Help from the Family

This weekend I was lucky enough to have the family down to visit. So Travis (brother), Jack (Dad) and I got quite a bit done on the car. And Lauren (wife), Claudia (Mom), and Alliene (Trav’s g/f) all went shopping. So everyone was happy.

There are lots of little things to be done now, but really not a lot I can do until the cage comes. Still, there is always something that can be cleaned. My dad wasnt feeling well so he started with the instrument cluster, took it all apart and attempted to clean the clear polycarbonite gauge cluster cover. There was a strange film on it that NOTHING would remove. We tried Simple Green, Purple Power, Goo Off, toothpaste, laundry detergent, dish detergent, and cat piss. He finally resorted to the dremel tool with the polishing wheel, and eh, it sorta worked.

While he worked on that, Travis and I worked on various bits of the interior. We removed more tar, grit, grime, spare change, wires and insulating fluff. Travis also removed the one remaining door window. And yes, I did work, even though I have no pictures to prove it.

I did also work on mounting the seat bracket for the new Sparco seat I got. Yay! The seat bracket wasnt a very “percise” piece of equipment, so I had to tweak it quite a bit to get a good fit. I will have to add some gussets to it later on just to make sure it stays safe. I did also get Sparco sliders with the seat, so I can move the seat foward and back as needed for different drivers. The Sparco seat seems to be a good value. Its comfortable, light, strong, and FIA approved. All good stuff. Here are some pix.

After that we called it quits in the garage, and spent time together with the gals watching movies, playing monopoly, drinking wine and beer, and laughing a lot. It was a good time for sure.

The next day my Dad was feeling better, and was anxious to get to work on the car. He did a lot more grinding with the wire wheel to remove tar and other crud. Specifically he worked on the mounting points for the roll cage. Again, we really need the cage at this point, but cleaning up the sheetmetal is helpful, and will make the finished product look a bit better. We were slowed down a bit by the fuel lines, which we needed to keep clear of the spinning grinding wheel and flying sparks. Sure it was cold in the garage, and we could have used a little extra heat. But a car fire didnt seem like a good way to acheive that.

Really I feel like we did a lot more work than we have to show for it. Some bits of this project arent very glorious. But having some help and being in good company made it a lot more fun. Big thanks to my Dad and Brother for all their hard work!

Next up: The broken windshield and rear window need to come out. The roof needs to come off, the roll cage needs to arrive. And I need to practice my welding!