" Thanks.

Yes, I like nitrous. "

" Nah...I've set limits on what I can touch. The next car will be much more radical...

The one pictured above is the engine oil cooler. "

" Intake manifold with a few extra lines:



Got the starter installed...what a PITA that turned out to be with the engine installed in the car:



Assembling the condenser/radiator/steering cooler/reservoir/fan assembly: "

" Strut bar is done:





What are you looking at? It was a Racing Dynamics aluminum strut bar. Then we added mounting plates for the nitrous solenoids, meth valve, and FPR. Then this week I sections of 1/2" wide aluminum bar welded to the back, drilled a 1/4" hole through them, then cut them down. These will be the zip-tie points for slew of wiring and lines going between the left and right sides of the engine bay. Because of where they are placed, a person standing at the front of the engine bay won't easily see any of it.

The final step was to prep all the aluminum surfaces for paint, prime 2 layers with self etching primer, then add 3 layers of low-gloss black paint. The finished result to me looks like OEM...hopefully it stays that way through assembly. "

" I miss my Nikon... "

" Still re-doing stuff that didn't work.

The -10 AN turbo drain line ended up getting sandwiched between the oil pan and the steering rack. More specifically, the fitting right off the scavenge pump...causing the scavenge pump to be pulled into an odd position on it's rubber mounts. The solution is to convert the scavenge pump inlet to a 1/2" barb fitting, and to clamp the line onto that. But...the line wouldn't reach....so I had to cut another 2+ foot section of -10 AN line. Now just waiting on the barb fitting to arrive...and I'll be done. One $120 oil drain line + fitting goes into the spare parts bin...

I also found that pretty much all of the rubber vacuum lines in the car are starting to crumble...or are at least flaking to varying degrees. Rather than bolt stuff back together hoping it holds, I replaced it all. I've also added clamps or zip-ties to every line or plug that will see pressure from the intake manifold. (Including many OEM connections)

On the up side, I have made some really good progress in other areas, but I need to take some pictures... "