Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/15/17 4:09 p.m.

In reply to java230 :

It was an attempt to see if the new Forum would let me link to Flickr from my phone. Failed miserably on that one.

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/15/17 4:09 p.m.

In reply to 759NRNG :

Don't feel bad E36 M3 happens to the best of us

java230
java230 SuperDork
9/15/17 4:17 p.m.

Ah okay, I have never gotten Flickr to work off my phone either, one downside to that one.

mazdeuce
mazdeuce MegaDork
9/15/17 4:36 p.m.

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

Holy E36 M3! You ok? Need anything from the hive? 

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/15/17 4:52 p.m.

In reply to mazdeuce :

Thanks for the offer. A fellow Forum member is already getting me a parts car for the Miata and other than prayers nothing anybody can really do about the health trouble. Hopefully we'll figure out soon what the berkeley it is and we can fix it.

759NRNG
759NRNG Dork
9/15/17 5:45 p.m.

Prayers definitely from here bro.......kinda way short on Answer stuff. 

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/24/17 6:56 p.m.

if be updating, but cant figure out the new forum update.

how do I copy and paste from my word editor? or copy and paste a bb code from flickr? adding 5 pictures took me 30 minutes to the sale thread for my nieces truck.

Stampie
Stampie SuperDork
9/24/17 7:27 p.m.

On a desktop <Ctrl> C is copy and <Ctrl> P is paste. I'm not familiar with how Flickr works. 

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/24/17 7:39 p.m.

In reply to Stampie :

Ill try that tomorrow. I kept right clicking trying to paste, and that didn't work.  Forgot about the keyboard shortcuts.  

Widows is updating, so nothing more tonight. 

Stampie
Stampie SuperDork
9/25/17 12:17 p.m.

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

My bad above. <Ctrl> V for paste.  I just got a mental image of you ripping your P key off your keyboard and burning it in the driveway. I don't want to be responsible for that. 

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/25/17 1:43 p.m.

In reply to Stampie :

Nah, too small to torch. However, i do have some tannerite....

Ill try it at some point tonight. Copy and paste, not a tannerite use....

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/25/17 8:34 p.m.

Challenge Budget: Car/parts $200 

Donor Lincoln town car: 410 

Engine crossmember: 120 

Sold transmission crossmember from Lincoln: 10 Sold rear axle from lincoln: -50 Scrapped what was left of lincoln: -89 

Sold AOD from lincoln (300, but can only recoup 261)

Engine swap: 5.0 plus 300 boot 

Sold kelstar wheels-200 (cant recoup more than we spent) 

2x2 angle iron, tractor supply 12.05 

Brand new Watkins glen nascar slicks and wheels, which were bought for $50, and promptly sold to Dallas dad for $50 and some weld wheels with really old drag slicks. So, slicks were $0, but $50 taken out of the recoup limit. 

4 5/8 heim and jamb nuts: $37.50 

Pair of aluminum seats, $40 

Sheet of flame retardant high density foam $10 

Fire suppression system parts (not included in challenge budget. But ive had 2nd degree burns on the boys before, so were getting safety gear come hell or high water) 

1/4 plate, scrap metal yard: 7.50 

Mustang convertible mounts 22 

Bending plate cost 25

Swedged tubing, ebay: 31.90 

Threaded adjusters and 650lb springs, SRI performance: 65

2 used billstein shocks, pull-a-part: 14

Cage materials: 271.40

1/2 Spool welding wire: 16.50

Leaf spring sliders: 40

Clamps for spring adjusters: 23.59

Adjustable brake bias valve 18 (amazon)

2 cans of flat black spray paint (lowes project source) .97 ea

Half melted, used 21 circuit ez wiring harness cut from my duster after the mice chewed it up and it had a meltdown. $5 is what I was quoted as FMV due to the fact that copper prices are down.

Accessories and flexplate: see link in update

Battery cables and relays, pull-a-part: 12.75

Steering box, pull-a-part: 27.50

25feet 3/8 steel fuel line, ebay: 25.75

Bypass fuel pressure regulator, ebay: 29.23

Used, noisy, and mostly dead fuel pump: 6.50

Two half cans of ford engine blue $7

3/8 plastic line clamps, lowes: 1.78

1/2 metal line clamps, lowes: 3.48

Throttle return springs and brackets: 5

3/8 2x compression fittings, 3x npt-compression, 1x t fitting from plumbing supply house: 6

battery hold down, oriellys 5.99

2x 36 inch 1x1 holey tube: 2

Driveshaft safety loop (dad bought it at an auction last week) 5

Tractor supply run for bolts and angle iron: 18.08

Wheels for monster slicks: 50 from facebook marketplace

Lower radiator hose: 14.82

Oil filter: 4.17

Bucket of hose clamps (pull-a-part doesn't charge for these, so I added the admission charge to the yard): 1

Scrap chunk of 16gauge sheetmetal: .25

Suspension, driveshaft, and 3.73 posi 8.8, offerup: 100

Traded ultralights and sun tach for pro-tach, mechanical 2 5/8 gauges and chunk of diamond plate from a 4x4 buggy guy down the street

Rear brake hose: Challenge budget exempt

Spark plug boot insulators, ebay, 11

Spring perches, amazon 17.49

Pipe standoffs (5) and 3/8 allthread, rhulens supply 8.22

Chunk of diamond plate dad scrounged it somewhere, and said he got got for free.

Misc crap (zipties, sheet metal screws, wiring terminals, used toggles, used scraps of harness loom, nuts and bolts, etc. Pretty much the little oddball crap that goes into every build that I had laying around from over the years) 50

Starter solenoid: 7.90

2 inch glasspacks, chunks of 2 inch exhaust tubing, and a little bit of stainless 2 inch: steves buddy: 15

Tow hook: 3

Steering wheel from swap meet 5

Quick release, ebay: 19.99

Manual trans: 50

Flywheel: 45

2 dog leases 1.98

2 u joint straps 5.99

Clutch kit, clutch master, clutch slave: 107.13 shipped

Power steering hose: 15.99

3/8 coupler: 2.50

Welding: 5

Alternator plugs: 2

Starter: 34.39

ARP pressure plate bolts: 12:50 bradley auto parts

Shocks from scrap metal pile: 5

Hood pins: 7.50. Ebay

Hoosier f40 scrubs (budget exempt, byt I bought 16 with a max of 13 laps for 15 each!!!)

Hydraulic clutch line: 25 from the local tow company

3 inch blocks: 25.89

Trans seal: 4.50

Secret weapon: 100

T-shirt material. Bought 5 yards, but the number will change when I see how much I have leftover: 5.98 a yard for a total of 30.90. Used 2 yards. So, 11.96

3/4 gallon of bondo brand fiberglass resin my sister in law was donated at the school and couldn't use. Very old, and possibly expired. $free

1/2 gallon of new resin: 27.99 at walmart for full gallon, 13.99 to the budget

1.5 Gallon of bondo: 18.99 on sale at napa per gallon so 28.48

30 foot by 50 inch Roll of fiberglass mat: 39.98 but only used 13 feet (rounded up) 17.32

Gallon of mistint single stage, oriellys: 50

2 quarts reducer, oriellys: 26

Sold passengers seat: -35

Gallon of light ford gray from tractor supply was 29. We used 1/4. So, 7.25

Quart of semi gloss black rustoleum: 8.99 lowes

Two handfulls of sand from my kids sandbox: .25

Squirt of sem bumper paint for the grille: 1.00

 

New challenge budget total: 1958.39

I've been busier than a three peckered billy goat. Between work, family, medical trouble, totaling the daily, fixing my nieces truck, putting it out of its misery, etc, I haven't had as much time to devote to this as I would like. 

But such is life. After all, im privileged to be able to have these problems, and it beats the alternative by a large margin. 

Im still not letting the whole package out of the bag yet, as all good stories wait until the last for the climax, and the climax of this story comes in 20 days. Which means I have a lot off ass to bust in the next 20 days as well, all while reducing stress and caffeine intake and nicotine intake, and sleeping and such so I don't wind up in the hospital again. 

It is what it is. And will be the car we have built, not the car we wished we had built, or intended to build, or....

Anyway, since we left off, ive been working on the show part of the challenge. A good way to think about it, from what I understand (this is my first rodeo. I've never even watched the live coverage of the event on the internet) is that the concourse portion is essentially a cruise night. Walking a cruise night with the kids, you see something cool, have a couple of minutes to talk to the owner, and the kids drag you off to the funnel cakes down the way. In the challenge, you get 5 minutes with the judges to show what you built, and the competitors walk the isles and have their say as well. So, its gotta be cool and look good. 

The race car gray we sprayed this winter has not held up well to continued shop wear and fabrication and use. Chipped, dirty, ground off, burned, missing entirely, fish eyes, etc. Looked pretty bad. Additionally, the floor was slicker than owl E36 M3, especially since we had the oil pressure gauge leak. And the seat was horribly uncomfortable. And....

Anyway, I have spent an inordinate amount of time with a gallon of light ford gray from tractor supply, and a 1 inch paint brush. Every inch of the engine bay (that I could reach), every inch of the interior. 1 inch brush. Let that sink in for a minute....

In the process, I added some floor traction. My idea was to pain the floor with bedliner, and paint the gray over that. Bedliner costs money. We have no money. However, we have a sandbox. I got a good coat on the floor, sprinkled sand into the wet paint. Did this multiple times until I got what I was going for. Going to be a bear to clean, but there's no end of boot traction. While I was at it, I painted the column and pedals with some rustoleum. My wife and mom cut and glued our foam for the seat, though it needs a little final trimming. We had planned to make a seat cover for the whole thing, but after 4 attempts by my wife, 2 by my mom, and 1 by me, said the foam looked pretty good and fit the theme of the car. Went ahead and installed the shift boot while I was in there. Again, the shift boot was given to me by a guy scrapping a geo tracker. I think it was the transfer case boot. 

BEFORE

20170904_105443 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20170903_085110 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20170903_085119 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20170903_085148 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

First round of sand, or maybe the second

20170906_131416 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Finished with sand texture and look

20170909_122023 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Overall interior shots:

20170925_202122 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20170925_202102 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20170925_200502 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Engine bay needs more touch up, and detailing yet. Roll cage padding needs finished putting back in, and I still need to run the hard lines for the fire suppression and mount the handle for the inside system. On ours, the engine is a 5lb bottle system completely separate from the passengers compartment 10 lb bottle with 2 nozzles. Overkill, but having had to tell a nurse about the second degree burns on my balls once was enough for a lifetime. Thats also why I have a 3 layer fire suit. 

I also shot the flares. They're pretty rough. Im not happy with them at all, but im out of budget, time, and patience. They probably wont survive long in action anyway, at least not without repair. I fully expect them to crack from cone hits. Hopefully im wrong, but at least im mentally prepared. The picture is the worst spot on the worst one. I swear that they looked great before I painted them. Probably should have gone with bedliner, but....

20170918_195842 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20170919_192819 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

This weekend is our last full team workday. Lots to do to prepare, but nothing preventing us from racing other than fresh slicks and a nut and bolt check. 

 

Dirtydog
Dirtydog Reader
9/25/17 8:49 p.m.

Congratulations on a job well done.    You accomplished more 30 pages ago than I would have ever attempted.  You and the Team deserve credit, and thank yous for a largely entertaining trip along with you.   Now go have fun with it and stay healthy.

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/25/17 8:59 p.m.
Dirtydog said:

Congratulations on a job well done.    You accomplished more 30 pages ago than I would have ever attempted.  You and the Team deserve credit, and thank yous for a largely entertaining trip along with you.   Now go have fun with it and stay healthy.

30 pages ago, we had planned the most radical thing i had ever attempted at the time: cross make engine swap with no off the shelf kit. After that, i took the attitude of "what the hell. Lets see what happens ". I have never built something like this. Never done real bodywork.  Never built a cage.  Never did much fiberglass. Never installed a quick release steering wheel.  Never radiused wheelwells. Never built exhaust.  Never seam welded. Never used a spray gun. Never modified a header more than beating it with a hammer. Never welded anything structural or safety related.

All the credit for the car needs to go to dallas and steve. Steve for being MacGyver and teaching me, and dallas for inspiration and encouraging every bad idea we had.

mazdeuce
mazdeuce MegaDork
9/25/17 9:02 p.m.

This is a big deal. You did good. 

Dirtydog
Dirtydog Reader
9/25/17 9:06 p.m.

There is a saying "It's not the destination, but the journey".    Just think of all the "Fun" you guys had.

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/25/17 9:09 p.m.

Im looking forward to even more fun. I must admit, its an absolute riot to run through the neighborhood.  Hard on the kidneys though....

Dirtydog
Dirtydog Reader
9/25/17 9:15 p.m.

There ya go!    You either PO the kidneys or PO the neighbors.  Win, Win on the funometer.

Dirtydog
Dirtydog Reader
9/25/17 9:17 p.m.

By the way.  Stains and napkins....  Waz up dere????

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/25/17 9:33 p.m.

One too many projects.  And a floor that needs replacement from incorrect tial type.

759NRNG
759NRNG Dork
9/27/17 10:41 a.m.

Wow....that never done list..... I'm impressed. But there is one thing that you excel at WIRING!

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/27/17 10:43 a.m.

Thanks man. After the challenge, the list of needs to get done is getting hit. HARD.

Mezzanine
Mezzanine Dork
9/27/17 11:38 a.m.
Dirtydog said:

There is a saying "It's not the destination, but the journey".  

In the spirit of the journey, those flares will wait for you - done today doesn't mean done forever. They look killer even if they're rough. Spend a few weeks after the challenge with your feet up, then get back to work.

jr02518
jr02518 Reader
9/27/17 11:50 a.m.

As to the fenders, look up "fender welting". 

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltimaDork
9/27/17 11:56 a.m.

In reply to jr02518 :

Thats awsome! Will have to do that. Not before the show, but when I get around to making it a one lap car. 

Oh yeah, we're thinking of how to tweak it to go the distance. 

You'll need to log in to post.

Our Preferred Partners
CgVGMlvXnnp941W0K6k2DtN4yxVoRWjRDuu0KoKQ8jfIWq3FS1TYYLz4VIgaGazk