My name is Earl, and I have a Stainless Steel bolt fetish =)

[Earl]

Thank you Pat=)

[RamRod E28]

Things are getting real, real fast!!! Looking good man!

[YoungCR]

I agree leave the caps as is, its very unique! Carpet turned out great too, ill have to try that on my black interior.

[Earl]

Thank you sir=)

Thursday I arrived to the shop to see how the fuel rail turned out.

I also installed a little more hardware from Fastenal.

Before

After

They gave me an m10 nyloc nut instead of an m12, so I had to put the old diff bolt back in until they get that sorted. 

I went to Summerfest Thursday as well and saw this

I wanted to take it for a ride so bad=)

Saturday I decided to make it my goal to get the car back on all four wheels. With me patiently awaiting my quote, I figured that the car needs to be ready to roll as soon as possible. 

With that I started by priming the front subframe and control arm mounting areas. I wanted to make the surfaces as nice as possible to keep from dirtying up my new parts. I didn't want to install any of this until the entire front end was cleaned up and undercoated, but they will be doing that when they paint so I will be dropping this all once it gets to the bodyshop anyways=)

I started by laying everything out (I didn't lay out the struts and calipers since the cardboard was too small)

I then installed the front subframe

After that came the control arms and Treehouse Racing mounts

I then bolted the front knuckles to the struts and then installed them on the car.

[Earl]

After that I installed the front rotors (with my stainless ECS retaining bolts)

Followed by the front calipers

Once the front was tackled I moved onto the rear. 

I installed the axles

Then it was time to toss the wheels on and drop it back onto the earth

We were going to drop the engine in for shits and giggles, but didn't have the proper straps and I couldn't air the front of the car up high enough to get the engine hoist legs to slide underneath. 

Things are now happening at a steady pace=) I am hoping to get the car out to paint within the next month. My interior and other small tasks should keep me busy while it is away

[Earl]

Just for fun I took a picture of John standing in the bay.

After that he took a picture of freshly baby faced me in the bay=)

[B C]

pretty soon you will need a cleanroom suit to work on the car

[Bassboy3313]

Looking good Earl! Keep it up!

[Earl]

Looks like a carrot=P

[jc43089]

Good work!  You are moving fast now, this will be done way before mine...haha

[Earl]

I wouldn't count on that but progress is steady=P

[mkoepp]

Looking good 

[The Full Banana]

Looks great... but I'm more excited to see pictures after you have driven it 5,000 miles.

[B C]

The Full Banana said:

Looks great... but I'm more excited to see pictures after you have driven it 5,000 miles. 

[Earl]

I sure hope none of that ever happens=(

[Bassboy3313]

You're welcome!

[Earl]

hahaha

Yesterday I took the time to remove the old stickers from my side moulding badges and install the new "Touring International" badges that I had made up. 

The hardest part was cleaning up the old sticker residue before applying the silicone and new badge. I found that applying WD40 and letting it sit for a few minutes allowed it to be rubbed off fairly easily with a cotton swab. 

I really like them. There is a reflection under "Touring" in the picture that looks like a scratch but I assure you it isn't=) One of them has a really small bur that I only noticed once they were installed. I am going to try being careful with a razor blade and scrape it off. Otherwise they turned out awesome.

[ClassE]

Keep it up!!!

[Earl]

Nothing too exciting got done this weekend. 

I pulled the car out of the shop so that I could clean my area and the unoccupied section next to me in preparation for my new shop mates. I also did some rearranging. This took up my whole morning. 

After that John and I went to Jakes to get some parts. I got one of his m20 flywheels so that I can do the m20 single mass/ lightweight flywheel conversion. I will be sending it off for machine work shortly. I also grabbed the front clip harness from his e36 parts car so that I can extend my harness and get it routed properly. 

Other than that I took the doors off because I was trying to make some fasteners work for converting the final four fender mounting locations to m6. I found out that the hardware that I was trying to use wouldn't work. I tapped the old cage nuts for m6 instead and they work great. I should have thought about that before taking the doors off. 

I also got my metal work/paint quote. If everything falls together properly the car will be heading to paint in about two weeks=) 

My interior should also be here within the next week to two weeks=P 

[Earl]

Just got the news yesterday that the car will be picked up for the body shop next week=)

I picked up the last of the hardware for mounting the front body panels and will be throwing them on for the ease of sending them on the car versus piled inside.