February 2001 Archives

Almost done! The hood scoops and battery box are in and flush mount windshield is almost finished. We are still about two or three weeks away from paint. I looked at several pictures of this type of hood scoop installed. There seemed to be two ways one way with the outer most edge of the scoop parallel with the hood line ( or hood/fender seam ). The other way with the front of the scoop parallel with the front hood line. There is only about ten degrees of difference between the two positions. It seemed that the former positioning was the most comonly used. Therefore that is the way we went. The outer edge of the scoop lines up and is parallel with the hood/fender seam.

The flush mount window kit has turned out to be more work then originally thought. You get six pieces a pair for each side of the window and a pair for the top of the window. However you don't get pieces for the bottom of the window. My body man made a bottom piece to move the windshield up slightly to achieve the proper gap between the window and the window fram so that the seal will fit between the frame and window. The lower portion of the window frame was rusted as well so it was better to replace it. It is a lot of work to hand form those pieces.

Winding down on the body work. Here are photos of the passenger side marker light section and the completed front valance. I chose not to put the screen back into the valance. I don't think this screen is necessary for cooling and seems like it might help divert from under the car without the screen. Also leaving the screen out of the valance makes it a much sturdier piece.

Next on the list is the hood scoops, the battery box, and the flush mount window kit. That will complete the body work and then I need to prep it for paint. I will try to remove most of the undercoating and clean up the fender wells for re-coating. Also the engine bay needs some cleaning and the body needs some more block work to be perfect.

I can't wait to get it painted. It seems once its out of paint then I have so much more work to do. But I know that that type of work goes faster then waiting for body work. The hardest part is going to be funding all of the new parts that I hope to get for it.

I also found another manifold for my engine combination. I got a Roush A351 on the way. This one is new and hasn't been ported. I had the seller take measurements for me to make sure, and it looks good. I now have 3 intake manifolds, an A331 for 9.2" deck height a Roush A331 for 9.2" deck height and now this A351 for a 9.5" deck height. As I wanted the A351 because I hope to use an SVO block. It's nice to have options and the intake is the hardest part to find these beatiful A3 heads.