[Bryan]

Saturday was sunny so off I went to Cars and Coffee:


DSC_1190 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Ladies...this is what peak performance looks like.

 

[deprogram]

Pics with the kid were worth the effort. Really nice work.

 

[Bryan]

Pics with the kid were worth the effort. Really nice work.

Thank you!

Speaking of which, I enlisted both of them to help me get the car on jackstands, wheels off, and charger connected.

 

[deprogram]

See this is good parenting.

Get them started young. I wish this would have been something I got to do with my da. Never happened, although he taught me how to weld, so that's something. I think this stuff is essential.

 

[Bryan]

I wish this would have been something I got to do with my da. Never happened, although he taught me how to weld, so that's something.

I wish I'd have bugged my dad to teach me more welding and handy-stuff. He taught metal and wood shop. He taught me how to weld a hoop in 9th grade and I wish I'd have asked him to teach me some more. When I was doing Pinewood Derby in the Scouts, he would make me do the woodwork if the car I designed (he made me design my own instead of doing it for me).

 

[Bryan]

New stuff...

Car is on the ground with help from the kiddos. They assisted me in lubing the slider pins at all four corners, then mounting the wheels. I opted for Roadstersport 3mm spacers and closed-end lug nuts from Good-Win. I'm glad that I got rid of the spline drive adapter, but disappointed to find that the nuts are thick enough in circumference that an impact socket can't fit over them. A normal 19mm socket will fit, but using an impact on them is a bad idea. Just as well, I guess, because I normally prefer to break them lose and torque them down by hand.

20220411_090851 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20220415_123258 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

3mm isn't much, but A.) I didn't have to worry about going to extended lugs and B.) it moved the wheels just far enough out of the wheel well for my tastes:

20220415_123504 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
What do you think? by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

It's subtle, but there's a definite difference to my eyes.

The weather has sucked around here lately, but last night was warm enough that I went for a ride. Found a street nearby that was oddly both well-lit and not busy (aside from the police cruiser that must've made 3-4 passes).

DSC_7002 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
DSC_7026 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
DSC_7037 mod by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

 

[Bryan]

Went out even later last night (pulled into the garage at 1am). Got these two among a couple others:

DSC_7150 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
Quick Exposure Edit by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

 

[Crazyblackman]

Soooo good!! The coming in at 1am sounds like it was a good night!

 

[Bryan]

Soooo good!! The coming in at 1am sounds like it was a good night!

It was. Kind of gave my wife a scare, though, because I hadn't told her when I was on my way home, so she woke up about 15min before I got home and was so hopped up because she texted me and I didn't reply she had trouble going to sleep.

 

[Bryan]

Not much has happened lately. Just been driving it mainly.

Only mods have been ripping the lower seam on the boot cover so that it will fit around the rear supports of the roll bar (looks a lot better now!) and putting in some RAAMmat that Mike (chiefmg) was nice enough to give me. We'll see if it worked once it stops raining.

Sometimes once the car is warm and has been driven for a while, I'll notice at stops an almost rattle-sound that goes away when the clutch pedal is pushed down. I notice something similar when the AC is engaged. I'm hoping it's not the stupid throw-out bearing. I honestly have no idea, but this thing is on its third clutch and the shop famously screwed up the last one (pretty sure the same shop is the reason the second clutch made it about 5-6 years). I REALLY don't want to have to tear this thing open again.

 

[Bryan]

Had help from my son this afternoon. We replaced the wiper blades (because my son is NOT gonna be the guy who asks the parts desk guy to put them in, dammit) and then replaced the beltline molding on the doors. The body shop fudged the front of the molding on the driver's door, which they had partially painted to match the fender.

20220703_142031 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

I should've held that clip a little tighter...when it popped off the door, it slipped off my fingers and into the door. Ugh.

20220703_142412 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

So, I got to teach my son how to take the door panel off (I need to replace my clips...), peeled back the vapor barrier, put the window back up, and he picked the clip back out from the bottom of the door.

Job done.

20220703_144224 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

You can see how bent the original molding was. It's on the left.

20220703_144139 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

 

[berrie]

new moldings are such a good feeling

 

[Bryan]

Kiddo and I tore open the car again to put RAAMmat on the floor and the package shelf. I don't have a roller, so we just used the back end of a big screwdriver.

20220709_130643 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

We cleaned out the car while we were in there, something I didn't do last time.

20220709_130652 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Put a piece on the floor forward and aft of the seat mounts:

20220709_142513 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Then turned our attention to the package shelf:

20220709_144721 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

We put strips on the front and top of the package shelf and on top of the fuel tank panel.

(And before anyone asks, I'm pretty sure either I or someone helping me with my rollbar install 6 years ago cut the package shelf plate. It somehow made the install easier. I don't remember why, and hadn't seen the panel in 6 years.)

I also pulled one of my wiper blade caps and replaced the sink drain cover I'd been using to cover the antenna hole:

20220709_163649 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

 

[Bryan]

Pics of the heat shield job.

20220723_113157 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Like I said that recessed bolt hole at the lower right is an absolute b**** to get to. Wish I'd have just replaced the muffler gasket and taken the exhaust completely off.

Onward!

20220723_113332 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

I didn't use this whole sheet.

20220723_115156 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

I was worried the adhesive on the sheet wouldn't be enough, so I added foil tape to the edges.

20220723_120023 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Because I didn't get the sheet completely pressed into the recess, I just made some relief cuts and folded the stuff back into the sides. It sticks down just fine, and the small bit of open metal won't make much difference.

20220723_120640 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Finished product. I ended up cutting the sheet roughly in half, then cutting out the portion that was scalloped out for the exhaust.

Thankfully, reinstalling the heat shield and muffler hangers was a LOT easier than getting them off!

20220725_170036 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

I'm happy to say this made an alarming difference in temps in the trunk. When I went to hockey on Monday, I was shocked to find at the rink that the trunk floor was almost cold to the touch after driving halfway across town!

 

[Bryan]

One last important bit of MATG prep was finally installing the Reflectix.

Out came the interior for the third time this month:

20220730_104916 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

The job was mostly measure, cut, trial fit, cut again, then tape.

First up was the section from the rear bulkhead to the ebrake handle:

20220730_111430 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

From the other side. I went ahead and made sure to make holes for the carpet retainer and console screws:

20220730_112504 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Unfortunately, when I went to pull up the front end of the carpet, the footwell insulation came out in clumps:

20220730_113153 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20220730_113157 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

I just threw it away and cut a piece of Reflectix to put in its place. I made a twin for the passenger side (whose insulation didn't come out, oddly):

20220730_113532 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20220730_114603 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Once I had the rear section taped down, I created a section that reached a little bit under the dash and on both sides of the tranny tunnel right below it:

20220730_115632 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

I put one layer on top of this that fit around the widest part of the shift boot, then added one more that fit over the shifter:

20220730_121352 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20220730_122036 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

As I started putting the car back together, I realized I needed to cut down some of the insulation when it poked through the carpet. There's still a little bit of crinkle every time I move the shifter to Reverse or when the ebrake handle is operated.

20220730_123531 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Aside from the slightly increased drag for the seats against the tranny tunnel when sliding forward and back, you'd never know I did anything:

20220730_130018 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

The difference so far is astounding. I feel so dumb that I didn't do this years ago!

 

[Bryan]

Update post MATG:

The insulation didn't help on a long enough trip. Within an hour or so, my right foot and hip were hot again

I could add something over the exhaust itself. I was trying to avoid trying to jack up the car and insulating from the underside. I might still have to or just live with it. Car was otherwise quite pleasant.

MATG XXVI was insanity. Fontana Village was without power for three straight days due to a storm that hit when I was north of Knoxville. It was huge: at the same time I was surging through 3" puddles on I-75, high winds blew over a tree, which, on its way to hitting one of the lodge buildings at Fontana, took out a pole with a transformer on it, which took out another 11 poles before all was said and done.

I'll make a long story very short: it was awesome. We welcomed 10 new vendors (for a total of 40) and even broke our own previous attendance record in the process. I feel like I could write a book, but I'll just drop some pics of the car instead

DSC_8964 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

If you get a chance, let Lorie from Palm Breeze give your car a once over while you're at MATG. You won't regret it!

DSC_8952 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

This was my view every morning from the porch of my non-AC cabin. Almost worth the previous night of sweating and bug bites.

DSC_8928 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Sadly, the only time I drove US129 in daylight was on my way home on Sunday. Other than that, I took 28 on two different nights to go to dinner. Those were the only times I left FVR all weekend.

Killboy's crew got these two:

3758333 Killboy by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
3758334 Killboy by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

 

[Crazyblackman]

Sounds like a crazy adventure! Thanks for sharing!

Love the action shots!