so i accidently bought a car and started a challenge team last night. have questions.

Screw this polite patience and waiting thing...

Can we like get some pics of the flares?

Please and thank you.

In reply to NOHOME:

We are on track to shoot paint Saturday morning. Ill make sure to take some finals before the point where i would be letting the cat out of the bag. Until then, dont hold your breath cause im super freaking busy.....

Ive been super swamped, and havent had much time for browsing. When I started to see the need for a spreadsheet, I was going to whip something up (Im the official Excel Guru for my team, I have a coffee mug that says so). Glad to see that someone has beaten me to the punch.

Im unsure what Im more excited about - The Jalpa thread, or this one.

GRMers are living in a Golden age right now

Im proud to be part of the golden age. But, dont forget: in addition to the jalpa, we have the molvo running, stampies k30 almost roadworthy, petes c4 on the last legs, and mazduece being freaking epic all by himself.

So, definitely a golden age. Im more of a golden fleck in the pan of the miner....

Dallas booked the hotel for Wednesday night though sunday night. Guess i need to register tomorrow

Secret weapon reveal along with flare pics????

We may have to yank it for budgetary constraints. Same with nitrous. Waiting until we can make my math and spreadsheet math match. Because i either have 75 extra, or am 160 over budget.

My math, and excel, skulls suck. Its why im a mental health crisis intervention specialist. I deal best with people who talk to people that aren't there.

Totally off topic; that's kind of shocking, and something I've wanted to do at times; go from one career field to something completely different. You had a shop and were doing builds and repair work, and now this? That's pretty amazing to me. Color me envious.

Well in reality we're not really there too, so speak.....

I always have worked 2-3 jobs. Its the farm kid in me.

Until my last job, i never broke 12 bucks an hour. Then it was 18. Now its a bit more. Ive been in social work/mental health since 2005.

The shop was a second job. Id come home at 5, work til midnight, get up at 6 and go back at it. Weekends not on call were shop. It was fun for a while, but missing my kid growing up for the first 5 yars to put food on the table made me shut down at the first opportunity that was financially stable.

Makes sense. Sounds like you have tried to be smart about it.

Due to work and other circumstances we didn't get anywhere close to painting this weekend. In addition I think I'm getting sick and that will really put a damper on things.

My hope for you is you don't get sick, we kept the Great Grand Kids two weeks ago(going on 3 wks.)and the one that just started Pre-K brought us a combo Platter of everything all the others Had, like a Flu W/Cough headache and body pain, Loads of fun. Your like Half my Age so you May Fare Better.

I'm having difficulty as to where you're gonna pop up next with a new thread on this build......cuz I'm an old guy perhaps?

It happens. I find that for a specific purpose, a new thread generates much more information and discussion. Posting in the build thread tends to get buried.

But thanks, man

Bubba I got nothing else to (except if you ask SWMBO) do ....might as well stick a stick in the hive....

I like dropping a bomb in an anthill every now and then myself. Watch the little bastards fly.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Between what i believe has turned out to be bronchitis, work, family, and general life on lifes terms, im stealing time for the car and the forum. Like clocking into work late this morning to spray the car, since it finally quit raining and i have to paont outside.

WE HAVE PAINT

I'm looking forward to seeing a finished product at the challenge!!!

I need to get a chance with the laptop and actually do an update. Theres stuff going on i can show, cause awsome.

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.

Nice. Now you need to add ghost flames with your newfound skills.

Ummm....

No ghost flames. Sorry...

Bright metallic orange!! I'm in love.

SCHWEET! You've covinced me...taking my 12 points, sitting out concours, drinking beer and watching you win. Looks great!