UPDATE: Installed the completed steering wheel to ensure all fits correctly...its all starting to come together
Column is 85% ready for push button start on the column...working on my custom clock spring...have sizing and fit done...just working on the rings themselves at this point.
UPDATE: Stephen Poe came by this evening and we stripped down everything that had to come off the swap that was done poorly or just plan incorrectly.
Removed one sliced and mangled wiring harness in prep of installing the new wiring harness:
Removed the valve covers
& Super Charger for painting:
* Removed the stock fuel rails, * Pulled the belt & removed dummy pulley & prepped to put the power steering pump back in * Removed the plastic fuel lines in prep of the stainless steel lines. * Figured out that there is no canister. * Removed spark-plug cables in prep for custom length cables for a much cleaner look.
We also got her up on stands so that I can do a little clean up this week underneath her:
[This message has been edited by TXOPIE (edited 04-08-2013).]
Did some more work on my valve covers. I decided to eliminate the two center grooved lines from both:
It is now sprayed in high-temp primer grey...next coat will be a high-temp silver chrome.
After that I will use vinyl lettering to mask off my lettering on the cover that faces the trunk.
Now with the vinyl lettering stuck to the silver chrome coat...I will spray it with blue anodized paint.
Once that dries, I will carefully remote the vinyl lettering and shoot a coat of high-temp clear coat.
This should leave the valve covers in a nice blue anodized color and the lettering in a nice shinny silver chrome.
ALSO...with a bunch of the parts out of the way in the engine & engine bay, it is giving me the room to finish cleaning up the engine bay like taking aluminum tape and securing the firewall material that has pulled up and away of the years:
I have taken a wire brush to any of the oxidized parts I can reach....need to get a few smaller brushes & some engine de-greaser to finish up...this is very slow and detail oriented work
and I also began some of the engine dressing (Mr Gasket)...what can I say, I love the classics :
[This message has been edited by TXOPIE (edited 04-14-2013).]
UPDATE: Finished the under body...completely rust-free and a nice coat of black Rust-o-luem.
I do not like the final product while utilizing the plastic stock valve covers...
So I went ahead and ordered a set of the Aluminum Valve Covers from ZZ Perfromance:
I will then shoot them with the same blue anodized paint to have it match the Supercharger exactly
When Stephen comes over next later this week, I am going to get him to assist in dropping the gas tank. I will then do a through cleaning, light sanding and a good solid coat of aluminum color Rust-o-luem.
I also ordered and paid for 12" corvette drilled/slotted/zinc coated rotors drilled with the 5x100 bolt pattern & concentric rings from FieroGuru...getting close to having all the components for the brake upgrade
Just need to order my 88 CENTRIC SEMI-LOADED brand new front & back BRAKE CALIPERS:
Then in the next two weeks I will be ordering the Rear Bump-Steer Kit from now "AMS".
[This message has been edited by TXOPIE (edited 04-22-2013).]
UPDATE: ...the last coat made the entire paint orange peel on the supercharger...I wish a few of you paint experts could explain what caused it to peel
This is what the look of frustration looks like:
Will finish cleaning off all the paint and start from scratch & hopefully I will have better success round 2!
The outcome I truly want is to have the supercharger & valve covers to come out like the Mr. Gasket anodized blue used in many of their products. Have the blue anodized paint from dupli-color.
Sanded down the supercharger originally and clean it with dupli-color's cleaner/prepping spray. Then spray light coats. The color didn't want to seem to bond to some areas of the supercharger in the first coat, but in the 2nd those spots started to take color. After 4-5 coats everything balanced out, but was really darker than I would have liked...don't get wrong it was a nice dark anodized blue...just would have liked it lighter.
HELP!!! ...don't want to power coat...pain in the a@@...just high-temp paint open to all ideas and comments!
[This message has been edited by TXOPIE (edited 04-22-2013).]
UPDATE: I have gotten the Supercharger 95% clean of the dupli-color blue anodized off.
I have decided to try a different route this 2nd attempt and bring in a little assistance.
Later today, I am going to drop both my supercharger & valve covers off to a polishing shop.
They will bring my ZZP valve covers to a perfect flawless mirror finish, instead of the "B" finish that they sell and then finish cleaning up the supercharger and give it an amazing polish.
Once they all have a nice polish, its off to paint shop immediately...as in the paint shop is picking them up right after they are completed...the owner of the paint shop states...that we have a much better chance of getting a perfect outcome on the polished aluminum...the more we lessen the time between finishing the polish and spraying them...once you stop polishing...they start oxidizing!
Also the owner of the paint shop sold be on a transparent candie blue paint...that I think will look pretty awesome....time will only tell at this point
Yellowstone...sorry my friend...will go visit her and the Miami area, but I will never move back to SoFl. I lived in Miramar for a year. My office was seriously less than a mile from my house and it took me 45 minutes to get into my house each night....damn gated communities! Its just not for me...also everything is difficult getting in and out of...what I mean by that is...that you just can't swing into and out of a gas station on the corner in a lot of the areas......you need to pull into an entire shopping center with one drive in and out...easier to catch and arrest people that way I guess ?
My next move will be back to San Diego...missing my surfing really bad...my two homes are DFW / 469 and SD / 619 !!!
80% of my life in one or the other.
[This message has been edited by TXOPIE (edited 04-28-2013).]
UPDATE: While cleaning the engine bay...I took off the driver's side engine bay radiator hose...because when the engine swap was done the hose laid against are part of the exhaust pipes...the mechanic that did the swap thought it would be ok just to wrap it in fire cloth a few times...the engine had less then 3 hours of drive time on it and it was already starting to melt the rubber. And I wanted to do my standard Mr. Gasket woven hose covers...but that would have only amplified the problem...so here is the solution I came up with:
This will allow me to route the now flex pipe away and still maintaining a polished look...will have the ends done in the Candi Blue transparent that the valve covers and SC are being done in
[This message has been edited by TXOPIE (edited 04-29-2013).]
UPDATE: Been working on Collar that goes on the back of the steering wheel to column for a clean finish...still have a little more work to go to get it correct...then paint
EVM_Rob is making them with my MERA body...so they will be here when the body is complete and ships...then off to IN for them to be upholstered and finally back to DFW for me to install
UPDATE: As far as the collar I created for the steering wheel that will house my custom clockspring (SIR) and the exposed area of the steering column:
I have decided to try wrapping them in a leather grained black vinyl that used on my pwr mirror/window plate to help reduce the old school 80's look while blending the molded plastic pattern look:
UPDATE: Member Tom Slick is purchasing my complete 86 GT original body since its getting the MERA body. He is scheduled to come and pick it up tomorrow!