Very nice. Now that I see it from this angle it occurs to me that the muffler guys might be able to cut off the flange and shorten the collector 1 to 1.5" and rotate the flange a bit????

 

Actually I think if they cut the flange off they could extend the collector past the frame and weld the flange back on. Either way from a logistics standpoint kind of sucks. The last thing I was going to do was drive it to the exhaust shop. Won't do that now with it like this. I'm thinking I can probably just cut the flange off with a die grinder and let the exhaust shop put it back together later.

 

No real news to report....I did rip out the lower dash and replace the heater core. What a sweaty dirty job that was. I test fitted a front sway bar setup from a '91. I had the energy suspension sway bar bushing kit for a 90, but the bolts and spacer sleeve are way too long. So I polished up my old bolts and sleeves and used the new poly bushings that came with the kit. It's getting a bit frustrating as I near the end with so many things not fitting that are supposed to according to the manuf. To whit:

1) The passenger side header hits the frame. I guess not the manuf fault completely as I bought this header for a V8 89 Shelby, and now seeing that the V8 shelby blocks were shifted back, I can see if my engine was shifted back it would clear because there's a notch in the frame for the original 90 cast iron manifolds. So will have to figure out how to gain about 1/2" of clearance there.

2) The water pump hits the radiator fan. Again, because this is a crate motor V-belt setup, it uses the LA style water pump which is longer than many previous swaps that used a magnum pump and serpentine setup. The options here are move the motor back (I guess that would solve the header too), or go with a custom recessed radiator. Having one of those quoted tomorrow.

3) Because I bought this truck partially disassembled from a divorcee, I'm now finding I'm missing a lot of important little things that are exceedingly hard to source. There are enough differences in Gen 1 Daks from year to year, that not everything fits even if I find a different year Gen I in the yard. So far, finding a 90 Auto in a yard has been impossible.

So, I'm hoping God willing, to get this thing to paint in the next two weeks. i was hoping this week, but until I get the header and radiator issues resolved it'll have to wait.

 

Looking real nice! I don't think I've replied to this thread before but it's looking great. You guys doing actual nice, clean restorations are putting me to shame...but that's what a convertible deserves!

 

Thanks!

 

Just a quick update....no pictures as not much has changed on truck...I've started stripping all the rubber and stainless trim from the body panels in prep for paint. Today I had delivered to me from my parts guy a 94 hood, grill, headlights with adjusters and bezels, core, bumper and valence. All uncracked and ready to go in my front end swap. Also I scored a new in box tonneau cover off of craigslist and you won't believe but a new in box set of the discontinued bushwacker fender flares for Gen 1 also off of craigslist. They still have the original protector film on them! So spent nearly $500 today but I should be set with no more major purchases other than paint...famous last words...lol

 

Another update....truck is officially at the paint shop. Went with a shop that does custom air brush and high end paints...they were genuinely excited about this truck not having seen one and I got a good feeling looking at their work. Will end up paying a little more but why scrimp at this point. Going with pretty much the original red but they are adding some copper to give it some pop in the sunlight. And my wife has worked with the air brush artist to do an awesome graphic on the hood. Haven't got the price on that part yet so we will see if that part goes through...it's going to be a lady whose body morphs into the vines of a swamp....my wifes nickname is swampfire. I told her it will be like the thunder chicken...lol.

Anyway I'm excited to see the end result...to that end what are thoughts on:

Door handle bezels? They are black bezels with chrome pulls...I've eliminated all the chrome on the truck so I'm thinking painting the bezels red and the handles black?

Truck bed....they're going to do a spray liner but they can do any color...maybe a dark green to play off the hood graphic?

Light bezels....fronts probably red...rears were chrome so red also?

Bumpers....I'm thinking black....don't want too much red.

I have the bushwacker flares for this truck....debating on whether to use them and if I do color?

I do have the black tonneau....so bed cover and top will of course be black.

 

WAIT! YOU HAVE BUSHWACKER FENDER FLARES? Like the nice wide ones? If you don't use them would you sell them? Give me a price and I'll find the money.

 

This is so awesome man! Coming along great. Far as the flares, if the tires can match their width, I'd do them, otherwise nah.

Awesome job.