Spent like 5 hours total working on the car these last 2 weeks. Sucks. Between work, and home, and kids, and dad duties, there is little time for the GTP. I plan on ratcheting up my wrenching time by doing it after my regular day job. I bought an 400W inverter off Craigslist with battery clips, and bought a car battery charger. I'm putting together a lighting tree so I can work in the dark. Remember the car is 20 miles away from me, and outside, with no electrical hookup, and the closest bathroom is a short walk to the Marathon :/ The lighting tree will be composed of random lamps I bought Goodwill that I will mount onto a wooden pole.
Messed around with the fuel and brake lines some more. The lines from Classic Tube are pretty good, but they are not perfectly bent, either are the fuel lines. The bends in the factory lines were super accurate to the millimeter. Classic Tube lines are rather accurate, but +/- 5mm or so. Usually +5. There are a few spots were the bends rub up against the chassis and possibly against each other. I applied a red neck solution. Not sure everyone will agree to its effectiveness but I can't keep slowing myself down by second guessing these rather inconsequential decisions. There's a spot, a crotch, next to the fuel filter, where all the lines meet up. Plenty of chances for rubbing there. I coated the lines in that spot with duct tape and then added zip ties to act as a barrier between line and chassis. I applied the duct tape very carefully, and very tightly. The zip lines kinda bite into the duct-tape and stay firmly in place. This took a while. Looks like this solution will work well though. I was not OK with those lines somehow being compromised from rubbing, so I needed to do something to feel better about it all. Not sure how the long the duct tape will hold up, but the spots with the zip-ties should last.
Also tried removing the bracket that holds the front of the trailing arm. Those 3 bolts would not come off. Just would not. I had been applying Liquid Wrench to them often, for weeks now, and even so had trouble. I got a few turns on them, but soon had to use an incredible amount of strength to get them to turn just a tiny little bit. I really do mean an
INCREDIBLE amount of strength. So, I stopped. Soaked them in Liquid Wrench again, and jammed a soaked paper towel in there to keep delivering the penetrating oil. Not sure how that will go, not likely it will help. I backed the bolts back in, then back out, sprayed and sprayed. We'll see. Any tips on getting them out? Heat with a butane torch first? For how long?
The "crotch". Lines covered in duct tape and zip-ties. Yeah its janky, yeah its duct tape... Should work though:
These are the 3 bolts that will not come out. Any tips?
Paper towel in place. Ha:
LOL. Had to take a pic of this stretched out drip from the trans pan. Just hanging on for dear life. hahaha. Thought it was amusing: