At sundown today, I logged 114 miles.

I think it's safe to say that if it were going to blow up, it would have at least shown signs by now. I'm happy. Enough so, that I stuck a Z car club vinyl on the quarter window. Z Car Club of Rochester represent! (even though I'm over 100 miles from Rochester, haha)





It gets better each time I drive it.

What a great little car.





Days worked on project to date: 43

Total money spent on project to date: $889

This post was edited by OldAndyAndTheSea on Apr 17 2014 07:35pm

GG

very nice bro, loved the vid

Thanks guys, more videos to come. I just need to work out the last little bugs in the motor.


Today, I installed the trim pieces, finally. It's starting to look complete, sans air dam.









Things left to install:

-Poly Bushings - Purchased +$125
-Clutch slave cylinder -Purchased +$40
-Fuel Filter - and some replacement FI hose
-Headlight covers
-180 degree thermostat (I currently have a 160 in there, and the car fails to achieve the 170 degrees of coolant temp required to negate the warm up enrichment, so my slight stumbles are partially due to that.)

Things left to purchase:

-Tires
-Struts (or re-purposed from the other car, not sure yet)
-Air dam



But I'm up to 160 miles or so on the car, since I've owned it. It REALLY likes to cruise at 60.

Going out now for more drive time. Nevar enough!

Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba ....I'm lovin' it!


Days spent on project to date: 44

Total money spent on project to date: $1054 (+165)

Tonight was it's first night on the road. The headlights are pitiful compared to the Minis, but they certainly will suffice in the meantime.

Super high quality illuminated dash lights.

Rad!

note the trip meter: mileage to date





It got cold tonight (under 40 degrees), and rained.

The motor is definitely running cold. I'll swap out that thermostat right before bed, so the gaskets have time to set a bit before I drive it again in the morning. Currently letting the motor cool so I don't Harvey Dent myself.

It's certainly too soon in the season for the 160. That's like a mid August thermostat.

Quick check of the external temp of the thermostat housing, about 3 minutes after stopping the car.



Gotta warm her up a little bit! Then she'll sing!

This post was edited by OldAndyAndTheSea on Apr 18 2014 08:07pm

Looking good, now you just need to throw an LSX in there and call it a day

Haha you're the second person whose now told me to do that. Ask me in five years, I'll probably have done something stupid by then. I never seem to leave well enough alone.


So I finally got around to changing out the thermostat. As suspected, the one in the car was a 160, which is a much hotter temperature thermostat than the current weather in upstate new york permits. With that thermostat the car failed the reach operating temperature, which on this car is 170 degrees. That's the degree at which the warm up enrichment stops. So I've been running slightly rich so far.

Initially after changing the thermostat upon the first start, I just brought the car into the yard and let it idle for a few minutes. A quick look at the infrared thermometer, bam. Operating temperature.



Before I had only logged 160-165 degrees max at an idle.

Success!


And I'll say....the car's driveability, as could be expected, increased dramatically once again. Aside from a small manifold gasket exhaust leak in th***, the car is running famously!

Very happy.


Also, since the car was in pretty cramped quarters when I made the exhaust, the exit out the car was a bit goofy looking, and as you can see from the pictures, actually burnt the urethane rear bumper partially, haha.

Before:



Extra crispy!



This post was edited by OldAndyAndTheSea on Apr 20 2014 01:22pm

Soo needless to say....A little exhaust modification was done today too. I am very pleased with how easy the exhaust is to service and maintain. I dropped the rear section, cut, and added a pie wedge to correct the exit angle.






So far it's been a good day.


Oh yeah, Happy Easter to those that celebrate! Hope everyone is enjoying themselves as much as I am.

In the meantime, while I research and purchase an external microphone for the GoPro, I've been playing with camera angles. Mostly to try to cut down on wind noise.

Not great. Apologies, they'll get better. Unedited.

Tonight, I managed to toss the headlight covers back on. That's about it.





Also, I've brought the tractor home, it's here to lift the other car, and prepare it for suspension drop/brake swap.

So I drove that a bit too. Handles about the same as the car. haha





More in the days/evenings to come.