so the radiator shipped out last week and showed up today. a huge thank you for mike at muscle rodz. he was great to work with and his prices are by far the cheapest ive found. for those that have followed, i stressed about the ron davis/prc decision for a long time. i was actually willing to pay the extra money (~$250) for the rd quality welding, but once i decided on an internal oil cooler the decision was made for me. prc was $85 extra and rd was about $800 extra. plus, prc would build whatever i needed for the same charge, and that included welding on the tabs on the side.

im actually really impressed with the welding. could it be nicer? yep. but id still give it an 8.5 out of 10 and considering the linear amount of welding, the quality is VERY good. its going to be a little while before i weld up the mounts for it, but its here and i can mark the purchase off my list.

i also rolled the car out for a few more finished pics of the rear. i now need to decide what im going to do for exhaust. it is set up to exit at the outer black oval, just not sure how im going to do it yet. i was hoping that the area would be flat, but that was wishful thinking. im kicking around some ideas, but i would love to hear some opinions.

oh, and just so you guys can see im not crazy. check out the last few inches of the bumper to quarter on the left side of the car. you can see how just a little is shaded, but that part appears like the gap is larger. the entire sides do that when they are completely shaded and its driving me friggin NUTS. put it in the light and it goes away..........

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0825.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0832.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0837.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0834.jpg

a question for the metal experts; i picked up my new door shells and am acutally impressed with the rear fit of the drivers side so far (still a lot to go). the gap is really consistent and the profile matches the quarter well. i was prepared to weld an 1/8th" round rod to the edge of the door to assist in working the gap, but found that i only need to take off a little in one area. so, would you prefer to weld a rod the entire length of the door, or just remove some material? doing so will likely split the skin, but i can either mig or tig it back closed and then file to fit.

which would you prefer?

i do have to weld a rod to the bottom. the gap is a little too wide (~.320), although very consistent since its within .015 front to back.

also, what do you guys do to build an edge up to get panels to flow better across the gap (height not width)? would you rather build with a weld bead of tacks, weld a rod or do the work with filler?

btw, there is a whole thread on this that i started, just looking for some more opinions.......

i finised working the rear gap of the drivers door today. i filed it down until it was perfect yesterday and then went back and welded it all up to make sure it wasnt going to split. today i filed the weld down until it was perfect again. it measures .190-200 all the way down. the quarter makes it hard to measure since it doesnt angle in 90* but i tried to do it as consistent as possible.

i am still pretty amazed at how well it all lined up. you can see in the second pic that the profile matches the quarter very well for having no work. its in about .015 right under the body line and also a little more at the bottom. i plan to work those areas when i get back to the car next week.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0896.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0891.jpg

Love the build! Keep it coming

so i now have both doors on and i have started working the drivers side fender. it lined up decent to start with, but no where close to where i wanted it. so far i have about 5 slices above the body line and about 5 more within the 3 inches below the body line. it still needs some adjusting, but the top half is getting closer. its a total pain in the ass since each small move can make a big change and since every slice requires the fender off, it takes time to get it back where it was.

i also wasted some time adjusting my slices based on how i sighted it. since the gap varies about .050 now, making it sight right and making it follow a straight edge across the gap were two different things. since the gap will eventually get fixed, i had to go back and redo it. still not done, but much closer than when i started.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0916.jpg

i finished roughing in the door last week and got the hood on earlier this week. i'll finish working the door gap once everything is squared up for good. every small movement changes it just a little, so it would be a complete waste to try to do any more now.

im still struggling with the hood though. im shooting for about .180-.190 gaps and had to make some more adjustments to the tops of the doors and fenders to spread them out just a little and widen the gaps some (another reason im not touching the door gaps till its done). even though i tried to measure and set them correctly when the hood was off, i knew this would happen.

the biggest issue i had was that the passenger side of the hood and the fenders contour were off. by about 3/8"! the front and rear were flush, but the hood sat too high in the middle. i tried bracing it at the front and rear and applying some pressure, but it was going no where. since i dont have my original fenders, and because i cant remember 8 years back to whether they fit this way or not, i had to come up with a plan. i planned to make slices all the way down the inner structure of the hood, but realized that this would take some work to metal finish.

so, instead of butchering the hood, i drilled out 12 of the 14 spot welds that hold the outer fender skin to the inner. i left the front and rear spot welds alone and raised the middle the 3/8 that was needed. i plug welded the holes back up and just need to grind down the welds. its about .020 off in height at the worst spot, but i plan on skimming the gaps anyways, so i figure this is well within spec. i also noticed that when i was done moving the outer skin, a couple reference points now match the drivers side fender. hard to explain, so i'll post up some pics later to explain.

the next step will be to sand off the old paint and the ecoat and start working the width of the gaps. i was surprised at how consitent they are now though. +/- .010 is about what im starting with. i'll see if they get any worse when the old paint is gone.

here are a few pics.

this is the first of the hood after i corrected the high spot. the camera makes the hood look high, but its the angle. it sat about .375" high at the grey spot on the hood.
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0990.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0983.jpg

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0995.jpg

Nice work. I can appreciate how long that takes to align and gap everything.:thumbsup:

i knew it was going to be a long project, but its INSANE how long it actually takes.....

It takes a long time, but that will make all the difference in the finnished car. Excelent work.

Keep up the great work Tim.