Almost is a very BIG word when working on these cars......I "almost" get my list all crossed off only to find a crapload of other little tiny bits that confound my ability to move forward in large increments!!! We're down to baby steps....very small baby steps.....
Progress? I'll let you be the judge....
Ordered a belt for the main jackshaft drive...that I thought was between a 13A1220 and a 13A1230 (metric sizes...) only to get a belt from Good year that had a unique number....only to find that they sent me a 13A1220..... I wanted a 13A1225.....but apparently when belt makers no longer want to sell something, they take the old number....and assign the next closest belt size to it.......and don't tell people that they are getting shorted! Get it....shorted....OK bad belt joke.... Grrrr!!!
Ordered and received some muffler hangers....rumor was that they were the same as some Alfa Romeos, which ARE the same as Pantera hangers.... Well, they are NOT an interchange for Mangustas...... They would only have worked in the rear most position, but the center to center distance of the holes is about a half inch greater...which hangs the muffler down too low in the rear..... Grrrr!
Now I need to find a source of 1" (24mm) thick material from which to cut hangers from .....as my old ones were 3/4" material which has distorted the frame hangers...and is cracking to boot..... hint hint, nudge nudge!!!
Worked on reforming my headers ever so slightly to clear A) my frame and B) the upper left control arm....on the left side front one or two pipes.... Got the top done OK, but in working on the underside of the front most pipe, I managed to split the weld.....so had to file off the aluminum coating on the header and weld it back up.... No biggie, as they will get coated all fancy and such next week.
OH, and I can't take any pictures with my camera as my son dropped it dead smack on the lens while he was taking pictures of his car....that we were chasing a clutch mystery in..... New pressure plate (3-finger!) fixed it...but we could find nothing wrong with the old one!!!!
One bit of progress, was that I did weld on studs to allow me to add some exhaust shields similar to the OEM ones....after I find some .041" aluminum sheet, fabricate some bucks to pound it out on.....and some time to do it all.....ugh!
I received my exhaust header studs in the mail yesterday, and they appear to fit...can actually get the headers on the car with them all in place!!! Not so sure about all the nuts......on and off while up against the head....but we can deal with that on a case by case basis.......!!!
Lots of other stuff to keep me busy....I hopefully will get to the front hose splices today, at the tubes, and the radiator....replace them with Gates Green Stripe. Less rubber hose to worry about!!!!
I can install all of the exhaust studs...plenty of anti-seize for the future....!
Carb is bolted down, and my old air cleaner assy fits fine.....just not the DeTomaso version! Argh! Need to find a hot wire to connect the choke lead too....
And my list goes on with little stuff like this..... I guess these are just time fillers....they don't really need to be done now, but since the cooling system is empty....
Ciao! Will post more pic's once I find the wife's camera....and promise not to destroy it!!!
Steve
