Singin' bout my small town

I headed out to the garage on a rainy night this week only to see water on the floor and the roof leaking.  Bad timing cuz summer is near and I have a car to get done!!  It’s probably damage from the ice storm a few weeks ago.  I couldn’t see any visible damage from outside so it’s just going to have to wait till Jenna is running!

I was hoping this post would have photos of the engine in but I need to drill and tap a hole for the coolant temp gauge so I’m stuck waiting on parts. If I was in a city somewhere I could just step out and buy the right drill and tap. But in a town of 1100 I’ll order the stuff tomorrow and get it the next day so from the time I discover the need till I have the part is a 3 day turn around. I’m not complaining at all because I feel very lucky to have an excellent parts store in town and I quite like the pace of life round here. I am so rural that there isn’t a 4 lane road or a stop light in the entire county I live in. Sounds like a good country song in the making!

 

The good news is there is never a shortage of work to do on the build.I put in heat shield insulation and set the dash back in place.

I am not taping up any wires or putting the dash all the way in till I know the wiring is good and everything works.Next up I put new inner and outer tie rod ends on the steering gear. With 165000 miles on the clock they were very tired. Funny the Chilton’s manual I have says the inner ones can only be replaced by a qualified mechanic and gives no instructions. So I grabbed one of the Mazda emblems I ripped off and slapped it on my coveralls and voila instant qualified Mazda mechanic!  And of course as a qualifed Mazda mechanic now I needed no instructions to replace them...:-)
I don’t have a shot of it finished but I was surprised how much beefier the Moog parts were than the stock ones. I like to have quality steering parts at 130 MPH at Road America! 

I read in a build thread a while back that wrapping the headers really helps keep the heat down under the hood and in the car. Given the low cost of header wrap I thought I’d give it a go.

Looks like a mummy waiting to attack!  I only did the passenger one because I have some work to do on the driver’s side after the engine is set. I’ll show you that in about a week I hope.
 

I wanted to post now because I’m not going to get much done this weekend. Band tonight, my youngest graduates from college tomorrow and Mother’s day on Sunday. My mom has been gone 10 years now but she is directly responsible for this build in a lot of ways. When she passed she left me a nearly new car that I promptly sold and bought my first Camaro with. That is the seed money for this project but I’d trade it in a second just to hang out with her again. She was the best listener and sounding board ever. Love your folks while you can!!

Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God will give you.