July 2006
7/3/06-My new welding helmet came in today. Auto darkening...camo exterior..cooool! Modeled by the wife!
7/13/06-It is sooo damned HOT!!! Not doing much. Put a steel plate on top of the workbench, and pounded out a hole in the new fender. Practiced a little with drilling holes in a donor door and welding them back up. Not much else...
7/31/06-Just to close the month...still too hot to do anything in the garage, and welding will cause too much toxic smoke to keep the garage door closed and the A/C on, so...
Dug through the file cabinet and found some receipts that were not entered, so figured this is a good place to document the mileage and dates when these were added.
3/29/06-new ignition switch, the keyed part and the actual switch located down the steering column (which was the actual culprit of not starting)
5/23/06-new u-bolts for the rear axle and drop kit to level out the ride until the frame is straightened.
6/1/06-new radiator hoses, ones that actually fit at both ends and are NOT the cheap universal accordion tubes.
6/13/06-new 2nd in-line fuel filter, located just under the driver door. This one is plastic to replace the glass one that was there, and started to leak. Figured plastic would be safer under the car in case of impact with rocks or road debris.
Otherwise, just cleaning the garage a bit, doing some periodic pounding on the fender and valences to straighten them out, and putting 3/4" blue Styrofoam insulation on the garage door to keep the garage cooler. Need a quick cool front so I can finish the fender and mount it. The battery is dying due to lack of driving, and will probably need to be replaced soon after I get it all put back together again. It is the same battery that was in the car when I acquired it.
I am thinking of using bolts or metal plugs/dowling to fill in the holes in the fender, just so I can do a couple tack-welds rather than fill the holes in with solid weld. This should keep the heat off the steel preventing warping of the sheet metal. I will practice with the donor door just to be on the safe side...when the weather cools down.
Total (rounded) = 5575