Leaderboard

Well, they are miles better than the Tabco panels but some of the KFV panels fit better than others. The floor pans are just about drop in and weld, the other panels all seem to be too big, which is better than too small. At least with the panel being bigger you can cut it up into 2-3 separate pieces so you can make each edge match the way it should then mark it, cut it and then weld it all back into one piece. Here is the first D/S dog leg I installed, I didn't realize at that time that the panel was too big so I still have to go back and cut the bottom where the marker line is to get rid of that droop. On the P/S I saved myself that work by cutting the dog leg up and using it as a patch, the marker line is where both panels were cut and welded. The bottom of the fenders and deck lid supports were the same, I had to cut out as much as a 1/4" in places, then reweld them together. I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining because I'm not, nip/tuck and massaging is all part cutting out rust and putting fresh metal back in. After I scrape as much paint off as I can with a heat gun, I usually start blocking with 80 grit, but this time I thought I would give these a try, Norton Blaze rapid strip disc. I've tried the 3M version and it wore out so fast it was waste of $. These aren't cheap at $27.00 CDN a piece but I've done a little more than a 1/4 of the car and you can see how little has worn away. I'll probably go through 3 discs for this project and save probably a 100 hrs and a lot of wear and tear on the back. The only down side is they dump everything into the air, even with a fan on sucking the dust out of the shop there is still a layer of leaded red oxide dust on everything.

Just rebuilt my rack. Just a PSA regarding the rubber boots. The MOOG ones listed on rock auto will be way too big. These ones from beck/arnley, part number 103-2697, are a better fit. Not perfect, but definitely workable. I believe they’re technically for a Miata. About $15 each on Amazon. Just thought I’d share in case somebody else is having trouble finding something that fits… Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well assuming the radio came from an earlier year Z, (which is what the wire colors seem to indicate), the white and white/black pair are the two wires that fed the original (one and only) speaker. The white is speaker (+) and the white/blk is speaker (-). There is no way to get "stereo" out of that radio. Ever. You could get sound to come out of more than one speaker maybe, but it will never be stereo. In order to get sound to come out of more than one speaker, you would just put them in parallel, but you do need to be careful about the loading. The radio was designed to drive one 8 Ohm speaker, and it sounds like you are trying to drive two 4 Ohm speakers in parallel. If that's the case, that combo works out to a 2 Ohm load and the amp probably isn't going to appreciate that much.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Unexpectedly, the order the shim was on has shipped! I am suspicious, however. I think they may have let the 90 day time frame they originally quoted for the "national backorder" run out and then crossed that shim off the order and shipped the rest (some side shims). I don't know that though. I will have to see what shows up. In the meantime, I was able to remove the rear pinion bearing today and free the existing shim for measuring and test filing: Shaft collar side and gear side, respectively: The OD is 53-54 mm and the ID is 35 mm. With regard to filing, I ran a fine single cut file across the surface of the left picture very lightly and it immediately started removing the dark coloring from the outer edge of the shim. I want to say that where the "collar" contacts... or sits against the shim, it is now lower (compressed?) than the outer edges of the shim. I did not want to, nor did I file more than a few light strokes on the surface of the shim. I also note some very light chaffing on the surface of the shim. I suspect that would be hard to achieve on a "hard" shim. I think this thing is actually pretty soft, for whatever that is worth.

I bet they were really good with playdoh in middle school!!

I think I have most if not all of the metal working done now, at least the cutting and welding. I picked the supplies for the new paint job today, still have to go back p/u the paint and clearcoat as the guy at the autobody supply shop couldn't find a modern code for 920 Safari Gold. I'll ask that question in a separate thread. We knew there was something funky going on with D/S quarter panel, I got all the filler dug out yesterday. Time is money in collision shops, so much so that an extra 10 min with a hammer and dolly is asking too much.😄