Memorial Day Updates

I took Friday off and spent all day assembling the CR125 engine for my kart.  I was going to do a post about that, but didn't want to clog up the S10 info with karting stuff.  I went karting on Saturday so that left Sunday and Monday for truck work.

I pulled the cab off again.  I figured it would be easier to work on the crossmember and to install the insulator between the trans and the cab.

I had to notch the crossmember in order to get the transmission to sit properly on it.  I just cut a square in it to get it to fit.  Will weld it up later.  I didn't get any pictures of the notch.  Just got busy notching and forgot about photos.

After I got the notch made and the crossmember fitted, I installed the headers.

While I was there, I installed the clutch master cylinder and line. You can also see in this photo the forward (technically middle) location of the shifter.

I also installed the fuel line.

I put the cab back on with new bushings.  I cleaned-up and installed the steering shaft, cowl seal, and windshield wipers.

Cleaned-up and installed the wiring harness for the AC box, blower motor, and wiper motor.

A shot of the shifter insulator.  This provides some heat and noise protection from the shifter hole. Shifter mocked-up.

Progress

Today, I made a lot of progress.  I repainted the firewall the correct color and riveted in the new heat shields.  The color is the correct color for the truck.  I feel much better about that now.

I also installed the BRP transmission crossmember.  It looks pretty nice as well, but the transmission hits it.  More on that later.

Oh, I also installed the engine and transmission, and put the cab back on the frame.

I had to move the shifter to the middle of the three possible positions.  It is actually quite easy to do.

The transmission is hitting the tunnel though.  It appears to not be sitting flat on the crossmember. Will take a look at that next.

Had to throw on the Corvette fuel rail covers just to see how it looks.

Tomorrow will probably be a quiet day with me just focusing on cleaning up the garage.

Steering components

I talked to the body shop and they are pretty swamped so it looks like it will be a month before I can get that moving forward.  Below is a picture of the transmission tunnel after I painted it last week.  I used leftover paint provided by the painter.  It appears that he did not spray enough base coats, because the color of the transmission tunnel is what the color of the car should be.  It is a notable difference.

In the meantime, I installed all of the steering components.  They are from a company called ProForged and are pretty beefy.

I installed the motor mounts loosely.  Will tighten after the engine is installed.

Bad Iron Machine dropped off the engine today.  Looks great.  I installed the flywheel and the dual disc clutch. 

Undercab

I was able to get the driver's side control arms and brakes bolted-on and now I have a rolling chassis.  I had to reorder the tie rod ends, as the ones that were sent were for a 4WD S10.  I decided that now would be the time to paint the underside of the cab. I rolled the frame out and got to work...

 I had some leftover paint from when the cab was painted, so put the cab on some jackstands and got to work.

These photos are after the base coat and before the clear coat.   

After I was done with the clear coat, I went to raise the cab off the jackstands and, what will henceforth be referred to as "the incident" occurred.  This resulted in damage to the driver's side lower rear portion of the cab.  See below.

I put the cab on the frame temporarily.  Will talk with the painter today to see what needs be done to fix.

Here it is on the frame though...