Alrighty, so I got a bit of time in on the car today...but not nearly as much as I had hoped (isn't that always the way). Much of my day was spent chasing around the various things I would need for the truss bar job...steel tube, hardware, heater boxes, my borrowed jack that never returned...etc. Regardless, by the time I started the hours were disappearing fast. First up was bolting on the lower mount, which as soon as I had done so a second flashing red light went off which I hadn't thought about. The entire thing is build in single-shear. Single shear is, to quote Carroll Smith, "criminal". Hmmm...its going to be quite tough to turn this mount into double shear. Not impossible, but significantly challenging in my garage.
Eventually I decided the best course of action is to set the whole thing up in single shear, with the parts clearing the engine and heater boxes, and then figure out if I can modify the mounts for double shear. With the necessary bits in hand, I was lacking in just one thing...someone to help me lift the engine onto the jack. Hmph. I figured i might as well mock up one potential tab, and then I at least have a starting point when I slide the engine in. With this tab, both rod ends would mount to the same ear on the shock bolt spacer. I can easily get the one rod end in double shear down the road, not quite sure how I would do the second. Sorry, apparently I forgot a more detailed shot.
I figured before I wasted any more time playing with mounts that didn't fit, I'd simply wait until I had a hand with the engine before going any further. So I worked on some less important jobs, like mounting up the clutch release arm, and attaching the custom bits my buddy Scott made a while back. If I'm putting the engine in to test the brace clearance, might as well setup the clutch pedal too! This will, of course, require some new engine mounting studs...but I have a Type-4 block in storage that may have some installed. Will have to check tomorrow.
I did manage to clean up and revive the old gas-breather hose. With some trimming I later removed any cracks at the end and popped it into the car. Now all I need is that really small breather tubing and the fuel tank will
really be done for once.
The side vents for the car that I have are pretty dry-rotted on the plastic. The aluminum rings are good, but the plastic is not. I figured I should try and find a way to make them look presentable, and since I had time waiting around, today was the day.
First up, the vents were given plenty of heavy coats of Plasti-Dip from a spray can. This doesn't smooth out the plastic, but it does give it a uniform color and maybe, if I'm lucky, prevent further try rotting.
Once fully dry, I ran around the aluminum trim part with a razor blade, and started peeling. The beauty of plasti-dip is it's rubbery and flexible, and thus can be peeled off later on.
Original vent on the right, plasti-dip vent in the middle, peeled vent (with bad aluminum ring) on the left. You can see in the middle how the plastic is still very rough...but I suspect from anything further away then a few inches, you'll never notice it mounted on the car. With the test units working out so well, I've sprayed down my 'good' set of vents.
I also started working on the turn signal switch finally...
...but got interrupted by my buddy who came by to help lift the engine. With that down, I'm good to go for the Truss brace tomorrow. I hope to get a significant dent taken out of the job before I have to go to sleep. Probably could have done that tonight, but we instead decided to head down to Vancouver for some very, very loud noises...
It was a tonne of fun being 12 again...but when you're in your thirties you get to buy seats five rows from the front! :P
-Dave