I finally managed to get my front anti roll bar (or sway bar depending on where your from) picked up (Cheers Mark!). I wasnt impressed with the amount of roll when I drove the car, so I'm hoping this will go a long way to sorting it out. I'd downloaded the instructions from the Danchuk site and was hoping I wouldn't have to move the intercooler to get it in. Unfortunately when I got it, I had a front bar, but a rear fitting kit. The only real issue was the end link brackets needed to be made up to suit.

After a lot of fiddling about trying to get it to clear the intercooler, I gave up and pulled it off to give me some more room. With it out of the way, I set it as far back as I could, and measured up some bits of angle to make the mounts. I drilled them out as big as I could, then took it out with the die grinder to fit the rubber mounts. I didnt want to weld them on to the powder coated A-arms, so I made some mounting tabs and welded them to the sides of the angle. With it all bolted up I had another look at the intercooler which needed to be about an inch further forward. I re-bent the front brackets and stuck some spacers that came with the Procharger on the back. I'll pull it all back off again and paint it when I connect the pipework back up. Doesn't seem like much but it took a long time to do.

I pulled all the masking off the bits I painted last weekend, then set about bolting the front end together. My springs are red at the moment, and I'm undecided as to what colour to paint them, so I left them as they were for now. I bought new hardware to put it together as a lot of the threads were knackered, and it made putting it all together easy. It took me longer to work out what way up the calipers went than it did to fit them. I was chuffed to bits with the look of the new front wheels and the calipers through them. I was planning to put the engine in, but the 700R4 is still in work in its box, and I need to paint the steering bits too. I spun the shell over instead, and sanded the roof over quickly before giving it a quick coat of high build primer mixed with standard hardener. It went on well, so I cleaned up ready to do another coat and used the hardener that I was sold to go with it. It sprayed like crap again, and was like jelly by the time I'd got half way down the roof. It's "extra fast" hardener, so it makes sense. Might be the source of a lot of my problems. Wont be using that again in a hurry.

I spent yesterday digging my garden out with my brother in law to lay a patio. There was a big skip on the drive in front of the garage door, so I couldn't push the chassis out to work on it, so the body went outside in the heat instead. When I put the engine mounts in, I used the old transmission mount to centre it, which was a mistake, as it was nearly an inch out. Once the transmission was up on the jack, the old crossmember was removed, and an axle stand put in to support it. I cut through the old mounts with the grinder, and then spent an hour or so grinding the remains away as far as the bottom edge which I'll do when I do the underside of the frame. The new supports needed a trim to allow for the curve of the frame, and then I checked and rechecked the position with the new crossmember in place. A few quick tack welds, then pulled the crossmember and welded it. I cleaned up where I had cut off the bellhousing mounts as well, then sanded it all ready for paint. I sanded the crossmember at the same time, then hung it from the roof and etch primed it and the new mounts. A quick coat of black, with the leftover pant sprayed over the mounts and it was time to call it a day. Next thing to do is pull the motor to finish the frame.

I've run out of doors, and have no space in the garage for any more panels. It also looked like a warzone, so I decided to tidy up a bit and clean the frame off in preperation for fitting the axle. I pulled the plastic sheet off the engine, and put all the boxes that were sat between the rails out on the drive. It was raining on and off, so I put the sheet on the boxes and a coat over the motor. It washed a load of the dust off anyway. After a few hours with the grinders I had the majority of the rear two thirds cleaned.

I did the underneath with a wire brush to get the worst of the dirt off, and I'll hopefully tip the frame on it's side when the motor comes out again and paint it then. I gave it a quick sand, and cleaned it all off with thinners. At this point I vacced up and blew it all clean ready to paint. I used the clarke gun again, with the pressure set higher than last time, and a bit more thinners. I sprayed two quite heavy coats on, and it only ran where I put loads on to try and fill inside a bracket. Gave it twenty minutes or so to harden up a bit, and then tried to push it back in. God knows how I did it last time, as it nearly killed me pushing it. I ended up having to lever against the wheels, as I just couldn't get it up the little ramp. The sooner the axle is on, the better.