May 29th Update

Today we got the engine re-installed for what we think is the last time. I got the fuel tank painted, all of the front suspension painted, the old bushings and ball joints out of the arms and the new poly bushings installed.
This week also brought a couple of big boxes from the fine folks at Randy's Ring and Pinion. They set me up with a nodular drop out for the 9 inch, a solid spacer, new axles with the right bolt pattern, a Yukon Grizzly limited slip unit, a set of 3.25 gears and a rebuild kit. The housing is off to Maier Racing to be shortened 1 1/4" per side and then its reinstallation time.
If the motor looks short in the car, that's because I ripped the head off and sent it up to Wright's Machine Shop in Yuba City, CA for a deck and refresh. I am installing heavy duty springs to allow me to get a 4k rev limit. ARP studs will go in Tuesday night after I get the head back.
We installed the engine without the transmission to make sure that the trans is separately serviceable. I want to be sure we can get it in and out without disassembling the whole front of the car.
We mocked up the intercooler mounting this week too; we'll get it installed later this week as the front of the car comes together.

May 23rd Update

This week we got the subframe connectors welded in and got the rear of the underbelly cleaned up and undercoated. One of my customers also gave me a Ford 9", disc-brake rear, so we cut all the brackets off of it and test fit it with the wheels to see how it fit. We need to shorten it 1.5" on each side, so we'll get that done this week if we have time.
Danny got the Lower Control Arms reinforced and did a little repair on the hood hinge mounts to strengthen them.
I had another minor victory with the convertible top. After some cleaning and cycling of the pump and some serious bleeding, I got it to work. It now goes up and down smoothly.
At the house, I got the dash trim painted up and got the main dash assembly primed. Still need to make the template for the Autometer Gauges, but that shouldn't take long.
I also managed to work out a barter with Brian to handle the painting, and he may have me convinced to shoot it a real color instead of hot rod black. Time to get out the colored pencils again and see what I can come up with.

Fab work is complete, Disassembly in Process

We finished the fabrication this week (except for the subframe connectors. We got the trans mount done and got all of the other welding completed. I tore apart the dash at the house so I could paint the pieces and dye the dash pad. I also got the engine on the super-trick rotating engine stand and re-gasketed the whole thing. Got the rear-main replaced as well. This week I will get the high rate valve springs installed, adjust the valves and paint/install the valve covers. Check out the pics, there is a cool shot of the turbo being test fit. Not only did it fit, but the HX-40 downpipe from the donor truck actually fits too!

Radiator is DONE

Got my BeCool radiator from Summit yesterday, and as expected, it was too tight to squeeze between the frame rails. Danny, the master fabricator (who also used to build radiators..) had a solution. He notched one of the tanks and then flipped the piece he removed and tig welded it back in place. Viola! We are done with the radiator, now we need to make a mount for it.

Motor Mounts..>Take 2

Decided to re-measure everything before we did the passenger motor mount. Something told me it wasn't straight, and I was right. We cut the driver's mount back out and started fresh and square and it worked out great. Got both mounts done today and created even more room to run the steering shaft to the rack.

May 8th Progress`

Today I got to the shop at 6:45am and went to town on the trunk floor. For some reason, a previous owner or bodyshop slathered the floor with bondo. What a mess to grind that out! Floor was very solid, so I have no idea why they did that. Anyway, I got that ground down and then wire wheeled and then hit all of the floor areas with POR-15. That stuff rocks and it looks like a million bucks in there now.

Got some trick wheels!

Found these wheels on Craigslist. They are Vintage Wheel Works v48s in 17 x 9.5 and 17x8. Wheels and tires are brand new and have never been on a car! The wheels retail for $348 apiece and I scored the whole set, with tires, for $1300. They are different and look awesome on the car. Front tires may be a bit short, but we'll see.

Steering is DONE!

Today we finished the steering rack mounting. It turned out WAY sweet! Danny machined up some threaded tubes to bolt the rack into and we notched them up into the new crossmember and welded them in.
We then mounted the engine and trans together and stuffed them into the engine bay. We mounted up the fenders and hood for a quick clearance check and then got the 24v-style motor mounts on the block. Looks like the motor mounts should be pretty easy to knock out on Tuesday. The tranny is even sitting about where the stock one did.
I got the floors all wire-wheeled and hit it with some rust converter. I will go back through tomorrow with POR-15 to finalize it.
Got our radiator measurements; looks like Summit will be providing that for us. Need to find a water-to-air intercooler solution also. More pics up in the gallery!