Progress Thread Therapy Car-- Freshening Up the Lower Intake

Got the exhaust off and am getting ready for the torque boxes.

The torch and a scraper made short work of the sound deadening material. This is on the passenger side.



Just test fitting the reinforcements and I quickly noticed this plug that had to come out. I dont remember seeing it in the House of Dula video I watched of him installing this kit. There is one on the other side as well.




I tried to test fit the lower reinforcements that mount in the torque box. I cant get either one to line up with the hole for the lower control arm bolt. Is this normal?

I got the rest of the sound deadening material removed from the back of the car.

I'll clean this up and paint it while it's out of the car.

I tried both of them on both sides. No matter how I put them in they do not line up such that you can get the bolt through the hole.

Apparently like so many on here I love to do things two or three times. I got the lower torque box reinforcements installed and then realized "Hey, I should probably paint the supports that go under the car because they are just bare metal." So I'm taking them back out to paint.

I am painting the other parts though. The inner panels are getting weld through primer. The other bits are being painted with Chassis Black.

I've been playing with my new welder. I'm not a good welder lol. I'll keep messing with it, but I've decided to have the cracks in the floor pan, torque box plates, and subframe connectors professionally welded in. There is a local shop here that specializes in Fox Bodies. I'm going to give them a call to get pricing and line things up.

Started trying to get the holes drilled for the upper reinforcements last night. Supper easy to drill the first one that goes through the top plate with the predrilled slots. Also immediately showed me that I needed to remove a lot more sound deadening material. I completely missed where it went. No big deal.

I'm using a 15/32 drill bit for the upper two holes. It's pretty long but not really long enough to drill the second hole, or not in a way that I feel good about. Right now the lower bracket pushes on the drill putting it an angle. I'm not sure if it will line up with the slot in the plate. I'm going to shop around and see if I can find a longer drill to get the job done.

If I'm missing something feel free to chime in. It wouldn't be the first time I was missing the obvious or over thinking something.

Figuring out how to tighten these bolts with no help is going to be interesting. I'm hoping I can wedge my wrench against something and hold it with a magnet while I tighten it from inside the car. I could ask the wife for help, but that never goes well.

I also noticed on the few video I've watched of people doing this job they either gloss over the installation of the upper plates or they don't install them.

What gauge steel should I use to box the rear upper control arms? Does boxing them make that much of a difference? I have to take them back off so this is the perfect time to have it done if I'm going to do it.

I got the upper torque box holes drilled through the floor pan last night on the drivers side. I still need to drill the holes through the actual plate though. Any advice on the best way to do that? It flexes out and the drill is hitting it at an angle. It's marked where the drill hit it so I guess I could take it off and drill the holes where the marks are.

I brought my upper control arm to work today so that one of the guys can weld the plate in.