Slowed Progress

Not much to show for the 8 hours I spent working on the car today.  I started by grinding on the front steering arms to improve the turning radius, but that was not entirely successful.  Luckily, I don't think I damaged anything.

Then I installed the rear shocks, and noticed how tight things are back there with the sway bar in place.  The sway bar brackets almost hit the shocks, and the sway bar has to be positioned far enough forward that it doesn't interfere with the bump stop when the suspension is at full travel.  Here's a pic from each side.  The string is a reference showing the alignment of the sway bar relative to the bump stop.  I spent several hours sorting this out, and getting everything to sort-of fit!

 I was able to install the brake lines on the differential housing to the rear brakes, and then decided to tackle pulling the brake and fuel lines which go down the length of the car on the left hand side.  There is a forward and rear section of each, joined together by a coupler.  As an aside, I had to scrape the undercoating off the frame to get to the lines.

 I have new brake lines, so I wasn't worried about the old ones.  I had planned to use the original fuel lines... that is until I took one off and looked inside:

I could never make this clean enough to use!  I ordered new lines this evening.  I don't expect getting them until next week.  So much for getting the fuel system done.

The rear segment of the brake and fuel lines will be very difficult to get out in one piece.  They loop through and around the frame, and were clearly installed before the body was bolted on.  I need to read up on how to install them!

My goal at the beginning of the week was to get the car ready to install the engine... with brakes, fuel, steering, and basic interior (insulation, electrical) done.  Now I'm just hoping to get the wheels on and to roll it out into the sun, and maybe strip & paint the cabin floor with rust destroyer.


I'm a little disappointed.  Yet, everything I've done has been for a purpose, with not much time wasted.  The fact that I caught a head cold yesterday isn't helping.  I'm pretty tired.  Time for bed.