That it is good sir! The engine and transmission rebuild was quite expensive so it put a lot of things on hold. Well, that and I bought all the cool sh1t I wanted to put into the v2 build.

Sunday was a marathon getting the k-member back to the car. All the small hardware bits needed to go back on the knuckle and the brake lines had to be oriented correctly. I have Alldata now for the technical specification, because I've been using it for torque specs, so that was really helpful. That being said, I had to put the shock and FUCA on in a specific order because of interference issues. Pictures make it look like it took 5min, not 6-7hrs I was messing with everything.

That being said, it's looks and feels like I'm assembling a new car (because it is). I didn't have that same feeling last time I was going through everything. The SPL end link bolts were bent pretty bad, and I'm pretty happy about that (seriously). Energy was transferred from the driver's side 2 piece rotor getting sheered off into the hub to end link, and then sway bar. All those items were replaced. I had some light damage on the brake cooler due to the wheel hub or 2 piece rotor. A hammer and vice grips were to get that right.

Ghostvette suggested that I chase some of the threads so I sprang for a Chinese thread chase kit. Normally when I decide that I want to chase a thread, I'm missing the kit. It's nice having that option now because I used it a whole bunch already!.

The real MVP of this weekend was my lift cart. I first had to remove the 4L80e that was sitting on it myself, SUPER heavy. Then I wheeled right over to the subframe to lift it off to the car. SO EASY.

Ya know... maybe I should load the engine, transmission, and k-member outside of the car... That might just happen vs using a picker. Good thing about having the k-member on currently is that I can get the front wheels on. After the rear subframe gets loaded, I can move the car into the garage. I really hate that the car is in my driveway covered. The neighborhood likely hates it worse.

End result of all this work is looking REALLY good in person. Not sure if the pictures are doing the justice here. I think that the "gray" (looks titanium) looks really rad on the steering knuckles. I wasn't completely sold when spraying that part.

Next up: Bend new hardlines for front and rear brake lines. Rear subframe removal/install. Then we can see what the drag wheels actually look like on.

Edit - I push mowed the grass after 6-7hrs of doing the subframe... Slightly sore today. lol

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I think I took the brake lines off and adjusted them after this picture.
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Small update

Removed the back bumper to get dirt, formerly swamp/mud, out of the rear bumper. I think this is the last known spot for debris on the exterior. The Last spot to look will be inside the doors and I think that will be 99% of the car cleaned.

I took a moment to inspect the rear because the car went into the swamp rear first. It looks perfect! But, I wasn't really going crazy fast so I didn't expect there to be a smashed rear end. BUT... Nothing really shocks me with this car any more. I'm not use to opening up something and not being a can of worms. Well... I have to repair the trunk latch and trunk lid springs; however, that's fairly common issue.

I FINALLY put the rear wheels on the car to see what it looks like. It really feels like my vision is starting to take shape. Removing the rear spacer has always been part of the plan so that's going to bring the wheel in 25mm.

The rear was dropped out from under the car. Guess what I found... more swamp. lol. It wasn't bad compared to the other stuff.

I need to start getting the arms off and pressing SPL bushings. I think I'm going to put the Sikky Subframe in the car despite not having it fully loaded. Garage space is premium. Having the whole unit loaded up gets pretty darn heavy for driveway work too.

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Looking sick!

Dang! That's some meaty tires! :eek:

Saturday I was going to bolt the Winters Quick Change, quickly, so I could get some more room in my garage. Wrong. Nothing quick about getting that diff in. The rear mount for the subframe bracing had to be removed because the back of the unit interfered, same for the top of the trunk. I want to say that I slid the diff in and out of the rear no less than 6-7 times. That was A LOT of work rolling under the car holding awkward positions cutting. I have to say that because the pictures show a straight line progression, and that wasn't the case. It was an all day grind that spilled into the next day.

On Sunday I put the skid plate on the car which was much easier... but I was sore from the previous day. Also, I didn't hook up the steering column to the rack so a few back steps were needed. Doing the task alone, I accidently didn't have the center lined up correctly so I had to drop the front k-member twice. The brake booster was going to be installed Sunday but I noticed brake fluid lifted the paint in a few areas. I had some gray Steel-it hanging in my crash cart so I decided to paint the booster gray (looks titanium). A new order was put in for both gray and black steel-it so I can spray it black if it looks like garbage.

I'm happy with the progress this weekend... Lot of work... but happy in the end.

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Ok guys! I had a cool side quest I wanted to share. Someone contacted me on IG and wanted a carbon fiber emblem for their car. I felt like this was the perfect next step working with carbon fiber specifically for doing vacuum bagging techniques. The molding process was pretty smooth because I had already ran through that for my cubby mount. Less was more for the mold and I made the molds pretty small to make the bagging process better. The mold its self came out really great! I can f' up the carbon process and start over as many times as I want. Of which, I totally messed up my first bagging.

I have really top notch vacuum supplies and a 1,200 vacuum pump... but, I wanted to take a chance doing a cheaper method using a Food Saver. It looked like the vacuum process initially worked well because I had packed in chop strand carbon into the tight areas to prevent bridging. I attempted to do a wet layup combo with vacuum but it failed. The bag lost vacuum twice on the A side of the emblem which I think really did me in.

That all being said, I am NOT mad one bit. As stated, the mold is beautiful and I can make more attempts. The weave laid down all whack due to the wet layup. I'll specifically need to do a vacuum infusion on this. Additionally I am going to use PVA (liquid plastic) inside the mold so that it releases a bit easier.

FYI, I was working on a lot of this concurrent with other parts of my car. There's a lot of stop and go with-in this process.

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Very cool

Z update... kind of. I've been working on home stuff and the carbon stuff.

Breaking down the OE rear subframe so I can get SPL bushings in. I had the rear rotors turned because they were practically new previously. Much cheaper than buying new. I repainted the brake booster black because it looked like garbage gray.

I bought a spray gun specifically for PVA (spray on plastic). A compression mold was completed with decent results. I didn't tamp down the material well enough and there was an air pocket in a bad spot, lame.

I attempted a vacuum layup and it didn't go well. There's a couple spots that I needed to be done different:
1.) I laid the carbon in dry. I did that so the weave didn't move everywhere. However, the carbon didn't look completely wet.
2.) I was missing the release film.
3.) They had a great technique for laying sticky tape. Ill try that.

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