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And, yeh, I totally miss the constant rain, cold and general drabness in Manchester ... like a second hole in the rse. I can't get good fish and chips or a decent pint to save my life here, though. I do miss the pub grub, a few pints and the lively BS on a Sunday afternoon after the rugby! It's not all wine and roses here, mate, there are sacrifices! ;D -Steve I am going to have to hook you up with my friend Dave and his wife, who are from the Isle of Mann, and know pretty much every pub and British-style restaurant in town! They took me to this one place, Newcastle in a bottle, and some sort of Scottish miner food. I forget the name, but some tasty bits wrapped in pie dough, or somesuch thing. I'll check out the "spoiled pimpy bastid" garage for you guys this Friday and report back. I am sure it beats the hell out of my crummy covered patio with the extended awning, and laying in dirt and gravel at times. If Sven has a lift, I am going to flip !!!
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The bloke from across the pond...
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Sven
Part of things
Posts: 341
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Nov 26, 2009 16:51:41 GMT
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Don't hate on him, guys, he's American! Doesn't know any better ... They're Cornish Pasties, mate! Delicious too! To misquote Guy Ritchie, the British Empire was built on Cornish Pasties and cups of tea! Tea is the drink of gentlemen and car tinkerers. Newcastle Brown is for football hooligans and pregnant mothers. I'll put the kettle on then! A lift? Oh, the decadence! I have a floor jack and axle stands ... but, thankfully, not much gravel in my garage!
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1969 Chevrolet 4x4 C10 Pickup 1969 VW extended cab pickup (doka) 1980 Volvo 240DL 1995 Mazda Miata MX-5 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel 2011 MK Indy R (building)
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Nov 26, 2009 17:21:20 GMT
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Love the truck.
Glad to see you got a little parcel there.
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Nov 26, 2009 21:02:28 GMT
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Hmmm, "Cornish Pasties" has a completely different meaning here. More like tassles? When my friends took me there, I was expecting something completely different! But good stuff, and yes, Newcastle, Arrr !!! The "Celicata" (sounds like a pasta dish) goes back to civilization tomorrow after years of neglect and gawd knows what infestation of vermin or even snakes! Think I will stay in the truck! Nah, that wouldn't be befitting a "football hooligan!" (Actually, I prefer basketball) Anyway, sounds like a fun adventure at the least, and loads of laughs at best! "The Amerikan" hahaha
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The bloke from across the pond...
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Sven
Part of things
Posts: 341
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Nov 26, 2009 23:37:34 GMT
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Thanks Grizz! I've been following along with the development of the transit and the acquisition of a Ms Grizz. Both appear to be treating you well. Looking forward to seeing the results of the Zetec install! Here's an update (with pics of course). I pulled the transmission off after about 30 mins of disconnecting wires and removing the starter. I do like how these J-Motors go together, with 3-4 different socket sizes I think I could pull the whole thing apart. Everything looks relatively clean in there: The clutch doesn't look like it's been abused at all: The flywheel is a bit glazed so I'll get it resurfaced. Miata Dave has an aluminum (aluminium) flywheel I might be tempted to exchange sheckles for. The pilot bearing is absolutely shot. In this application, the pilot bearing is pressed into the flywheel ... I'm used to Toyota and Ford who seem to like to put them in the end of the crankshaft: The pressure plate seems in reasonable condition, but there is wear on the contact points. it's a pretty good gouge so I won't use this one again. The friction plate has a lot of wear left in it: The throwout bearing is also on it's last legs, the bearing feels dry and a bit wobbly: From what I can see the clutch wear seems pretty consistent with the reported miles on the donor car (about 80k) and I don't see signs of any abuse. I will order a complete replacement clutch kit for it (when I can make up my mind what I want) which will come with a new pilot and throw out bearing. The throttle plate in the throttle body was glued shut with the recirculated crank case residue (I presume), but I removed it and squirted some WD40 on the throttle plate and let it soak until it just free'd up. The inside of the plenum is coated with the same garbage so I'll remove it and give it a soak in something before a rinse and then a run through a dishwasher cycle.
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Last Edit: Nov 26, 2009 23:42:16 GMT by Sven
1969 Chevrolet 4x4 C10 Pickup 1969 VW extended cab pickup (doka) 1980 Volvo 240DL 1995 Mazda Miata MX-5 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel 2011 MK Indy R (building)
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Sven
Part of things
Posts: 341
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Nov 26, 2009 23:49:32 GMT
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In further news, another mate went to look at the Celica today and he said some SLAG had thrown a rock at the windscreen and left a huge crack in it but, luckily, the rock missed any metalwork. New replacement windscreens are available so I'm just happy the rock didn't wreck any of the body or the rear window which doesn't seem to be available. He also told me the interior is completely shot, which I expected and don't give a poo about. On the plus side, my mate, Russell the Love Muscle, said he couldn't see any rust so we might be onto a winner! Tomorrow when Miata Dave and I drag it home I'll take a bunch of photos so you can see the horror of it all. Expect a pretty long update with tons of pics, so warm up your DSL or whatever! I know the project won't scare some of you, I've seen some of the sheds you pull home and turn into great cars ... Happy Thanksgiving! Yeh, it's a holiday here! -Steve
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Last Edit: Nov 26, 2009 23:52:59 GMT by Sven
1969 Chevrolet 4x4 C10 Pickup 1969 VW extended cab pickup (doka) 1980 Volvo 240DL 1995 Mazda Miata MX-5 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel 2011 MK Indy R (building)
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The Doctor
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,434
Club RR Member Number: 48
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Nov 27, 2009 14:26:34 GMT
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crack in the windscreen? did you US guys get laminated screens in them? The last time i broke a 70s Toyota screen i had it on my lap in 10.000 pieces
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Sven
Part of things
Posts: 341
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I can't tell if it's laminated or not, it didn't break like the old ones used to: Big (long) update today. Summary is the Celica is now in my garage so you can spin forward and look at the pics if you don't want to read the blurb. Today is a holiday for us and it started at about 9am, with a mild hangover, heading out in the tank to run some errands then up to Miata Daves to meet him with his 1980's Suburban and dovetail trailer. After the preliminaries were over (you know, the BS) we loaded up Miata front crossmember, rear subframe and suspension parts (pics later) and then headed out to Celica Storage. Remember, the Celica was bought 5 years ago (tax expired in 04), with a busted transmission, and has sat in the desert basically since then. This is how we found her: The pics just don't do justice to the complete nastiness of it all. Packrats and Mice have obviously made it their home and some bloody critter has been using the boot as it's larder to store cactus pieces. It also appeared that every small rodent in miles had used the car as its bathroom. There were Packrat turds everywhere. For those that don't know, they look like a mid green coloured torpedo, but without the explosives or radar guidance. Oh, and there was gnarly thorny weeds growing up through the front bumper and the tyres are flat and sunk into the muck a bit. Russell the Love Muscle, who lives close, showed up to help get the old shed onto the trailer. We tested the waters, after dismantling the steering lock (2 mins with a Philips screwdriver ... secure it is not!) and inflating the tyres from Daves portable air tank, by dragging the car a little with Russ' truck. We found the rear drivers side wheel was locked up but it didn't put up much resistance to The Muscles Dodge pickup with a 5.9L Cummins turbo diesel. The plan of action, then, was to back up the tow rig close to the front of the car, attach the car to The Tank with a tow strap with idea that The Tank would would just drag it up and on. Russ would steer the car, I would drive The Tank and Dave would orchestrate operations. The Chevy 5.7L V8 stump puller also didn't even breathe hard dragging the Celica up on the trailer as this sequence shows: But then a bit of a disaster: After a bit more sterling jack work and some pulling and shoving we managed to recover the situation, but not before a few gasps and palpitations: I make it sound easy, but it took a good two hours to get the car on the trailer and tied down properly. Of course that does include regular breaks for a good chin-wag and to admire our handy work. Epic, no? Anyway, Russ heads home (Ta mate) and Dave and me head off to my gaff. It's about an hours drive and we roll at a reasonable speed because (a) we don't want the Celica to end its days on Interstate 10 in a crumpled mess, (b) Dave's Suburban does like 10mpg if you get on it, and (c) Dave is slow driver ... although I understand he perks up on the autocross course. Outside my house we pull all the junk out of the car, remove the seats, tear out the carpet, remove the seatbelts, open the boot from the inside (I have no keys) and pull out the remains of the headlining. I hoover it out with my shop vac which takes some time considering the heaped piles of Packrat dung, cactus parts and just gawd knows what. The car looks a damn sight better all cleaned out but it's still got a lot of dirt and, possibly critters, still inside so we take it to the local self service car wash that has pressure nozzles. We remove the dry, cracked and nasty rubber drain hole stoppers and I buy $5 worth of tokens, good for about 10 mins. We blast the whole thing down, engine bay, boot, underneath and the wheel arches, inside and everything. I used every second of the time we had to hose it down well. On the drivers side of the boot there is the perfect water trap and it's full of small rocks, dirt and about 2000 double-ought buckshot pellets. These all get washed out of the recently opened drain hole. We haul the car back to my garage and it really is starting to look happier. The wonderful rattle can primer job lost some of it's attractiveness, but I think it's for the best. There is some rust. The toughest to repair will be the bonnet front, drivers side: and a filler type repair in the passenger side lower wing: Some holes in the floor will be easy: The rear has had a knock and pushed the bumper into the rear valance, but it should be easy enough to repair with some hammering: and the drivers door showed the evidence of some tea leafs: On the positive side, the car is straight as an arrow with zero structural rust I can see and the dash fascia is in good nick. and I should be able to sell the motor, transmission, running gear and suspension for a few hundred beer tokens! The steering wheel might get some crack repair and ebay action: I have one of the 'dragon' and two 'Celica' emblems too! Result! The next steps is to sort out my work space better, pull the old motor and transmission, mark the wheel center lines on the frame and fenders and then pull off all the suspension and rear axle and get all that old stuff sold off. I may also tackle a few of the bodywork repairs and I do need to scrape out the sound deadening material from the inside! I understand some dry ice broken up and dropped in will make the sound deadening material brittle and I will be able to crack it out with a screwdriver ... we'll see if that tip works too. -Steve
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Last Edit: Nov 28, 2009 9:04:46 GMT by Sven
1969 Chevrolet 4x4 C10 Pickup 1969 VW extended cab pickup (doka) 1980 Volvo 240DL 1995 Mazda Miata MX-5 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel 2011 MK Indy R (building)
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The Doctor
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,434
Club RR Member Number: 48
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Nov 28, 2009 10:54:58 GMT
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nice! i wish we could get that rustfree type of 70s Toyota's overhere!!! But (insert evillaugh) no mather how rusty the outside is, inside is almost always as clean as hell By the looks of your screen, it's laminated, a hardenend screen will shatter immediatly. The car looks like a good base for a nice project!
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Nov 28, 2009 11:03:59 GMT
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Cool roadtrip. And whats a roadtrip without a few gasps and some muscle straining ?
Looks like your body will need minimal work, unlike if it was stood in the UK.
Oh, and I see you have sunshine.... at times I do miss Africa.
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Nov 28, 2009 13:04:46 GMT
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Yes, it was quite a day! Steve left out the part about some old codger driving up and starting to tell us how to get the car back onto the trailer. He went off to get his Hi-rise jack: "You need a high rise jack." I think "you need" or "you need to" were his favourite words, as they spewed from his beligerent gob profusely! He went off to get his "you need" and Russell the Muscle went at the problem with gusto, and we had it back on the ramps before "You-need-a" came back with his jack that we obviously needed, but didn't use. LOL. Then, there was his son, who looked like one of the Ramones, and had a Superman t-shirt on, but never lifted a finger. More odd creatures of the desert...
I swear, as we cleaned up the Celica, it seemed as if it almost started to smile. HUGE difference from the mouse turd infested dust collector we first drove up to. But 12 hours of fun, and I now have a Locost project to play with.
For those who need to know, Steve's garage is quite nice, and well equipped for the task at hand! House is awesome too, and yes, it was sunny and warm all day! Gotta love Ari(d)zona this time of year (and get the hell away in summertime, or hibernate). We don't have much rust to worry about, but the heat and the sun sure play havoc with plastic and rubber bits. Cheers !!!
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The bloke from across the pond...
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Nov 28, 2009 13:22:55 GMT
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I was expecting the bodywork to be more dusty than rusty..... bearing in mind that Arizona must be one of the driest states in the US. Was expecting major mechanicals to be the order of the day. Is good to see one of us Limey's actually made it out there. Did you take Norm's advice and drive your Chevy 4 x 4 across the Rio Grande? Love these early Celica's.... getting very hard to find for reasonable money over here. Keep posting!!
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'71 Arrocuda.... '71 Sunbeam Rapier Turbo (The Grim Rapier).... '63 Hymek D7076..... Audi GT5S
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Nov 28, 2009 15:48:05 GMT
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Yeay! No usdm bumpers.....although these ones do look a little on the twisted side.
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Sven
Part of things
Posts: 341
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Nov 28, 2009 15:58:26 GMT
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We're very fortunate to have a very dry climate, and having a rust free body makes the whole thing just so much easier. I'm in awe how skilled and patient some of you chaps are repairing sills and doors and stuff. A few years ago a local wrecking yard owner died and his stock was put up for auction by his family who wanted to sell the yard. The yard was full of old classic car bodies from the 1920's and up. The sun had burned off the paint over the years but many of them were still very solid with no holes and a bit of sanding would have fixed it. After the auction anything left was crushed. I just wish I'd have had space for a ton of that stuff.
Like Dave said, the rubber parts get really hard and brittle, batteries just get eaten every couple years and the interior gets shot. The seat internals look like they're perfectly able to be cleaned up and reupholstered. There's a good community of Mexican upholsterers here. I may not use the seats, but I will keep them in my shed.
We could feed the world with our surplus sunshine. It's very motivating in the autumn, spring and winter but projects can get put on hold during the summer or we just pack stuff in for a few hours in the mornings.
HKP, yeh, thank gawd this model was released without the dumb, and huge, plastic bumpers. The lines of later MGs and others were ruined with those stupid things. The bumpers are pretty badly bent, particularly the rear. I'll see if I can straighten it and I'll keep my eye out for replacements, but body parts seem hard to find and I don't know of anyone making fiberglass fenders and bonnets, etc. Got plenty of time, lots to do before getting fired up there.
-Steve
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1969 Chevrolet 4x4 C10 Pickup 1969 VW extended cab pickup (doka) 1980 Volvo 240DL 1995 Mazda Miata MX-5 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel 2011 MK Indy R (building)
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Nov 28, 2009 18:49:18 GMT
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There's a guy selling fibre glass smiley bumpers on ebay,and this place does carbon fibre panels
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Sven
Part of things
Posts: 341
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Nov 28, 2009 19:22:36 GMT
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Awesome! Can you chuck me a link to the bumpers? Checked out the glass/CF panels ... they're pricey! I'm so glad my doors are in decent condition! I *could* cut out the skeleton to reduce weight by just riveting on an aluminium panel, but I'll have to see what direction I want to take it. Not too happy with cutting up perfectly good body parts.
Do you know of a vendor for the door seals and window rubbers and such?
Went to a local breakers yard today and they have a Miata in there which has been heavily picked over, but it has some parts I need (front hubs and front calipers) and some others I could pick up just to have in stock for when I trash them. The transmission is out already and sitting in the drivers seat (the motor was pulled), the steering column is almost out but the stalks and surround are trashed. It has a complete rear sub frame and suspension assembly with diff and axles but minus the calipers. The front cross member/suspension is also complete minus the steering rack and lower control arms.
I can also use the wreck for measurements because it's like 3 miles from my house.
Summit Racing sells a complete interior carpet kit to suit.
-Steve
FWIW, I am going to use this thread to keep some of what I find about vendors and parts and stuff for my own use later. Sorry if it's boring to you, but others might find it useful.
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Last Edit: Nov 28, 2009 19:35:38 GMT by Sven
1969 Chevrolet 4x4 C10 Pickup 1969 VW extended cab pickup (doka) 1980 Volvo 240DL 1995 Mazda Miata MX-5 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel 2011 MK Indy R (building)
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The Doctor
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,434
Club RR Member Number: 48
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Nov 29, 2009 12:15:08 GMT
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Awesome! Can you chuck me a link to the bumpers? They're not on there at the mo,but if you just search ta22 worldwide every so often,you'll see them. There's plenty of other interesting stuff on there too.
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Sven
Part of things
Posts: 341
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Nov 29, 2009 16:42:19 GMT
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HKF, great tip. Found glass bonnets and front wings. Might not have to repair the ones I have at all. Today I have to evict a Packrat that survived the road trip, the power washing and the cleaning out of the interior. The curse word will chew anything so I have to get him out before he chews up something important. I saw him last night so I know where he lives. The car will be rolled out onto my driveway and he'll feel the fury of my hose! Hear that ladies? -Steve
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1969 Chevrolet 4x4 C10 Pickup 1969 VW extended cab pickup (doka) 1980 Volvo 240DL 1995 Mazda Miata MX-5 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel 2011 MK Indy R (building)
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Sven
Part of things
Posts: 341
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Nov 29, 2009 22:32:35 GMT
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Drained the fluids, removed all the bolt on front sheet metal and the boot lid. Also pulled the radiator and steering column and moved around the motor disconnecting stuff and cutting wires in preparation for motor and gearbox removal. I also cut off the silly ass exhaust (some people!). In the pics, the car looks rusty in places, but it's just standard Arizona surface rust. It'll be gone when the car gets back from the blasters. The car is totally solid, totally straight and zero sign of any previous shunt. Couldn't have hoped for a better donor than this really. It'll be going to be stripped, blasted and zinc sealed (or whatever they do) once I'm happy the hybrid Celica/Miata concept is actually going to work. That way I'll be able to clearly see what bodywork is required before paint. A storm is rolling in so I rushed to pack everything inside and I'm hanging it up for a bit. Later I want to go back over what I've done, make sure I photo and make notes of all the parts and bag up the hardware. I also want to put away all my tools, throw away the rubbish and sweep up the nasty stuff off the floor. Thanks to HKF and The Doc, I found (and ordered) replacement rubbers (not the johnny kind) for the front and rear windows, the doors and the boot lid. The bonnet rubbers are too simple to worry about a kit unless I find one for cheap. I also found fiberglass bonnet and front wings, but I think I'd like the challenge of trying to repair the ones I have before scrapping them and getting the glass ones ... ;D On the Packrat saga. There was more piles of chewed up rubber bits and, what looks to be, wiring insulation mixed in with Packrat curse word. He actually had the neck to show his face, bold as you like, within 3' of me while I'm doing whatever I do. He's a reasonably sized sucker but not good to eat I hear. I don't want him to run out of Celica wiring then start in on the flexes on my tools and stuff. Going to borrow the girlfriends cat and lock it in the garage. I'm guessing a night or two and that packrat will be wearing wings and playing the harp! Slainte! Some pics! Positive progress, with no blood or skin loss equals a good day! One hotrod trick I learned, and applied today, is to drill 1/8" holes through all the hinges into the first layer of whatever they're hinging and do this before one removes the bolts. When it's time for reassembly the 1/8" holes can be used for alignment with a 1/8" drill bit. Much easier than juggling doors, wings, bonnet, etc. to get the panel gaps right. The holes will be left permanently and can be used repeatedly. In this case, the panel gaps are not that great, but I will use it as a starting point. So! What's next? Going to drain and remove the fuel tank, pull out the driveshaft, keep on clearing stuff out of the way of the motor and transmission so I can pull them. I'm going to leave the doors right where they are for now as there's less chance they'll be damaged. After all that I will extend the hub centers on to the frame and body for later alignment and then start introducing the Miata front cross member to the Celica. I'm building a pile of surplus stuff and I'll sell it all off to recoup some Benjamin's for parts, beer, food, hookers, etc. -Steve
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Last Edit: Nov 29, 2009 23:04:09 GMT by Sven
1969 Chevrolet 4x4 C10 Pickup 1969 VW extended cab pickup (doka) 1980 Volvo 240DL 1995 Mazda Miata MX-5 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel 2011 MK Indy R (building)
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