Glad to see you're back to building the car, Tony. Sorry to hear you've been laid off. It's tough times in the oil patch right now.

car is coming along great. Those 355's look good!

Sorry to hear about the job. You've been doing that for a long time. I had a similar situation happen to me in 09 and when one old familiar door shuts a better one often opens. Going full time on he car shop?

Looks great Tony! You are going to love this car! Looking forward to following along on with the Power Tour goal! You can do it!!

And I love the Orange and black!

Looking good! Dig the GZ3 wheel choice to.

Sweet project Tony, I like how you always think resale a lot of people do not when building these cars. I think it's coming along great and will be killer when completed.

I like the look of this color wheel personally. In the future, I'm thinking about eventually going with the all dark grey look myself.

I'm steadily making progress. I still hope to have it completed for Power Tour this year. 3 months to go!

I figured out that my brake hats weren't sitting completely flat on my hubs. They rocked a tiny bit, before tightening the lugs down. The centerbore on the wheel hub has a rounded fillet where it meets the lug pad. My rotor hats had square corners on the ID. I had my next door neighbor put a radius on the backside of the rotor hat bore. Minor setback, but it is good to have neighbors with full machine shops!

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...229_150433.jpg
http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...229_150636.jpg

Ever since I assembled my glass-bead blast cabinet, I've wandered around the shop and looked for stuff to blast. It is almost addicting, to restore metal. I try my best and save original parts when I can, as they tend to fit better and seem more sturdy than repro parts. I should have had one of these years ago, I use it a lot.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...227_173600.jpg
http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...227_175136.jpg
http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...227_175317.jpg
This was buried under the paint. Pretty cool to find.
http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...227_175247.jpg

With those items blasted, as well as headlight buckets, I installed the DSE headlights and Marquez billet fog lights. I didn't realize the Marquez lights were not just a simple bolt-in. It requires drilling two new mount holes, and cutting away the original light support bracket. That was nerve-racking, working with a drill and air cutter around fresh paint. Not a reversible modification, you'll have to commit to doing them and keeping them.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...302_163652.jpg
http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...302_165134.jpg
http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...302_165055.jpg

Also spent some time doing some final body/gap alignment on the front end panels. Started assembling the brake master cylinder setup, which was a nice piece. Wilwood 7/8" master with their optional proportioning valve system. The kit came with all the tubes and brackets, making this an easy and clean assembly. Will run brake lines this week.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...302_182951.jpg

I'll be moving the car to my 4-post Rotary lift for final assembly. So, I upgraded it with a new jack system. I like new tools :)

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...301_163455.jpg

Awesome build! Looks great!

I've considered taking DV8 to the next level, and currently it is my full time job. The kiss of death is walking away from the Sr management level salary range in the oil sector. I've worked hard to get there. But, it may just come down to that. I'm ready to be my own boss.

Thanks. While I do not plan on selling this car (always been a dream car to have a hugger '69 SS vert), I do always try and keep the cars from being over-personalized. I also try and stick with a consistent theme throughout the build, whereas many builders just throw a mix-match of parts into a car and don't follow a theme. This car will still appear retro in theme, but with some minor modernizing tips. I still want it to appear like a classic car, until you pop the hood. The surprise factor is what I'm after.

nice neighbor!:weld:

Looking sweet!