Build Thread Dustys has a new friend

CarMichael Angelo said:

uhhh it appears that your rotors are still running the wrong way...Don’t you have a “no stupid sht“ Fairy living in your garage too?...Do you want me tell mine to visit you?

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That's why the wheels are still off.

...or maybe I like racing in reverse....

CarMichael Angelo said:

uhhh it appears that your rotors are still running the wrong way...Don’t you have a “no stupid sht“ Fairy living in your garage too?...Do you want me tell mine to visit you?

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Happy now ???

It only makes sense...

Dusty is down on all fours. For the first time in many years it has inner fender liners installed. I hate dealing with them. Ford could've done a better job designing them. PITA

All the wiring fit nicely above them. No pictures. Nothing special about them. I was surprised they fit with the turbo kit installed. Felt sure they'd hit the BOV or piping.

Set my toe with this Harbor freight magnetic circular saw laser. It throws out a straight line that allows you to take measurements from the wheels. You need to measure from the center line of vehicle out to all 4 corners and marke the floor with tape. Set the leveler at the same distance from center and line up to the opposite mark. Then you can take a straight ruler or measuring tape to get you alignment adjusted. I used to use string for toe and a square for camber. This is the same in theory but allows a more precise ball park. I still need to tweak my toe a little. I left it towed in a hair too much.

This is just to show how the laser shows up.



The tip of the laser can be rotated to line up to 90° for camber and shows up on the floor toe.



It actually goes all the way up the wall at the rear of the garage about 10 feet.

This was before I measured from center and was just piddling around. The dimmer the light the better it shows up.

What do y'all think if these wheels ? Thinking 235 in the front and 255 or 265 in the rear.



They have them in 9.5 too but I don't think they'll fit with the irs.

Also looked at these...

Every once in a while you have that one thing on the car that you just keep putting off. For some reason you just have a feeling that it's deeper than you're ready to go.

Well....today was that day for me. On my lunch call with the Ol'Lady my fiberglass hood was brought up. That thing rode with us everywhere. It's the only body part I have left from my cherished 89 gt convertible. When I first met her we would go on long drives, at the crack of dawn, with the top down and heat on. Music would be playin' and I felt like the luckiest and coolest guy on the planet. Everyone would look and know the car was what got her 'cause this funny looking dude couldn't pull it off on his own. Lol

I knew there were spider cracks under the front. Even knew there was some bondo. Thought it was just from being worked for paint. When I bought the 89 vert it was painted a very well done multilayer custom candy apple red. It was gorgeous but had a dent in the passenger fender and no one could guarantee a paint match. I also wasn't into red. I was more of a blue type of guy ( never said my past was squeaky clean ).I had no idea what has been lurking under there for the last 20 years.

Today I started to venture down this long dark road.



The bondo had a chemical reaction with the gel coat and caused it to soften underneath. Took a screw driver and a hammer and started chipping away. This is what I found underneath.





The whole front skeleton of this hood has huge cracks that were covered with bondo. Whoever did it didn't even sand it first. In some places it was almost 1/4 inch thick.

I had no idea it was this bad. Thought I just had a little fiberglass repair to do with the biggest part being where I notched the bottom to clear a strut tower brace years ago.

I was in a daze. The other day a storming Norman fiberglass hood was on FB for 150 not far from here. No dice on that. Looked at the normal online stores. I just can't justify 6 or 700 hundred bucks for one. To be honest, they all look ugly to me. They don't slope up at the right angle. Every one of them seems too sharp. The metal one ( that I actually wanted for years ) would be a waste if time because the inner structure is almost identical to stock and I'd have to cut it out to fit.

Danced with the dilemma for a few hours. I'm going to have to fix it the right way. That means stripping it all down, cutting the bad out, and layering it with new glass. This will be time consuming and a PITA. The center of the hood has some issues with fuel vapor from my old carb set up. Don't know how to deal with that yet. Going to order a fiberglass roller and get on it.

Guess I've gotta do what I've gotta do.

Noobz347 said:

Save yourself a ton of grief. Paint it pretty and hang it on the wall. Get another hood for the ride.

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I'd love to man but not spending the money right now. That's expensive for hood designs that I don't like. Mine has to be an old Harwood hood. There's no maker logo or anything on it.

Here's today's progress. Waiting on my fiberglass roller to ship. The bondo wasn't as bad as I had thought yesterday. The hood is messed up but it was on my cars for a long time and I never really noticed. Earlier in this thread I fixed some spider cracks on the top of this thing and a corner I broke off. Found some more additional repair from before the hood was painted black....before it was painted red. I think I'm just going to sand the whole front down with 40 grit and lay a couple layers over the whole front section and the section right above the engine. Spider cracks kept showing up on the top of it from when a motor mount broke and the engine took out the fan, fan shroud, and hit the hood. Surprised the engine didn't flip completely over. There was also some permeating due to the carburetor vaporizing the fuel after shut down. This is the hood that went 10.43 at 127 in the quarter at Capitol Raceway in MD. Good times ! Was also there when I buried my 160mph speedometer on 95. Man, traffic really comes up quick doing that. If you try it in a convertible tape the edge of the top where it meets the windshield like I did. I also advise taping the window trim on the side of the windshield A pillar like I didn't do. Scared the hell out of me when that thing flew off. Probably scared the driver of the s600 beside me too.

The convertible I owned was previously owned by a friend of mine named " Freaky Ty ". He owned a stereo installation shop in Baltimore. The day I pulled out the vert, after a serious redo, is the day he died. He was street racing in a 350z when the police started chasing him. He took a " dead man's curve " on a street called Rolling Road in Randallstown too fast. A big tree cut him and the car in half. The tree didn't budge. I was telling folks at the bar next to my shop goodbye to head to his shop when a fellow officer stopped me and showed me the pics.

Needless to say, this hood is staying. It's got a story just like the Motorcraft tach I just got. Only that story involved a pretty girl, a pink mustang, and a guy that gained a friend but never got the girl. Not my story...but a story non the less.



Bondo almost all gone. Heres where I cut it to clear the brace.



These two three things are making quick work of it.

I got the roller. It's going down in the garage this weekend. My DA is frozen. It's been a long time since I used it last. The foam is disintegrating. Gotta check HF Saturday morning. Need another pack of fiberglass mesh too.