Projekt Hoopty update -- brake lines in and MSDs on!

There's lots going on here now, with a deadline of next Thursday. We'll see if that happens, but for now, there are new brackets, new switches and new odds and ends to look at.
I spent more dough yesterday buying all of my aluminum fittings and stainless lines ... but I only want to have to do this once.
Every bracket has been made or modified to go where they're at, and that took up the lion's share of the last two days.
I should mention that we had a great visit with Angela Lane, and her 'Tales of the Spyder' motivated the hell out of the Wrench. It was steady working for the last two days. The MSD stuff and my master power safety switch are on a very cool mounting plate he made in less than 30 minutes, just as an example.
I'll update this later today with details in the photos themselves; I just want to get this up for now. I'm honestly able to see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

(The engine and transmission will be a state secret for now. Very cool things happening there.)

The first shot here is the boot on the inside of the car. I had to go with a new master cylinder because the old one had been so badly corroded. In the second photo, there it is wearing its new coat of Wal-Mart black paint, and in number three the supporting cast have all been added.

The shifter's tube will likely have to come back out because it's too long. The wire there in number two is the master power to the front of the car, and it's sharing that pipe with the fornt-to-back brake line. The "T" connection is off to the passenger's side to allow us to get inside the tunnel. The MSD box there in number three is solidly mounted on rubber feet to prevent vibration, and the switch is redundant to the key on the dash. Sort of an anti-theft device.

I may or may not be able to reach this with my knee. Frankly, there was too much brake line piled into the driver's seat for me to try. Either way, with it hanging out here, I'll be able to slap it with my hand, and it won't be hanging out the bottom of the car getting corroded. Again with the custom mount, too. I really, really like the way the Wrench can whip things up out of thin air. I had nothing at all to do with this thingie; I was out spending money on fittings when he did this.

I wanted a turn signal switch right at hand for lane-changes. I needed to have it within a hand's reach of the shift lever, and this looked good to me. Four rivets, and bammo. Done.
Number two is the final install shot for the master cylinder with the blue lines on the container and the front-to-back line run into the pipe.
Number three is the end-of-day shot. I couldn't resist. Note the aluminum tank straps on the fuel cell -- I like them. They were intended to be temps, but I'm going to leave them.

LOOK AT THIS! I was just there on Thursday evening - can't believe how much more is done! Brakes baby (can't say enough about the value of those...)

Tell your wrench buddy how much I enjoyed meeting him and thank him for showing me the pics of the great cars he has built. Though I may be prejudiced, the one he's working on right now is my favorite!

And regarding his father. That guy is in a league of his own - what a privilege to meet him. angela

This is unreal Cory!! Can you believe a month ago you were almost throwing the towel?....

You guys both know the score by now. I really wish it was different, but it's circumstantially dependent here. The way things went for the last 20 hours' work, totalling 35 or so man-hours on the meter, it looked like this car could have been done by Monday morning.
Some folks are motivated by intrinsic things and others are externally motivated. In a perfect world, we're on track for early next week to have it all together and wiring should be finished by Thursday. The world's not perfect, however, and now it looks like it's going to move from the garage it's in to yet another garage -- AGAIN due to circumstances beyond my control.
Every inch of wire, every bend in the brake lines and every nut and bolt are an inch, a bend and a small piece of hardware closer to being finished. As I said up top, there really is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Day by day. Thanks for the encouragement, guys.

Very Nice

No visuals with this one, I promise. I think I've been saturating the site with the color orange, so I'll stop.
All of my engine pieces are cleaned up now, and the super diff for the transmission got here yesterday. The engine's parts looked really good when we took the block apart, but I think whoever put it together must have given it a bath in sealer and lock-tite. I spent a great deal of time at the wire wheel, removing all the old goop, epoxy and residual pieces of paper and rubber seals from the components. Happily, when I go to the strainer screen and the sump pickup, even those were in really good material shape. I don't think I'm going to have any leaks.
The Wrench wanted to specifically look at the loop on the cap on the sump, to see if anyone had ever over-tightened the cap or used it as a jacking point. It looked like it had never been used; good news for me.
I have a new seal kit for a microbus engine -- we'll see if that works. No reason why it shouldn't.
My wiring is 90 percent complete. The five wires that aren't already run are laid out underneath the car in order to get the wire runs the correct length. All of my switches checked out with the test light, and all the wires did, too. I'm shopping for bulbs now, but I'm not in a hurry since they all worked when the car was last run in January of 2005.
The brand new Optima battery is installed. I got the red-topped one instead of the yellow; don't know that it made a difference for a little car with 10 fuses and a generator.
All of the brake lines are finished, but the new transmission needs to be installed before I can wire-tie the rears to their routing brackets. I need to cut the old brake line brackets off yet also.
The stub axles fit perfectly but were removed from mock-up tranny after checking fit. It's only 12 bolts; it'll take about two minutes to dunk those into the good tranny when it's in.
The car will be moving Tuesday to new garage. I anticipate significant progress by Tuesday p.m.; engine may or may not be re-assembled before the move.

And TC, the Skunk Works are going to have some cosmetic surprises, too.

Cory - you guys are doing GREAT!!! Hang in there my friend!
angela

Congrats Cory! I'm also doing some nice work on my engine this week. The guy who's porting my heads told me they'll be ready this week so my engine needs to come out; we'll be installing all the new stuff (CB 044 heads, pushrods & stainless pushrod tubes, rigid rocker shafts, swivel feet adjusters, crankshaft pulley, welded fan, SVDA distributor, refurbished OEM cylinder tin, heater boxes, exhaust system, Dellorto 40's...whew...did I forget something?). I feel like a kid the night before Christmas!

Holy cow, Ricardo! When will we get to see some pictures -- or video?
Thanks, Angela. Day by day ... inch by inch ...

You got it Cory! I'll take some photos of the new ported heads and the install itself and I'll post them here.

Cory, that's looking great.

I think this will be an inspiration to anyone in fuutre who's looking to deliver a lot of great quality work in a tight timescale. The nearest I got was when I had to move my car from a garage, but I don't think I could compare with your rate of work.

But the end product looks amazing - you'll be blown away when you get it on the road! Well done, and good luck.

Thanks, Jon! I hope it comes out even close to as well as your car looks. I looked at your photos; very nice work. My condolences on your father's passing.
He must have been quite inspirational. Do you have something of his incorporated into the car?

Cory? How ya doing? I know Tuesday was a fish or cut-bait day at the garage... We all need our Hoopty-Fix! Please update us. Or are you too busy driving it around?

angela

Hi Cory,

Thanks for your kind words. Yes there's lots of stuff from my old man built into the car - his hard work, encouragement, and above all patience. That makes it very special to me to be honest.

I'm sure your car will be exceptional when it's done - that's why I look forward to the pics ;). I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy mine - in fact I'm certain you will.

Oh, and where are the latest pics ?!

Amazing photos coming later today, by noon EST.
AMAZING pictures.
Angela, an elderly German acquaintance wants to know what you might do with some 30-odd books.
More later.

It's gonna be a barn burner. Looks great I enjoy reading the updates.

Cory - I don't think your in-box is working (i'd sent you a email about a week ago). So please email me:

Laneco (at) internetcds.com

I'll be in DC the week of the 23-27. I can think of at least 4 reasons to drive to Maryland. You know that I got so lost on the way back last time that I drove 147 miles? Its only a 69 mile trip... angela

Bring warm clothes, and I'll pick you up and save you the driving!
PM on the way this morning.