| Jan 17, 2003 |
| New GT door trims arrived. Thanks to Rick H, Cam M, Dave J for all their effort in getting these to me. |
| Jan 23, 2003 |
| Dash pad arrived today… it was recovered to factory specs and looks great. Thanks to the same guys again for their help. |
| Jan 24, 2003 |
| Bought another pair of vintage BFGs for the front. |
| Jan 29, 2003 |
| Box of used parts from Marke K arrived. |
| Feb 16, 2003 |
| Repaired handbrake cable and cleaned and painted all brackets. Found out that diff is from an XD so Marke K sent proper pads. |
| March 29, 2003 |
| Weather has been lousy but today I mounted the vintage front BFGs to the new rims… looking better and better!! |
| April 8, 2003 |
| Continue modifications to MFP radio, finished MFP rear license plate, updated MFP fender logos, locating more parts. |
| May 17, 2003 |
| Replaced one of the headlamps that was missing some plating on the inside making it not so bright.. I can see again! |
| May 19, 2003 |
| Warmer weather has allowed me to remove the tinting on all windows, get all brake rotors machined. I hope to get the car back off the axle stands this weekend so I can prep for engine removal. |
| May 24, 2003 |
| Flushed brake lines, reinstalled all brakes, finally hooked up handbrake (new cables), I now have all 4 vintage BFGs on the car with proper offset rims, could’nt go for a drive as I blew out a power valve in the carb. Thanks to Bill for breaking my creeper and buying me some chocolate bars for restitution. |
| June 16, 2003 |
| Sold the powder coated rims I had at the Ford 100th Anniversary in Dearborn Michigan. Working on a second set now. Also picked up a replica Scott Injector from Dave Jensen. I will be using this unit instead of an original. One on the bottom is the repro unit. |
| June 21, 2003 |
| Located 4 more vintage NOS BFGs for the front |
| July 5, 2003 |
| Nothing major today, adjust handbrake, sort through parts, relocate hood release lever, take measurements for exhaust zoomies. |
| July 10, 2003 |
| Gave a wrecked car to the junkyard and was given 2 more electronic distributors one of which is newly rebuilt. |
| July 14, 2003 |
| Reinstalled carb and Frank Balbar set it up even better than the first time. seems the Moroso gaskets he used the first time are just not as good as the Holley. The engine now has 20 inches of vac and runs smoother than ever. I was planning to get the engine freshened up but seeing as it only needs the valve seals replaced I may pass on it for now and just go with a cam change instead. I’ll still pull the eng/gearbox to clean/paint under the hood though. |
| July 16, 2003 |
| Start to chemical strip the GT hood I’ll be using |
| August 16-27, 2003 |
| With only a $100 budget I’m putting the car together enough to make it somewhat street legal so that I can finally take it out to a cruise night in Niagara Falls. The holiday weekend is Aug 30 to Sept 1 which is the busiest cruise of the year in this area. |
| July 18, 2003 |
| Finished stripping all paint from the hood. Took final measurements for new cut out. |
| July 26, 2003 |
| Bill Budd came over to assist cutting the new hood and test fit it a few times. |
| August 1, 2003 |
| Sand the hood in prep for primer. Only a couple of very small dents will need to be fixed, otherwise it’s in perfect shape. |
| August 4, 2003 |
| Using the piece of metal cut out from the center of the hood I made the bracket for the blue dash light. |
| August 16-27, 2003 |
| With only a $100 budget I’m putting the car together enough to make it somewhat street legal so that I can finally take it out to a cruise night in Niagara Falls. The holiday weekend is Aug 30 to Sept 1 which is the busiest cruise of the year in this area. |
| September 2, 2003 |
| The cruise was a great success !! The car ran perfect. A big thanks to Jean Pelletier, Frank Balbar, Jay Zadina for all they did to help out on Sunday. Jean managed to get some very cool video of the car on the trip to the cruise. Frank drove the camera car while Jay drove my other car as a back up for any problems. The only thing we were not able to get on the car was the zoomie pipes. The car, in my opinion, looked like crap due to the body work not being started but it was received very well by the crowd. |
| September 7, 2003 |
| Took the car to Niagara Falls again for a final cruise. Bill Budd came along for the ride this time and I managed to put some miles on the car cruising the main strip instead of leaving it parked like last week. Once again the car ran flawlessly… I even left some rubber behind a few times!! |
| September 13, 2003 |
| I took some decent pics of the car at Lakeside Park which is the park that the well known group RUSH sings about. |
| October 4, 2003 |
| Well…. an ongoing situation has finally settled!! The XB project has been set to full speed ahead …. it’s time to get serious now. |
| November 10, 2003 |
| I’ve spent the last month sourcing the rest of the parts needed. I still need a few more things though but it should not be a problem with all the help I’ve been getting from so many people with great deals… it’s nice to know that there are still some people that truly enjoy the automotive hobby and not just in it to make a few bucks.This week will be mostly doing the engine work and cleaning/painting the engine bay. |
| December 4, 2003 |
| Engine and gearbox removed, completely stripped out engine bay and degreased it. Remove interior, gas tank and whatever else that will get in the way as the coupe is heading for the body shop on Dec 6. Have received the new sill panels (rockers) and panel to replace below the rear windscreen along with heaps of interior pieces, have also been glass beading what ever I can at home so that it’s all ready to put back together when the bodyshop is done with it..plus I’ll be assisting with the body (and taking pics). Naturally I had some help along the way….Ok OK….this is who has done most of the work!! |
| December 16, 2003 |
| Removed glass and stripped out the remaining interior. Gathering new front end parts and new engine items for the rebuild. Continue to clean and degrease pieces and get them painted for reassembly. |
| December 24, 2003 |
| Received the correct Maxrob steering wheel which came complete with the center cap…thanks to Jason in Victoria !! Removed the complete dash/glove box which will make it easier to restore. All front end parts now in. Will clean off protective oil coating and powder coat them. Wire wheel the rusty area of the engine bay (battery area) and prep for paint. |
