Hi! Still alive! Figured I’d post up some updates on the various vehicles.

First and foremost, the Morgan. Unfortunately that has stagnated again, much to my chagrin. I know what I want and need to do next (pull apart the rolling chassis), but both time and free space have been working against me. I may get some more time in the coming months as the Airstream and the Barracuda will likely both be back-burnered for the winter months. If I can get the front and rear end off the chassis, along with the engine and transmission, I’ll be able to determine what if any work needs to be done to fix it up. From there I can move forward on mocking up the hardware needed to mount the Solstice engine and transmission. As soon as I’m sure the chassis is in good shape, I’ll feel comfortable placing the rather pricey order for the new cabin frame and body panels.

The Airstream… whew. So I still have that. After spending much of the summer going back and forth with my father on the best way to remove the horrid paint job on it, we came to the conclusion that a paint removal gel from Home Depot is actually going to do a fair job of it without damaging the metal. I’ve got the paint currently about 2/3 removed, though there’s still a good bit of work to go on that. After the paint’s removed, we’ll be doing an initial buffing / polishing of the exterior, but won’t be putting in the amount of work required for a mirror finish. We determined that it wouldn’t be worth the effort for the amount of time it would take and how relatively little extra money we’d make from doing so. At this point, depending on the weather in the coming months, that project may hibernate until spring. The goal for now is to get the trailer to a condition where I can sell it by around the beginning of summer 2018.

The Barracuda. This is some fun. After talking with some local classic Mopar owners, we’ve been working on some fixes to get the old fish back on the road. I’ve still got to install the new power steering setup, which will hopefully happen in the next month or so. However, the bigger news for this car is that it’s getting one hell of an upgrade in the form of a Holley EFI setup. That’s right, so long PITA carburetor, hello fuel injection! We’ve been struggling to get the idle speed under control, among other things, and while both my father and I are knowledgeable, we both will readily admit that fine tuning a carb is a dark art we’d rather not spend our time learning. As it currently stands, once I get the flush headlight kit installed on my father’s 2002 Corvette, which is about halfways along, the Barracuda’s EFI upgrade will be next on my to-do list. I’m excited, for sure. Which is cool, cause it’s been a while since I’ve been properly excited to work on that car.

Through all this, one thing that’s definitely slowed me down is my shoulder. It’s fortunately not a diabetes-related issue like I was originally informed. It’s actually a childhood injury that’s decided to cause a problem. I’ve been going to therapy for it for several weeks, however in the past few weeks I’ve been seeing less and less progress, and in fact the pain’s been getting worse again. I’m hoping some resolution can be reached on it, because it’s definitely impeding my ability to get work done on the projects.