kev

Oh, I think I saw that same picture on FB the other day. Yeah, they have a slightly different look. So, do they fit our widebodies? I'm assuming these are EU spec markers? The earlier model flatbody markers look similar but the screw hole is in the wrong spot to mount it on a widebody car. Not that you can't modify it to make it work but it doesn't just bolt on. I do like the 'line' through the light on the earlier flatbody markers. Same thing with the B-pillar panels with having the two louvers. Adds a little different look to the car...but, makes me just want another earlier model flatbody car again.

It's most likely a vacuum advance. Can test it with a vacuum pump to see if it holds but I've seen these sometimes hold vacuum but not boost. The diaphragms rot away with time. Unfortunately, the suppliers who use to carry aftermarket vacuum advances have seems to stopped. Mikie has been trying to work with them to get batches made but this has been an issue for a few years now. The only current solution is to buy the full distributer....so what was once a $15 purchase for a typical starquest 'tune-up' is now $250! it sucks but one of the things we face with these already rare cars approaching 40 years of age.

I've experienced this same issue multiple times. Can't fully explain it, electrical is not my strong point, but when the clutch is engaged, it enables the clutch switch used for the cruise control (basically like an inhibitor switch on an automatic but only used to disengage the cruise control if the clutch is depressed on a manual). I can't remember if it closes the circuit or opens it when the switch is engaged. Anyways, I've noticed that the idle is absolutely affected depending on when the clutch is depressed or not. How and why...I don't know but it is I proved it by pulling the switch off the pedal and depressing it by hand. How I fix this is to rerun the TSC/ISC reset procedure until it resolves the issue. Basically, depress the switch and run the TSC/ISC and set the idle accordingly. Then see how it runs after the switch is let go. Tweaking the idle settings between the two. For a quick fix if you don't use cruise, unplug the switch and see how it runs (or connect the leads depending on the 'normal operation'...like I said, I can't remember if the circuit is normally open or closed when the clutch pedal isn't engaged). As much as I love these cars, I hate our engine management systems especially anything pertaining to idle. I've done the TSC/ISC reset over 20 times on a single day until I got it to be somewhat what I wanted it to be during all operating conditions...and it still goes erratic at times but won't stall.

For once, I'm not doing too much work on a conquest...knock on wood. Been driving my black 88 a lot since the collision repair and really enjoying it. So much so that my blue 87 has only been backed out of the garage bay once in the past six weeks or so and pulled right back in after changing some light fixtures in the bay. I'm in the process of cleaning up my garage in preparation to actually start sheet metal work on my 68 mustang. But also have to address my broken garage heating system before the temps drop too much. kev

Do you still need the info regarding those foam inserts in the sides of the engine compartment? The ones the harnesses pass through? I ran into one the other day in my garage. It isn't the easiest thing to measure because it is cut on an angle (both the OD and the ID hole). But I can snap a few photos with a ruler in the picture if it would help?

i saw your post on FB. Welcome back!

Of course I'm going to show the finished photos! I'm very happy with the final result. All the gaps looks great, the paint looks great, the decals look great, the wheels look incredible! If it weren't for the condition of the passenger door, drivers fender, hood, and roof that are all original paint and have many door dings, this car would look brand new. Taking it out for a drive. Runs good, no vibrations from the bubble balanced wheels, etc. The rear decal appears a little 'bold' compared to stock. Line width is a little thick. But, definitely looks better than it did You can see the door dings on the passenger door in this photo. One of the future challenges for myself is to learn paintless dent repair. I have experimented with it some last year and did pull out a larger dent on the drivers fender. It's still slightly visible though. Favorite shot....still can't believe I hand pulled the frame, core support, and other engine compartment structure good enough to make all of these panels fit like this! It's very rewarding.

Assembly: This was the first time I had removed the passenger rocker panel cover on this car. I was kind of worried that I'd find a rust hole or something. But, in the nature of this car, it was great! Minor surface rust at the overlap joint, as usual. Cleaned that up and coated it. But from here on out, it was the normal assembly...of which I did like 30 times by test fitting along the process. That original black headlight cover looks a bit out of place now....of course I polished that up before the end of the day Gluing on the rubber strip on the grill. I stopped assembly at this point for a bit as I let this dry Next up were the new rims: I purchased new tires for the rear, last week, but I am reusing the fronts...for they only have a couple thousand miles on them and are like brand new. I have had a harbor freight tire changer now for several years. I had used it to change tires on my utility trailer and other projects with steel wheels. Worked good for those applications especially in that this thing was only like $35 originally. But, it would mess up alloy and aluminum wheels. So, I did what I really enjoy doing and modified it. Beefed up the bead breaker mechanism with longer and thicker pipe and reinforced breaker. And I added a homemade duckbill attachment (well, the duckbill itself was bought from amazon for like $10...plus some clamps and roller bearings which were also cheap, aluminum centering bushing, and some scrap steel). Removing the tires from the front rims: Bead breaker worked amazing! And the duckbill worked flawlessly! And installing the fronts on the refurbished rims...: The duckbill mod is so slick. Just walked the tire on the rim! The rears took a little more 'oomph' to install just because the tires were brand new compared to the fronts, but still were installed with ease Then came balancing. Cheepo amazon bubble balancer. It was hard to see the bubble at times but a flashlight helped. Used stick on 1/4 oz weights on the inside of the wheels. Worked well for what it is. Definitely not as precision as a spin balance but does the job: Photo looks like it was uncentered but it was my camera angle. Can't believe how simple it was to tackle this! No driving to a tire shop, paying $35/wheel, arguing with the guy not to use lip weights, worrying about him marring the wheels I put so much effort into restoring..etc. Decals: While I was working on installing the tires, the mailman shows up and delivered this! I went to work removing the existing decals on the hatch and drivers fender. One of those $10 vinyl decal erasers and some polishing with the buffer.... This hatch and rear spoiler is still OEM paint! And installing the decals. Used the 'wet method'. Installing and squeegeeing them smooth. Leaving the application paper on until they dried. After a half an hour or so, I peeled off the application paper. The header panel decal was the hardest being that it had the small letters and there was one area that kept lifting. It took two minutes to do all the paper on the rest but about 20 minutes of finesse getting the front one off. Also, installed the grill...didn't show photos of that...it's two screws.

Most likely BK227WS with the 24mm, with the snap ring, input bearing. The BK227AWS is for non-intercooled applications and has the 21mm bearing. Although, I have seen an 87 transmission with the flanged input shaft bearing! Maybe a fluke...maybe someone replaced the pan or something. Not sure, but it was a stamped steel pan KM132 out of an 87 and had the 88/89 input shaft bearing in it! That kit will give you the main ball bearings, syncs, and gaskets/seals needed to do a basic rebuild. It will not have the needle roller bearings that are in each gear set. It won't have the retainer or shift works as well. It does include a main shaft nut though. But, more importantly, it doesn't include the shims needed to shim your countershaft. That was the biggest **** when I rebuilt mine. Mitsubishi sold the shims individually. I ordered a few based on some quick measurements. Came from Japan, 4-6 weeks. Turns out, when I torqued everything down, I had more play than measured and needed to order a thicker shim. Ordered a few more of different sizes...again 4-6 weeks. Have no clue if they are still available or not. If I had to do it again, I think I would work with a local machine shop to have some custom shims made for it. Coupled with the lack of available parts, the disassembly is a PIA. Lots of frustrations with pulling the bearings including making custom pullers, etc. I recently added a few more photos to the end of my KM132 rebuild thread in the FAQ forum to show my custom main shaft center bearing puller. I also saw a guy on FB use a harbor freight 20T press to drive out the bearing. Not that I'm advocating a swap, I hate swaps, even if it is just the tranny....but, it may be the easier way to go (and more enjoyable/rewarding).

Yes, at least for a basic rebuild. Listed under KM 131 at cobra transmission. KM 131 Standard Transmission Parts | Cobra Transmission

I had a very productive holiday weekend in terms of working on this car. I completed all the wet sanding and paint prep. Fabricated a support to spray the bumper assembly and front fascia, and put the components in BC/CC. I also performed my coolant flush on the car itself and put back in the t-stat...which cured my drivability issue. Some photos: Staging for paint following completion of final wet sanding with 400 grit and then 600 grit In base (PPG shopline serbia black 2 coats): In clear (SPI Universal clear - 2 coats) One very minor run (picture is fuzzy) Reflection: I'm very pleased. This was probably my best spray to date! I took the time to clean clean clean everything. Got my garage fairly well clean as well, although there is a lot of junk in it. Two box fans in the far windows...the opposite windows open/screened. Wet the floor prior to both BC and CC. Tyvek suit, etc. The homemade support to mount the bumper assembly, header panel, and grill worked incredible! $10 of 2x4s and a few quick cuts with the miter saw..clamping it to one of my existing rolling carts. It really made life easy when it came to spraying. Upped my pressure to my gun by a few psi's (41 psi). Dropped my tip size down to 1.3. Reduced my fan size per a recommendation on youtube. I use a devillbis GFG-670 plus gun, btw. It's 20 years old but works great on clear. I should have opened my material up a hair more but it worked well. Most painters set the material to full trigger and throttle as they paint....I'm not good enough for that yet. I set my material based on some test sprays and pull it to the stop on each pass. The result...no sags, minimal 'factory-like' peel, very minor dust (expected given my 'booth' conditions), with one very minor run on an edge (shown above). Run is an easy fix, but given how this paint laid out, I'm NOT going to wet-sand/buff. Which is an absolute first for me. It looks too good as it is. Six months invested in this project, I'm going to move forward instead of potentially creating new problems. If that run bothers me after assembly, I'll address it. But given the state of some of the untouched body panels, like the hood and passenger door (riddled with door dings), I'm fairly positive this little run and a couple little dust in the paint will not draw any attention. I washed the car off such that everything is clean for reassembly. Next weekend, I plan to bolt everything on the car. I ordered new vinyl decals from MKS this morning. Hopefully those arrive by the weekend. I also want to consider removing the existing decals on the other fender and hatch and replace with new (not a rush). Also ordered new rear tires this morning to finish my project that was started before the accident...putting on my spare 7/8s, of which I did the paint work on during this accident repair (photos earlier in the thread). kev

It may be worth changing the FPR, although I'm not sure that is your problem. Have I ever checked a stock FPR for leakdown with vacuum?....no. Although, the fuel pressure does drop with time. If it is building 30 psi at idle, it seems to be functioning. You could consider putting a 'whip' on your pressure gauge such that you can route it up to the windshield to monitor it while driving. You could put some washers under one of the hood hinges to give you enough clearance to pass the hose through. I wouldn't recommend running the hose through the firewall being that it would be pressurized with fuel. MKS sells replacement adj rate FPRs. There is also a company called SPAturbos that sells them...which look identical to the MKS ones (not sure the true source). Although I saw some people lately complaining that the mounting studs were incorrect on the SPA ones....but I have one of these and had no issue (mine was installed last year...sounds like they are having a recent quality control problem) For only $15 difference, buy from MKS and support a SQC member. When I bought mine, there was a larger price delta. Both places use to have a non-adjustable version but I don't see them anymore on either page. Dodge Conquest / Mitsubishi Starion Fuel Pressure Regulator FPR – SPA TURBO USA G54B Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator - MKS Motorsport

Been a bit since I posted an update. Unfortunately, I haven't been working on this car too much the past few weeks but have been doing a little. Here is how far I had to block the fender down to get it smooth. Wet sanding this with 320 grit....took forever but I didn't expect to have to go so far. Last time I use 80 grit on a DA without taking it to bare metal..that is for sure. The remnants of the black primer show the low spots and areas of attention After the first round of body filler. I believe I'm using Evercoat Rage Extreme...which is the same that I used on on the previous body work on this car a year or so ago. I used to use Evercoat Rage Gold. This stuff sands a little easier and has less pin holes but not sure which I really like better...they both do the job. After the second round. I did add some filler to the front of the fender where I couldn't 'feel' a depression but with the way it was sanding, I'm pretty sure I had a minor low spot. So, I added filler and blocked it well. Filler was rough cut with 80 grit, then shaped with 180 grit, and then over with 220 grit. Went over the full fender again with 220 grit....yes, negating all of my 320 wet blocking but I need this primer to stick. The rocker panel trim had some dings that needed to be filled as well. For the header panel, I had a few very minor small dints resulting from stone chips. Of which, I used polyester filler, Evercoat Glaze Putty. I didn't feel that these needed the Rage Extreme filler. Lots of cleaning up and then back into epoxy primer After letting it dry for a day: I'm pretty happy with it. The fender is looking good. I nice wet sand with 400 grit and it is ready for BC/CC. Same goes for the rocker panel trim. Although I missed a very little ding on the header panel which will need some polyester putty. But then a wet sand with 400 grit and they should be good to go to BC/CC as well. Close up of the header panel...if you look hard enough, you will see the ding. As for the plastics: I started to wet sand the bumper and it is coming out nice. I believe I'm down to 400 grit wet sand on everything and I'll be ready for paint. The summer is almost over, and I really want to get these parts painted before the temperature starts to drop (due to the clear activator that I bought). So, I have high hopes of wet sanding/cleaning everything and then painting this weekend! Wish me luck!

I'd have to see a photo. The stock setup doesn't have a 'screw in the middle'. Although the aftermarkets usually have a typical banjo bolt for the stock banjo fitting. Like the bolt shown in this photo: I will say that I have cut the banjo end off and used worm clamps on one of my former cars...of which, I reversed that decision about a year later. I wouldn't recommend it. In my case, I was using a larger fuel pump that didn't have a banjo style connection....the larger fuel pump ended up causing cavitation resulting in loss of fuel pressure and overheating the pump. So, the worm clamps didn't fail or anything but still. Most of the aftermarket fuel pumps allow you to connect it to the stock fuel line.

looks good! On the first day that I got my blue cq running (in 2018), I had it sitting in my driveway right in front of the garage bay. Went in the house and had lunch. Came out to find a bird crapped on the hood. It was a hot summer day and wouldn't you believe that it baked it into the clearcoat! Car was fully wet sanded and polished with no wax. Needless to say, the car got a good coat of wax within a week. I try to run over it with a coat of Chemical Guys butter wax once a year. My eyes still fixate to that blemish on the hood.

When you say 'cone filter', there is a cone style filter at the outlet of the pump that is prone to cause issues...most remove it. The 'in-tank' filter is the cylindrical filter on the end of the pick-up tube. The cylindrical filter is still available through the site linked above. Or go with an inline filter. either will work fine. Although, I wouldn't run both together on a suction line. You want the pump to 'pull in' gas with ease. Put your fine filter in the high-pressure line, the suction line should be as open as possible. The stock cylindrical filter is all I use on the suction line and now Dad sells one with a coarser filter than even stock...which is what I'd use in the future.

Thanks. Although in my haste to get the car to the inspection, I rushed things a bit. Started working on that fender on Saturday. Within a minute of block sanding, I realized that I had my work in store for me. DAing with 80grit and NOT taking it to bare metal, when it had three layers of paint on there, was not a good idea. Should have spent the time to come back with 220grit and taken it to bare. Because that is essentially what I had to do this weekend, but I did it with 320 grit wet and a LOT of blocking. So, a bit of rework and wasted epoxy. I basically used the epoxy as a guide coat. Did find one additional low spot that will need filler in the process...which was a positive. The rest though...a setback. Oh well, things happen. Better to make mistakes now, prior to final paint. Didn't take any photos. Was feeling very much under the weather this weekend and didn't do anything additional. Also, the car isn't running the best. Erratic idle, bit choppy acceleration. O2 code is not going away. Think it may have died, for my cheapo narrowband O2 sensor is acting erratic as well. Although, I don't have a t-stat in the car at the moment because I put some cleaner in the system and will be doing a good flush. Will need to address this soon, perhaps after I get the body panels blocked/wet sanded smooth. More to come...just not enough hours in a day to keep up with everything in life. Doesn't help when I get some type of bug and am laying in bed for the better portion of the weekend.

Thanks techboy! Made very good progress this weekend!!! In order of what I said I was going to accomplish next: Adding fiberglass resin to the bumper support: I did just that, used just some cheap Bondo brand fiberglass resin and fiberglass mesh sheets to cover up where the most corrosion 'was' on the inside of the bumper support including the holes that formed during blasting. And brushed resin on all of the lower parts well. Goal wasn't to increase structural durability but rather to simply try to keep it from rusting out again. I'm hoping that with the combination of the removal of the pinch welded double flange on the bottom, a thorough blasting with black beauty, two thick layers of unreduced epoxy primer, topped with the fiberglass resin, and two more coats of 10% reduced epoxy over top does the trick. This was after application of the fiberglass resin Header support and fender prep: Took the header support to bare metal. I deduced that this thing was originally black but someone sanded it to bare metal in the past and repainted it white. White paint wasn't thick which makes sense on all the rock chips that it had. It sanded down with the DA very easily. Couple very small dings from the larger stone chips, which I will fix later on. Fender was a bit tougher. Was originally white with two different blue resprays. Took a bit of sanding with the DA. I didn't go quite as far as full bare metal like I did on the header panel. I kind of wish I did after seeing it in primer. I'm going to have a bit of blocking to do on this part. Also found one previously filled ding which I sanded out and will redo in addition to the ding I saw when it was still blue. Epoxy Primer: From here it was clean clean clean in preparation for epoxy on all of the parts. I like to lay epoxy before I do any filler work. That is also recommended by the primer manufacturer. For anything I do add filler to, I will come back with a further reduced epoxy as a sealer before BC/CC. I'm trying to avoid build primer on this car. I didn't use it on the other panels I painted a year or so back and it came out really good. I find that higher build primers really help with blocking but make everything prone to chipping easier. I reduced this epoxy by 10%, I have found over the years that it lays so much smoother by doing this. And such a mild reduction doesn't impact the coating thickness as much. Prepped and ready: In epoxy: including some more epoxy over the fiberglass in the bumper support Doesn't look pretty but all of this is covered. The backside of the bumper support looks really good. The rocker panel cosmetic panel wasn't needed due to the collision but mine has several dings in it including a larger one from the bottom. Figure I'll prep/paint one of my spares while I'm spraying. I'd actually love to paint some more panels of the car but I'll live with just this one additional part for now. Not too fond of how this fender came out. I can see the effects of not taking it down to bare steel. Hopefully this blocks out decent. Being that I'm not planning on using build primer, this may lead to a lot more sanding to get it all smooth. We shall see how it goes, worst case is that I have to buy a quart of build primer. Assembly: Might have recalled that I had a previous goal to have this car finished by today...because I had my yearly state inspection scheduled. Well, it's not done...BUT, I wasn't missing the appointment. My aim is to keep this car fully road worthy in case I need it. So, everything got bolted onto the car last night. But, all of these panels will be final painted off the car...so much easier, no masking, no overspray, etc. This assembly was just to get the car through the state inspection, and I guess as another test fit prior to paint. I'm very happy with the gaps, hood could you use a slight tweak but may live with it. Each time I try to fine tune it, I end up spending an hour on it because I make it worse. Might be wondering why I put on the spoiler just to support the state inspection? I like to spray BC/CC with the bumper and spoiler together and on the bumper support, as an assembly. I really don't like installing these items together and on the support after BC/CC. Realizing that I will have to do some masking on the bumper support if I care about overspray (which I tend to indeed care), but this is assembled for good...at least for this project. With all of the test fitting I did to date, I still ran into a snag on this assembly. I go to put in the new passenger side fog light assembly and realized that my new one is from an earlier model car with the wrong electrical connection. Simple fix, for I just reused the wiring from the mashed in one, but it goes to show you the need to test fit as much as possible including plugging everything in! Also, never discard the old parts until you are fully complete and happy with the results of the project! Tested all the lights and horns...SAT! Inspection: Took it to the shop this morning for the PA state inspection and it passed no problem. Also had the enjoyment of driving it around for a while to do some errands because I dropped my Jeep off for inspection right after it (both were due in July). Enjoyed driving it again, for it has been several months now. Even got a few people come up to me commenting on the car, despite these panels still in primer! Although, it is 95 degrees with like 99% humidity today...not the most comfortable with a black car with black leather interior and no A/C. Normally not a big A/C person but was very happy when I picked the Jeep back up this afternoon haha. From here, the panels will come back off the car for further paint prep. The plastic panels appear to only need a wet sanding with 400/600 and be ready for paint. The metal panels will need some filler in a few places. It's very minor, so hoping to just use polyester filler for most of it. Then blocking them out with 400 wet and will spray a further reduced epoxy overtop and reassess. If happy, I'll go 600 wet and they will be ready for paint. Getting close to my most dreaded part..spraying BC/CC. I enjoy bodywork but hate painting. Just so much that could go wrong when it comes to spraying and it's not like I do this all the time. I learn so much each time I do it, but my skill is far from that of a professional. Plus, it's not like I have a paint booth or anything. And I always just plan to wet sand and buff/polish afterwards regardless. Even on my best spray, there is always some type of imperfection to address.

I know exactly the ones you mean. I had a driver CQ several years back that had those in really good condition..of which I pulled them off of it and put them on my 'good' car. They are completely gone on my current driver CQ. But they are just open cell foam...trick is finding something with the similar 'look'. I agree, pick up a few different pieces of foam from mcmaster and see how they compare. I can take some photos of mine if you need to compare. kev

Another good day of progress: Put the bumper support in epoxy primer: Then it was off to the front spoiler. Due to the accident, there was a crack on the passenger side bottom. Plus, there were cracks on the mounting tabs on the top. So, I used a plastic welder to repair. Noting that these bumpers are polyurethane which does not melt. So, using polyurethane (PUR) rods and a heat iron, you basically 'glue' it back together on both sides. How it will hold the test of time? I'm not sure, this is the first I used it, but it should last better than just fiberglass resin. Aluminum tape on the outside to hold everything in position: How it looked on the inside: Cleaned and notched: and the PUR 'glue' Outside prepped: Glued Sanded: Some more up at the top: Prepping the spoiler for some flexible body putty: After putty and sanding with 220grit The entire spoiler sanded with 400 grit and ready for primer Also prepping the bumper cover for primer: Couple other things I did that I didn't photo: * Plastic welded the tab back on my original driver side marker light (that was ABS, it welded great). One thing less to paint black! * Fixed two small blemishes on the grill using the flexible botty putty. I had hoped to work on it a few more hours on Sunday but I huge, and I mean huge, limb broke off a tree in my yard and crashed down...I was literally under it, with both my dogs, 15 seconds before it fell! I watched it crash down just barely missing a combination of my house, my garage, and my deck! Talk about lucky. So...my Sunday was spent cleaning up that mess. Next up will be * Putting some fiberglass resin on the inside of the bumper support in an effort to mitigate, or at least slow down, future rust * Prep the fender, header panel, and passenger marker light. The fender will need some body putty to fix a ding. I'm hoping that is it and it is as easy as just sanding everything down. * Putting everything in epoxy primer.

looks good!

Adding a quick update to this thread...I've been in discussions with a member on FB who is rebuilding his transmission as I write this. I was able to dig out the custom tool I made to pull the large center bearing off the main shaft for transmission disassembly. Note: that I lost the photos of this step in the process. Also note, that I made a similar tool for the input shaft bearing removal prior to realizing that I could remove the input shaft and bearing as a whole on an 88/89. Here are the tools. I made these out of 4140 steel, which is pretty high strength. This may have been overkill. I also wrapping them around the bearing as much as I could to limit flange deformation....again, may have been overkill. The lip is only .050" thick in order to get between the underside of the bearing flange and the transmission case. As seen, I used some scrap hollow structural steel and tacked it to the tool halves once around the bearing....being that the material was 4140, it doesn't take kindly to welding and my tacks broke...which caused no issue. Thus disregard this feature, it isn't needed. The holes are drilled/tapped to 1/2-13 thru and I used ASTM A193 B7 all thread rod (which is basically 4140 steel too) as the extension to a standard puller bar. Obviously, these were made on a lathe and mill. I had access to a local machine shop at the time who let me create these while on my lunch breaks at work at the time. Probably more elaborate than most would have done, but you can use the principle to design something similar. I use to have actual drawings of these but they were also lost with the photos. But they are easy to make...measure the diameter of the bearing flange and the bearing body with a .050" thick lip. The total thickness of these are 1/2". Definitely could try a much more crude tool made out of 1018 or A36 steel with 1/2-13 nuts welded to them in lieu of the tapped holes. I don't have a tranny a part to show the setup on but thought I'd at least post pictures of the tool on one of my spare center bearings. The member on FB ended up not using anything like this but rather setting up the transmission in a harbor freight shop press and pressed down on the main shaft...using the transmission case to resist the bearing as the shaft was pushed off of it. He has a nice little video of it on FB showing the process, which I'm trying to figure ou how to link here. He said he may put it up on youtube for the purpose....I'll update this if he does.

Some more progress. I had really hoped to get more done this weekend, but my garage was so hot and humid (my mini-split system died over the winter..which was planned to be replaced this past spring if this accident didn't happen). So, here is what the car looks like currently. The car is functional and I took it out for a drive a week or so ago. Have also driven it out and into the garage bay a few times since. BTW: when I connected my wiring in the engine bay after the engine install, I inadvertently didn't connect the ground that goes to the EGR valve for the ECU system. It was close enough to have contact to fire up the engine, but then it arced. I literally saw the arc to the fuel filter....scary!!! It blew out the brown fusible link and shut the car down. I couldn't believe the amount of smoke emitted from that little fusible link! Took the time to clean up all three grounds pertaining to the ECU system (the one on the EGR, the one behind the igniter box, and the one up in the passenger side corner by the airbox). And a new brown fusible link from DAD...fixed! I also had a leak on my primary inject o-ring...adding to the scare of the electrical arc to the fuel system! So, got some new injector seals from DAD on the same order...fixed! I'm really happy how the core of the actual 'car' came out. Now it is on the cosmetic stuff. Focus has been mainly on the bumper support. This is my spare bumper support that I got off a parts car I had back in 2003. It has been sitting on a shelf since. But, as always, there is rust. The lower flange was rusted pretty good with some internal rust. I cut it open and removed the 'outer' sheet on the lower pinch flange...for there was barely any remaining from it. Did a good blasting and used some scrap sheet to restore the lower flange. Tacked on stainless washers and nuts to restore the bolting features. I really 'should' do further patchwork on the structure where it started rusting through, but I don't think I will. Going to put it in two coats of epoxy primer. Then will either use fiberglass to seal up the holes or seam sealer. My goal is simply to keep it from rusting further. After some cutting/grinding: After blasting: After restoring the lower flange: After a good 'bath' in rust convertor: I had a goal of finishing this car by July 28...for I scheduled my yearly state inspection that day (it expires in July). Not sure I'm going to make it. I still have to finish this bumper support and then get on to the repairs to the front spoiler. After that, it is sanding down the bumper, header panel, fender, marker lights and paint prepping them. I already know I have a ding in the fender than needs to be addressed and I'm sure I'll find some other minor areas to putty. Lots of prepping and will need primer, probably twice in the process. Then BC/CC followed by wet sanding/buffing. Too much for two weeks, especially with only working a bit on weekends. I may slap this thing back together just enough to get it through the inspection. I don't like lapsing the state inspection, for I 'could' make this road worthy in just a few hours if I had to use the car.

Thanks! No cool photos this week, because I wasn't doing body work. I put the engine back in it. Figured everyone has seen tons of pictures of that. The full engine bay is almost back together. I'm in the process of cleaning up my replacement radiator. I was contemplating having it professionally cleaned but the internals of this thing are looking good. I can also tell that it has been worked in the past...pretty easy because there is a metal tag on it from the radiator shop that did the work haha. I believe it has been re-cored. I'll finish that up this coming weekend and hopefully will turn the key to make sure everything is operational. Then it is on to paint prep of the cosmetic panels, as well as some rust repair in my replacement bumper support. I ordered the paint products on Friday; more epoxy, base, and clear. Still need to buy some new vinyl decals but that can wait a bit. techboy, Rummaging through boxes in my garage for something and ran into a set of oil cooler lines! So, I'll bring yours back next time we meet up. Thanks again! kev