1977 e21 BMW 320i Ugly Slow Track Car Build.....

In reply to gamby:

I think his original plan was to keep it ugly... but that's just not in him...

lol, thanks. I have "carbons" of this thread on bimmerforums and r3vlimited where I've changed the thread title as my plans have evoloved. But here on GRM, I think I'm pretty much stuck with the original title, lol.

At this point I neither expect it to be ugly, nor for it to be a track car, nor for it to be terribly slow at the end, haha.....

On the engine, this is a make-up for doing next to no cosmetic work on my M42 swap into the e30, and leaving that engine covered in dirt and mud all the time. Also between "real" projects or while waiting for parts, the little cosmetic details are cheap to do, and I really enjoy doing them - though I don' t go to the extreme levels of the "car show" crowd by any means :)

Plus it forces me to actually clean stuff extensively. Putting the utility sink into the garage has paid dividends so far!

Ian F wrote: In reply to gamby: I think his original plan was to keep it ugly... but that's just not in him...

the original plan was to make it a Chump car. But once I dug into the car and found that the body was better than expected, and interior better than expected, that started to change my mind about doing a "real" restore. I'm infamous for changing my mind on car-related things (see: the 2nd Triumph GT6 I picked up to restore, only to turn around and sell it a few months later, deciding that having TWO of those things is more torturous than waterboarding)

Plus after racing for a season with Chump/Lemons guys and seeing how much money actually owning one of these cars ends up costing (for safety stuff, cage, other race expenses, etc), decided that's really not in my budget. Plus I can drive the Chump e30 at any race I want to do, so why even bother having my own? :)

Progress continues!

Got a few last parts I needed in to put the oil pans back on

Plastic (updated) oil pressure relief valve (next to the original one)

new bumpstops for the front struts, seeing as the ones that came off the car basically crumbled into tiny pieces as they were taken off... Had to double-check on the bumpstop/dustboot arrangement, since it's kind of odd compared to most other cars I've worked on where the bump stop is inside the dust boot. But this is how RealOEM shows it, as well as several other write-ups - and the FSM. So I guess the bumpstop is exposed to the elements. Odd. No wonder the old one fell apart....

so got one of the struts back together (after some painting of the housing in Koni Red - just for fun, and epoxy black on the springs - might as well make them look good while I'm using them ,even though that may not be for very long). with a new top hat and cleaned-up isolators. Should be good to go. Still have to do the other one.

Then it was time to drill the crossmember for the motor mounts. After measuring about a half-dozen times, popped the holes through, and a second set of holes for the "nubs" on the motor mounts. I did some minor position adjustments to minimize interference with the oil pan at the rear, but still may need to shave it a bit. The rack is ready to go as well, but I'm STILL waiting on Eurometric rack bushings, which I ordered almost 2 weeks ago. Guess they actually come from Europe, IDK....

Some photos of the mounts - and as Tom noted earlier in this thread, they will just fit inside the frame rails.

closest point of contact on the pan

clearance on the other side

a few more shots for posterity

I've been short on updates recently for the four of you still following this thread, lol. It's been mighty cold recently and no fun to work in the garage. Plus all the holiday stuff has kept me busy on other issues. But somehow we were blessed with a few 65-degree days here in late December, so needed to get some work done!

So, got the front struts back together with the Konis, some painted-up stock springs (for now), new upper mounts, new bumpstops, and some red spray paint for the housings (hey, why not....need some color in there).

Got the subframe back in...

But forgot to grind off the old fuel line bracket, which interferes with the mounts....it's gone now.

Then went about putting the front suspension back together. This is really just temporary, since I plan to change swaybars and springs probably before the car is able to be driven, but I want it together enough to be rolled in and out of the garage. Maybe I just need to learn the "trick" or right sequence, but it took a good bit of muscle to get it all back together and bolted up due to the multiple different parts that are attached together (swaybar, struts, LCAs, etc). But eventually got it all back in with the new LCAs/bushings.

I'm still waiting on the steering rack bushings from Eurometric, but I have gotten a reply from them on their FB page (thanks for the suggestion, whomever suggested that!), and due to the cold weather and no heat in his shop, he hasn't been able to make them yet. No problem, but at least I know what the delay is now and that I'll have them eventually.

In the meantime...with it almost 70 degrees today, decided to try something. Let me put on my flame-suit first.......

I have a gallon of Rustoleum Professional flat black paint that I'm going to use to do the floorpans and such. My plan had been to do the engine bay in body-color.....but the main problem there is that 1) I haven't decided on a body color yet, 2) It may be 6+ months before I decide and/or get the car painted, and I"m sure I'll change my mind 10 more times on the color in the meantime. But I want to get the drivetrain back into the car now that it's a good ways done. Also note that I'm not a "car show" guy who plans to be sitting around with my hood up very often. I like the bay to look decent - and I'm always impressed by some of the beautiful engine bays I see - but overall I just want it to be functional and not rusty/dirty.

So...I hand-brushed the engine bay. A couple reasons why I did it this way: 1) I'm doing it in a closed garage with poor ventilation, so I can't have a crapload of paint fumes in there with kids in the house. 2) I want a tough, thick finish - but also one that's not so pretty I'll get pissed about if I scratch it up or something. 3) Once I put the drivetrain back in, I'm going to have to weld on some brackets here and there for the coils, MAF, etc. And it will be convenient to be able to just be able to wire-wheel that area, do the welding, and then have an easy off-the-shelf paint to touch up the area with matching paint.

Also since I put some color on the engine, I figure that will be enough cosmetics for me, lol.

So I did a nice thick coat today. This is the same paint that we painted the e30 Chumpcar interior in, and it's been bulletproof on that car. I just used a cheap 75-cent Harbor Freight brush, to boot. Once dry I think it looks pretty good as-is, but the real plan is to give it a few days to dry well, then do some wet-sanding to get rid of any brush marks, and just spray-bomb the entire bay with a light coat of flat black over it, giving it a smoother finish. Then I can start putting the front end back together to some extent.

So, here's what it looks like right now. Looks ok, but it will look better when I'm done, if not real exciting....

(much of the texture visible here is from the factory seam-sealant around the strut tower)

I don't think there's anything wrong with brush-painting the engine bay. Hell... it's really no different than the "$50 roller painting" technique. Perhaps the pictures hide flaws, but it looks pretty good from where I'm sitting.

Ian F wrote: I don't think there's anything wrong with brush-painting the engine bay. Hell... it's really no different than the "$50 roller painting" technique. Perhaps the pictures hide flaws, but it looks pretty good from where I'm sitting.

Thanks, yeah...in person you can see light brush strokes, but with a bit of work it should look pretty good in person. The explanation was less for this forum (since I'm sure many here have brush-painted engine bays, cars, etc), than it was for the 2 other BMW forums this thread is carbon copied in...where I'll get the "show" guys being like "yo dude how you gonna do a car build if ur engine bay isn't shiny with a big chrome turbo and painted with $5k paint yo"

So I hope you all had a good Christmas. Other than adding another 12 dozen (or so it seems) children's toys to the clutter in my house, ours was relatively uneventful. Did a bit of car work, some garage work, got a few tools and stuff, etc....

One of my gifts was a 50' air hose reel (the "better" one from Harbor Freight, lol). With a garage where space is at a premium, once again had to think of creative mounting solutions, so I put it up by my tire rack where I can reach it but can't hit my head on it. Came out pretty good. Now if only I had a REAL compressor and not the little guy under my toolbench...

I also got a "gift" for myself courtesy of craigslist on the day after Christmas. I've been watching out for a good deal on a drill press and finally found one from a woodworking shop that was liquidating all their machinery. It's a 1970s Craftsman 1/2 HP 15 1/2" full stand job. Great running condition and has been maintained well. A little cleanup and it looks good and is exactly what I wanted. And for $50 to boot!

And yeah, I brought it home in the WRX since my wife had the truck. That was interesting

Ok, so back to some car stuff. I'm slowly putting some engine bay stuff back together before I toss the engine back in.

Brake booster back in (as well as the clutch master), after a good bit of cleaning, sanding, and painting.

Tonight I'm cleaning up and checking the brake M/C, which had a lot of rust on it but has good seals, and good feel on the throw (though I may rebuild it anyhow). No evidence that it was leaking before, so may not mess with it for a while. In the meantime I cleaned it up and POR-15'd it.

Non-sequitur.....anyone here remember the early 1980s Japanimation series "Star Blazers?" One of my favorites as a kid, and it was a English-overdubbed version of a Japanese series called "Space Battleship Yamato." Anyhow, apparently in 2010 a big studio in Japan made a live-action version, pretty similar in CGI quality to the new Star Trek movies (but with the usual cheesy Japanese acting and penchant for long speeches in emergency situations, haha). Anyhow, my brother scored one up with English subtitles and it's pretty good - so if you watched that show, definitely try to pick up the movie.

What else what else....oh, picked up a new set of stainless brake lines (Ireland Engineering, I think) from a forum member here for $50. One less thing to get later at a higher price.

Steering rack is ready to go back in once the eurometric bushings get here. Also cleaned up the linkage, which is tight and has smooth action so that's a plus. It was so gunked up it wasn't smooth, but after a good cleaning it's going well now.

Oh, and one dumb question that I just can't remember.....is this how the clips for the brake line across the firewall go? I can't remember if the line goes above or below, or if I have the clips wrong. The just look kind of odd/not right, IDK.

Holy hell yes - I watched Star Blazers religiously back in the early 80's. I'll have to look for that DVD. I've been hoping it'll turn up on Netflix, but not yet.

Good score on the drill press!

The Blue-Ray is tough to find. Actually this is a Chinese-market edition (note the Chinese sub-titles on the front, under the Japanese). The default setup is for Mandarin over-dubbing and Mandarin subtitles, lol. I changed it back to Japanese original language and English subtitles though :)

I can check with my brother as to where he found it though.

Found it on Amazon for $26.

^^ nice!

Yeah, so it's a bit nippy here this week.

But I carry on in my cold garage. Rebuilt both calipers and cleaned them up/painted them (for the moment, just with some black BBQ paint)....and got one side of the front suspension back together with new stainless lines, rotors, etc etc...

Also the Eurometric steering rack bushings finally arrived, so I installed them. Pretty close to having the car back on the ground so I can move it around if needed. That will be nice.

^^ nice!

Yeah, so it's a bit nippy here this week.

But I carry on in my cold garage. Rebuilt both calipers and cleaned them up/painted them (for the moment, just with some black BBQ paint)....and got one side of the front suspension back together with new stainless lines, rotors, etc etc...

Also the Eurometric steering rack bushings finally arrived, so I installed them. Pretty close to having the car back on the ground so I can move it around if needed. That will be nice.

Please update, just read through the entire thread and riveted, trying to talk the wife into getting our 18 yr old an 83 320i for $500 as a graduation present.

I wish I had anyupdates to give. Between doing the WRX timing stuff, sequoia timing belt and pump, improving the rallycross e30, and working on the e30 Chumpcar I haven't had a chance to do much on this. Pat Henry has a single-mass M20 flywheel and transmission crossbrace for me (in W.Va.) so I'll pick those up next month when I help him do an engine swap. Once I have those I can put the drivetrain into the car and start working on mechanicals. At the moment I have a lot of financial obligations for both racing and non-racing stuff this year, so the e21 is kind of taking a back seat at the moment for lack of time and finances. Plus I'm pretty confident the drivetrain work will go without a major hitch, since I know the M42 well at this point.

I'll note, though, that I'm very much passive-aggressive when it comes to my cars.....for months I won't be motivated to touch them, and then out of nowhere I'll just start going to work on them full-bore for months. I just turned the e21 around in the garage to get the rear end near my welder, so hopefully I'll make some time to get going on that, as well as continue sanding and prepping the body for paint. But that's another thing....I probably won't have the cash to get it painted until next year sometime, so I'm not in any real rush on the bodywork thing. I have been doing some interior cleanup and painting in the last month but it's not really something that is worth photographing until I'm done.

But, if you get that $500 one (which looks to be in far worse starting condition than mine was) and get a build thread going, that will definitely motivate me to get going on mine, lol.....

I will say one thing for your son though - and don't take this to mean that I don't love the e21 and want to make it into a great car - but it may be easier to find a $500 e30 (especially an early M10 318i) that is a better car, with more parts/resource availability, and generally less major rust issues (like the rear shock towers and window sills) than the e21. I think I paid $1000 for my '85 and it was (albeit barely) in good enough shape to drive home and had very little rust. Just a thought!

Ok, so did some work today. The work that I hate doing: sanding. Nice weather so I pulled the car out. After finishing some projects on some other stuff I got to work sanding the roof down to bare metal. When I got it the whole roof had little rust spots coming up through the paint from sitting for so long. I didn't want to try to do them individually and then even it out, so did everything. Man, this old BMW paint is THICK....took forever.

Here's what the whole roof looked like:

sanding...

after it was done, I hit it with some Metal Ready prep and let it sit and kill any remaining rust

Then primed it. Will wet-sand it tomorrow maybe.

Also took the wire wheel to the gutters to get all the rust out, and then POR-15'd them.

tomorrow's other project is some poly steering rack bushings for the Sequoia, just because they were cheap and 100k-mile big trucks tend to need all the tightness they can get.

Oh, also for those not following my build thread, here's a wrapup of our trip out to Ohio last weekend with a couple e30s for the Great Lakes National RallyCross Challenge:

The event was held in Hebron, Ohio (outside Columbus) across from an NHRA dragstrip, where Ohio Valley Region (OVR) usually runs their events. While most of the competitors were from the Great Lakes Division (running from Ohio up through Michigan, I think), five of us came out from DC region – Jim and Mike Golden in their GC 2.5RS Subie, Josh Sennett in his bmw 325e turbo, and me and Nick. Nick coming was kind of a “deal” I made with him since we’re tied locally in points and there was a WDCR event on the same day. I would have had to skip it and drop that event, and Nick could have gone and won it easily without me there and gotten the points. He didn’t want to drive his e28 all the way to Ohio so I offered the co-drive of my car since I know he’s fast in it (see: last local event where he beat me in mine after his car broke). That way we both drop that local event and remain tied. So we loaded up the trailer and the Sequoia and did the 6-7 hour haul through the Blue Ridge mountains (which was uneventful except for 15 minutes of torrential downpour where we couldn’t see 10 feet in front of the car). http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/aa1-1.jpg Upon arrival we had a chance to quickly walk the course in the evening to get a feel for it. Since we run in DC on gravel, this grassy course was kind of foreign to us, and it would prove to be foreign to me for sure. Ran into some other guys from GRM at the site and had a beer, then headed to the hotel to sleep. The next morning it was cool in the 60s, and the grass was soaking wet and soft – promising to be very slick. We did the course walk a few more times (with sopping feet) and then one course drive-through at slow speeds, where it didn’t feel all that slippery. There was a random-draw for start order, which proved to be pretty crucial as the course dried out quickly once we tore up the grassy areas and cars ran through it. I’ll caveat by saying that I don’t like the way the draw was done overall, rather than within each class. That meant the classes got broken up with rwd, fwd, and awd cars running throughout the head. As luck would have it I drew #4 (out of about 30 cars) so had to go very early in the heat when it was still grass and still very wet. Most of the other MR class cars were much further back in the run group, which (looking at times) proved to be pretty advantageous as the course dried out very quickly once runs started. The course was VERY long and curvy, with a number of turnarounds. It was actually a great course, one of the most fun I’ve ever run. As to the MR class competitors, they consisted of Evan Arthur (last year’s national runner-up) and Chris Hastings driving Evan’s turbo Miata; Pete Remner (a perennial top national and divisional driver) in his RX-7; me and Nick in my car; Josh in the turboETA; and Kevin Schmidt and Pat LaMontagne from Detroit, driving Kevin’s RX-7. So my first run started and it was clear that the course was much slicker than expected. First runs have been my downfall for a number of events over the last couple seasons as I tend to be over-aggressive and trust my traction more than I should. I would normally have backed off, but with such a strong field in MR I couldn’t risk going slower than the rest of the class so I pushed it. Too hard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZQJAHczTiU&feature=youtu.be Yup, got outside the line in the deeper wet grass and couldn’t recover it. By my count I lost about 12-13 seconds getting back on course, which was pretty sucky since it essentially put me out of the running for the whole weekend, or so I thought. On that run I was 125 seconds, while the fastest cars that didn’t spin were 113-115 seconds being more careful. As a bit more grip developed throughout the morning, I slowly clawed my way back into the competition with some good runs, and my 5th run at 101.92 seconds turned out to be the fastest in the class for that session. But I was still a good ways behind the leaders. Meanwhile, Evan had one really sloppy 4-cone run that prevented him from running away from the pack for the morning. Pete getting it sideways http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/10150564_514906915307524_210919253355939609_n.jpg The morning course, and my fastest run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi7MAzSJkLE&list=UUZDzORFSilgFFHMqcT8uyIA another fast run from inside: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHBKN0tRKhA&list=UUZDzORFSilgFFHMqcT8uyIA In the afternoon, we basically ran the same course but with one section cut out so it was somewhat shorter. As it had dried out, the Mazdas got faster and Chris and Kevin started putting down some fast times. My times were pretty good but nothing special. No major mistakes though. Nick kept running consistently and he and Kevin were neck and neck for the lead after Saturday. Evan had an electrical issue at lunch so he had to take some runs in Pete’s car (which were similar in times to Pete’s runs), and Chris took some runs in Josh’s car (also pretty fast) . Unfortunately Josh had some overheating issues, which we’ll talk about in a bit. Evan getting down some turbo power http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/10606398_514906875307528_3578615965355706052_n.jpg By the end of the day Nick was holding on to a several-second lead over Kevin and Pete, and I had managed to get back to within 5 seconds of the leader or so after driving with nothing to lose. So as it turned out, Josh had broken both motor mounts and his engine shifted to the left, causing his fan to get caught on the shroud and mild overheating. After asking around the other competitors and making a fruitless run to Advance auto, it was clear that nobody carries 1980s bmw parts in the middle of Ohio on a weekend. So we improv’d by taking my spare Condor Speed Shop UHMW solid M42 mount (which is about twice as tall as the M20 mount he needed) and cutting it in half with a hacksaw. Four people sawed for about 20 minutes, and we broke the blade 3 times. http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/aa20.jpg But in the end, we got it ghetto-rigged and he was good to go http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/aa22.jpg So on to day two. The course was reversed with some changes. I needed to make up some time and it was going to be difficult. I laid down the 2nd-fastest times for the first two runs, but Pete was almost 2 seconds faster (I do hate running clockwise, lol) and was on the verge of taking 1st from Nick and Kevin. But then he de-beaded and had to take a bogey time, essentially putting him out of the competition (or did that happen late on the first day, I forget). Meanwhile, Josh continued to have problems with his car and eventually just bailed out for a while. http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/aa10.jpg As we came down to the last few runs, Kevin and Nick were fighting for the top spot and I was a few seconds back in 3rd. Nick hit a kind of plateau in his times and couldn’t seem to go any faster. Kevin kept putting down really fast runs and I kept pace and was within a second of the lead. Then I got a cone in the slalom, which is something I NEVER do (I love slaloms), which knocked me back to 3 seconds again. On the last run I was down around 1.5 seconds to Kevin and ½ a second to Nick. With 3rd place guaranteed no matter what I did (short of de-bead), I decided to go for broke on the last run. Nick put down another decent run around 80.4 seconds. Then Kevin also put down a run around 80.5 seconds. Driving all-out, I pulled off a 79.3 on the final run (clean), which leapfrogged me in front of Nick by ½ a second. But left me ½ a second behind Kevin. So that’s how it finished, with the top three separated by 1.01 seconds after almost 1,500 total seconds of time over the weekend. Evan ended up around 30 seconds back thanks mostly to his cones and having to drive Pete’s car for a few runs, but was running times just a shade slower than mine all day. Pete ended up about 100 seconds back primarily due to his de-bead bogey and I think a partial spin once he was out of it. The rest of the pack was a ways back due to various driving issues and mechanical issues. Chris didn’t drive Sunday, which is too bad. Would have been interesting to see if he could have taken Evan’s car to the title or not. I’ll also mention that the Golden brothers from DC took 2nd and 3rd in stock AWD class, which was a good finish but I’m sure they’re disappointed in it. Lost to a WRX. http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/DSCF3651.jpg All in all, it was a great event and was good to finally see how we matched up against some of the best MR class drivers in the country. Also got to meet a bunch of cool people, hang out, work on cars, drink beers, and talk shop with a lot of national-level guys. http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/10523213_10204752381992130_4316791598481907200_n.jpg Next year the GLDivs are in Detroit area so we probably won’t haul that far, and Nationals this year are in Nebraska so that’s a no-go. Northeast National Challenge is at WDCR’s home venue in a few weeks, but I have to go to a wedding so can’t make it. I think Jim Spoth may drive my car in that one, and Nick will be back in his e28. Sucks I can’t compete for the title on my own local surface, but that’s how life works. Oh, and Pete bought my old beat-up e21 wheels for $100. In quarters. http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/aa15-1.jpg Of interest, Pete is one of the favorites to win Nationals, according to SCCA’s website http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/pete.png Overall, happy with how the car performed and held up with no mechanical issues whatsoever. In fact, Josh had to drive my car 7 hours home (which I don’t envy) since his car was still having issues – so I put it on my trailer and towed it back to my place. So that’s it for now. Good times, and I have a few ideas for the car coming up (nothing too big, don’t’ get too excited), so stay tuned. http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/DSCF3596-1.jpg http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/aa34.jpg

Great build thread, great pics, congrats on the RallyCross finish

BBC

Totally off topic, but can you give a quick synopsis of how the steering bushing replacements go? I think my Sequoia would benefit as well. Thx!

Yeah yeah...more excitement. Just been sanding for the most part for the last week. And some Bondo. And more sanding. And filler primer. And sanding.

I'm not terribly good with Bondo, so this has been a learning experience

But in the end, I have eliminated the multiple creases and dents in the door (after popping them out as much as possible) and it's generally smooth...

The area under the mirror was mashed in nicely and since it has a backing plate it's next to impossible to pop back out. So I just built up the area and will sand it to form...

\

also did a bit of cleanup in the engine bay and put in my old M42 mounts in preparation for dropping the engine in there in the near future...

Another part of that prep was to grind down the "fins" on the back of the upper oil pan to clearance them for the rack. I basically eyeballed this so hopefully it was correct...

4Msfam wrote: Totally off topic, but can you give a quick synopsis of how the steering bushing replacements go? I think my Sequoia would benefit as well. Thx!

It was pretty easy overall, to be honest. No special tools needed. The hardest part was pounding out the one long stock bushings after cutting off the lip, but I just lubed it up good and eventually it pushed through.

Here's the write-up I used and it was dead-on. Definitely gives improved steering feel and got rid of some "wander" and slop in the wheel.

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/1gen-member-mods-build-threads-write/209362-installation-how-polyurethane-steering-rack-bushings/

Also, the bushings are on sale at Wheeler's Off-Road for like $20, so that's a good deal.

A long day/night at a buddy's wedding yesterday meant I couldn't run at the Northeast Rallycross National Challenge (incidentally, Nick won Mod RWD class in his e28 with two e30s right behind him) this weekend. So with perfect weather today I got down and dirty and did something I've been dreading: Draining the 6-7 gallons of fuel that have been sitting in the tank for the last 7 years. I had kind of hoped that with a half-full tank at least the tank wouldn't be in too terrible condition, but unfortunately that isn't going to be the case I don't think, which was pretty clear once I pulled the lifter pump/level sender

hard to take a pic into the tank, but there's definitely some rust in there.

Since apparently the e21 tank doesn't actually have a drain plug (?) and I couldn't easily get the connector hose off, I just slit it with a knife and drained

Almost filled my big pan to the brim

Siphoned it out of the pan into an empty 5-gal tank (and a couple old oil jugs)

is it bad that I'm tempted to use it in my crappy lawnmower? lol....

So, with that done did some cleaning up of the interior and engine bay, which had about a bucketful of dust on them. The plan is to drop the engine in as soon as I get my lift back. Also have been continuing sanding, priming, etc on the body. It's getting there. Some random pics...

I'd try to run it through a filter of some sort to get the bigger chunks of rust out, but otherwise I'd run it in my lawnmower.

We (the ex-g/f mostly) cleaned and refurbished the gas tank from her parents' Diamond T truck using a POR-15 gas tank kit. Like anything POR15, follow the directions to the letter, and you'll get decent results. It took about 3 days - part of that due to waiting for it to dry out (finally putting a hot lamp on the tank overnight).

Or for about 2x the $ and a lot less time/effort/semi-toxic waste, drop it off at a Gastank-Renu shop.

^^ thanks, will look into that.

so, I got my hoist back tonight, and decided to do a test-fit of the engine (without transmission) to check the clearances and mounts. Long story short, it fits and my altered subframe/mounts line up perfectly, so I'm pretty damn pleased with myself :)

Only issue is I forgot to grind off the little lip on the passenger side of the rear oil pan when clearancing for the steering rack, so will have to lift it back up and do that. Otherwise, looks to sit exactly where I want it to. Not much else to say at the moment other than it's one less thing to worry about now that I know that the mounts line up right :)

cleaned the garage and started figuring out what to do next on the car. Need to score up a few bolts and stuff to put the clutch/tranny in, but after grinding the lip off the oil pan the engine sits well and right where I wanted it, so pretty pleased with that. Also deciding where to mount the coil packs (I'm not doing COP).

hooray for clean garage

Any progress???