GRM Challenge spirit (pro-touring on the cheap?)

[dusterbd13]

I gotta say, this makes me fantastically happy. I love monster rubber, and full wheel wells, and flares, and......
Anyway, we pulled them back off for now, as were not there yet. Putting the spec miata stuff back on made me sad....

We next went to work on hooking up the shifter. This should have been quick and easy. 10 ****ing hours later, after making bellcranks, extensions, brackets, etc, I ripped the ford thing out, threw it into the woods, and made my own damned shifter. I don't know what I have in it for budget purposes, as I had all this laying around. 1 inch wide 1/8 sheetmetal strap sock, angle iron from a bedframe, couple of bolts, a piece of an old cutting board, and a control rod from a totalled zero turn mower I bought the engine out of. But here it it in the final ford version that didn't work.

And heres what I made that works perfect. 30 minutes from ripping ford stuff out to shifting gears. I need to figure out a way to add reverse lockout, and finish it for looks/safety, but its off the list.


The next workaround we needed was a driveshaft. We had a couple in the car when we bought it, and one was close. Only 3 inches too long. We also had the loncoln driveshaft from the parts car. It was only 21 inches too long. We figured that people have been working on driveshafts for a hundred years, and that hell, its only metal. So we shortened the lincoln shaft. We ground/cut through the weld holding the yoke on, cut the driveshaft to length with a pipe cutter, squared it up the best we could, welded it on, and put it in. We also got our driveshaft safety loop welded in while we were doing this.






Next was transmission cooler lines. We reused as much of the stock lincoln stuff as we could, because it is paid for. We had to add a little clearance for the lines to the trans tunnel. So, with the proper application of redneck ingenuity and leverage, we got there. We also put in our trans cooler. It came with 4 mounting straps (two in cooler, two in fan) and some hose, which was enough for the trans cooler and power steering cooler.





Got the fan mounted up, spliced the ford power steering pressure hose to the jeep power steering pressure hose, and plumbed in the power steering cooler. Also finally found an oil filter that fits.





Dallas found a chunk of 16 gauge steel in the barn left over from god only knows, so we cut it and boxed our lower control arms with it.


Somewhere in here, we decided we needed a dash. We grabbed that tan plastic thing we got from the dumpster at the autofair in the fall, and cut it till we liked it.

Lastly, remounted the brake proportioning valve to a chunk of metal from the scrap metal pile. I think it was the old water storage heater bracket to the motorhome from when dad replaced it this fall.

Tomorrow night is brake bleeding, cooling system install, and steering column finishing.

[dusterbd13]

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
trans cooler: 2
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.
6 5/8 heim and jamb nuts, as well as threaded tube for the front suspension: $65
Pair of aluminum seats, $40 and on;y usng 1 so $20. .
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)
Solid steel lowering blocks, with the holes drilled to offset the rear axle rearwards. $5
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
Spool welding wire: 33
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 and noisy fuel pump: 6.50
Used mix and match nitrous kit: 32
Used cast coat aluminum paint: 3.50 (advance price is $7 new, and the can was half empty)
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
Shifter material (going to retain the 7.50 number for now, unsure of what fair market value for this stuff would be)
Lower radiator hose: 14.82
Crimping a splice in power steering hose: 13.69
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 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: challemge 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: unknown dad scrounged it somewhere, and said he got ot for free. I just dont know where, or if I need to FMV it.
Misc crap (zipties, sheet metal screws, wiring terminals, used toggles, 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: 12ish (placeholder till I find the receipt or a cheaper one)
New challenge budget total: 1715.08

Holy crap we've been busy. I really don't even know where to start, honestly. I guess we will start with the tire fitment. Well, we all know they don't really. Up front there was no way to turn. The rockers were in the way. So, we cut the last remaining virgin sheetmetal on the car. We also beat the seam flat with a 5lb sledge. Tires clear now.


While dallas was cutting and beating, I finally gusseted the strut rod brackets. And added the proper hardware/ and painted them black. And made the spacers for the heim joints from a scrap of gas pipe off the plumbing truck.


We also took the x pipe exhaust that didn't fit, and hit it with a sawzall to make headpipes. I also added a chunk of flex tubing to route the exhaust fom under the car temporarily. But a real exhaust will be fabricated from the chunks of the old. SCCA has a 95db at 50ft sound rule, and I need to follow that for testing.

Next, we giggled a little. The car is a 97 inch wheelbase, with a front track width of 76 inches. It should be stupid. Which is just right. But, the rear track is a few inches narrower than the front. Its also an AMC 15 with 2.xx gears and a peg leg. It was on borrowed time before this much grip. Wed been half hunting an 8.8 from an explorer. Uncut, they are 2.5 inches wider than the amc15, strong, plentiful, and available with gears that don't suck. Usually they are stupid expensive. I found an ad on offer-up that was at least a month old of a guy parting out a 99. Messaged him, and asked what hear ratio it had. He had no idea. So he sent me a picture of the data sticker, and it turned out to be a 3.73 with limited slip. So I lowballed the hell out of him, as I really wanted the 4.11 gears, and he took my offer of 100 bucks for the complete rear suspension. Springs, driveshaft, axle and all. He even offered to pull it for that price. Unfortunately, he cut the brake hose to the frame from the axle. Luckily, that part was deemed to be challenge budget exempt. It was only 18 bucks, but at this point in the budget, 18 bucks is 18 bucks. The axle will make front and rear track width almost identical. The springs aren't quite the same dimensions as the AMC pieces, but with some mix and match, we should be good there. Ill have to adapt the staggered shock from the AMC as it helps prevent axle windup. And I need to move the perches. So I ordered the cheapest perches I could find.




So, we then hit full on thrash mode. Dallas custody hearing is this week, Steve is back from busy season, and this damn car needs to be on track ASAP if we hope to have any time to test and tune before the challenge. And I need some seat time, as im freaking rusty.
Dad offered, before he left for vacation, to get our dash designed and made. He was able to locate and get cut a chunk of diamond plate. I think its stainless, cause its heavy as hell and a magnet doesn't stick. Its also some incredibly hard crap. Before I go much further, I need to note that we traded the autometer ultra-lights and sun tach from the car for a pair of jegs 2 5/8 gauges and a black bezel tach. Easier to read on track. So,m when dad left for vacation, he left this on the bench for me.

After considerable time with a carbide burr, destroying drill bits, measuring, marking, and shooting with some more of that 97 cent spray paint, we get here:

While trying to figure out how to mount the damn thing, as well as the column, to the roll cage, Dallas was looking through the speedway catalog. He made a comment about pipe standoffs, and went to the supply house. He came back with allthread and apparently pipe standoffs. It worked shockingly well. We put a few wraps of duct tape around the cage to take up the slight amount of slack between the sizes. You can see the clamps and way we did it in the right corner of the picture. We did the same thing to mount the column and pedals to the cage. I couldn't figure out how to make anything I liked that would accomplish the same task.

Steve was working on cage tubes for the door bars, and Dallas gutting the doors while I was installing the dash and wiring the car.



I apparently didn't get any pictures of door gutting, other than a really neat stamp on the passengers door. This is how the car finally got a name: Gary. We also decided that our mascot should be Gary the snail from spongebob. But we want to cross Gary the snail with the dodge rumble bee from the quarter windows of a 69 superbee. Anyone any good at photoshop?

This is where we ended that work day:

[dusterbd13]

Up next was getting her to run. We got the gauges hooked up (Dallas was doing a kitchen remodel, and found a braided icemaker line that was going in the garbage as apparently they don't meet code. That, and a couple of used fittings got us a good oil pressure line for the gauge). brother Dustin, Dallas and I spent the night getting the plugs in, the oil pump primed (by hand), fluids filled, fuel leaks fixed, timing eyeballed, gas in the tank, etc. I then proceeded to fight with the starter solenoid for a few days. Finally got it fixed though....



Due to the starter solenoid issue it didn't fire that night (Dallas birthday). I need the lift for the miata, so I pushed the car outside and used up the last of the paint on the cage and inner doors while it was out there.



And just because it looks badass off the lift....

So after I got the miata finished, I sorted out the starter solenoid, made throttle/kickdown prackets, tidyd up plug wires, etc.
Then this happened.
https://youtu.be/1SU3I4QhGRA
Next is sorting out the fuel issue, breaking in the cam, bleeding the brakes, and seeing if it moves under its own power. Maybe big smoky burnout before 8.8 swap.

[JustJohn]

I did some image searching...

[dusterbd13]

Thats awsome!!!!!!

[dusterbd13]

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
trans cooler: 2
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.
6 5/8 heim and jamb nuts, as well as threaded tube for the front suspension: $65
Pair of aluminum seats, $40 and on;y usng 1 so $20. .
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)
Solid steel lowering blocks, with the holes drilled to offset the rear axle rearwards. $5
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
Spool welding wire: 33
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
fuel pump: 23
Used mix and match nitrous kit: 32
Used cast coat aluminum paint: 3.50 (advance price is $7 new, and the can was half empty)
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
Shifter material (going to retain the 7.50 number for now, unsure of what fair market value for this stuff would be)
Lower radiator hose: 14.82
Crimping a splice in power steering hose: 13.69
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 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: unknown. dad scrounged it somewhere, and said he got got for free. I just dont know where, or if I need to FMV it.
Misc crap (zipties, sheet metal screws, wiring terminals, used toggles, 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: 12ish (placeholder till I find the receipt or a cheaper one)
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
New challenge budget total: 1774.57
Ok, when last we left off, it was running with fuel system problems. In the course of troubleshooting, I killed my cheap used pump. Son of a....
So a new fuel pump is in the budget, and the problem was that of the TWO filters that were in the car when I bought it, the one I grabbed was defective. The seal where the two halves of the case were crimped was leaking air, not allowing the pump to generate suction for prime. Before I found this, I tried everything else, including relocating the pump lower. It stayed lower after the fix. I'm going to try to pull the dead pump apart and fix it. Well see if im successful, as it would be nice to take money back out of the budget.

We also built an exhaust. Due to the constraints of the trans crossmember, driveshaft safety loop, etc, we decided it would be easiest and best to do sidepipes. Steve bought a pair of used glasspacks and some 2 inch tubing from a co-worker that changed his design, and scrounged a couple of chunks of 2 inch stainless. We used bends from the old x-pipe 2.5 system, cut, welded, and hammer-fit until we got an exhaust. There were a couple of hangars we cut off the car when doing seam welding that we repaired and reused as well.




While Steve was doing this, I was working on tire to fender clearance, and parts pile consolidation. Figured it was time to radius. I almost felt bad cutting these fenders up. Almost.
I also added the prototype tow hook dad had made for his c4 race car. He gave it to us, and I really wanted to add it. So its located on the passengers side through the front valance, and retained with the bolts that hold the idler arm to the frame. The next morning, since I needed the lift, I pushed the car outside. I also washed it, as this damn thing got me dirty just looking at it.



Next day we worked on this was Sunday. What started as getting the old axle squared up enough for a test drive (iso-clamps wore out, and allowed it to shift around) turned into getting the 8.8 in, shortening the driveshaft another inch and changing the rear yoke to the explorer one, building custom leaf springs, and ....
The short of it is, the explorer axle at stock width is almost designed for this. The factory explorer spring perches line up almost exactly with the inside of the factory AMC leaves. Which means that when you add the spring perches, you can just sit them directly outboard of explorer perches, and the axle is square and centered up in the car. Problem here is that there's no room to get u-bolts down by the explorer perches. Notch the corners, flap wheel a little bit, and bobs your uncle. I also took the time to build higher rate leaves. I used the mail leaf from the AMC with the axle pin hole bored out a little bit, and the two main leaves from the explorer. The big fat bottom leaf from the explorer was left out, and the top leaf was as well. The explorer second leaf lines up almost exactly with the front spring eye of the AMC leaf, which should be very effective for combating wheel hop. I used the explorer axle plates underneath, the explorer u-bolts, and plan to adapt some used bilstiens from the scrap pile (took them off my elky after 10k and threw them away, as they are about dead. They were used when I bough them from the junkyard 4 years ago...) another note is that with the stock width explorer axle, the front and rear track widths are now exactly equal. I didn't plan that, but ill take it!
Anyway, heres pictured of the finished product.




While we were buttoning up the rear end, Dallas and the new teammates came by. He got majority custody of all three kids. Which is the greatest thing to happen in this entire build thread. Honestly, I could kill the project here, and still call it a complete success as he stayed sane and emotionally stable throughout the whole ugly mess. That was the overall goal when I started the team, even greater than going to the challenge or becoming internet famous.
That being said, we added his three kids to the team. His oldest (Sparrow) was the dedicated lug nut installer .

She also wanted to model the new smaller steering wheel and quick release setup.

This was made from the 5 dollar grant wheel from the swap meet, the cheapest splined quick release ebay had to offer, and a chunk of an old s10 steering wheel. Problem I ran into was that the quick release is 6 bolt, 2hich nothing else is. Except a trashed s10 steering wheel from a first gen s10 has a 6 bolt chunk in it that can be removed. Then throw it in a bench vice, bend it around a good bit to change the spacing of the 6 bolts, and bolt the quick release to it. The splines of the s10 wheel fit the AMC perfect, ironically enough. I suspected it was a gm sourced column, and apparently I was right. Anyway, the grant wheel was 5 bolt, not six. So, I eyeballed it square, marked the holes, and drilled it for the 6 bolt pattern in through bolt style. It works. Makes the steering wheel too close to the driver, and makes it where we can move the seat back a few more inches, helping weight distribution. So, overall ill call it a win.
Last thing we really did is watch Steve be a freaking Leonardo davinci. He took bits and pieces from the scrap metal bin, some bolts, a grinder, and a welder and MADE perfect adjustable mounts for a backbrace to the cage. The dude is freaking macgyver mixed with Einstein. I don't know how he sees this stuff in his head and just makes it. Absolutely amazing to see.

[CliffsBlueCamaro]

I absolutely love everything about this build. Definitely one of my favorite on the site because of the fabrication skills and "make-it-work" ingenuity. Plus, its really, really different. Keep up the awesome work guys! :-)

[dusterbd13]

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.
6 5/8 heim and jamb nuts, as well as threaded tube for the front suspension: $65
Pair of aluminum seats, $40 and on;y usng 1 so $20. .
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
Spool welding wire: 33
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
fuel pump: 23
Used mix and match nitrous kit: 32
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
Crimping a splice in power steering hose: 13.69
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 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: unknown. dad scrounged it somewhere, and said he got got for free. I just dont know where, or if I need to FMV it.
Misc crap (zipties, sheet metal screws, wiring terminals, used toggles, 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: 12ish (placeholder till I find the receipt or a cheaper one)
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 joints: 21.98
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
New challenge budget total: 1753.14
In this installment of challenge car insanity. I break lots of stuff and get screwed/saved/come out slightly ahead.
A little housekeeping first. On another forum, the comment was made that our scrap pile seems a little too convenient to be true. Like im lying/cheating. Which im not. This scrap pile has been collecting for a couple of years now, as scrap was down, we were busy, etc. There’s probably 3 houses, and 8 or 9 cars worth of **** in these piles. But I wanted to take photographic proof to prove that I am just that damned lucky.







First up, our last challenge car night together didn't go according to plan. We had carb issues, running issues, etc. To the point where we hydro-locked the engine when the cab bowl on the primaries overfilled. But before we get there, ill back up a smidge.
We started the night with a short list. Check plugs and headers for tightness. Bleed brakes. Install a lap belt. Install lights. Get running and idling. Test drive. Simple, right?
Right. Sure. Go ahead and laugh now, because you and I both know it aint never that easy.
So, we put Dallas on headers and plugs, me on wiring, Steve on Steve stuff. Dallas took three hours to get the 5 missing header bolts in and the spark plugs on the drivers side tight. Its not that Dallas is incompetant or lazy, its just that dad gum difficult to get to ANYTHING on the drivers side. Especially with the spark plugs being angled, the headers made for a different set of heads, and the steering column being essentially through the primaries in between the two. But he got it done.
While he was doing that, I was doing wiring. Installed the alternator plugs stampie scored for me (2 bucks at his junkyard), hooked up the headlights and spotlights that came with the car, hooked up the side markers and such as well. Still don't have brake lights, but im not sure why. Haven't really looked yet either, which you will see why shortly.
Heres pictures of the lighting. You can also see out tow hook better.

While we were doing this, Steve was nut and bolt checking things, servicing the fire bottles, and making a dash cap out of gas flue from the scrap pile. Im pretty sure that the flue came from a rental house rehab in china grove, but don't quote me on that.

We also spent an inordinate amount of time and brake fluid to finally get the brakes bled. And ate the paint off the trans tunnel. But we got that done. And the leaks fixed. Which meant it was time for a test drive!
Except it wouldn't idle. Or run consistently. While I was in drivers seat monitoring gauges and keeping it living, Dallas and Steve were setting timing (by ear, as there is no freaking way to actually get a light on the pointer on the drivers side, and the passengers side pointer has no corresponding marks on the balancer) setting float level, trying to bring the idle down from 2k, etc. Fought us every step of the way, and then overheated. Joy. While we had the key running for the fan to cool it off, we noticed the strong smell of gas. Discovered that the primary bowl vent was spewing gas even after we lowered the float the whole way. Hydro-locked the engine. Done for the night.
Next day, I drained the oil, changed the filter, and pulled the needle and seat to see if it was stuck. It was. With this.

After that, got the float set. Then, found out TV cable was causing the engine to hang at 2k by not letting the throttle blade close completely. Little bending of the bracket cured that. Added another 1/2 gallon of coolant, and overheating issue went away. Replaced the fragged rear u joint, finished filling the trans with fluid, and began to bleed the power steering system. Promptly blew our hose splice all over the shop. Done for the day.
This should be simple, right? Well, its not. Late model o ring jeep box, mid 90s ford pump. No way to get there from here off the shelf, or cheaply. What I wound up doing was buying a new jeep hose (15.99 orielly) and a 3/8 inverted female flare fitting (2.50) the plan was to flare the metal ends and make a replaceable fitting. Except when I got the ford fitting out, there wasn't enough left to flare. Solution was to have a chunk of 3/8 fuel line welded to it. So I called my local welding guy sonny. He said to bring my pieces over. For 5 bucks, he used some sort of silver welding rod and oxy-acetaline and had it done in less time than it took to type. While waiting for one of his machines to finish a pistol part. He actually gave me my 5 bucks back when I helped him find his chuck key for his big lathe.




We also got our inside door latched sorted out. Dollar store dog leashes. The little buckle even fit through the factory linkage hole with slight grinding. Works perfect! Steve is again mcgyver.

So after all this it was time for the test drive of glory. To say I was excited is an understatement. I about pissed myself with glee.
Got in, fired it up, shifted into reverse, and nothing. Stood on the brakes, revved the piss out of it, still nothing. Added fluid. Nothing. Added more fluid. Nothing. Changed the filter. Nothing. Son of a.....
So I pulled the trans. Turns out when we re-installed it we somehow missed the torque converter engagement and destroyed the front pump. Screwed is an understatement. Discouraged and frustrated is an understatement. Walked away for a few days, talked to some people to see what options we have, etc.
Guy at church offered me a trade. A 79 ford longbed with a 302 and 3 on the floor for our dead trans. Seems his one work truck has a bad valve body, and he needs one. Ours was presumably fine (hes a ford guy), and the rest of the trans good as well based upon fluid, previous drive experiences when it was in the Lincoln, etc. His plan was to drop the ford off with us, grab the trans, replace the pump, and put it in his work truck. The longbed he got for free, as a guy he used to rent a building to left it there. 5 years ago. He was going to scrap it, so instead he planned to trade it to us.
Well, no plan of battle ever survives contact with the enemy.
His grandson, who has a 77 ford longbed 4x4, got sideswiped in a hit and run. Grandson had liability only. So, family first. Cant blame the guy. But he wound up giving us 300 for the trans, as that was still cheaper than he could find a known good one for, or even the valvebody he needed. Which left us with enough money in the budget for a trans, but no trans.
Dad came to the rescue. From his RV in Colorado, he found a 3 hour old listing for a ford 302 3 speed trans in Roanoke Virginia for 50 bucks. Supposedly rebuilt, with floor shifter and bellhousing. Jumped in the truck, drove to Roanoke and back in about 7 hours, and picked it up. Then discovered that it was a fixed yoke from a longbed, and did not have a 302 bell. It had a 390 bell. Managed to trade the 390 bell to Gary at city salvage for the 302 bell. Bought a 302 flywheel from craigslist for 45 bucks. In a stroke of good fortune, it all plays nicely together! Even the bloackplate, inspection cover, and starter from the AOD fit!



The next hurdle is getting the clutch actuation worked out. In 1980, AMC used a hydraulic clutch setup in the 4cyl spirits. We still have a clutch pedal. So, when I ordered my clutch kit from rockauto, I ordered that setup. Should work with minor fab. We also need to add the splined section from the explorer driveshaft to the current hybrid shaft. Making this the 4th configuration of driveshaft with the car never leaving the lift. Hopefully,though, at the end of the holiday weekend it will be moving under its own power. Assuming all our parts get here on time, and it goes according to plan. Ha!

[dusterbd13]

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.
6 5/8 heim and jamb nuts, as well as threaded tube for the front suspension: $65
Pair of aluminum seats, $40 and on;y usng 1 so $20. .
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
Spool welding wire: 33
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
fuel pump: 23
Used mix and match nitrous kit: 32
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 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: unknown. dad scrounged it somewhere, and said he got got for free. I just dont know where, or if I need to FMV it.
Misc crap (zipties, sheet metal screws, wiring terminals, used toggles, 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: 12ish (placeholder till I find the receipt or a cheaper one)
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
Driveshaft from 99 explorer 4wd: 22.95
ARP pressure plate bolts: 12:50 bradley auto parts
New challenge budget total: 1787.31
Things are looking up! Friday night, Dallas and I got the manual transmission swap done. He stopped on the way to the shop at out local speed shop, Bradley auto parts. I've been using them for years. Great guys, and very knowledgeable. And comparable prices to summit/speedway, without the shipping! If you're ever near Charlotte, go check them out. The local speed shop is a dying breed, so support the ones you have!
Anyway, we dressed the flywheel with a brown SOS pad on the die grinder, checked it for damage, chased all the bolt holes, cleaned it, and bolted it up. Made sure to follow torque specs and use locktite. I like my feet, so we sprung for the good ARP hardware on the pressure plate. Factory ford flexplate bolts were the same as the ford flywheel bolts we had picked up, so for budgetary purposes we reused the flexplate bolts.
Before install, we made sure to clean and paint stuff, as concourse is a concern. While cleaning the trans, I found indications that it was black at some point. Seemed like the easy button to just spray it black. We also shot the bell housing in ford blue, with a VERY thin coat, as the can was almost empty. We are now out of ford blue. Hopefully nothing else needs painted ford blue. We don't have the money for it....

So, install was shockingly easy. Everything fit like it was supposed to. Except the starter. Turns out the nose depths is different between automatic and manual. So we had to buy the cheapest reman that we could find. Oriellys beat autozones prices, thanks to their price-match guarantee. So we grabbed one for a 77 f150. Fit like it was supposed to. We did have to change the holes in the crossmember to meet up with the new location, and reused the rubber mount form the AOD. Then cut a hole in the floor, and kept tweaking the hole and linkage until it fit perfectly and the knob fell easily to hand. Check out the knob that came with our trans. Its awesome! Bass boat flake 70s red knob. Its the perfect size for my hand. Also falls perfectly to hand from the steering wheel, with a very good and easy 2-3 shift. Should be a good thing for track events.



Saturday morning at oh my god its early, Dallas and I went to the Charlotte pull-a-part. This is the one I haven't been to in years, and for various reasons. This trip reminded me why...
We were on the hunt for a collapsing driveshaft that would accept the explorer rear flange and had a 47.5 inch distance between the u-joints in the middle of its travel. As luck would have it, the explorer driveshaft (remember we had one?) was 47.5 centered. And the front u-joint was the same part number as the 77 f150 the trans was from. So we bought it. While we were pulling it, a dude literally defecated in the van next to the explorer we were getting parts from. I'm not lying. Refuse to ever go back again to this one. Which, if current record holds, will only last about 4 years until time crunch and desperation sets in....

Anyway, today I worked on the hydraulics for the clutch. After bunches of research, I discovered that the 80 amc spirit iron duke used hydraulics foe the clutch. No others. Except the eagles....
Anyway, after more research, and then some research for something different, I figured out that the slave cylinder ratio would probably best be served by mounting the slave at the edge of the bell-housing and hitting the clutch fork at about halfway between the pivot and the factory mechanical linkage end. Well see if that holds out to be true when I actually get to test it. The master cylinder was a royal pain in the ass to mount, as there just is no easy way to get to the area, or drill the holes with the pedals/dash/cage in the way. But its done. All that's left is the line between the two, and modifying the clutch pedal to pick up the pushrod for the master. And o also have to figure out how to fill the thing....

[dusterbd13]

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.
6 5/8 heim and jamb nuts, as well as threaded tube for the front suspension: $65
Pair of aluminum seats, $40 and on;y usng 1 so $20. .
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
Spool welding wire: 33
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
fuel pump: 23
Used mix and match nitrous kit: 32
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 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: unknown. dad scrounged it somewhere, and said he got got for free. I just dont know where, or if I need to FMV it.
Misc crap (zipties, sheet metal screws, wiring terminals, used toggles, 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: 12ish (placeholder till I find the receipt or a cheaper one)
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
Driveshaft from 99 explorer 4wd: 22.95
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
New challenge budget total: 1824.81

So, im trying flickr now due to photobucket being jerkwads. I know that as of this writing, my photos through them are still visible. But, sometime next year they wont be. I probably will not go back and redo all the links on all the forums this is posted on, so I apologize to the reader of the future. Blame photobucket and send them hate mail.

Our last work day was like a month ago. Life has gotten in the way since then, and I also forgot to update.
First up, rear shocks. I had a pair of bent bilsteins from a suburban in the scrap pile. The top eyelet had been bent due to them being too long for the application, and bottoming/binding. Steve looked at them, pressed the eyelet bushing out, took them apart, cut them up, welded them back together, and then made mounts. Hes a damned genius. I have never seen anybody cut and weld shocks before, but it makes perfect sense now that I have seen it. Dunno why I didn't think of it before.
20170610_112710 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170610_135945 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170610_135853 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
When he was done doing that, he whipped up some mounts out of 16 gauge metal wall stud scrap from the plumbing truck, and some chunks of 1/4 plate from the bucket.
20170610_154149 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170610_172415 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Meanwhile I was installing the clutch line and bleeding clutch and brakes and such. I also made front sway bar end links from the scag mower control rod heims, the bushings that came with the car, and some bolts.
20170710_201046 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Dallas was busy fiddling with a hundred little details. Like tire clearance. At the outset of this project, I was adamant that I wasn't going to cut the car. So was Dallas. We all know how that worked out....
20170610_191235 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170610_193854 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Somewhere in the previous few weeks, I had gone to Hoosier Tire South and bought a set (or 4) of scrubs. These are f40 in 27x10x15. We got the worst set (front right corners all with 13 laps) mounted up for our initial break in tires. The stack I bought was a little more volume than I was expecting....
20170606_172727 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170606_192511 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
The other sets are tagged, bagged, and in climate controlled storage.
Back to the workday....
We also got all the front trim and such on, but needed some assistance from my daughter. None of us could fit our hands in to put the hood hinge bolts back on.
20170610_155153 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170610_155002 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
We then went for our first test run!!
https://youtu.be/A77QfsTvpEA
https://youtu.be/8byB8ZFToTk
After that, we parked the car for a minute. Until this week. See, we realized that if we didn't get any testing in, there's no point in going to the challenge. So we all registered for the autocross tomorrow at zmax in concord NC. Dallas and I got the other seat in, hood and hoodpins on, fluids checked, etc this week after work and loaded on the trailer. He spent tonight installing the roll chge padding that got delivered this morning. So hopefully tomorrow will be a good test and tune session, with no failures and a better developed car at the end. Gonna be hot though....
20170711_202323 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170710_194600 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170710_194605 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170711_203048 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170711_205834 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

[dusterbd13]

Alright, now that its a week later....

We went autocrossing. 10 runs total between three drivers. Hit 96 degrees in the shade. Unknown what the temps on course were, as the asphalt is as black as can be. ****ing nuclear inferno hot. I volunteered to work first and run last. Reason being im on medication that has the warning label of don't be in direct sunlight. It should say “welcome to being a vampire”. After about an hour, im cooked. But the meds work, and I work with the side effects.
Anyway, there were 220 cars registered. 4 run groups. Lots of cars...

So, when we got to the track, we set up the pits. Two tents, coolers, chairs, tools, etc. We checked everything over one last time before tech. Only issue they found was that we didn't have our numbers on. Took care of that, and started to look at the course.
20170715_064842 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Novice walk went well, walked the course four or five times. Big course, few tricky spots. Mostly decreasing radius and slalom sections with some nasty offset components.
We started getting Steve fit in the car, doing a nut/bolt/fluid check. Steve ripped the steering wheel off. While I scrambled to find a torx bit so our day wasn't over, Dallas ran up the road to get 10 gallons of race gas. We don't know if this thing needs it or not, but the compression sounds pretty healthy. Better safe than sorry. We all got back at about the same time, and a fellow competitor caught this picture (almost all pictures come from other autocrossers, as we were busier that one armed wallpaper hangers being all professional and scientific and ****).
I'm the fat guy in the green gumby shirt in the car.
FB_IMG_1500420355945 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
You will notice a CAM class duster in the background. I'm a mopar guy if y'all aint figured that out by now. We pitted next to a guy running two new hemi challengers, invited duster guy (Scott) to join our tent city and share our sandwiches and shade, and had a grand old time. Turns out he knew some of the mopar guys I run with, and had wound up with some of my old parts via them. Small world.
20170715_082008 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
FB_IMG_1500239457296 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
While I was out working, Steve and Dallas started adjusting tire pressures and shaking the car down and seeing what the deal is. Steve picked up 5 seconds throughout his runs, and was able to do a good systems check and make sure the car didn't try to kill us. They also discovered that the thing is a greenhouse in the sun. Dallas had the idea to cover the glass with a packing blanket he found in my truck. Good idea.
FB_IMG_1500239716650 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
FB_IMG_1500239375527 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
FB_IMG_1500239389072 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Dallas ran next, and we worked on tire temps and pressures. We got an even 150 across the slicks at 25.5 psi front, 26.5 rear. Kind of worried that tires never got up to temp, but we never ran out of grip. All Dallas runs were in the low 70 seconds range. Fast guys were in the low 60s and high 50s. We were way off pace, but none of us are very experienced autocrossers. During Dallas runs, we kept getting more and more oil on the ground under the car, and reports of noise from the drive shaft while turning. It also started running like crap at idle, but still rand good enough to keep going.
Steve was working course during my runs. I have to say, this car is quite incredible. I couldn't find the limits. Its disturbingly fast, and I couldn't keep up with the car. The driver wasn't fast enough. Very controllable under trail breaking, WFO through any and every sweeper, and only really needed brakes when I took the wrong line. The clutch by this point in the day was engaging very close to the floor, we were having horrendous noises from the flywheel area, I found that the drive shaft was making continual noise, and we lost the ability to find any gear with the trans. Oh, and its incredibly hot and loud. Holy crap. Think of being in a dryer on high heat with about a dozen empty soup cans, some rocks, Metallica, and the battle of Normandy in there with you and you get an idea. But, in my two runs, I ran low 70s while launching in second and trying to keep temps below 220. And learning to drive bias ply, slicks, and an AMC all at once. It stuck like syphilis, pulled like a Mack truck, rode like a Conestoga wagon, took violent and brutal inputs, and left you grinning. Wow what a ride.
FB_IMG_1500420364044 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
FB_IMG_1500397992488 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
FB_IMG_1500398043861 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
My last run, in the shutdown lane, I couldn't get it into any gear, or to idle. We called it then. Water temp was at 240, we were all overheated and sun-burnt. Got the car pulled back to our pits, opened some ice water, and smoked a cigarette. Successful first outing in my book.
20170715_150743 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

We got it looked at Friday night. Blockplate is rubbing the flywheel, clutch linkage came out of adjustment due to not tightening the jam nuts. Rear springs need clamped, back end needs lowered. Thermostat stuck. Weld on drive shaft hitting bolt on drive shaft loop. Distributor leaking. Trans leaking from almost every seal.

AWESOME!!!!!!

[brownb2]

Cheers!! Looks like fun times ahead....

[dusterbd13]

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.
6 5/8 heim and jamb nuts, as well as threaded tube for the front suspension: $65
Pair of aluminum seats, $40 and on;y usng 1 so $20. .
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
Spool welding wire: 33
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
fuel pump: 23
Used mix and match nitrous kit: 32
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 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: unknown. dad scrounged it somewhere, and said he got got for free. I just dont know where, or if I need to FMV it.
Misc crap (zipties, sheet metal screws, wiring terminals, used toggles, 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: 12ish (placeholder till I find the receipt or a cheaper one)
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
Driveshaft from 99 explorer 4wd: 22.95
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: 36.99 advance auto
New challenge budget total: 1861.80

Friday night we worked on the car. Figured out the clutch issue is a combination of problems. We forgot to tighten the jamb nut, allowing the linkage to come out of adjustment, and allow the clutch to not disengage. In addition, the bracket that's holding the slave on its flexing. A lot. Like moving an inch or so. After readjusting the linkage, the clutch works again. So yay! Also, the horrendous noises we were hearing was a result of the block plate being bent and hitting the flywheel. There’s some shiny spots now. We figure it will self clearance after a while longer.
Now that we knew the trans didn't have to come out, we decided to work on the list of fixed and tweaks some. Since wit had been a 14 hour work day already, we needed some of the simple things. And Mexican. And sleep.

So we lowered the car. 3 inch blocks and new ubolts from afdvance. It leveled the car out. Looks freaking SINISTER.
20170728_190549 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170728_193312 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
We also diagnosed the power steering noise. Apparently we blew all the fluid out, and it runs low when the car is running and has the cooler filled. So, simple solution is remove the cooler, fill the fluid, and tie a rag around the cap.
Then we looked into the cooling issues. First up, we drained the block and radiator. Mud came out. So we filled the system with some coolant system flush that's been in my cabinet since we bought the house 10 years ago, and began cooling the system. After an hour, we got merely coffee color water back out. The picture doesn't pick it up well. We also discovered that the upper hose was collapsing at high RPM. Dallas pulled an old tractor radiator hose out of the trash pile at the end of the barn, we took the spring out of it, and stuffed it in the upper hose. Problem should be solved. Were running another flush through the system this week, then blowing it out again and adding distilled water and water wetter to the system. We also found a rubbermaid lid on the side of highway 74 to make some air guide plates between the grille and radiator for extra air through the core. You can see it in the corner of the water picture.
20170728_195146 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Then we ate Mexican and went to bed.

[JayinMI]

Were you in the "STD" class at that autocross? Cause that'd be kinda funny.
Are you eventually gonna put fender flares on it? That would absolutely set it off.
I always had a soft spot for these cars.

Jay

[dusterbd13]

STO. "seat time only". although STD would be hilarious. I think there actually is a street touring D class, wich would be abbreviated STD.

I think I'm gonna have to build a car for that class and name it "the poxy yard". see how many people get it....


and flares are a possibility. were almost out of budget, time and talent. definitely out of talent for bodywork. but it at happen, after all, I'm a redneck with a welder, a rabbits foot, and no fear of failure.

[dusterbd13]

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
Used mix and match nitrous kit: 32
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, 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
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
New challenge budget total: 1891.05

You'll notice some budget changes. I've been going through with a fine tooth comb, and re-buying some parts cheaper to make room in the budget for paint and body. It seems insane to me to spend real money to save challenge money, but at this stage, its what has to happen. We may have a top 10 car after all. Doubt it, but im being optimistic.

Also, the secret weapon will not be discussed. Also, the final car form wont be shared until the challenge is over. Wed like to have the GRM mag have first crack at seeing what we built for their event, and also don't want to spoil the surprise. After all, other competitors are watching us very closely. Id love to believe that its because they have something to fear, but its more likely that they want to see what kind of lunatic fringe crap we can pull off. We just don't want to give up any potential marginal advantage we may have.
Anyway, we got the car to my shop this past week, and worked on it over the weekend. A bunch.

Started with a good cleanup, and looking over the list of fix-it stuff. I decided that I was going to start on undercar issues. Clutch, safety loop interference, and leaks.
20170811_193315 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
The rear seal I picked up from oriellys, top plate was leaking and was fixed with some leftover rtv. There’s no pictures of the trans on the bench because I was alone and in the groove. Saturday, Dallas, Steve and I got to cracking, so there's more pictures. We cut the welds on the driveshaft safety look and moved it over by about an inch. One spot, on one driveshaft weld, was hitting one bolt. Now it wont. We also swapped the angle iron clutch slave bracket for one that was made from the square tubing that was welded to the floor of the car when I bought it. Really made the clutch feel better, and it doesn't flex. While I was under there, I also flushed out the power steering system and removed the cooler. We think that the fluid was draining back into the resivoir, overfilling, and puking on startup. That’s why it got noisy at the ends of a run, as it was hot from being low. We also filled the trans with 20/50 engine oil in the hopes of improved shifting. And made the block plate not rub the flywheel anymore. So, hopefully that's all the undercar issues.
20170812_122422 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170812_215034 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Before I set it back on the ground, I made some leaf spring clamps up with spare bedframe steel I picked up on trashday a few years ago. This should reduce wheelhop. We also swapped the advance blocks for the EXACT SAME blocks that I got 10 bucks cheaper from amazon. 20170812_214959 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
I moved onto building some ducting for the radiator while Steve made seat back braces, services and repaired out fire suppression, and worked on planning our secret weapon. Dallas fixed the leaking gauge, found TDC and gave us a timing mark, and started cleaning up the interior, underside, etc. No real pictures of Dallas stuff, as it doesn't really look any different.
Seat back braces:
20170812_215006 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
The radiator ducting was made from a box lid. Dallas found a gray plastic one, I found a white one on trash day last week. We decided to use the white. Few new holes, couple of screws, and done.
20170812_215102 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170812_215110 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
We then spent a while on figuring out fender flares. We need them. We need the car to look finished. Its really too awesome to let the dirt track hack stay. Lets the whole car down, as we've really tried to stay true to what a privateer would have done for IMSA in the late 70’s/early 80’s. That wouldn't have flown back then, so we cant let it fly now.
We started with tape mock-ups of the cut out flares.
20170809_171531 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
I then took some scraps of metal, and beat/bent/screwed until I was happy with the fender lip to tire look.
20170813_145919 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
After that, I coated the fenders with a heavy coat of wax, followed by blue tape. See, were making overfenders. Bolt on style. So I need to be able to pop them off. In addition, fiberglass to steel typically doesn't survive well in the long run from what ive heard. So, bolt on seems to limit all the problems. Now remember: I have no idea what im doing here. Making it up entirely as I go. Ive built two fiberglass subwoofer boxes, and that's the extent of my experience working with glass. So, its probably best not to follow these as directions....
20170813_151720 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170813_153759 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Went to Walmart to get super stretchy polyester cloth. Came home with it.
20170813_165012 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170813_165009 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Drew the outer edges with sharpie, grabbes some spray glue, and started stretching out a shape.
20170813_170712 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170813_173036 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170813_173057 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Sorry no wide angle. Duster is in the shop as it was raining today, and just not enough room. I did start to get resin on it, out of an old partially used gallon that the school was getting rid of. It still hasn't hardened, and im starting to get nervous. Well see what it does in the morning. May wind up buying some...

[dusterbd13]

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
Used mix and match nitrous kit: 32
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, 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
Gsllon of bondo: 18.99 on sale at napa
30 foot by 50 inch Roll of fibrglass mat: 39.98 but only used 13 feet (rounded up) 17.32

New challenge budget total: 1922.41

Bodywork sucks. Im not good at it. Yet. But, I wasn't a great welder at the beginning of this either, or a great fabricator. Now im passable. Hopefully by the end, my bodywork will be passably good.
Anyway, when we left off, I had stretched t shirt material, and questionable fiberglassing methods. I have learned a lot in the past week. Way more than I ever wanted to, really. But learning new stuff is fun.
It took quite a bit of resin to get all the soft spots out of the t shirt material. Many, many 4 ounce solo cups worth. With a 1 inch brush. Outside in the heat.
Here’s what the surface texture looked like afterwards.
20170816_185411 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170816_185405 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

I then pulled the 10 yard package of random strand mat out of the box. I first tried using large sections at a time. This did not end well, and I have regretted it ever since. What I found worked was to paint the material on the car with resin, chop up some 6x6 squares of mat, stick them to the resin, and then soak more resin in. Sharp edges with this method were a bitch. But, after a few evenings, I had two layers of chopped strand mat on top of my rigid t-****s shapes.
20170816_161421 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170816_185331 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170816_185336 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
In between layers, I used my 4 inch grinder with a 36 grit flap wheel to take out bubbles, random spikes, and globs. It made the second layer lay down much nicer. Still not nice, but less bad.
20170817_175158 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170817_175931 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170817_184201 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

After this, I broke out the bondo. And the 80 grit on the palm sander. This is where im at for the foreseeable future. Its taking a LOT of bondo to make them smooth enough for a race car. I'm half tempted to smooth them out to good enough, and put a layer of volara foam and upholstery over them. I wont, but it would be a lot easier and faster....
20170818_141432 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170818_141832 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

My buddy art is a body guy. Puts wrecks back together on the cheap for buy here pay here lots. Hes coming by over the weekend to give me some pointers, so hopefully it gets better quicker.

[dusterbd13]

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

New challenge budget total: 1940.90

Last update was a minute ago.

So, I figure I need to bring y’all up to speed. When I last updated, I had started making the flares smooth. Bondo, sand, bondo, sand....
At some point I pulled the flares off the car, and used my cutoff wheel to rough trim them to size. I did this to keep from wasting time and materials on unused portions of flare. To do so, I had to remove the metal from them. As a note for those playing along at home, spray adhesive over freshly waxed metal does not release nearly as easily as the painters tape. It took some nerve racking work to get them out.

20170819_184304 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170819_184307 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
My wife and I then reattached them to the car for final sizing and shaping. Self drilling, self tapping sheet metal screws, and duct tape. Jenny walked around with a tasteful eye and a sharpie. Giving me the final sizes and shapes outlined in red. I used the 4 inch grinder with a cutoff wheel and a flap wheel, and got to shape.
20170820_162753 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
We then sanded the body. Feathered in all the paint damage, filled some dents, used pop rivets in the trim holes, etc.
20170825_183555 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170825_183553 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170825_183558 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Jenny helped a bunch as well. Sanding, cleaning, washing, etc.
20170830_185751 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Yesterday was a big day. We had the WHOLE team here. Except the kids. Must say, the teams gotten bigger as it went. You will see pictures of me, Dallas, Steve, art, jenny, and crystal (Dallas next ex wife). Dallas, Steve and I worked all morning on making the shifter as good as its going to be, beginning fire suppression install, looming and securing wiring, removing nitrous and passengers seat (sold to Dallas girlfriends brother in law), and then the big job.
20170903_085904 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170903_085329 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170903_085148 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Then came taping and masking
20170831_075607 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170901_173542 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Got the car moved into the driveway, and called all hands on deck. The pretty brunette is my wife. Blonde is crystal, the girl Dallas met at the autocross. Whose brother in law bout our passengers side seat for his duster he was running at the autocross.
20170902_170037 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Set up our high tech, incredibly precise spray equipment
20170902_170032 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Wiped the car down with lacquer thinner, and finished doing our masking. Art came over to help, as he wants to be part of this insanity. He did the mixing and spraying up high, I did down low. He has a bad knee that wouldn't have been happy kneeling in gravel.
20170902_164840 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
This morning, I spent a little time restoring the windshield molding, and the rear lights. Stainless trim goes through the buffing wheel. Silver highlights on the lenses done with a silver sharpie.
20170903_082035 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170903_083034 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170903_084639 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170903_092711 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170903_102343 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Until next time, friends.

[dusterbd13]

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 ****, 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.

[dusterbd13]

So, our last workday was the do or die day. The car needed to ne finished, for all our sakes. So, if it wasnt done, it wasnt getting done before we packed it on the trailer and headed for gainesville. The list was long, the day was hot, and we were all ready to be finished with the project. We were close, though.
Steve started by getting out his roll of aluminum HVAC tape, and “re chroming” the grille. Came out fantastic. I reassembled emblems after detailing them with some various sharpies.
Dallas pulled the hood, flipped it over, cleaned and painted the underside. I went after all the spots of gray I had missed, was splotchy looking, etc. Dallas also crawled in between the cage tubes and touched up some that I wasn't flexible enough to reach. I spent some time bending up the interior fire suppression lines, and making a handle mount that was accessible from outside the car as per SCCA rules. While the paint was drying, Steve Dallas and I polished trim and reassembled the front. We also put the car in the air, and painted the entire suspension with semi gloss black rustoleum, as well as blacked out the window trim, and painted the air cleaner with some ,mostly empty cans of wrinkle black I found in the spray paint cabinet. Only one good nozzle, and 4 cans we were pretty sure were empty, but had just enough for a light coat. We added more rivets to the flares for visual balance, assembled the front clip, mounted the wing, and double checked all our work. We were SO busy that I didn't take many pictured during the work, but did take some of the end result.
In addition to this, we got our packing lists finalized, travel plans finalized, adopted a vinyl guy, etc. The vinyl guy is meeting us at the challenge with our custom cut logos and graphics, so no pictures of those until the race report.

So, without further ado, the moment we've ALL been waiting for: the completed car!
20170930_182002 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170930_182024 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170930_182019 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170930_181715 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170930_181835 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170930_175524 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170930_181829 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20170930_182021 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170930_181621 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170930_175505 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170930_181756 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20170930_181737 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Next, and FINAL, update will be a full documentation of how this whole thing goes. Its on the trailer, with fresh slicks, 30 gallons of 110 octane, spares, and a mission to accomplish. Not be DFL. Have a good time. Be faster than something we shouldn't be. Thats the mission.