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This goes into the "I never thought this would happen to me, but ..." category. No, it isn't that kind of story for those of you who are getting the wrong idea. Back to the boobs thread for that kind of titillation. Since @grannyknot is thinking of driving the car up to a local muffler shop, I thought I'd better make sure I had everything in order so the car is legally driveable (as an aside, it's quite a trick keeping up with Granny on this project. Parts suppliers don't always work at the speed he does). When I started poking at the car back in 2020, I had the ownership paperwork. Somewhere between then and now, it disappeared. Not that big a deal. The car has been registered to me since 1994. So I went to Service Ontario to get a new ownership card. The nice lady behind the counter took my driver's license and typed something into the computer, then said "Hmmm, that's strange. What's the VIN". I gave her the VIN, and she says "We have a problem. You don't own this car. In fact this car was destroyed by a wrecker". Huh. It was in tougher shape than we thought, but I didn't think it was that bad! I asked which wrecker it was registered to, and when it had happened, but she wasn't allowed to tell me. Fortunately, I always expect something to go wrong when dealing with governments, so I was more amused than annoyed or terrified. I assured her that the car had never been near a wrecker, never mind destroyed. For some reason I had the original bill of sale and some other official paperwork from my purchase of the car, including an appraisal document with photos. To make a long story short(-ish), she got on the phone with the gurus at Service Ontario Headquarters. They apparently asked whether I seemed credible. Fotunately, I'd combed my hair and worn a shirt with no stains on it, so she put in a good word for me. They claim that they can undo the transfer to the wrecker, but it will take a couple of weeks. I'll probably need to provide something from an appraiser to confirm the VIN of the car. Apparently this happens from time to time - probably a similar VIN car was sold to a wrecker and a typo happened. It doesn't give you a lot of confidence in the system if someone can transfer ownership of your car without you even knowing ... I asked again about the wrecker, and she asked whether I wanted to request a Vehicle Information Package for the car. For $20 it would give me the history of the car's ownership. You can request this for any VIN at all. The car was apparently transferred to the wrecker in January of 2007. The wrecker is about half an hour from where I lived at the time. Maybe I'll drop by and ask if they have any parts left. Granny's running out of things he can work on again!

I've been trying to track down the source of some electrical problems with the signals and fan blower for the last few days and sorted the last one out today, everything is working now. Have also been trying to get the engine running smoothly, on start up the engine races up to 2000 rpm then stalls with spitting out of the front of the carbs. There is a guy in our local club who, like many of the members here, is an SU guru. He's stopping by my place on Friday morning to do the initial setup and balancing and hopefully that part of the resto will be taken care of. I have reinstalled the old rusty exhaust system because the MSA system that was ordered back in June is not showing up anytime soon, I'm thinking of scooting the car up some back roads to a custom muffler shop 20 mins away and have them build one. Nice and warm today so opened the garage door to see what the paint looks like in the sun.

Working on the X1/9... I Installed the new frunk inner cable after school, fairly uneventful install. To access the lock screw on the latch, I had to remove the right cover mesh, undo the latch, & move it around some to get to the lock screw. Today on my lunch break I ran the thin 3M tape down the fender, around the nose and back up to the pass door edge. I think it looks OK without the wide stripe on the nose, at least I feel that way today.... After school I removed the spoiler, located the correct push pins & primed & painted them to match. I don't like them standing out more than necessary. More tomorrow

I just got a call from Emmanuel at Cattail Forge and his only suggestions based on the 3D print I sent him were to add draft to the cooling fins along the bottom and to create the holes for the mounting studs using a template post casting. He also said that I should assume 1.3% shrinkage (there's that image again). I confirmed with him that labor would be about $35 and the aluminum was $3 per pound. His next aluminum forging will be in about 4 weeks.

Replaced the ac clutch today. I bought one meant for a Mini, so I had to change the harness connection, and modify the outer magnet plate hub, the Mini version had a smaller OD compressor shaft. Also had to redrill the magnet mounting plate. Why might ask why go to all the bother, it was because the Volvo factory clutch is over $250, if you can find one, vs. $50 for any number of readily available sanden clutches . When I looked online, for ones that might fix the Volvo DCH compressor, I was focused on the bearing depth and dimensions. New belt length is (6PK)1650, 25mm shorter due to reduced OD of the pulley. Took some back & forth to get the plate clearance in the .010-.015" clearance range. Fortunately I had a stash of M4 stainless washers Engine bay needs some detailing, the body shop left my car out in the rain, uncovered when they had it last fall. I NEVER did that - if it ever got wet, I drove it until it was dry back there.

What? That's like free. Maybe you should start a group buy.

That's got some big rubber under it! 2000 hours at a minimum $50 an hour. $150-200k in the car. I like some of the metal work. Some I don't...

Yeah, that draft on the fins is what I was talking about when I said I couldn't tell if there was draft in all the necessary locations. I whipped another quick pic to show ehat I meant. Here's what I was talking about: And I'm still astounded about the cost. That's fantastic for a one-off. Makes me think there are things I could have cast! Haha!

Did a minor hood adjustment along with adding some Sta-Bil ethanol treatment for a 15 minute idle in preparation for warmer weather ahead.

Cliff, after you swim across the Colorado River from Arizona with two chain saws and a leaf blower strapped to your back give me a call and I'll pick you up in the desert outside Blythe. A neighbor reported my gardener to the city for using a gas powered leaf blower last year. It's a new world.

So instead of guns I can run leaf blowers, weedeaters and chainsaws to the west without much penalty. I can stay with you when I do a run? ❤

yes sir.

Oh for heavens sake. Now that I know what I’ looking for, all of these are labelled as “Horn”and have the same connector. Also found another style of early buzzer Do NOT ask me why I didn’t just look at Matthew’s picture in the original post for this ad to see what I was looking for… Old people, jeez….

Well looky here. yes, it works. The most miserable little annoying buzz ever Been outside attached to this pedal box for ages.

Thank you Steve. Unfortunately it's going to be sometime before the next major update on the Z - I need to get the X1/9 prepped for BaT, and get some more tidying taken care of beforehand. So, keeping track of what happens in-between helps me😁 Z is back inside, I'm going to drive the X1/9 while the weather is clear for a couple days, also to make sure all is good with it

Many people switch to the later model spring clip connectors. It's a fun project. If you decide to do it you can get them cheap at any well-stocked salvage yard. 90's GM, Volvo and BMW plus many other brands used them. They're called EV1 style injector connections. Kind of spendy if you buy them new. A piar of crimping pliers and some insulated butt connectors is quick and pretty easy. They look like this -

They'll have to pry this new one from my cold, callous coverd dead hands.