How are the winter projects coming?

That block looks nice Wish I had the money this year to do my big engine project (Kenne Bell 2.2L Flowzilla / Blowzilla setup) but it just isnt in the cards with the young one on the way. I figure with the T5 replacing the AODE and the 3.73s replacing the 2.73s, the car should be fun enough to get me through this spring / summer and then hopefully next fall / winter Ill start in on the KB setup.

Did manage to get a few things done today. Replaced both rear axle seals (pass side was leaking), cleaned and painted my factory rear sway bar red (better than rusty brown), cleaned and painted the rear backing plates black, cleaned and painted the rear inner wheel wells black in hope that they'll remain rust free, cleaned and polished my tail pipes from over the axle back to the tips, installed the dust boots and pins onto the Cobra rear caliper brackets and dropped off my trunk, wing and plate panel at the body shop for paint. Ordered the beam style inch pound torque wrench so I can check the preload on the pinion gear. That'll be here Thursday so I should be able to get the rear end just about finished that night since I have Friday off. Assuming I got the pinion depth right, maybe Ill even be able to go out for a little ride on Friday, weather depending. Wish I had the Rotunda pinion depth tool still... I measured the old pinion and shim and got 1.911 on the micrometer, so I set the new pinion up with a shim that gets it to 1.911 as well so hopefully it will be pretty close. The one thing my shop doesnt have is a press, so Im at the mercy of using a coworkers when hes available...

So after a week of waiting I start in on putting the rear diff back together tonight... only to find out a friend has my two jaw puller so I cant get the companion flange back off after I tightened it down the first time. Im using a solid spacer instead of a crush collar and you have to check the preload with various thin shims installed. So Im pretty much done for the night until I get the puller tomorrow. Oh well. Also bought a stock replacement radiator. Will be good enough for this summer. Original one always had a tiny drip from the passenger side tank and I mustve tweaked the top cooler line fitting when I removed the old lines in the 5 speed swap. Started it up the other day and the fitting that seals into the radiator itself is leaking pretty bad from behind the sealing surface. And it isnt getting any tighter. Man I hate waiting.

Well after a long day, managed to get the gears all done and the car put back together. Really sucks not having a lift. The tooth pattern showed I probably could use .001 to .002 more shim on the pinion but I took it for a short ride and there were no wines and no clunks. The pattern wasnt bad, I just strive for perfection a little too much sometimes. Granted it was a brief ride since my trunk is still at the body shop so my license plate was just stuffed in the rear window. On a side note, I went to install the Cobra rear brake setup I bought and turns out the brackets I got are just standard model brackets so they wont clear the rotors. Yippee. A plus side is I did need new brackets because I was sick of frreeing them up every 6 months. Im just gonna trade the Cobra rotors in and get stock replacements for now. Dont want to wait around trying to source actual Cobra brackets. It was nice to get her out on the road again. Need to get the trunk back on so I can log some decent miles and get her up to highway speeds to make sure theres no abnormal noises on decel, etc. Didnt really get on it tonight, still in the new clutch break in period but definitely feels a lit stronger in acceleration now.