"Dietrich was the librarian for Meadowlawn School in Sandusky for many years and wrote a racing column for the Sandusky Register and for a monthly publication titled the Northern Ohio Region of the Sports Car Club of America, for which she served as secretary." (From her obit).
She (and basically anyone else you ever saw pictured in a 550 Spyder in-period) started in an MG TC—
/stories/2011/10/Suzy-Dietrich-in-MG-TC-SC.jpg)
—though very few looked as good doing so.
@edsnova posted:
Check out that roll bar stub whatever thing. It'll make it easier to remove the dead body if he does flip it.
This was a huge, breakthrough innovation as compared to the previous rollover protection system which consisted of "a 2-foot length of thick rope attached somehow to the floorboard under the dash on the passenger side, with a knot on the other end for the driver to grab."
That's back when race car drivers were real men, or women.
I should install a piece of rope in my car to further scare any passenger. I'll tell them in case I roll this thing, grab the rope and duck, or you'll get your head scraped off. Of course, there is only room to do this crazy maneuver for a solo driver.
I hate saying it Ed, because I despise the association but James Dean would get the most traction. A small subsection of people know what the car is and 90% of them say, "is that James Dean's car?"
I vomited in my mouth just now.
Think you'll tape some numbers on it for the racecar portraits?
Wasn't planning to meatball it but maybe? I just happen to have a few colorforms style 68s laying around the shop!
@Chris MacDonald I'll leave it to others to do a perfect copy of 550-0055. This one's for the connoisseur who'd be more apt to ask if this was in tribute to the one Sir Stirling drove Down Under (0056) or if it's a copy of the Jean Behra car (0067) or maybe Seinfeld's (0060).
I did toy with painting the fan shroud like
but quickly set that idea aside.
I tried to get my quirky details from 550-0051, mainly because, when I started the build, there were a lot of really large, nicely detailed pics on the web featuring both the finished car and the rebuild from many years ago. That car is French blue and, like mine, has the full-width perspex screen, ten screws holding the the front grill on, Autopulse fuel pumps, banjo steering wheel, metric gauges and full upholstery, plus the five-bolt Knecht air cleaners and the black painted frame tubes under the clam. Its rear-view mirror is a Raydyot, which I bought one of but which would not fit on the dash with the windscreen in, so it's in a box. Dang!
It's also got the Sonauto badge on the back deck and the copy of that's like $230 euros so the next guy can spring for that if he's crazier than me.
And it's a high rail frame car and I decided replicating that was too much of too much.
But I did do one very insane, subtle detail in its tribute.
vs.
Like Chris, I abhor any and all reference to Dean with respect to the Spyder. One of the many reasons my car is NOT silver. An actor of some talent, but not here long enough to care for me, he passed 9 years before my birth. He owned a Spyder for 2 weeks, oh wait, two WHOLE weeks!
Ed, I applaud your choice for recreation/homage. Cheers!
Got my Suzy Dietrich lookalike lined up, if this lockdown ever ends.
Now, we wait.
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stunning.
You've knocked it out of the park, Ed!
@Michael Pickett posted:You've knocked it out of the park, Ed!
Hell, he knocked it out of the zip code!
Will that thing last long enough, before being sold, for us to see it at Carlisle.
When is the next spyder build? 
Update.
Talked to my source at MVA and he guesses (pure wild guess) there might be some openings in a couple weeks. So finders crossed I'll be able to start the titling odyssey then.
Chasing oil drips.
Changed the valve cover gasket on the driver's side today and backed the car out to see if that solved it. It didn't. Try again tomorrow.
While the car was idling in the driveway the neighbors mobbed it. This guy was driving to his girl's house in his dune buggy when he saw the garage door open and stopped.
Gotta start paint touch-up processes now and gathering the last few nuts and bolts.
The rear underpan is fixed. Got the seams nice and tight. So that will be going on the car as soon as the oil drips are defeated.
Finishing up the underpan with some riv-nuts and 6-32 stainless screws for the below the belt line engine tin ducting the fan air out and under the car.
@Sacto Mitch posted:
Thanks, Danny.
Problem with Macs is that they haven't had serial ports since the Eisenhower administration. (OK, I wax hyperbolic.)
So, if there's no USB option, Macs are out, I guess. There may still be some kind of hardware solution for Mac that emulates a serial connection via USB, but I haven't heard of such a thing in years. Next question is does CBP supply software that will load on a Mac? Anyone? Bueller?
And, again, can you run the Black Box at all without some kind of vacuum feed? If so, does it seriously compromise performance to do so? In other words, if you get the box, should you assume you'll need to hook up a vacuum feed, too?
I had a whole dissertation typed up about this and I went to scour the Internet for some pics and it vanished. Long story short, you can buy a Dell D630 with an actual serial port, loaded with XP Pro on eBay for ~$80. I have a fuel injected motorcycle and I could never get usb/PC card to serial adapters to work consistently. Now I have a laptop for running the Walbro software and my Mercedes SDS exclusively. Bulletproof.
Also, be aware that all "009s" are not created equally. There's a ton of info on thesamba.com about distributors. The best are the German ones, followed by the Brazillian ones. The Mexican ones are better than the Chinese ones (the only ones still in production) but not by much. Easy to tell, the Mexican and Chinese ones aren't labeled.
I lucked out. One of the two best Bosch guys in the country lives in SLC and he had a German 009 in his scrap heap that he sold to me for the cost of the refurb. and I'm going to use it for an optical trigger on the XR700 electronic ignition I'm about ready to install.
@Kevin - Bay Area postedThe other 99.5% would think it’s real if you had an “8-ball” shifter knob on it.
LOL. I have a So-Cal Speed Shop shift knob in mine.
Just finished all 38 pages. Wow, Ed. What a phenomenal job.
Thanks. By now you'd be forgiven for waiting for the audio book.
@edsnova posted:Thanks. By now you'd be forgiven for waiting for the audio book.
Hey Ed, a couple of thoughts on your temp gauge/sender/cold running issues:
Does Jake's DTM setup include a thermostat?
Do you have an oil thermostat installed?
10W/30?
I ask because my Beck did the same thing when I bought it. It would barely lift the needle after a half hour of city driving. The only time it reached "operating temperature" was after 10-15 of 3-3500rpm highway driving. Then, ironically, if I pulled a long grade, it would almost overheat. Like you, I suspected a faulty sender of an ohm must-match between the 356 gauge and the VW sender
After a lot of reading in the Samba, I ditched the cheap Chinese shroud which, of course, the builder had omitted the thermostat. Last year I ditched all that and installed a Thing shroud, with thermostat, a Type IV oil cooler, and switched to 30 weight Rotella T2.
Oil is a can of worms and, like the old joke, everyone has an opinion and everybody elses's stinks. Before my mods running several types of multi-weight, my oil pressure light would flicker at 900rpm. After a bunch of reading, I accepted the rational that multi-weight oil wasn't around until the very end of the air cooled vw's life. I know BP is a good oil, I ran Motul 300v 15w-50, which us too. My motor sounded like a box of rocks. With the Rotella, it's smooth as butter.
Best of all, after my mods, my engine warms up twice as fast and the gauge rarely varies from "12o'clock high."
Interesting observations, @dlearl476. FAIK the Raby DTM has no thermostat nor provisions for same. In my case I've not yet been able to run the engine over the road, so I can't say yet if it behaves similarly to yours—but it's a strong possibility. The gauge and (original) sender that came with it were supposedly matched and calibrated by the good folks at North Hollywood Speedometer, and I have no cause to doubt their work.
As for oil: Brad Penn "Green" 20-50 is specified (very adamantly, I might add) by the engine's builder. I see no reason to vary that, given his dire warnings.
So the plan right now is to get the car registered and legal & see how she does underway. I'll revisit the issue then, though I do plan to invest in an infrared thermometer in the meantime to spot-check head temps and such.
@edsnova posted:Interesting observations, @dlearl476. FAIK the Raby DTM has no thermostat nor provisions for same. In my case I've not yet been able to run the engine over the road, so I can't say yet if it behaves similarly to yours—but it's a strong possibility. The gauge and (original) sender that came with it were supposedly matched and calibrated by the good folks at North Hollywood Speedometer, and I have no cause to doubt their work.
As for oil: Brad Penn "Green" 20-50 is specified (very adamantly, I might add) by the engine's builder. I see no reason to vary that, given his dire warnings.
So the plan right now is to get the car registered and legal & see how she does underway. I'll revisit the issue then, though I do plan to invest in an infrared thermometer in the meantime to spot-check head temps and such.
Yeah, I get that BP thing. Brad's devotees are, shall we say, religious in their fervor. 
FWIW, I'm the same way about Motul, but the straight weight Motul Classic is $12/L vs $8.95/gal for the Rotella. A real shame, as I can get the 300V for free. But like I said, the motor sounds awful with it.
How about the oil thermostat? If you don't have that, cold oil will circulate through the cooler and further impede warming up.
PSS: What type of nutserts did you use on your windshield?
When I bought mine, it had the lexan screen on it. Luckily, I bought it about 25 miles from Bremen so I immediately drove over and had Carey go through the car before I drove back to NYC. One of the things I had them do was install the Speedster screen but, as Carey warned me, the top frame is right in my line of sight, so I want to go back to the lexan screen.
I used these long throw nutserts for my gas tank, as I figure regular nutserts would just crack the fiberglass. Until I read your blog, I was considering enlisting a helper and just using stainless sheet metal screws and speed clips, but I like your idea better.
I just bought aluminum 6-32 nut certs from McMaster Carr. The wide ones are made for thicker material and have ribbed edges to grip the fiberglass. The skinny ones are shorter pull and I used those mostly in the aluminum bits under the back of the car.
@edsnova posted:I just bought aluminum 6-32 nut certs from McMaster Carr. The wide ones are made for thicker material and have ribbed edges to grip the fiberglass. The skinny ones are shorter pull and I used those mostly in the aluminum bits under the back of the car.
So you didn't use the slotted ones like I posted that flair out into an "X" like a hollow wall anchor?
i also thought about using well nuts by I figured the rubber head would be enough to cause a leak in the leather gasket.
Which reminds me, I assume you got yours sorted. I was going to post (before I saw that the thread list was a couple of years old) that I'm going to use several slatherings of mink oil waterproof shoe dressing before I install it. I figure that will be waterproof enough for a convert with no top or windshield wipers.
Short update: Still waiting for MVA to open.
I got the engine tins fettled up with riv-nuts and such so pretty much all the air going through the cooling fins will be forced down and under the car, below the aluminum belly. Set up the leading edge of the belly pan with like 3/16-inch gap to scoop air in ahead of the louvers. It won't be the lowest part of the car, but it's still just under my target 5-inch clearance. I may yet adjust the rear wheels to lift the car up a quarter inch or so before I set her free.
Discovered the rear brake calipers were going to interfere with the inner fender wells, so I trimmed them. Quite a bit. Glad I noticed before taking a spirited run over some speed humps.
Popped on the registration rearview mirror. Will pull this off and put the plexi on asap with a short stem mirror.
(And yes, I know I remain unspeakably handsome despite these Unprecedented Times.)
Today I went and put the last emblems on the car. Pretty psyched I could use the pins and push nuts.
They look almost as nice from the front.
Trailer is ready when you need it.
Just wow, that's all...
@Michael Pickett posted:Just wow, that's all...
I'll call your "wow" and raise you a "Holy sh1t!"
Not bad. Not bad at all....
Bloody amazing, actually...
Bam.
Ed , you killed it man ! You get the 
Seal of Approval ~
Truly remarkable and inspiring, Ed. Thanks for taking the time to let the rest of us experience the challenges and accomplishments of your monumental project. Good on ya!
When this post has an update from Ed first thing in the morning, it's better than coffee!
Hey just a reminder that I entered this half-finshed junk in the Pelican Parts remote/social distanced car show as a prize contestant and they did place it among the Best DIY Project finalists. So if you vote for me and I win I'll share my glory by means of some sort of illegal kickback.
They make you click on a half different links to get to the DIY but try this to get just to Ed's car:
Done. 5 stars! Good luck.
Did anybody notice in the Modified section of the virtual car show (pic #55) the 911 engine with the velocity stacks and what appears to be pieces of lexan mounted just above the stacks.
Is that to keep residue from coming down into the filters, to funnel air to the stacks or just to express how cool the car is, or, any combination of the above?
Ed, building that car is a terrific achievement!
Thankee. The original gallery had lots of pics of each entry but I don't remember what the context was for the flat 6. The whole gallery was a feast for the eyes, and some of the entries were truly outstanding in terms of photography composition, etc.
Others were just mind-melting displays of wealth.
And still others were both!
Vote Early, and vote Often......
Two guys running for select-board in my town. Joe Early and Sue Often.
We're having a lot of fun with this election. Some uddah states might not unnahstan....
@Panhandle Bob posted:Did anybody notice in the Modified section of the virtual car show (pic #55) the 911 engine with the velocity stacks and what appears to be pieces of lexan mounted just above the stacks.
Is that to keep residue from coming down into the filters, to funnel air to the stacks or just to express how cool the car is, or, any combination of the above?
Ed, building that car is a terrific achievement!
I think it's a mostly cosmetic interpretation of a debris filter like what's on a 917 engine. I've never seen it on a factory car, road or race. (But I could be mistaken)
I've seen a few cars with the simple screens over the velocity stacks (even considered doing the same on my dellortos) but that's the only car I've ever seen with the lexan bits.
We're into touch-up paint now. Coming along OK
I got ot the 600-1000-1500-2000 grit as well and wet sanded some runs out of the rear passenger fender well as a test for getting the ones under the dashboard. That seems to be going well too: the runs are all but invisible pending compound application and there's no blue on the paper so far.
Taking my time with this...
I wouldn't get rid of all the paint runs.
Folks need to know this is a hand-built car, right? You don't think Ferraris from the 60s were a little asymmetrical by accident, do you?
When they built my VS they were highly aware of this. They were careful to leave just a few drips and runs in conspicuous places, and it's very convincing.
How well you understand me, Mitch. These are period-correct subtleties some will never properly appreciate.
Update: drat.
After a couple coats of color and a few of clear I'd got it looking pretty good. Then I opened the hood and tor it all right off again.
Sanding the inside lower edge of the hood now for clearance & will take it off over the weekend to touch it up.
Stuff happens Ed... it is still a beauty.
So I did a few things the last few days including making an appointment at that MVA on Tuesday to title the car.
This may or may not actually happen as the state trooper who I understand has to sign off on this only works Tuesdays from 8 through noon, and the earliest (only) appointment I could make was 3:45. So I'll try him Monday and see if this can work. If it can't it'll be at least another two weeks. And so begins the Final Stage.
I bought a heavy duty bathroom scale and weighed each wheel today in turn while sliding plywood under the other tires to keep the car level: 1483 lbs total.
356 334
378 415
I'm not at all convinced these numbers are spot-on. Left rear is especially suspect as I jacked the car up on that corner to spin the adjuster screws a turn and lift, and did not then drive or roll the car to "settle" it. But they seem ballpark.
And I've been sanding the lower leading edge of the hood with 120 grit.
Funny story there. When Tommy got done with the paint he said something like "the hood's a little tight I can sand it if you want" and I was like NO! WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU SAND NEW PAINT?
So obviously I should've said HELL YES YOU FIEND MAKE THE GODDAMN THING RIGHT! but also Tommy might have done better to say, instead of "a little tight," "it's gon' scrape" or better yet said nothing and just did it.
But that's not the story.
The story is, I've been cranking on the leading edge of the hood with 120 grit for a while. Lots and lots of white dust falling away. Sanding and testing the closure, sanding, testing, sanding, more dust. As one does.
This is the leading edge of the hood which I am sanding with the hood open meaning the edge is down and basically invisible to me.
I mean SANDING that mother. Again, with 120 grit.
So today I'm fixing to remove the hood so I can hit it with some 600 and tape it off for primer so I can then repaint that thin edge I've buggered up awful with all that sanding.
And I squat down real low.
And I tilt my head to look at it.
And the dang thing is STILL BLUE.
As in: painted.
I look at my 120 grit. A little blue there. Not much.
And I understand what has happened.
Turns out Tommy hung the hood to paint it, and the clear coat I gave him, formulated for long pot life at 85+ degrees F, ran down to the leading edge and lengthened it. I did not screw up my body prep; the panel gaps were good.
Anyway, these are the sorts of things you learn.
I broke out the 2k primer/filler for the body edge that's damaged.
This'll get cut down tomorrow with the 600 grit, re-masked and then sprayed with the Voodoo Blue x 3 and then the clear x 2 or 3, before a final blend with the high number wet paper and maybe the compound.
DannyP says that he is bringing the scales to Carlisle for a "weigh a ton" so I guess we can see who the biggest loser is, I vote for Holy Al.
It's always something.
As of 10 a.m.:
Gonna peel the tape now and let it cure overnight before final wet sand with 600 to knock down the tape edge ridges. Only then will I get to find out if the dang thing actually fits now.
If it does I'll go to 1000-1500-2000 and to a hand rub with the compound.
If I use Tommy again I will understand his language.
Isn't is frustrating at times when you realize it was on your end, you heard the language, at least you thought you were hearing but the language did not reveal the intended results and only later you understood. Sometimes too late.
My frustrations often come when I realize that I actually knew or was told that there would be a problem, but let my natural optimism cause me to ignore it. Good luck, Ed.
It's all in the game, fellas.
@Michael Pickett posted:My frustrations often come when I realize that I actually knew or was told that there would be a problem, but let my natural optimism cause me to ignore it. Good luck, Ed.
Can I get an Amen!?!
Optimism has no place in building or troubleshooting. None. If it can break, it will break.
... like my clutch cable, just now.
@IaM-Ray posted:DannyP says that he is bringing the scales to Carlisle for a "weigh a ton" so I guess we can see who the biggest loser is, I vote for Holy Al.
It's the Yoda in me- he keeps on saying "this the way the path to eternal lightness is". Sometimes I can't get him out of my head! 
On the other side of the coin, I've never denied I hear voices. My moral dilemma- once in a while one of them comes up with a really good idea. Is it ok if I take the credit? Please help me out here, as I'm really at a crossroad...
@edsnova posted:Interesting observations, @dlearl476. FAIK the Raby DTM has no thermostat nor provisions for same. In my case I've not yet been able to run the engine over the road, so I can't say yet if it behaves similarly to yours—but it's a strong possibility. The gauge and (original) sender that came with it were supposedly matched and calibrated by the good folks at North Hollywood Speedometer, and I have no cause to doubt their work.
As for oil: Brad Penn "Green" 20-50 is specified (very adamantly, I might add) by the engine's builder. I see no reason to vary that, given his dire warnings.
So the plan right now is to get the car registered and legal & see how she does underway. I'll revisit the issue then, though I do plan to invest in an infrared thermometer in the meantime to spot-check head temps and such.
Just so you know- what's important is combustion chamber temps, hence the reason for the head temp sensor being under a spark plug (bolted to the fuel injection boss, which is close, isn't close enough to give the same information or in real time). An infared thermometer will really only tell you if all the cylinders are firing.
I can’t use my IR thermometer for that right now. My wife is using it for forehead readings when checking for Covid. 
Makes me feel like I’m going through TSA........
@Gordon Nichols posted:I can’t use my IR thermometer for that right now. My wife is using it for forehead readings when checking for Covid.
Makes me feel like I’m going through TSA........
Geez, how long is the line to get into your house?
@Gordon Nichols posted:I can’t use my IR thermometer for that right now. My wife is using it for forehead readings when checking for Covid.
Makes me feel like I’m going through TSA........
Well be happy your not getting full physicals from TSA ....
Update: no wet-sanding this clear for 7 days, after which I should be able to get it, if not perfect, good enough so you're eyes won't hang on it. I did check the fit and we seem to have a scrape-free hood-to-body clearance.
@edsnova posted:...good enough so you're eyes won't hang on it...
I think that's the key to real-world paint touch-up.
My ivory car was primered in black. The tiniest rock chip is visible from outer space.
And I get rock chips on, like, every third drive.
I could spend three days fixing each chip - filling, sanding, buffing (assuming I actually knew how to do that) - but I've chosen a more realistic approach.
I dab on some touch-up paint, try not to spread it over an area twice as large as the original chip, and move on. If you stare at the chip, you can still see it, but if you don't know where it is, it's invisible. Again, these are supposed to be 70-year-old cars. Paint defects are part of the whole gestalt.
Besides, these cars gives us lots of other things to obsess about. Was it really idling smoother yesterday, or do we just imagine that?
It's not the length of the line. It's throughput time.
"Bleep!" "OK....You're good!"
@Stan Galat posted:Can I get an Amen!?!
Optimism has no place in building or troubleshooting. None. If it can break, it will break.
... like my clutch cable, just now.
... and just like that, my unwarranted optimism balloon is deflated.
Whatever broke, it wasn't the cable.
Nuts.
@Michael Pickett posted:Geez, how long is the line to get into your house?
Currently Gordon is residing in the dog house. If he's a REAL GOOD boy, Kathy will let him in occasionally, check his temperature, feed and water him, and maybe scratch him behind the ear with a freshly-gloved hand.
The Spyder is registered and I'm into test-drives and adjustments now.
Starts easy, idles a little low when cold, and the brake pedal is a bit low for my tastes. One pad may be rubbing just a tad as well, so I'll need to find that and re-shim the caliper, probably, and the brake line on the driver's rear caliper it taking paint off the inner fender, so I'm going to have to re-route it. E-brake also needs tightening. The car tracks and stops straight.
Gears are all there and I'm going to leave them be a while and see if the shifter gets smoother or not.
Left turn signal does not cancel. Dang. I'm not interested in pulling the wheel again to correct that, given the fiasco with the horn button. But I'll probably do it, all the same.
Need to aim the headlights lower. Will do that after the ride height is set and settled.
Gonna try to fit the cloth top before swapping out the glass windscreen for the proper plastic screen.
May yet have the slightest oil drip out of the passenger side valve cover. Need to make sure it's not a pushrod tube.
Once that's squared away the aluminum underpan goes back on.
Also I'll be making a towbar system for it.
Ed, I'm not seeing the pictures you tried to attach to the last update. Great progress, though. Congrats on getting it registered!
MIke be healed
I can't see anything either.
Weird. I uploaded them same as usual
The Spyder is registered and I'm into test-drives and adjustments now.
Starts easy, idles a little low when cold, and the brake pedal is a bit low for my tastes. One pad may be rubbing just a tad as well, so I'll need to find that and re-shim the caliper, probably, and the brake line on the driver's rear caliper it taking paint off the inner fender, so I'm going to have to re-route it. E-brake also needs tightening. The car tracks and stops straight.
Gears are all there and I'm going to leave them be a while and see if the shifter gets smoother or not.
Left turn signal does not cancel. Dang. I'm not interested in pulling the wheel again to correct that, given the fiasco with the horn button. But I'll probably do it, all the same.
Need to aim the headlights lower. Will do that after the ride height is set and settled.
Gonna try to fit the cloth top before swapping out the glass windscreen for the proper plastic screen.
May yet have the slightest oil drip out of the passenger side valve cover. Need to make sure it's not a pushrod tube.
Once that's squared away the aluminum underpan goes back on.
Also I'll be making a towbar system for it.
Glad you got it registered
Looks brilliant! Thanks for the new pics, Ed.
Once again: Wow! What a beauty! 
I hope, though, you NEVER have to use those wipers. 
Thanks, Paul. Going to pull out the wipers and wiper motor and put the plastic screen back on the car. I do want to test fit the cloth top first though. And I may set that up to work (if I can use that word) like the original Spyder tops did as well.
All your countless hours of work and the 100's of pounds of stuff you acquired from my PA shop made for one nice ride !
My, my, my... Sometime to be very proud of here, Ed.
Simply gorgeous.........
@aircooled posted:Any ideas on how or where you will attach the roll bar ?......Bruce
No roll bar in this one Bruce.
@aircooled posted:Any ideas on how or where you will attach the roll bar ?......Bruce
This is how Greg did mine, and the PCA okayed this at LRP. There are two forward diagonals just below the door tops that bolt onto plates in front of the bulkhead. It isn't pretty, but it comes out for street duty. I'm the fat guy and my friend Mike is wearing the Lotus shirt. It was 95 and humid that day, summer DE 2018. Car ran very well, rings were tired. Lot of blue smoke on throttle off. Did a full top end, pistons, barrels and heads last summer. She runs strong now.
Ed, that blue looks great out in the sun.
My tow bar had about 1.5 inches of ground clearance and would scrape on angled driveway entrances. But hey, it's only the bar dragging, not the car.
I have two big bolts that go through the bottom of the pan ahead of the little "hump" and go through and screw into nuts welded on the top of my frame extensions to which I attached my jack points. I CADded this out already. Plan to cut and drill some square or c bar and bolt it on there, then bring it up past the jack points and terminate under the grill with horizontal pivot points to which I can attach a Bug bar which I'll cut the ends off of and box for the pivots.
I'll probably end up tying the two bits together with some small square tube to keep the lateral stress off the jack points, but really it shouldn't matter as they're solid 1-inch round bar welded to 3/16" plate.
Anyway on this I'll have a real welder after I tack for fit-up.
A couple big Clevis pins should take it from there.
Assuming my plan works out, I estimate the bracket will be higher than or even with the floor of the car at 5 to 5.5 inches above the pavement—see the bolt?
The tow bar pivot will be even with or above the bottom of the jack point—7-8 inches.
So Ed, how many multiples of 40 hours do you have in that build?
Hours in: 1803.
Well that makes it at least 45 weeks of work for a one guy operation. The car looks awesome from here will it be at Carlisle?
That car is stunning. Just like Seinfeld’s old car. I think this conversation took place earlier in the thread.
Ed, I gotta come see you and this fab build. You still have it, right? When's a good time? It is stunning.
Kelly, you are welcome here any time. I will have the car for at least a few months for sorting.
Continued sorting. Ordered some brake flare adaptors today. Just got done opening up the inner fenders for brake caliper clearance. Tightened the axle boots because they leaked like hell after that first trip around the block. Still dialing in the ride height. Fronts seem pretty good but the left side is 1/4-3/8 lower than the right and so: Gotta drop the rear passenger side about 3/8 of an inch and raise the driver's side 1/8 or so.
Details.
Ed, someone is going to cherish your work for a very long time
