 Didn't decide to show up until May 4th 2009. But it's here!!!
 Check out my slideshow of the festivities. Party guests included:
my old friend Jeremy Stout,
my brother Roy Payne,
Roy Gregerson,
Paul Berg's father (Dave) and friend,
Mike Sieber,
and a couple of neighborhood onlookers.
                  I put the driver's side together with the spindles for kicks and giggles. I found that the castle nuts are cheap Chinese parts that don't fit properly. Apparently the ball joint castle nuts on a 2004 Mustang Cobra fit just right. I'll have to stop by Ford on my way home tonight and pick me up a pair. (one for each side) With all that fun I got daring and tried my luck out on mounting the sealed hubs onto the spindles. What a freaking joke! There is between 0.000 and 0.002 inches of tolerance between the spindle O.D. and the Hub I.D. That is crazy. I put the hubs in the oven for a few minutes and the spindles in the freezer for a few minutes. I ended up with the inner bearing race coming off and getting stuck about 3/16 in. on the spindle. WHAT DO I DO NOW???? FREAK!!!!
 Well after an hour of messing with it trying not to injure anything I decided to bust out my MAP Gas torch. I was a little skittish attempting this again. After heating the hub for about 5 seconds and about 2 seconds later the hub slipped right into place! Total = 7 seconds per side!!! What a relief. Now I have to find a way to put the 190 to 220 lbs. of torque on the nuts.
By the end of the week I am just about done with the front suspension. I did run into a couple of snags. First, the castle nuts for the lower ball joints were not the correct size. I think someone just through in some SAE sized nuts instead of the M16 X 2mm metric size that are required. I'll have to call up FFR about that one. For now I put on some regular nuts. Also, I need to tack weld the upper ball joint into place so that it won't move around. The spacers for the Koni shocks are a little ugly looking and I might take them off to polish a bit. Yes, that would be my OCD kicking in. I'll try not to let it get in the way. I just want it to look really clean and pretty. So, here are the latest photos. Enjoy...
     I was going to start with the IRS, but I don't have the bushings for the front mounts or the half shafts. Bummer. So, I decided to start on the Willwood pedal box. From the start it looks like the Willwoods are setup to accept the hydraulic clutch assembly right out of the box. (no clutch master cylinder of course) I am still a little undecided on whether or not I will go hydraulic or cable. For now I will save the hydro parts and put it together as a cable system. Going pretty smooth since I have some decent instructions from FFR. First snag was the spacer between the clutch quadrant and the top of the clutch pedal arm is too long. I'll have to trim this about 1/16th inch. I think I may make a trip to the hardware store to pick up a couple more washers and something to use as a spacer on the lower pin between the clutch quadrant and the pedal arm too.
If I did go hydraulic clutch I would go to Summit Racing and order the Willwood master cylinder and a slave cylinder.
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=WIL-260-1333&FROM=MG
  I recently saw an article on www.KitCarMag.com about using a Push-Type slave cylinder. I think I am leaning toward this type of clutch assembly.
  Here are my freshly painted brackets for the Wilwood Pedal Assembly.
   Here it is all installed.
  I set up the hydraulic clutch master cylinder, but and having a problem with how the pedal is lining up. I talked to a couple of guys about correcting this and they mentioned to just trim off .25" or so of the push rod. Another idea was to replace the mounting studs with longer studs and use spacers. This would allow for the room I needed without giving up push rod length.
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