Since B-tard has so little time and I have some, I've been putting in a few days by my lonesome. So I drove out to TRITARD Central yesterday. The streets and highways were clean and dry all the way, but not in the thriving metropolis of Rhetarred Junction. (Not its real name. Population: 209)
Lousy focus fail, but you get the idea. Pure shiny slickery.
We can turn an operating room into a war zone inside of an hour and we have. So first, I did some clean up. I then burned a few hours working to brace the donor brake pedal bracket, which I had previously whittled down to nothing. I don't have any pictures to show for it, but it will tie into the dash and the infamous recessed box.
A new view.
Yes, the rear fender still requires some heavy depeckering and I'll get to that in time. Our focus has been on major repairs and new fabrication, which may or may not explain all the numbers scrawled on the side.
Some of that scrawl includes dimensions for a new fuel tank. We've decided to keep it in the original location, which is flat on the floor behind the seats. Since we'll be fabricating the tank, we're going to maximize the dimensions and swap the filler to the driver side. It'll be made of aluminum and if our calculations are correct, capacity will be 18.4 Imperial gallons or 22 US gallons. (Our footballs are bigger, too.)
Believe it or don't, in all the time we've had the project, I've never sat my ass in the driver's position... well, maybe once on a pile of blocks and a hunk o' plywood. (???) Anyhow, I climbed up into the capsule yesterday, to get a feel for the next item(s) on the list, a console and shifter...
I'd forgotten how bloody small these things are, especially in width. If the chamber had doors on it, I'll bet I could stick my hand out the passenger window. (I'll have to try that next time.) Here I am in the seat, pulled back in a strange position attempting to "zoom out".
It's an odd shot for sure, but you'll notice my fabulous attire and the bulkiest part fast approaching the centerline. (The bulk can be attributed to my 12 layer fireproof shorts. Safety first.)
The seats are now wrapped with protective fabric and they're 4" apart. This likely means we'll have a short console and the limited real estate might present an issue for the shifter. (We'll find out Saturday.) This photo also illustrates the pedal/box relationship better than the others, I hope.
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