The time has come to share what is going on with the car. This update is one of those "Good News - Bad News" updates. I will start off with the good news because, frankly, I am tired of the bad news on this project.

The Good News:

There has been some headway with tegards to the work on the project. We now have both headers completed, except for the final welding on the exhaust port flanges. Those will be finished only once everything is fitted and clearances are all triple checked. The collctors will have he flanges welded on once we have the extender pipes cut to size. The purpose of these pipes are for when I am running at the track. The mufflers will be removed and the extenders bolted on to increase my off the line torque. The piping for the exhaust pipes are on order and should arrive next week. There are some pictures showing the underside of the car and you can see the routing of the exhaust. I will end up with dual exhausts with a side exit on both sides.

The radiator has been fitted and once the brackets are welded up, the intercooler will be finished up and fitted as well. There was one area of the front rad support that had to be modified so that the radiator could fit. (see picture)

My braking system is about 95% completed. The emergency brake lines need to be connected still and we have a clearance issue with the rear rotors, with both items being dealt with soon. The lines, master cylinder, line loc and rear proportioning valve are all installed (pictures included). Now that the brake lines are done Resnick's will start running the fuel lines which will include a return fuel system. While discussing the fuel system we have chosen to dump the methanol injection kit as well as the secondary fuel cell. I will be simply running race fuel at the race track, following the age old saying 'keep it simple stupid'.

In addition to the braking system, the steering system is 100% completed. The steering column is properly mounted and the steering knuckles are installed. We had to use knuckles which are approved for both the track and the street so you know what that means, extra $$$. We have also made a couple of minor structural modifications to the front end chassis to strengthen up the front suspension.

We have many of the parts waiting for the LSX block to arrive but there has been issues with gettig the block. We were told for 2 months that a it was on it's way only to finally have the company refund the money and admit that they never had this block in stock. What is up with people anyways? We ave lined up another block but we are waiting for the refund to be cleared by VISA first. We have also had to deal with a similar issue with the Dart Pro1 cylinder heads. After waiting on these for over 6 weeks, the owner of Dart talked with us today and guaranteed that the heads will be sitting at the border in 2 day. Once those heads arrive Resnick's will do some further work to open up the bowls even further to allow flow rates to meet the LSX's/Procharger's needs. While we wait for those parts to arrive we have also chosen to change our plans for the oiling system by using the A.R.E. drysump setup. Some of the parts from my LSJ drysump kit can be used and I am exchanging the oil pan & oil pump for the right ones.

Another issue we have been waiting for resolution on is my seats. While I received seats 5 months ago and those seats looked good (even though the color choice wasn't as ordered)they weren't a good fit for me. The seats were too narrow for my hips and the upper bolsters allowed no room for my shoulders. One of the several things I learnt at drag racing school is that distractions aren't needed sitting at the starting line so the seats were sent back. We have been told that there are now another set of seats we can get and with a couple of simple modifications, they will meet my needs.

It is likely going to be a couple of more weeks before the car can come home to be wired and while that happens I will also be painting all unpainted metal surfaces. I hope to also start fitting the interior pieces in place so I can have an accurate accounting of what is missing from when the car was sent back to me. It seems like everytime I start to get to another section of the car I discover more missing parts and I can not help but assume that people have used this project for their own personal used parts store. One day I am going to finish 'The Story Part 2' which will give a more detailed accounting of all the bad dealings with supposed 'reputable companies'that this project has had.

The Bad News:

This project has been on going for over 4 years now and many of the people following the car know a lot, or at least some, of the story. I would like to be able to write that this has been a fun time for me. I can't write that but I wish I could. This project has caused me more grief than any car is worth. I should have cut my losses long ago before I ever had this car cut up for the RWD conversion. I constantly regret the choices that I have made and the pain that I have caused my wife along the way. If I could turn back the clock.......I know that can't happen so it is what it has be come. While I am so close to seeing this car run and the majority of the big ticket items are paid for, we still have a ways to go and now comes all of those smaller items that add up faster than the items in your grocery bag. You know those items, the ones where you think nothing there cost very much at all but collectively they really added up to a lot.

Two days ago I sat down with the shop and got their total of their last invoice. We also went over the items that still needed to be purchased. We added those two sets of numbers up and I then had to come home and tell the wife that we were needing to spend another $25K. I watched her sink as she listened to me and from their she went into a tail spin. My wife is the best wife in the world (the only wife for me) and I hated having to tell her that number. The only buffer to that news for her is the expectation that we will be done and this nightmare can stop and allow me to focus on paying off my debt. I have also made an agreement with my wife that regardless of where we are at with the project when that $25K runs out, the project will stop. We will not take another cent out of our reduced retirement investments. Any further work will only be done as my cash flow allows and my debt needs to be put first.

What this all means is that, in all likelyhood, I will fail an end up a long ways away from the finish line. I will likely not be able to finish the interior or to paint the car and buying wheels/tires for the street is out of the question. Considering what I have envisioned this car to be, I won't reach that goal and it isn't for my lack of commitment. I appreciate those who donated to help me when this site was first started up but this isn't a plea for money. Why I even bring this up is because I need to prepare myself for my failure as well as prepare those who have followed this car for far too long. I have had this project beating me up for 4 years. Everyday the details keep bouncing around inside my head and the only relief is when I sleep. Having poured so much of my time, energy and money into this project and not see it finished isn't easy to do so I need to be ready. I have thought about just pulling down the website and stay away from the forums but too many people will want to know how this all ends. Now you know that the ending is likely to be less than what we all expected it to be.

And for those who say just make it a 'track car', track cars like this cost 1/3 of this stupid thing and the plan of enjoying it more than a few races a year was what kept me going. I have to be honest, I hate this car and all that it has become. With that being said, there is no advantage to selling it because the recovery value is minimal compared to the money spent.