[bomerman19]

Hey clint let me know how that paint on the trans works out for you im interested to see how the paint holds up to the heat trans cause I know the trans can gets hot and the clutch gets really hot.

also a note on the action clutch the paint on the pressure plate has a flash point on it so once it hits the flash point it will start to smoke a lot and then it will go away and the next time you take of your trans the pressure plate will be a different shade of orange/red

[dezod]

Is that an old Stafford mani? It was probably made around a "B" cover instead of an "E"

[speedfoos]

Originally Posted by DsevenEm2

Yea I remembered that you cut the notch in the support before, but didn't realize it was that big

I hear the mag strips are great.. I'm thinking about getting them to lay inside a couple drawers in my tool box, for holding wrenches in place mostly.. so they're not just sliding all over the place, thanks man

Better bolt those fuckers down to the drawers then because they strong enough to cause an issue for the sliders. I would recommend some of that adhesive magnetic strip stuff. Much easier to lay down, you can put it under the drawer liner and it will secure the tools just enough that they don't move around, but not too much to be a pain in the ass.

Originally Posted by bomerman19

Hey clint let me know how that paint on the trans works out for you im interested to see how the paint holds up to the heat trans cause I know the trans can gets hot and the clutch gets really hot.

also a note on the action clutch the paint on the pressure plate has a flash point on it so once it hits the flash point it will start to smoke a lot and then it will go away and the next time you take of your trans the pressure plate will be a different shade of orange/red

I imagine it will be fine Paul. I've used the same stuff on my brake calipers and the intake mani and have never had a problem with it flaking off or anything.

Good looking out on the flash point.

Originally Posted by dezod

Is that an old Stafford mani? It was probably made around a "B" cover instead of an "E"

Honestly, I don't know who made it Paul. I bought it from another member on this site and said he had it custom made as a one-off. I've got some of the initial fabrication photos so I don't think it's a Stafford.

[bomerman19]

Oh you used the same paint on your calipers, if holds up on the calipers then damm never mind my concern

[speedfoos]

Originally Posted by bomerman19

Oh you used the same paint on your calipers, if holds up on the calipers then damm never mind my concern

Yeah dude, it's pretty tough stuff.

Well the rest of my body parts arrived while I was in Georgia. Fucking lowlifes at UPS. I thought the truck drivers were the cream of the UPS company? Don't you have to work your way up from the floor to be one. This just proves they're just the scum floating on top of the cesspool.

According to the tracking site, my package was "Left at Doorstep". Yeah.

First off they delivered it to the wrong house number on the wrong street.

Then they just left it at the top of that driveway.

All fucked up.

Did I mention it was raining?

The whole time I was gone?

It got delivered on Thursday, the day after I drove down to Augusta, GA for two days. Here it is on Day 1.






Nice huh? Looks like someone cut into it so they could sleep inside of it because they were pretending to be Han cutting into a Ton-ton. Fucking Star Wars nerds.

It was too big and heavy for my wife to do anything with and the people who own the house weren't overly willing to help either.

Oh. It gets better.

Here it is on Day 2. We don't know why it tipped over. Maybe wind, maybe when the SW geek crawled out of his cardboad Ton-ton in the morning. I don't know. I just get to deal with the results.






This is what I got to pick up last night at about 8 o'clock when I got home from Georgia. It was still raining. The Ton-ton's skin had decayed so much by that point that it just tore off in my hands. In the box was the following:

- hood
- both fender splash shields
- front and rear bumper
- hood hinges
- raddy cradle
- bumper filler (metal piece that goes under the head lights)

Luckily none of this can be damaged by getting wet for a a couple days, however it looks like the passenger side of the raddy cradle got a little bent. I haven't taken a close look at everything yet since I was tired from the drive. I'll get shots of everything later today.

Fucking pissed.

[ChemicalBoom]

That f-ing sucks

[FoSho]

Holy shit man!! I would be livid! I love the progressive pictures, haha...at least your wife was checking on it! The best part is the people who lived there didn't care they had a star wars convention in the driveway....people suck! The least UPS could do is give you a free juice box!

[speedfoos]

Originally Posted by ChemicalBoom

That f-ing sucks

Tell me about it...

Originally Posted by FoSho

Holy shit man!! I would be livid! I love the progressive pictures, haha...at least your wife was checking on it! The best part is the people who lived there didn't care they had a star wars convention in the driveway....people suck! The least UPS could do is give you a free juice box!

Dude, I would kill for a juice box right now.


Well, here's some stuff that arrived yesterday. The rest of my v-bands:



And most everything from the Ton-ton.

Hinges and bumper fillers.




The raddy cradle. You can see in the second picture where it got bent.






It was easy enough to unbend though. I decided to see how hard it would be to get the old cradle out. While it was tedious, it was not that hard. You have to drill out all the spot welds and then use a chisel finish the job.

Here's a start.




See. Drillin'. But not all the way through. That's where the chisel comes in.




Going......




......going.....




.....gone! Took me about an hour to get the cradle all the way off.




Then I decided I need to freshen up the paint in the bay so I taped her off and got to spraying.




Done.




I'm gonna eat some lunch and then check the hood and the bumpers like I was originally going to before I got distracted.
And I'm calling you a UPS driver for mispelling scene!

[speedfoos]

Yeah, I'm beat. I got some more stuff done after lunch.

The primer dried while I ate and was ready to shoot - well, rattle can.






Who's car?




My car.

Instead of watching the paint dry, I unwrapped my bumpers and hood. The hood was fine and I didn't take any pictures of it. Well, bumpers are fine too, but I took pictures of them!

04-05 hawtness.






Since momma was out shopping, I decided to sneak into the kitchen to cook up some yummy treats....



Then the mail lady came and delivered some aluminum goodies to me. I may get the lugs anodized or powdercoated a different color since they are a little scuffed up, but muchos grassy-ass Adam!




Then I got Steve's toys ready for him whenever he finally makes it down to North Carolina to pick them up. I've got another shot glass laying around for you as well Steve. Just gotta find it.




And I decided to start on my drop-out cat. Got the welds almost all the way done before the welder ran out of wire and I ran out of energy. I have more welding wire, but won't have any more energy until tomorrow.



Now it's time for a beer and some Rock Band 2! My band name is "The Mandangos". My daughter and I are better than all of you.

[speedfoos]

I found some more energy......and found some more fitment issues. This mani is a giant pain in the ass. First I had to grind away some more of the ribbing on the block and some of the serial stamp....




And then I discovered this little situation.





There is no way I can get a nut on that stud. I can't clock the turbo any differently either. I'm probably going to pull the turbo off while the mani is still on the head, replace that stud with a bolt and then put the turbo back on. I hate pulling the turbo off the mani like that. It's a giant pain.

It looks like the DP is going to clear the AC compressor though. I will just have trim a little of this bracket here at this spot to clear the DP.

[speedfoos]

Sugar said good morning.




And decided not to fight with me too much this morning. By tweaking the turbo on the mani (swung out on one bolt first) I was able to get the nut on that stud.




And then she pointed out that my oil feed was going to get too hot where it was currently pointing.




So I turned it and sleeved it in some silicone vac line.



Since I was having such good luck this morning I decided to press it a little bit. Here's the DP all mounted up. I pulled the AC compressor bracket off, mounted the DP, then put the bracket back on and didn't have to trim anything.




So the next step was to see about the compressor.....




I fucking win!

Now to figure out everything I need to do/buy to reinstall my AC and make sure it doesn't leak or mold out.

[bomerman19]

Nice!

[sniperscout]

lucky bastard with those uk tails

[speedfoos]

Originally Posted by bomerman19

Nice!

Thanks Paul!

Originally Posted by sniperscout

lucky bastard with those uk tails

Talk to that man right above me. Rumor has it, he's headed over to the isle of bad food and good beer in the not-so-distant future.

[speedfoos]

Say, "Hi" to everybody out there in internet land, Sugar. IC piping issues fixed with a hook and a hump.




Got another goodie in the mail today. Should be the last one I need. My half raddy showed up today. Here it is compared to my fuckered up Koyo. The Koyo is made for the D17, this guy is made for the D16.

Koyo on the right, Ebay special on the left.




Things are mostly lined up the same. The most important part is the hose inlets are in just about the same location. Obviously the filler necks are not.




It's going to be nice though, even if I have to re-do my grill a little.




But, since it's not made for a D17, it has some fitment issues with the D17. I'll have to futz with the feet a little, and cut a little out of the raddy cradle to clear the overflow spout. But it clears the hood latch and that's the important part. If the hood interferes at all, I'll just ditch the latch and run pins. It's not like I'm scared of taking a die grinder to my car....




Time to futz with some exhaust. First, pull the one-piece, more weld than tubing, cat-back exhaust off. It served it's purpose, and only cost me $80 and some time, but it's time for something a little better. I'm re-using the muffler and resonator though.




The new exhaust I got from VRS is also for the D16. I thought it would fit the D17, again, with a little modification. There is a flimsy little cross-brace in the "tranny tunnel" of the D17, that the D16s don't have. This one right here:




I want it to go away so I can run the 3" hotdog down the middle.

Buh-bye.




I'll make a tubular cross-brace later on to replace the body metal brace that I took out. I will also make it removable (like my raddy cradle vertical brace) so it's easier to work on things.

But with that brace gone, it makes this possible.






Yep, tucking 3" tubing under a Honda Civic so it won't drag. Here's the hook it makes right before the fuel tank:




I haven't tacked anything into place yet, still getting the lengths right and figuring out where I want to put the v-band flanges. Before it goes up for good, I will need to run some heatshielding along the tranny tunnel and where the tank is just to be safe.

That's it for tonight. Just a lot of de-fabrication and mocking things up to get the exhaust done tomorrow night!