Well, Things are progressing slowly on #5927... As some of you may recall, this is the totally disassembled D that I bought last month. I figured out that for anything to be worthwhile, there has to be some sort of 12-step plan to do it, am I right? =) Here's my plan: step one: suspension & steering linkage step two: running all the lines/wires along the frame step three: reattaching the pontoon step four: radiator step five: fuel tank step six: interior air box assemblies & dash reassembly step seven: transmission and linkage step eight: engine block step nine: engine bolt-ons & turbos step ten: body step eleven: interior, windshield, rear glass step twelve: tuning, safety checks, final touches I'm halfway done with steps one and two. I made myself a progress chart to make myself feel better as I go. Something like those thermometers you see where they color in the red until someone reaches a goal. Mine is the outline of the letters D-E-L-O-R-E-A-N-D-O-N-E. I've got half of the first "D" and "E" filled in. Anyway, this whole experience is going to make me a shoe-in for the "name that part" competition at the nats, as every single piece on the car is getting, cleaned, polished, tapped, died, rustproofed, painted and/or otherwise treated for both appearance and functionality as I go. So, for the great many of you who have expressed support and help & asked to be kept in touch of the progress, here's a few things I've done these last few weeks: - grind, wire-brush, wire-wheel, & scrape all cracked/broken epoxy from the frame, degrease, rustproof (Extend rust spray) and repaint the damaged areas with Rustoleum Dark Machine Gray (35 hours) - heat, hack, PB, liquid wrench, impact wrench and sledgehammer all of the suspension bolts apart from the control arms (16 hrs) - prepare all new/used suspension bolts for use (buffing, etc.) (2 hrs) - clean & repaint control arms (1 hr) - Dremel the heck out of the rear hub carriers until they shined like a new nickel (4 hrs) - paint the hub carriers with a coat of clear satin lacquer to stop oxidation (5 minutes) - remove and repress two new wheel bearings into the hub carriers (2 hrs - the old ones were seized) - wire-wheel and repaint the front spindles with Rebuilder's Touch Cast Iron Spray (1 hr) - sandblast upper and lower front control arms, repaint with Rustoleum Painter's Touch Semi-Gloss Black (3 hrs) - install 4 new ball joints (and PJ Grady stiffener on lowers) (3 hrs) - grind, wire-brush, wire-wheel, & scrape all cracked/broken epoxy from the trailing arms, rustproof (Extend rust spray) and repaint the damaged areas with Rustoleum Dark Machine Gray (6 hrs) - clean, repaint, install new bushings in steering rack assembly mounts (2 hrs) - install steering rack (1 hr) - run the interior wiring harness in the body... It was so tangled it took 6 patient hours to get it all straightened out (8hrs total) - hack out a broken body mounting bolt (3 hrs) - straighten, clean, paint rear brake lines & T fitting (3 hrs) - disassemble master cylinder. It had stuff inside that looked like gray cottage cheese. The rest was rust. It's totally toast. (2 hrs) - clean, repaint rear spring seats (1 hr) - clean, wire-brush, paint rear axle assemblies with clear satin (2 hours) - clean, wire-brush, paint rear hubs with Rebuilder's Touch Cast Iron Spray (2 hrs) - install adjustable clutch link (5 minutes. I don't even have a clutch yet, but someday...) - install windshield wiper assembly (1 hr) - complain, swear, and generally get angry because I forgot the Silastic sealer (dumb!) (5 min) - install windshield wiper assembly w/silastic (1 hr) - install pedal box assembly (30 min) - clean package shelf carpet (1 hr) - clean, wire-brush, and repaint power brake booster (1.5 hrs) - heli-arc weld new large fitting on evaporator core (1 hr) - remove, identify, inspect, evaluate, sort, tag, bag and shelve all parts from 11 boxes (25 hours) - 3 trips to All-Foreign Auto Parts (1 hour) - 4 trips to NAPA (4 hours) - 7 trips to AutoZone (5 hours) - 14 trips to Pep-Boys (12 hours) Well, that accounts for about 125 hours right there... out of the around 300 that I've put in up to this point. I think a lot of the rest of the time was spent by eating, drinking Dr. Pepper, vaccuming/cleaning/organizing the garage each night, trying to find parts I've misplaced, and other various and sundry tasks. I've installed a 5 CD changer, and TV with cable to help break up the monotonous sound of the air compressor. I hope to be posting some new pics soon of the progress on the web site... http://www.forwardlook.net/DMC Thanks again everyone for all of your help and support!!! -Dave Stragand dave.stragand@xxxx VIN #5927