse shroud was in rough shape, and thats why I’m cutting it up…
Darren at Kroc heads sent me a teaser photo this afternoon. Looks like my parts are back from the balancing shop and he had some time to start the assembly! Where’s the stoked icon???
Just seven items left on the To-Do list before the car is ready for the Hagerty Spring Thaw Classic. Okay, one of those items is "build the engine", so it's not like they'll all happen quickly. But still, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Can’t believe I’ve survived this long without the car. I miss driving it!
-Dave