Projekt Hoopty update -- Odds and ends coming together

In these pictures, the five-pointers are installed to about 90 percent. I need the small doomahickey for the crotch strap; the rectangular, split aluminum piece the strap passes through twice is missing from this set of belts. I think it's in a box somewhere.
Before I sent the chassis to the powdercoat guy, I asked Jimmy to properly place three half-inch bolts beside and above each seat, and we welded tabs into the skeletal frame under the front of each for three-eighths bolts to hold the crotch straps in place.
When it came back, everything was in place for final assembly.

Yesterday was mostly about cleaning the garage out to make room for 360-degree operations around the car, but I got a few small things accomplished. The seatbelts are installed, the indicator lights for high-beams, generator failure/test and oil pressure are now in the dash, and the torsion adjustments have been made in the rear suspension.
I have to say that being able to get at the wiring from the top and being able to get into the rear workings have been made much easier by not having the body on.
The engine and my 3:88 ring and pinion are scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
Also new in the parts department are my axles, axle boots, a Bosch voltage regularor, MSD blue plug wires and a new brake master cylinder. All I need now is a roll of stainless brake line. I'll be picking that up in the morning.

In the first three photos, the IRS and swing setups have been modified to use components of each and to accomodate the now-shorter torsion tube and torsion bars. The swing blades and my old IRS tube covers have been welded together with a couple inches chopped out.

There are now five lights on the dash. That's more than what I wanted, but Jimmy argued correctly that if I used pip lights like I had for the turn signals, I might not see the electrical or oil pressure lights come on driving down the road. The compromise was to put these guys in.
Ancillary to that, the pip lights will not be integral to the turn signal circuit, but the red and blue lights will have to carry all of the circuit's power. Looking at the backside shot with the contacts in view, the pip bulb wires are tiny; they'd have burned up quickly.

Man; that looks so great! You've come such a LONG way in the past two or three weeks that it's unbelievable. Congrats!!

Thanks, Ricardo. I just wrote an e-mail to KITCAR magazine, via the parent editor (Brian Smith of Primedia) in hopes of attracting some attention in ink.
I'm a lot more confident of how this will turn out, now that it's orange and going together well. I'm going to be spending tomorrow and Friday working feverishly on it anyway, but it'd be nice to hear from a magazine editor expressing a little interest in what's happening.
Who knows -- it might even spur the completion date forward by a week!

C'mon. Realistically ... Nah.
Anyone want to quote me odds? My money's on the letter which reads:

'Dear Mr. Drake,
We got your request for our interest, and we regret to inform you we haven't any.
This month, we'll be looking into heavier-than-air homebuilt brick gliders with four wheels and 7.6-liter Radio Flyer wagons.
We've been putting those stories off for more than a few years, and, frankly, they're a lot more interesting. ...'

So you beat me to it, huh?

Anyway, I somehow think that "pyro"tect is perfect for a firefighter's car, don't you?

Seriously, it looks great.

I heard a rumor that "The Hoopty" might be cruising through a neighborhood near you.

Hey GUESS WHAT? I was working in DC area this week and got to drive out and meet Cory!!! He's every bit as nice and funny as his posts. And let me tell ya, da Hoopty is looking GOOD! Its one of those cars that the more you look, the more things you find the to like.

By the way Cory, thanks for keeping your cool when I called you on the cell because I was LOST somewhere in Virginia.... You know what, I drove 147 miles on on the way back to my hotel last night.
You always know its going to be a weird phone call when the person who is calling asks "Cory , where the hell am I???"

*****HANG IN THERE CORY YOU'RE DOING GREAT!!!*****

Woo-Hoo! Angela, it was great to meet you!
New Jersey, New York and PA residents, beware. Shakedown cruise will be a big, counter-clockwise circle ... One more week ...
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