Well this Sunday is out, but I have decided that the Javelin will debut in CAM-T form at the Oregon SCCA AX #2 on Sunday April 17th (if any other GRMers want to come). SO now we have a tangible realistic goal on completion, it's time to get back to work. Finish welding happens this weekend, and brake parts are all arriving today.
This week we pushed it back in the shop and got to work. We set the pinion angle and finish welded the new spring perches to the housing to start.
Then new 369 u-joints went into the driveshaft along with the Ford rear flange to bolt onto the 8.8's flanged pinion. The 8.8 is shorter than the Model 20 by nearly that identical length, so we don't have to cut the driveshaft.
Then came the brakes. Wonder of wonders, a stock 93 Explorer brake hose fit perfectly onto the car side, so that bit of fabrication was done! We installed new Centric wheel cylinders, all brake hardware, shoes, and drums. We also put the AMC parking brake cables on, got everything hooked up and adjusted, and bled the brakes. Then we painted the housing.
So what's left? We need to drain and fill the diff with new fluid, take the driveshaft out and cut the passenger side exhaust as it hits the driveshaft (I'll bring it back to my muffler shop to have them rehang it), and weld the shock mounts up. All of this should be done by next Tuesday, then it goes to another shop. Stay tuned...
Here's the 93 Explorer rear brake hose installed.
We installed new wheel cylinders, brake shoes, drums, hardware kits, and parking brake components.
Here's the new spring perches welded in. It's quicker and safer for the axle to destroy the old perches in removal, plus the new perches were much beefier. We ordered them from a 4x4 fab place.
Here is the flange yoke bolted to the rear axle. We installed new #369 u-oints on both ends of the driveshaft (made in the USA super strength ones). The aluminum one I had from a Crown Victoria Police Interceptor (P71) driveshaft used a different u-joint, so I had to order a Spicer 2-2-1379 as the correct flange yoke for the 369 u-joint.
Here is the AMC shock mounts welded to the Explorer spring bottom plates. Seth and his friend Logan cut off the Explorer mounts and folded the steel over before welding on the AMC mounts, making a much stronger piece that looked great.
We then changed the diff oil with 75W90 full synthetic including Ford clutch-type LSD additive, bled and adjusted the brakes, and went and did burnouts!
Then came the fun part! Yes, my car is sans windshield. Why you ask? Well if you remember way back when I got it, the Javelin was a vinyl top car, which went down the A-pillars, and this happened:
So I had by pal Gil at Toyland Restoration start doing some metal fab!
And finished up on that side:
We had to deal with the bottom corners:
and the top, too:
Other side done:
Once it was done:
we had to drill pilot holes:
for the special screws:
that hold the trim clips in place:
I then had my glass guy pick up the windshield and I drove the car with goggles to his shop to reinstall the original windshield! 
Here it is all reinstalled including the trim:
Close-ups:
I then washed the car (no leaks!!!!), vacuumed out the rust dust, and changed the oil and filter (VR1 in 10W30 and a K&N HP).
Then was a good 40-mile shakedown drive. Now D-Day is 7 days away and I need to bolt in the passenger seat, and I think that's it for this first go-around.
Are any of the locals coming to the SCCA autocross on Sunday at PIR?
I officially signed up as an SCCA member again and registered for CAM-T in Sunday's AX. Looks like there's a 72 Duster coming, so I should have at least 1 car to play with.
Love the look of this car, windshield surround repair looks top notch!
The progress makes me 
The windshield repair is the happiest thing I've seen done to a car in a while.
Drive well out there today.
Nice job on the rust repair! Have fun today!
Hope you enjoy it. Let me know how you do vs duster.
Teaser pic!
Full write-up tomorrow. 
Looks like the passenger has a death grip on the visor. Looks like fun even with the body roll going on. Hopefully you dusted the duster.
First things first, I wasn't quite ready for the autocross yet, as the car was still a 3-seater from taking it to the car show last fall with my kid. I bolted in one of my "new" black seats from the 74:
Then I realized that they are as awful as my white ones, so I bought some cheapo ugly covers from work to have something on there:
Then some last-minute checking of vital systems, including the freshly rebuilt 3.5-turn quick-ratio gearbox:
And all of the underhood fluids topped off:
Then came the drive down! The car did great on any and all backroads, but it was wound up pretty tight trying to do 70 on the interstate with the 3.73 gears. I may end up swapping in some 3.27's or try to find a Gear Vendors overdrive.
Everything looked great, so I went through tech and passed with flying colors, so it was time for the war paint!
I put my flight gear on:
View out the freshly-installed, leak-free windscreen:
And off of grid to the start we go...
Up to the line
Take the start!
Well that was fun!
All in all, it did great. I got my 3 "competition" runs in and 3 "fun runs". How'd it do? Well, I won CAM! But nobody else showed up, technically. Everybody that came with cars like mine ran in the AM in the Novice class. I was 60 of 90 PAX, if that means anything, but looking at raw times I did okay (49.7 comp/48.3 open). The Duster was a no-show, but an LS-swapped 67 Firebird was there and ran a 55.1/49.5, an 04 GTO went 54.5/51.5, FS 00 Mustang GT went 51.0/49.8, and a well prepared STP 06 Mustang (V6 ) went 45.7/44.1.
I would have expected to be the last of the non-newbs but it actually acquitted itself well. The steering was amazing and the rear diff just gave me gobs of traction. The big let downs were seat time, I was driving the car like the garbage scow it used to be instead of the river frigate it is now, and the springs. The fronts are way too soft, allowing the car to full dive onto the bumpstops under hard braking. The car just makes so much grip now (245/275 Dunlop SP MAXX) that the stock spring rate can't keep up. The rear squatted a little too much, too.
So, going forward, what do I need to do? Well first is the interior. Yes, yes, I know, hear me out. The amount of rust that fell off the roof over every bump was a distracting, and the stock seats SUCK. I need to stop making excuses and do the wire wheel/prime/paint/sound barrier/carpet job and find a set of seats with real bolsters to install. Once I can stay planted in the car, I need to tackle the front end. I have a lot of options, so it may be stiffer front springs and a shock upgrade, or even a coil-over setup. I also need to look into a stock Explorer rear sway bar to mount up to my rear axle, and possibly some airbags to help out. Then, retest!
After a long day, we made it home. It burned/leaked 2 quarts of oil and 10 gallons of gas. I drove it to work today and found a bunch more work. The seals for the fuel sender and pickup are both leaking, the front main sprung a leak, the master puked out the sides, the booster won't hold vacuum for more than 1 stop, and the coolant is down a bit. Looks like I need to tackle the motor/do the cam swap before I go autocrossing again, too.
Stay tuned!
Front spring options just don't exist. The AMC spring is so short (9.5" installed) that the only options are cutting a longer one, or having something custom made. On the other hand, the shock goes through the spring, and the upper shock mounts unbolt from the towers, so a coil-over is an option, even out of another car. Hmmm.
What is the free length of the spring? Also most of the springs on those years of cars I think are 5 1/2 O.D. So all you need is to find ones from any make that fit. You can find second hand springs off of a lot of race teams for next to little scratch if you are in the low buck mode.
In reply to brad131a4:
14.69" free height, 5.02" ID with a 0.69" wire. 311 lbs/in constant rate.
Ok there are plenty of springs in that size and different length. I would say you at least need to be up in the 600 to 700lb range on the front to start with. Then start looking at a front and rear swaybar if not on there all ready. Not a expert by any means I just know what works on cars that are about the same size and weight as yours.
The rear is a little different with leaf springs. I've seen people grab a few leafs from 1ton trucks and add them to the existing till they got what they wanted. I've seen another person flip one of the springs and then clamp it between the rest and then rap the whole thing in bailing wire and duct tap? I guess it worked for him just seemed weird to me at the time.
I know there are some engineers on here that could tell you how much the front spring will compress at different lbs so you can figure out the free height you would need to be where you want it to sit.
I'm more of a grab a bunch of different lengths and rates and go from there type of guy.
Good luck with it.
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