This is it. The last big push to finish the car before the Iowa NCRS Chapter Meet on the 12th of September.

Here's a few shots of the engine bay, almost completely done.

The only things that are missing at this point (other than the hood), are ignition shielding, radiator cap, PCV valve, distributor cap, brake booster and master cylinder, and the air cleaner assembly.



The gauge cluster in its new home. All gauges rebuilt and / or tested and calibrated.



Here's a shot of the engine just after we fired it up (notice the timing light). The timing needed to be tweaked a little upon initial start up, but then it was fine. The motor idled really well. The oil pressure started pretty high, but that is because of two reasons. First, the motor is completely new and tight so all the tolerances are really small. Second, the engine shop installed a high volume oil pump, so I'm sure that increased the pressure. Other than that, the engine seemed to come up to around 150-160 degrees and just sit there. I was VERY happy with that.



The rear suspension is done, just need to install the spare tire carrier and exhaust system.



Here's a picture of the progress on the interior. The jute is installed in the rear compartment, and the first piece of carpet is in.



Here is a nice picture of the heat insulation that was put down in both footwells. The advantage of this product is that it is really thin. The disadvantage is that it was NOT CHEAP.




And the steering wheel is in the car. This is the original wheel, horn and column that came with the car. I just did a little cleaning on it and put it back in the car.



The carpet is done in this picture, just waiting on center console, seat belts and seats.



Rear carpet is done. The carpet didn't lay down quite as nice as I would have liked across the rear fender wells. I'll have to go back and see if I can do something there. It doesn't show in this picture, but I know it's there.



DONE!!! This is Friday, Sept 11th, the day before the NCRS judging meet in Iowa. I just turned the car around in the garage and polished it.



Ready for the road.



Thanks for following along.

To finish the car, I needed almost 700 hours of work (445 on my part, 200 on my expert's part, plus the engine rebuild and the body work). I started in the Fall of 2006 and finished in the Fall of 2009. Along the way I had a LOT of help from more people than I can hope to name. I appreciate all the effort everyone put into this car.