My overdue 1600-2!

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Hey Brian - nice to see you back on the FAQ! I'm taking the best care of her I can, but it's slow going. Time for an apology: I took off your valve cover and it's been in my garage for months. Email me your address and I'll ship it to you. Still hanging out/working at SCR?

John/Harv - thanks! You don't know how many times I've looked at pics of your rear brake config while do research

john1180 - appreciate the heads-up!

Cheers,

[elementfmfl]

Colin-

No worries at all. I would love to have the valve cover back. The car looks awesome! I very happy to see you have been taking the car the way you have. I am still w SCR, Ive stepped up on my internship now bondo boy and head coffee order haha. Thanks again for posting the car, my wife got teary eyed when she saw your post!

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@Brian - my girlfriend surprised me during the week by complaining that the winter has been too long and she is looking forward to going for a drive in the '02 when the weather is better. So, apparently the car appeals to the ladies!

Had a bit of spare time tonight so finally removed the old Addco front sway bar and fitted the IE replacement.

Also test fitted all the rear components.

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She's pretty much back together now, but I'm waiting on the silliest of things to get her back on the ground. Bought a set of wheels, and they cocked-up the order, so I have to wait while the gold wheel is returned and then they'll send out the replacement.

Exhaust is fitted but there are some things I'm not 100% happy with the current arrangement, namely the snugness of the header collector adapter on the header (it's leaky as hell), and the exhaust support bracket bolted to the transmission. I bought factory bracketry thinking it'd all line up, but no amount of massaging would allow me to use both bolts through the support bracket to the transmission which effectively renders the bracket useless as a support. It will prevent lateral swaying of the exhaust, but not any major downward force. I suspect I'll be revisiting it in the future.

Surprisingly, reinstalling the rear subframe was easier than taking it off. I fitted the trailing arms (complete with brakes) the subframe prior to mounting the subframe, and then manhandled the diff loosely onto the carrier and bolted it up to the drive shaft, torqued the diff down, then attached the half shafts. I neglected to clean the underside of the car in the end, as I figure I'll be paying someone to blast the whole shell eventually anyway, but all the crud under there still bugs me.

New stock hand brake cables didn't fit quite right with the rear disc caliper e-brake so I went looking for a better solution and came up with the following. I wanted something that would clamp the cable after I snipped off the original cable ends that slip over the e-brake levers, and searched the usual hardware stores before I went back to my cycling past. The part I used is called a "knarp" by Odyssey and cost all of $5 for two and they even throw in the allen key/allen wrench. The knarp had to be drilled out slightly to accept the thicker diameter brake cable, but very simple. Quite elegant IMHO.. hope it works!

Brakes are bled and adjusted, just add wheels/tyres, exhaust tip and properly torqued sway bars bolts once off the jack stands and I'm ready for the new season.

[elementfmfl]

Looking amazing! Please make sure to post pics, or email me videos! I'll send you a few pics of my current project....