Steering system installed

Next on the list was the steering system. I borrowed my husband's drill press to drill the holes for the brake light switch mount.

Then drilled the holes in the frame for the master cylinder mount. 

Master cylinder mount brackets were painted glossy black to match the frame.

Getting the brake and accelerator pedals installed. Always nice when you can sit in the engine bay of the car to reach these places.

Once the pedals were installed, I had to do a test fit of the driving position. ;-)

Installing the steering shaft.

Got the front steering rack bolted on and the shaft attached.

And the shaft from the rack to the cockpit.

Everything has been fitted up, so I just need to temporarily disconnect the shaft to paint and install another aluminum panel, which is the one that goes behind the master cyclinders. After that I'll install the shaft again, do the final bolt up, and loctite all of the screws that require it.

Panhard rod & rear brakes installed

I'm on vacation from work right now, so my FFR build is on FIRE! Updating the blog is lagging a bit behind the actual work.

Got the panhard rod installed. For those that don't know, it's the long, shiny bar.

And the rear rotors and brake calipers got installed. Had to do some shimming to get the calipers on the rotors straight.

Now that the front and rear brakes were assembled, I could do a test fit of my wheels. Opened up one of the wheel boxes and fit the rim up. Here's the front, and now you can see why I painted my F panels this color:

And the rear:

So far so good. I ordered a pair of cleco pliers and set of clecos for the upcoming aluminum work. And this week I'm going to place an order for my engine, tranny, and EFI system. Details on all of that in future blog posts.

Since today is Christmas, here's what Santa brought me for my FFR.

Torque wrenches:

And Cobra valve covers and air cleaner:

Santa knows girls like shiny things for Christmas. :)

Front brakes and rear end installed

The day after I installed my front shocks, Koni sent a recall alert. Thankfully my date codes were easy to access and were outside of the affected date range, so I was good to go. I'm not very far along in the build and haven't bolted many parts on, so it would suck to have to unbolt the parts that I just put on and send them back. So the build continues.

I got my front brake calipers assembled, which was easier to do on the workbench.

Then it was time to put the front rotors on and bolt the calipers on.

Assembled front end.

Next was the rear end, which has been sitting on a furniture dolly ever since it was painted and assembled. I got the control arms bolted on, then we wheeled the rear end under the car.

Just a few small snags here. The bolts to mount the control arms to the frame were missing in the hardware bag, so Zac made a quick run to Ace hardware to get temporary bolts. We ordered the correct strength bolts through McMaster-Carr, which will be here next week and I can switch the temporary bolts out. Also, the rear shock springs came in contact with the frame, so we decided to flip the shocks upside down for better clearance.

I'm glad I painted the rear end glossy black, which matches the frame nicely.

And here's the rear end with the floor jack rolled away! In the background, more cardboard boxes broken down. I can now fit my wheels and lower steering shaft boxes in the garage and move them out of the front living room.

Garage update, and front suspension & hubs installed

First, a very important garage update. The floor is done! We finished coating the floor of the first bay, Zac installed the baseboard trim, and moved everything back against the walls. A few update pics of the garage before the motorcycle lift and all of the motorcycles moved back into the first bay (they were crammed into the 3rd bay while the work was going on).

(Click photos to enlarge).

My FFR build is taking place in the 2nd bay in the middle, where it's easy to reach the rack of boxes. Hard to believe the garage is now this complete. We have a few things left to do (another row of lighting and a drop ceiling) but at least the garage is to a point where everything major is now in its place, the floor is done, and we can now work on projects.

And now back to the build. With the F panels painted it was time to silicone and rivet them in place. The seasons have changed and it got cold in the garage, so for the next few months of pictures I'll be in my Dickies.

In anticipation of my build, Zac bought me an air riveter a few years ago. I finally got a chance to use it!

These are now, officially, the first parts installed on the car. Major milestone!

With the F panels in place I could now bolt on the upper and lower control arms.

This pic signifies another major milestone. First FFR cardboard box empty and in the recycle bin! Box 22 was the first to be emptied.

Next, I assembled the Koni shocks and started the install onto the car.



The spacers were too large to fit, so I called in the assistance of Machine Shop Boy. Zac put all the spacers up on the lathe and turned them down so they would fit. Yay for Machine Shop Boy!

 Koni shocks and spindles installed.

Next, the front hubs went on. These had to be torqued to 225 ft-lbs (I start having trouble torquing around 100) so I called in the assistance of Brute Force Boy, who had to put his body weight into it. Given that he's 80 lbs heavier than me, I think this was the correct call. I'd rather these be the correct torque than have my front wheels fall off. However, I was able to handle the dust cap installation without an issue.

Look, a front end! At least parts are going on the frame so that the innocent passerby can now differentiate the front of the car from the back. When you have a naked, black, spidery looking frame in the garage, most people have a hard time telling it's a car.

At this point, Box 1H just had steering components in it. I repacked those into Box 15 (a smaller box), re-labeled it, and sent big Box 1H to the recycle bin.

Next on the list is installing the front brakes, and installing the rear end. The rear end is still sitting on a furniture dolly under the back of the car, so it will be nice to get that bolted on.