Would you consider bending perfect fuel and brake lines for me? You’d be paid of course.
Sorry, no. I dont have the bandwidth to do other stuff, even paid.
Dan
I can appreciate the blunt honesty. I hate people that are wishy washy in their response, when they know full well their bandwidth. Kudos to you.
Keep updating us!
Last week I stripped the first section of the floor and applied two coats of the master series silver prime. Im still very impressed by this stuff. I actually hit the subframe with a metal faced hammer getting it in for a test fit and it didnt chip.
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Last night and today I finally tackled the fuel hard lines. About all thats left is to do a couple small bends at the rear end and flare them. Im not running them all the way to the back as there isnt a great spot to connect them to the soft lines going to the surge tank because of some additional bracing im planning for the subframe, and with everything so tight back there I wanted a nice easy spot to access them. The soft lines should be more than well protected in the rocker area and above the subframe.
If I hadnt mentioned it before this is 3/8" NICOPP and im using stainless rock guard over it.
I really wanted to use two straight fittings here, but there just wasnt room. Also I obviously still need to work on some clamp mounting for the soft lines.
Dan
Finished up the fuel hard lines over the last couple days. I ended up putting a small bend in the “upper” line so they would be staggered along the rocker. It was easier that trying to put an S bend after the mount. To mount the lines I welded a small piece of steel at an angle between the rocker and floor. All thats really left is adding nutserts to the floor and bracket for the mounts (vs just screwed into the sheet metal).
A while back I posted a pic of the shaft collar I machined to retain the lower steering column bearing. I finally thought to take a pic of it installed last night.
Finally I started considering the brake line routing. To keep things super clean Ive decided to run the front lines through an existing hole behind the strut and run them through the frame rail and then into the cabin. The two lines from the master cylinder will be braided stainless and run to a flat spot on the drivers side of the brake booster through bulkhead fittings. Sorta like this on the routing. Ill use the stainless rock guard on the lines as well as grommets where they pass through the holes to keep things safe. I think it should work well.
Dan
Super boring update. Had a little project ADD.
Got the car back “wheels down”.
Spent about 90 mins scrapping the sound deadener
and then a bunch of time with thinner cleaning up some of the glue on the floor and firewall areas, as well as cleaning up the welds and remants of welding fires. The firewall is almost ready for some master series silver and seam sealer.
Dan
Stainless -3 bulkhead fittings for the brakes showed up monday. They look very nice.
Got them mounted to the firewall and held some random lines I had lying around in place. Ill need to get a set of custom ones made at some point. If possible Ill stop by the place this week and see if they have metric bubble flare ends, or if I need adapters for the master.
No pics, but I spent a couple hours getting the inside of the firewall cleaned up and ready for primer and heat barrier coating.
Dan
Great work as usual.
Any plans for the 10 year anniversary of this thread in 14 months? :lol:
This thing is so nice.
After the merger, I hardly ever come here. Glad I checked in and noticed this thread. Took me like an hour to look through it. Happy I did.
One reaction:
Nope. But Im pretty sure it still wont be totally done.
Thanks!
Dan
Got two coats of master series silver on the area of the firewall where I did all the welding and cutting. Also cleaned up a bit more of the glue off of the floor, its almost good enough.
Between coats I worked on a couple other little projects.
Picked up a 6" carbide burr a couple months ago to clean up the weld on the lower radiator “hose” since I still dont have a back purge setup. Now its in my pile to take to the coater.
Had one more groove near the shock tower I wanted to fill, so I welded it up and ground it smooth.
I think that about finishes up the welding in the engine bay. Ok, other than I still need to revisit the oil cooler mounts and I cant decide if I want to mess around with the top of the rack mounts or not (thoughts on closing them in?). I sprayed a little rattle can primer on quick to get an idea how its going to look…
Dan
Been a while since Ive done any work on this project or updated anything. Ive been busy on a house garage remodel, getting the lift installed in the shop, etc.
Back at the end of sept I tested out the dolly I made to roll the chassis around on. It works well enough for the handful of times Ill probably use it.
I also finally scored a matching Lucas front caliper, got it cleaned up and powder coated, and reassembled with new seals. I still need to source some new bleeder screws.
Picked up the ARP hardware for the diff ring gear
Got the smoothed out knuckles and hubs back from the coater and assembled them with ARP studs, new bearings, ball joints and hardware, and the MMP big brake adapters.
Also finally made the rear stub axle spacers. I picked up a pair of aluminum “coins” from McMaster for $14 and drilled a few holes, using a transfer punch to, well, transfer the holes. A few places sell them but for this thickness with hardware it was approaching $70. For $20 with hardware (still need to order) these should get it done. Ill probably clean up the saw marks before I have them coated.
It felt good to work on a fun car project for a change. It also clears a ton of half finished parts off of my bench. Now that the garage remodel is pretty well wrapped up Im hoping to get more time on this in the next several months.
Dan
Finally getting back to this after a busy fall: remodeling my attached garage, work trip to Italy, and a week in Phily at Thanksgiving for my daughters dance competition, typical holiday bs, and finally picking up what seemed like months of random project nonsense in the shop.
Picked up the powder coated surge tank weeks ago
Got the car flipped up the other way and finished welding in the battery tray.
Ive been avoiding trying to clean up the area around the back of the spare tire well and what Im calling the rear roll pan for basically ever. I finally decided that the roll pan added no value and it would be easier just to remove it. I got a good start on it, about half done right now. Likely Ill finish the final trimming of the lower half once its on the lift later this week.
The mess I started with
And after. So much better. I may weld in a small piece near the bottom of the wheel wells, still undecided until I can get the bumpers on.
Dan
Finished up removing the rear roll pan.
The subframe is now completely welded to the chassis, which was a pain with all the dripping paraffin and fires. But its on there!
This pic was taken before i rolled the car the other way to finish the other floor tie in plate and rocker welding.
I think I mentioned it before but Im taking time to grind any misaligned uni-body panel edges. Im sure no one will ever notice, but I just cant help it. Here is one example from the rear frame rail / wheel well area.
Also manged to get the last of the undercoating stripped, aside from a few small spots still stuck in tight corners. And finally, started striping the rest of the OE primer in order to do the Master Series Silver coating and then regular primer. Im hoping to have the bottom all stripped and primed in the next week or so.
Dan
Outstanding work, Dan, can not wait to see the finished project…
Thanks! I cant wait either. It seems that I keep making more work than moving forward, haha. Case in point:
I was just going to “see how much it would suck” in a few spots. A couple hours later I stopped and had done pretty much the whole floor pan. Now I feel like I should do a few spots inside…we’ll see. It wasnt too bad, but it def took a certain technique to fight the fires and smoke from any seam sealer or wax left between panels, especially the ones where gravity wasnt helping.
Dan
Such a pain in the ass on my Audi too. I think it depends on the car. Even after stripping everything the left over goop between the panels prevented me from stitching the whole car, as it was too hard to get a good bead going. Looks like you figured it out though. Good work.
I never understood your platforms, but i’m always amazed by your work/threads.
I guess what I am trying to say is… i’d love to see you build a RWD car someday 
Yup. It totally sucked. I had my little 110V mig set to stun. My technique was to do a series of 10 or so individual tacks for each 1" section. The first tack a bit longer to really get the fire going, then I would pulse the trigger 2-3 short bursts just to keep the gas flowing (which kept the weld clean and the fire at bay), then do the next actual tack, and repeat a zillion times.
So would I. Ive been thinking about what Id like to do. It will need to be something quirky I think. Volvo 122 or Audi 100 C1 are up on my list.
Years past I wanted to do a huge Buick convertible for some reason, lol.
Maybe someday Ill figure that out and find a donor.
Dan