Offbeat

Not much new on the 'Cuda front, as the paintshop has been on holidays and I have been lazy. I did however get my hands on a brand new Lotus Elise SC for a couple of days and so I spent some quality time behind the wheel. The supercharged Lotus is a lightweight mid-engined sportscar that is a blast to drive on winding backroads.

As you can see, my drifting capabilities are not up to par with the demanding properties of the Lotus. This car really demands quick reflexes.

Out since the late nineties, and already a classic...I would choose a different color though.

More shifter linkage

Took care of the second part of the floor shifter linkage today. Cleaning, sanding and a quick dose of fresh paint does the trick on these parts.

The hardest part was getting the white plastic piece out ot the metal brace before painting luckily it didn't break.

All back together and ready to install.

Hemi orange

The first parts of the engine shine in their fresh coat of hemi-orange! Valve covers sport a pcv valve and a breather, I opted for the original hemi orange oil cap instead of a chrome piece which would also have been avialable.

Oilpan and intake manifold are also freshly painted... all parts will be painted seperately and assemlbled afterwards - instead of vice versa as I don't want paint on gaskets and things like that, even though it would be more date correct as I understand .

Fan motor

Restored the fan motor - or however that's called. No big deal, just a question of carefully sanding the surface, cleaning it and giving it a new coat of rattlecan-silver. It will be visible in the firewall, ready to blow air into the cabin for the next 40 years or so.

Around the world once

I ordered some trim pieces from a guy in Canada and waited...and waited...and waited. After several fruitless visits to the post office, I finally recieved the package. And now I know what took so long - even though the adress was perfectly correct, the package was obviously sent west instead of east to Australia instead of Austria. Of course it took some time to find the error an resend it agian. Sorry mates, no Kangaroos here!

Driver seat

I finished the underpinnigs of the driver seat. Both seattracks are reinstalled, all the springs are in place. I got the missing springs from my neighbor who like to tinker with cars and says he never throws things away but keeps everything. Screws, nuts, bolts - and luckily springs!

Kind of tricky to find the right position of these stoppers under the fresh vinyl, good to be able to look at pictures taken of the original condition.

Off topic

A friend and his new toy. Not a 'Cuda but spicy enough, nevertheless. Picked it up today and has been all smiles ever since. I would call it black on black if it were a musclecar...