Ahhh, that looks good Craig! Well done on the extra bend before the resonator....that worked out well.

Ya, it looks like it's been patched up about fifty times . I hope it lasts this time. The big can at the back should keep things quiet. I'd start it up, but I don't have time to piss around right now. Just got my supply of POR and fancy water-based undercoating for the underside. I've got one day to get that done.

I had that bolted up for a month or two before my car died, sound great, I bet it sounds better now. I remember changing my exhaust in Dale's garage one day...

Today's progress was mostly under the car, so there aren't many pictures. I wire brushed the underside and got it ready for a POR-15 treatment. This was followed by several hours of chemical induced "good feeling" due to the brake cleaner that I used as a grease remover (I've got to quit doing that ). Got it all cleaned up (the car is surprisingly clean) and fixed a few outstanding issues (one floor inspection plug had popped off and the brake repair from last year had a loose bolt securing the brake junction).

Tomorrow, it gets treated to the fancy bead-liner undercoat.

This evening I got in some practice time with the TIG. The rear valence was torn and dented pretty badly. I managed to beat it back into shape (including reforming many of the louvers) and got it square, straight and looking better). The tear was where the tow hook exits and was the result of a bad tow (one would assume). There was a quarter sized hole in the panel that had to be filled.

I've estimated that the panel is 18 ga aluminum - never TIG'ed something this thin before. So here we go - I filled in the hole by chasing it from the thinest side of the hole. Working front and back of the panel. I then ring the hole once I've got it worked round and then just filled away. Not easy - but I'm getting better.

Here you see the back side - sorry I didn't take any during pictures.


Front side - no filler needed (and really, why would I fill this part?)


The finished part. I still have to strip the undercoating off the panel and paint it semi-gloss black.

Man I love TiG, being able to control heat on the fly, it's like driving!

Nice!

Nice work, that's some "winter" car you have there.

damn, i just realized that was aluminum! Tig looks friggin sweet!

you sure put a heck of a lot of effort into that for a winter car though... that's better than at least 95% of tbricker's "go-fast" cars.

Today I got the differential cleaned off and changed the pinion seal. I have to change the diff cover gasket tonight and get the new oil put in - done for today. I found the drive shaft u-joints were going, so I've changed them and will be slapping a coat of paint on it before I put it back together. Tomorrow I've got to drop the rear axle and get the new bushings put in and will get it painted up.

T-Brix builds can be very interesting. I think this car was a better start point than what most of those boys start with and my concept of a winter car is a car that I can drive in the winter without having it rusting or being ridiculous. Being anal retentive is not helpful when trying to get these things done.

Got the differential put back together and rebuild the drive shaft. Everything is getting a couple of coats of POR - so you'll just have to wait for pictures. I've got to pull the torque rods and get the rest of the differential area cleaned up, but I'm sick of cleaning today and have to let the fumes burn off in the garage. I'll get the second coat of POR on things tomorrow and get the diff finish cleaned. That's a lot of cleaning on this car and it wasn't that bad. I just can't put things together without a coat of paint, and I can't paint if the surface isn't sanded...you know the story.

Oh, while I'm telling stories, I'm trying out some fancy U-Joints (Quality Gear Super Seal) - they have real grease seals and are forged steel. The guy at Pat's driveline maintained they are much better than Spicer/Dana units and are preferred by off-roaders for their durability.

My Christmas question...should I use the 25 mm rear sway bar or just stick with the stock 19 mm bar? I'm really tempted by the 25 mm bar (have the 25 mm up front and am adding some adjustable end links), but know that for snow use (not that we get much of that) the 19 mm or no bar would be better. I'm just wondering what you boys think?

Who else is going to be in their garage tomorrow?

I've run 25/25 and 17/0 on the same car, and didn't see enough of an improvement to warrant the extra body movement. Go with the stiffy.

Got the stiff bar, torque rods and panhard rod painted today. Second coat of POR on the rest. Tomorrow the rear gets dropped for bushing replacement and some more painting. I figure on the 27th I should get the undercoating shot and be finished with the bottom side of the car. Then it's just lots of sanding and shooting the top side.

Today's progress report: I was greeted by some lovely shiny and clean parts when I went in to the garage this morning.



I then got to work and boxed the lower control arms. 16 ga in a few places sure stiffens things up!.


With the control arms painted and drying. It was time to get my bushing removal tool out and get those nasty bushings off the rear axle. I tried for three hours to make them move with my fancy tool and 480 ft/lb impact wrench. Not a budge.

So I tossed the tool aside and brought out the big guns.

Here's the Coburn Performance way of removing these things. First cut almost all the way through from the underside with a reciprocating saw and then beat the rest of the bushing off with a hammer. Then use the trusty air hammer to remove the remainder of the bushing from the holder.

Took about 10 minutes per side.

Not elegant, but effective.


POR on butt cheeks.


Passenger side rocker area done - the flash makes it look dirty - it isn't, but it only got POR where needed.

Nice work Craig! I'm loving watching this project progress. Wish I was feeling better so I could be there helping out.

Thank goodness someone sees the progress...I'm lost in it right now and have a hard time seeing it done .