The Chevelle Challenge

[derekf]

I have spent more money.

New total is 1381.26 total spent throughout the challenge. I have the clutch now, the front suspension is complete (if not completely installed), and I'm ready to start bolting things up.

Frame and suspension bits painted and installed (sway and one tie rod not attached here, and none of the LCA bolts are tight yet):


I mixed some epoxy primer, and then realized I mixed way too much... so priming the crossmember, the sway bar, and the wiper motor bracket became "prime everything that isn't painted already":



Tomorrow I'll shoot the "Tractor and Implement" enamel on the sway, crossmember, and bracket so I can get them bolted on too. The rest of the stuff will either wait for real paint or needs sanding and the like.

I reshot the firewall with Nason "Chassis Black" as the Centauri came out way too shiny. Also painted about a third of the undercarriage; no need to paint the back half until I finish rust repair.



I had to replace the power brake booster (dammit) as my old one was broken:

That was 77 dollars I would have preferred not to spend - but the new one will look shiny once installed, I suppose, and better to be safe.

Something bad happened when I went to try to reassemble the steering column:

I need to pull it back apart and try again, but I really don't like the look of the turn signal assembly anyway (it looks like the wiring had a backyard repair at one point, and the bearing is missing a couple of balls) - but that's another 75 bucks for a replacement, so I don't know yet. Won't be installing the column until after the dash is painted so no real hurry there - I'm out of the single-stage black and the T&I paint doesn't seem to weather so well according to some web searches.