I am going to apologize in advance to any would-be readers for letting out a bunch of frustration on my personal build log. This is just how it goes and I am actually biting my tongue (STS) very hard as I update the log.
oy. We just finished the stage one of moving the wife and daughter to my house located ~50minutes from town last week and still buried in boxes around the house. thinking until the other house sells and phase two begins (moving the staged furniture) I had some time to work on MY things it would be a grand fine week. . . .but nooooooo this has been the week from hell- seriously. I have been out in the crazy heat every single day this week attempting to even complete the most miniscule of tasks on the car with zero actual progress to show for things.
l am just shy of rage quitting this project and crushing the car. To say I am frustrated is an understatement of epic proportions. it may take me a while to get certain projects finished but thus far I have never actually QUIT any project. . .this goblin may be the one exception! This was supposed to be 90 days (tops) project. 3 years in and I spend more time looking up parts than turning a wrench by orders of 100 and any expected budget has long long ago been blown out of the water by twice++.
So as mentioned a bit previously Oldb1 washed his hands of the car after having sold off the wheels and seats from the donor and I had to give him $5000.00 to buy his interest out of the car (I haven't figured out the WHY of this yet because all funds spent were mine but Cest La vie to maintain the peace with friends) and the "alleged" parts and car got hauled over to my SUPER crowded BUSINESS production shop after the motor was slapped in place and the car was stuck on wheels borrowed from one of my business cars for the trip. only thing is. . . . 90% of the bolts and misc parts somehow didn't make the trip IF we ever had the to begin with. . . some of the parts I know we had and had spares because I never JUST buy the exact amount I buy extra for some dang reason and I have the receipts. the dang parts just vaporized I guess.
these are the cradle bolts. . . see a problem? I sure did. the one with lesser thread was jammed in the cradle handing out and inch and a half from the bottom of the car. oy! The rusty one came from one of the two cars I dismantled last week for some of my other BUSINESS projects- I as a rule do not use rusty parts on business cars or even my own. . . .but at this point I may actually be beyond caring. the baggie is allegedly the crossed referenced gm part.. . .but it isn't- cause the threads are wAAAAY too short. I am 100% sure I previously bought 4 of these in 2023, 'cause as i said, I have the receipts but those parts did not even make it to my shop. . . and these I had to re-buy again last month in hopes of getting this money pit DEE oh IN Eeee.
if I only had a m14-2.0 die I guess I could fix one of these problems that I really feel I should not be having to fix and press on. sadly no metric that big just yet in the shop- add one more thing to the amazon cart- sheesh. But it doesn't stop here! oh no not on this project from hell. I see oldb1 used 4 different bolts to hang the rear suspension arms. . .what happened to the ones we pulled from the donor as a minimum? they obviously didn't make the trip. I ended up pulling 4 from my personal VW hardware stash that "Fit" but may be on the short side. definitely 1/2 inch shorter (~12.5mm-lol) than the ones on the 2 recently dismantled cobalts. . . the tie rod brace piece thingie that fills in for the rack and pinion also has mis-matched bolts. . .only one could have come off a cobalt- no sign of the donor parts. new bolts are only $28.56 plus $11.94 shipping EACH
. . the engine mounts have a bolt on each side 1/2 inch from making contact with the frame (bottomed out) and no sign at all of the front engine mount. shouldn't those parts be in the parts taken to my shop? . .oh heck no! oy. oy. oy! but aren't one of the engine mount bolts on each side supposed to come from the donor seats? oh well. at this point I am highly suspecting that not one of the donor cars bolts made the trip to my shop- and for sure not one of the NEW bolts sourced over the last 3 years from amazon and other venders.
it has been exceptionally hot and humid the last month plus. . . .My brand new SS Recaro seats were armor-all'ed by my step daughter last week. . . . .and they are now covered with mold. oy! toss the armor-all and ban that junk from my shop for life. now how to save the very expensive seats? oy!
connect the radiator and intercooler? most of those hoses have gone missing too. pretty sure we did have those. I have a few sheet metal style hose splices. . .but frame rail hoses and cobalt turbo engine don't match in diameter. . . I see lots of issues with leaks in the forums and been down the mismatched hose thing before. . . .another $300 worth of misc heater hose and adapters in bound from amazon in the hopes the forum comes thru on the other thread with the part numbers for the hoses goblin recommends/ships with a kit or what ever. . . .then a shipping delay. story of my life with this car.
work stoppage AGAIN for lack of the correct pieces to put on the bleepen money pit from hell. Meanwhile, the bleepen car is sitting in my welding bay effectively halting all of my business production and making me "moody" says the wife. go figure!
