Here's what Jeff, Shane, Bob, Gary, Shelley and I did since the August 2nd pictures up until completion:

• Brake calipers and rotors assembled and installed
• Brake lines routed and attached
• Stainless fuel tank vent lines bent and attached
• Braided stainless fuel lines and return lines cut to length and ends installed
• Ignition tray bent, drilled and installed
• Tow caps installed on tops of spindles
• Water pump blockoff/temperature gauge plates fabricated and in place
• Throttle cable mounting bracket for the pedal fabricated and installed
• Bracket to hold fuel shutoff cable to front of fuel pump fabricated
• Cowl front lip welded and sanded
• Cockpit cutout enlarged and flared
• All panels prepped for painting
• BHJ Harmonic Balancer installed
• Windshield complete and installed
• Rear tires/wheels balanced
• Stock pan put on transmission (fancy 3" pan wouldn't clear the belly)
• Special shift arm and new filter installed in tranny
• Flexplate, torque converter, coupler and rear end installed
• Shifter cable in place and adjusted
• Scatter shields in place
• All panels painted red
• Tranny dipstick and tube shortened and marked
• Clearance hole in ignition tray for tranny dipstick tube
• Dash panel, taillight and chute plate patterns complete
• Brakes filled and bled
• Cables from remote power panel to starter in place
• Ignition (7AL-3), coil and fuseblock mounted to tray
• Dash panel complete
• Igntion and start switch mounted
• Shift light mounted
• Biondo MEGA-200 Delay box/Replay Tachometer mounted
• Rev kit, heads and injector torqued in place
• Bronze gear installed on distributor
• Ceremonial "First Filling" of the methanol jug
• Throttle cable bracket fabricated
• Throttle cable routed and attached at both ends
• Wiring complete
• Header subplates modified and mounted
• Rocker arms installed
• Valve lash set
• Rocker stud girdles in place
• Coil wire bulkhead terminal in firewall
• Rear tires in place
• Differential filled with oil
• Throttle return spring bracket fabricated
• Headers bolted on
• Vavle cover studs in and covers put on
• Fuel shutoff bracket grooved for the cable
• Timing pointer fabricated, TDC found and 0 established
• Spark plugs and wires done
• Tranny dipstick tube strap fabricated
• Injector hoses tightened
• Engine and tranny oil added
• Block filled with water
• Oil pressure achieved with electric drill (65lbs.!)
• Fuel lines flushed
• Tank washed and filled with methanol
• Remote starting cables complete
• Collector mufflers installed
• Rollbar padding complete
• Chute, new chute plate and release cable installed
• Fuel shutoff cable in place
• Elastic/Screen burnout-bag for injectors made
• Tail light in place
• Transbrake switch mounted on steering wheel
• Red coiled transbrake cord installed
• Both front wheels static balanced
• Front wheel bearings packed and spindles greased
• Engine Fired!
• Injector butterflies reseated and throttle linkage reworked

The Startup

We tried our darndest to get the motor to run 9/3/00, but it looked like the Hilborn fuel pump I bought used was "used up". We could get some fuel to come out by spinning it up with an electric drill, but cranking the motor very quickly and holding the hose into a container yielded nothing. When gas was squirted into the injector, the motor would fire, but when the gas was used up, it would quit. The digital tachometer reports that we did get 1400RPM. A few pops and a couple of fireballs in my face was all we got.

The folks at Hilborn rebuilt my pump and shipped it back in 2 days! Amazing...

Jeff, Shane, Cathy, Shelley and I witnessed the ceremonial "first firing". Wow, is it loud, even with the collector mufflers! We ran it for about 10 minutes total. It didn't quite get up to temperature, but we ran low on fuel and had an injector hose squirting a fine spray (good eye Jeff!). It took a bit of experimenting to get the timing right so it would fire. Some head studs were leaking water into the crankcase, and we had to pull each one and put gorilla goo on them to make sure the water stays out. I put it back together with new oil and filter and it's ready for a second round.