Well, the car is really at the point where it is near completed, but little things that don't quite fit right, or little, but critical changes need to be made, mainly with fitment, or size of tubes or fittings, or clamps, etc, require me to trial and error, and order, or search high and low for the right fitment or custom part. This is time consuming, but it is worth it to get it right.
Also, if you all have noticed, my garage has been a wreck. My wife did not want to pay for the storage unit anymore, several months ago, so we had to move it all home. The garage was not prepared for all that stuff, so we piled it in there, and over the next few months, it got dismally unorganized, asa well as became rather maddening having to make room to work on the car each time....Moving things out, then moving them in....What a true pain in the a$$ that was. The ritual got old....So, I have spent the last 2.5 days working on the garage and shelving, and re-rganizing with my wife's tremendous help, and although not yet done, a massive improvement. The trash man will probably curse me out a few times tomorrow.
Any way, I was quite disappointed that I did not get time to turn any wrenches this weekend. So, tonight, after we finished up the garage, I had to test fit the second of the Cool-Flex tubes I had bought for the radiator tubing. If you recall, I had mentioned in a recent, previous post that I was still going to have to fabricate (Pay a welder) to cut up and weld on some special tubing for me to fit my radiator tubes. This was indeed a disappointing thought, not to mention even more time and hassle to find the right welder, plus the extra expense....So I worked on the long tube tonight, and trial and errored the best route to run the tube, and it worked out absolutely perfect!! The long tube (the one that routes from the bottom of the radiator to the water neck/thermostat housing), clears and fits beautifully!!
As with anything we do in life, along with practice comes experience, then comes practical knowledge, then added success....So, I decided to give it a go with the upper tube again. This is the one that I was sure I had to fabricate and weld up a special pipe for du to the tight corners. Well, I had previously connected both ends onto the Cool-Flex Tubes, and left it that way in despair froma few nights ago.
So, I decided to just start turing and re-positioning that tube to see if I could get a better fitment, and much to my delight, I realized that all I had to do was adjust a bend from one direction to another by facing the curve straight up, instead of to the side. This took the tube off the turbo, still allowed plenty of clearance for the hood, and took off the pressure to try to make an almost impossible and extremely short radius 90 degree bend plus it cleared the other tube. Hallelujah!! Success!! It clears, and looks beautiful. The only issue I have is that the upper feed tube is slightly short, so I will replace it with a longer one, and voila!! I will be done with
ALL tubing, hoses, and pipes.
A major milestone with this project.
I love all the extra room in the garage now....
Here are a few pics of the Cool-Flex radiator tubes....Well worth the money, and absolutely gorgeous, IMHO.
Ryan
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