Progress happens

Wow, where to start?  Today was a VERY busy day.  Kinda burnt out from working on the car pretty much non-stop for the past couple of days, so here is the Readers' Digest condensed version.  Drilled oil drain, unplugged oil feed, finished welding exhaust, clocked turbo(need new wastegate actuator), pulled LH2.2 fuel/ignition harness, fed Megasquirt harness, possibly toasted keyless entry lock/unlock, and generally just spent a whole lot of time with my hands dirty today.  I'll be more wordy tomorrow, I promise.

I can weld!

Today was a volvo-filled day.  Went out to another OVT members' place and pulled some parts for Betty (wiper motors and a cluster), then came home, loaded Betty up with parts for the '86 and went over to the parental units for some welding action.  Father picked up a Lincoln 125, so now I'm learning how to weld.  My first project?  Full 3" exhaust for the '86 (I've really GOT to name that car now that Betty has a name.  Any suggestions?)  My first few welds sucked, and I was practicing on my 3" cat and muffler, so that wasn't good.  The old downpipe I pulled from Betty was cracked after the collector, so I thought I'd try welding that up.  Took me a little while to get the hang of it, and I really need a welding table of some kind as well as better lighting, but overall it turned out fairly well.  I then went ahead and tacked up the rest of the 3" exhaust and put hangers on it, then checked to see how it looked under the car.

Not too shabby if I do say so myself.  Sits up nice and tight, and doesn't bang against the body anywhere, so...bonus.  After this pic I took it off the car so I could finish welding it up after I get a bit more practice, but that is where it shall be from now on.  Welding is fun!

Testing

I updated the comments stuff in the backend, so I wanted to see if it also made a post to my facebook page.  We shall see!

And we're legal!

Took some paperwork down to the DMV today, and $193 later, we have plates, tags and should get the title in the mail sometime in the next couple of weeks.  I think thus far I've paid more for the title issues for this car than I paid for the car!  Sheesh!  Got the plates mounted as well - went for a slightly less than stock location for the front plate.  I think it looks pretty good, so I did the same on the '86, though I didn't take a pic of that.  Then I did some mock-upping of the exhaust on the '86, and found that where I was going to put the cat and muffler wouldn't work under the car, so I had to rearrange my plans there.  Not a big deal really, I'll just need more 3" straight pipe than I originally thought.

Then I figured out a side exit mounting point, installed the new master cylinder, put on 400-series side markers (Sorry Michael! I'll show you how to do them though, it's REALLY easy), and started installing a keyless entry system.  Got that to the point where it'll flash the lights, but I needed my manual to tell me where to splice into the door lock system to actuate that and I left the manual at home.  D'oh!  I'll bring it with me tomorrow.

Spare 245 takes over DD status

A few things since the last time I updated.  Got a trip permit for the 85 (which I have since christened 'Beige Betty'), got it through DEQ, figured out the titling issues, installed different wheels, plugged the roof rack and antenna holes, got a couple of trim peices, and did some painting.  It's actually looking quite not bad now:

So as it sits it has taken over as my DD, while the issues with the maroon '86 (which I have not named as of yet) get sorted out.  Parental units have returned, but the motorhome has not blocked my access quite yet so I have some time to get the '86 worked on.  Father bought a welder, I brought out my collection of 3" pipe bends, cat and muffler, and found that I need very little if any cutting to happen to get a full 3" exhaust on the car.  So that shall be my project for the next week - learning how to weld (on a Lincoln 125), and then using that skill to weld up my first exhaust.  Fun!

What else?  Well not much until I get the exhaust done.  Perhaps a drive out to Milwaukee to get some parts off of another wagon (namely lock cylinders for the '85)?  Then the kids this weekend...  I wonder what the ex will think of this car now that I've reclaimed it and fixed it up a little?  At least I don't have to depend on her to find the title any longer.

Spare 245 is now moar lower

Spent some time with the beige '85 245 today, most notable accomplishment being the installation of the cut springs out of my '86 245.  3 coils front, 2 coils rear, makes it NICE and low, as evidenced by photographic proof:

This pic shows just the front lowered, so it has a bit of a rake.  Rears were done shortly thereafter.  Not shown is the changing of brake pads, fixing of AC compressor mounts, replacement of AC seals, removal of radiator and some various PS pump mount fixings.  This car has had some serious neglect going on.  I'm pretty sure every rear bushing needs to be replaced, which is a complete contrast to the '86 245's state.  That car is in fabulous shape, so I'm glad I only paid $400 for this one.


I'll probably end up grabbing the Hydras and installing them on this car for now, as they have great tires (which I spent more on than this whole car), then finishing up stage 0 before making this my DD while I Megasquirt the '86.  I have a week to get all of this accomplished, as I'm using my parents' extra garage and when they return they'll be blocking the driveway with a HUGE motorhome.  Damnit.

Time to make the donuts!

Got a bit of work to do on the car, though I'm not sure it'll be today as the weather isn't cooperating.  I have a horrible toe-in issue that is just DECIMATING my front tires.  I thought I'd done a fairly decent ghetto alignment when I fixed my steering rack, but obviously that was not the case.  Car has been very twitchy, especially in the rain, and I've got some really bad wear on the outside shoulders.  So I think I might just head over to the parental units' abode and get that fixed somehow.  Perhaps I should read up on a better methodology on ghetto alignments first, however.

Also have to fix a part of the exhaust - that S pipe is VERY holey and thus is causing me to fail emissions testing.  At least I think that's what causing the failures.  After I replace that I'll run down to DEQ and see if that's what it is.  If not...well lets not go there quite yet because that is where things start to get expensive.  If I had a welder and a chop saw it'd be free but I don't and those two items are NOT free.

Then because of the toe issue I've got to rotate the tires, and/or get some new ones.  Again, not free.  Not to mention DEQ testing will run me about $110.  Cars are expensive!