It Runs!

Well, I did get it to finally start about 2 weeks ago, and it sounds great. I need to tune it at this point, but I am holding off because I first need to replace the float in the secondaries.

After solving my leak issues I found I had gas flowing up through the vent on the secondaries. After confirming the needle valve was good, it had to be related to the float. I hope to get a chance to work on that this weekend.

But in the meantime, I am able to run the engine on the primaries and plug the secondaries, and it sounds great. Very pleased!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Small Set Back...

Well, I went to fire it up, but when I kicked on the fuel pump, gas came spewing out from every connection. So I am now waiting on my new fuel regulator...

Hopefully Firing It Up This Week

Almost everything has been sorted out to fire this up (finally!)

- Oil is in and so is the coolant, and no leaks either place.
- Brake lines are run, and the new disc brake block is in place.
- The new transmission lines have been run.
- The inner fender wells are hung so I can mount the battery and new ignition.
- Power steering lines are run, and the return line has been modified for the Eaton pump.
- Radiator hoses have been run (had to do custom steel flex-hoses ... yuck!)

Left to do before starting the car...

- Finish cleaning, repairing and retaping the engine compartment harness.
- Hook up electrical in engine compartment.
- Finish running fuel line and fuel pump.
- Add trans fluid and check for leaks.
- Hook up Jacobs Electronics ignition.

- Turn key and hope is starts!

I will post more info after turning the key.

New Throttle Cable Installed!

The old throttle cable was in very poor condition, so as I work at putting things together to fire the motor, I added replacing the old one to my to-do list.

I ended up picking this up off the shelf from O'Reilly's Auto Parts for $25. Not too bad, all things considered. After removing the old cable, I cleaned up the stock bracket and bolted it in place on the intake. A couple of tweaks with the Channel Locs squared the cable up with the throttle arm on the carb.

The mounting post came in the kit and just replaced the ball-and-socket style that was on the carb. Using the existingthrottle cable hole, I mounted the new cable in place putting a couple of gentle bends in place to work around the valve cover and leave a little slack for any movement of the engine.

After measuring 37 times, I attempted to cut the cable casing with a hacksaw, as stated in the instructions. This left frayed ends on the stainless jacket, and made zero impact on the spring steel wound inner core after more than 10 minutes of cutting with a fresh blade. So, I grabbed the angle cutter with a cutoff wheel and finished the job in seconds leaving a very clean cut.

Once again I mounted up the cable casing to prep for adding the inner cable. Originally, on my vehicle, a 3/8" diameter pin was used from the factory to hook up the old cable. After about 30 seconds of drilling I realized that it was hardened and I needed a different approach to the pedal mount. I finally opted to drill the pedal. It took three tries to get just the right angle so the cable didn't drag along the lip of the aluminum fitting. No worries.

After that, it was simply a matter of inserting the steel cable, measuring, removing, cutting to length, adding it back, feeding it into the eyelet assembly and setting the set screw. I did opt to use the clunky plastic end piece that came with the kit and is supposed to be used with their special bracket assembly. I just used a small hose clamp to hold it on the end so the cable fed through the center and didn't rub on the spring steel inner core.

The finished product looks good and works great. I just need to spray a little lithium grease up the tube to keep it lubed. Probably should have done that before installing it. Oh well.

Radiator support is installed ...

Putting the front end together so I can fire the motor.

Adding a 460 serpentine set-up to my 429 engine...

I cleaned up the pullies and brackets and added them to the engine today. The other picture is what they looked like before cleanup on the donor 460.

Working Toward Starting The Engine!

Working on trying to get the engine started on Monday, and I have a buddy coming over to help out for the day. Lots of stuff done, and lots more to go if we are to get it running. Here is a rundown of the last couple of days of what I've accomplished, and a few pics for fun!

I started out the weekend cleaning up the distributor and starter. The distributor (cap, base, wires and all) was painted blue, and where it wasn't blue, it was dirty and oxidized. I disassembled, cleaned and painted it to dress it up. The vacuum advance is paint chrome which give a nice finish. Not really chrome-like, but a nice shine for cheap, and far better than what I uncovered.

The starter was an even tone of oil and dirt covering surface rust. Once again, disassembled, cleaned up, and sprayed. This will sit behind a header, so it doesn't need to be perfect. I just couldn't put it back dirty.

Then I installed the heads and headers. What a pain! I made the headers myself and the passenger side wasn't too bad, but the driver's side was a bear. I had to pull the steering column and drop the steering box to get them in. I also had to "massage" them a bit up around the head as I couldn't test fit the last two pipes without tearing the front end apart, and I was off by about 1/4". No worries since this isn't going to be a super high performance vehicle. I wanted headers, and these should WAY outperform stock cast iron truck manifolds that were on the car.

Last, but not least, I polished up the valve covers I have. That meant wet sanding with 320, 600, 800, polishing with a Mother's Power Ball, and then hand polishing with a product called Autosol from Eastwood. In the end, I got the bright, satin finish that I was looking for. The covers are used, and they have "character marks", but I didn't want perfect, or highly polished.

I hope to be posting more pictures in the next few days that include a running engine,but we'll have to see.

Things Don't Always Work Out Like You Hope!

OK, so the other door skin just isn't going to happen. The first issue I ran into was the profile at the top of the door is different. No problem Just cut at the upper body line and replace part of the panel. It doesn't even have to be perfect since the molding will cover there.

I removed the new panel and trimmed it down. While planning the new attack on the existing door skin I held the new one up to make sure everything lined up. It did ... until I noticed that I couldn't see the door handle holes through the replacement door skin. Argh!

Apparently, on the hardtops, the door handle is moved a couple of inched inboard from the four-door models. This has officially made reskinning this door more hassle than its worth. So back to the bodywork on the original door, and we'll accept "not perfect."

In other news, I have started reassembly of the motor. I'm going to shoot for this weekend to start the car. So I cleaned out the cylinders to make sure nothing snuck in, ordered the gasket kit, put on the fuel pump cover, and I just finished doing a quicky detail of the starter and distributor.

The starter was covered in gunk and had light surface rust, while the distributor was oxidized, and 90% sprayed Ford blue. They look much better, and certainly suitable for the vehicle. The starter will be mostly hidden, so there was only minimal disassembly performed.

Tomorrow I need to pick up a new starter cable as the current one is rough. After that, drop the steering box to add the DS header and slip in the PS. Hope to post pics tomorrow!

Reskinned A Door From An Old Donor!

After fighting with the driver's door for more time than I care to admit, I finally caved and purchased a donor door that I have had my eye on for some time. It was rust-free and aside from a couple of very minor marks, dent-free.

So why didn't I just bite the bullet and buy it instead of messing around with all of the body work? Because the donor door is from a 4-door hardtop, so there are no window frames. That means I either have to move my window frames, or I have to reskin the original door.

Since my doors are very solid, and the only rust I have in any of the doors is a small hole in the corner of the door skin, and because it looks like there are a lot of ways to have things go wrong moving the frame, I opted to reskin.

Now I'll start by saying I didn't take pictures of this door, but I will be doing the DS rear door as well, and will document the work I do to that one. It will be a little harder due to the shape, so it will be a better subject. Anyhow, here's what was involved!

After looking over both doors about a dozen times to make sure measurements, body line, mount points and all other essential details were the same, I dug in. Remove the donor panel FIRST. If anything goes horribly wrong, I still have my original door. Using a hammer, two different sized screwdrivers, a pair of pliers and a drill with my Eastwood weld-cutter I cut out the welds, and carefully peeled back the bottom and one side of the door edge to about 90°. The other end I lifted, but only enough to pop it loose.

In some areas the lip is quite wide and will lift easily. In others, there is maybe 1/4" width wrapped around the edge, and those were the most challenging to peel back. My biggest concern was distorting the metal on the front side of the panel when I lifted the edge. I can safely say this is unavoidable. It didn't happen in all places and it wasn't severe in any, but it did require a small amount of filler to true up the edge when reinstalled.

As it turns out, this was not to be the biggest concern after all. When you take sheet metal and put a 180° tight radius bend in it, it work hardens the metal at the bend. When you attempt to take that bend out, or when you attempt to put it back in again, you can (and likely will) split the seam.

In my case, 3/4 of the bottom and roughly a third of one end split and separated. This required welding the seam. Now I'm no expert welder, but since I didn't notice the issue until after I permanently removed the original door skin, I didn't have much choice but to make it work. Using low heat I just worked moving around a lot so as to not distort the panel and just gave it a little zap until I dotted everything together. A little work with the grinder, and it was stitched up. This really wasn't that hard, just time consuming and a bit stressful.

The unfortunate part of having to do this (beyond the extra work of having to weld it up) was it all had to be clamped up which meant I had some additional putty work to do at the edge. Still, when all is said and done, the door looks so much better than the other panel ever could have, with considerably less filler. Actually probably less that you would need for your typical door of this age. As an added bonus, I didn't have to remove/transfer the door tag to a new door and the rivets remain unaltered. Not a huge deal for me, but that might be more of a consideration if your vehicle is rare or you would like to preserve provenance.

When I do the next door, I promise lots of pictures and more details on how it was done. Hopefully it will provide you with enough info to do this yourself if you have been on the fence about tackling something like this.

Refinished Mercury console and starting clean-up in the third row seat well...

While I continue to work on the body on finish up the interior trim, I have some new pics!

First is the "correct" '67 Mercury console that I located after restoring the '68 Galaxy console. It was definitely the way to go since it houses the controls for the power windows and power locks. And, I decided to go white with the console as I think it will set off against the black carpet better than the black console would. The controls still need to be cleaned up and transferred to the white housing. This was originally red...

Next up a a couple pics of the third row/cargo area. Lots of cleanup in there, but no rust holes. After a lot of wire-wheeling, I applied two coats of Rust-Fix, a coat of zinc primer, a coat of Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator, and a final coat of Extreme Chassis Black. Let's hope rust is never an issue there. Oh yeah, I also added in the seat belt brackets so the kiddies will have seat belts to keep them safe. (Note: Sorry, no pic of the finished black available yet. On my to-do list.)

Interior Trim and The Third Row Area ...

The long weekend has provided me with some extra time and extra help. Tim stopped over to help bang out some dents on the passenger rear quarter. The job is impossible on my own, so it is good to have his help. Older bodywork here included drilling about a dozen holes to pull out a dent. Those were welded up after we straightened things out considerably.

Next I moved on to cleaning up the cargo are (third row seat bay) where there was a bit of rust in the pan area with some heavy pitting. An hour's worth of wire wheeling with the angle grinder, sanding, and two coats of extend prepped it for primer. Next step, after cleanup, is a healthy brushed on coat of Eastwood Products Extreme Chassis Black. I'm opting to do this instead of bedliner or the white interior paint. My hope is it will strike a balance between function and looks.

Lastly, I have been hard at work at refinishing all of the interior trim. It has all been pulled, and more than half has been completed. It will (and does) look significantly better when done. Only a few more pieces to go and that will be ready for reinstallation.

Next Up:

• Finish rust repairs on corner of doors and at rockers
• Finish body work
• Paint lower dash (while still in car - eep!)
• Pull steering column and paint

More pics soon!

Body Work Time!

With the headers completed, it is time to turn my attention to the body and prep for paint. Stripping out all of the old body work has been a HUGE chore. The Bondo was more than an inch think in places. I even found it where there was no damage to the panel.

Clearing away the Bondo also revealed where the wagon has been hit in both quarters previously, worse so on the passenger's side. All of that is being straightened out to minimize the amount of filler that has to go back in.

There is some rust to repair, but overall not too bad. 3 out of four doors have the obligatory hole in the corner where the drain plugged, trapping dirt and water, and eventually leading to rust. Both rockers at the back suffered the same fate for the same reason. This has also caused damage to the inner wheelhouse which will also need repair. In one of the photos you can see a close-up of where I have removed the entire corner.

I am fabbing a new inner and outer at this location, and likely will for the other side, too. You can also see that this door has had the corner repaired already. "New" metal (from the roof of a Fairlane I parted out) has been welded in where the rusty metal had been removed. A little filler, and it will blend right in to the rest of the door.

A lot of the paint has been removed, and there is a lot left to go, but each time I work on it now, I feel the project moving forward. I can almost picture it done now!

Headers Are Finished!

After many hours of work, the headers are finished!

These were quite the challenge to take on as I have never done anything at all like this, and it was tough at first. Double, triple and quadruple checking everything as still getting things wrong and having to go back and redo them. But, as time went by, they definitely got easier.

They aren't perfect, or show pieces, but they are beautiful to me. Here are the pictures!

Because I wasn't as concerned about maximzing performance as I was about having something that worked well, I opted to weld the pipes on the inside. They will no doubt outperform the factory truck manifolds that were on the car when I purchased it, and I have a lot more clearance around the bolts for installation.

I also found it was easier to weld up the collector if I cut the end off and did it from the inside. A LOT easier. Since I wasn't worried about dressing the welds and wanted to keep that homemade look, it was a super easy decision.

I also stripped, cleaned up, primed and painted the inside tailgate panel. It looks much better. Still see signs of some of the old dents that I just couldn't work out, but so much better.

This was the first of the large panels (including the third row seats) that I need to refinish. The seats I think I will end up having soda blasted as it will be a ton of work to strip those down. I'll have to pull the out again and decide for certain.

I also had a chance to work on the body a little bit. Still trying to get the body line on the driver's side right. not easy with all of the dings and dents on the body line itself.

So, I took a break for that and start stripping the passenger's side. The doors look pretty good, but the rear quarter was tagged at some point in the past. Ugh! The body work was awful. They at least tried to pull the dents out some. Why pull them when they could have easily bumped them from the inside without drilling holes I'll never know.

And the same is true for the body line at the lower area of the quarter panel. They created it out of Bondo. Nearly an inch think in places. Best part: It wasn't necessary. They built it up without rhyme or reason. There was so much Bondo, that after 45 minutes I still haven't cleared it all from the quarter. Once I get that out, I can finally get a look at what I'm really facing.

Anyhow, time to call it a night!

Started The Bodywork!

Just set things into high gear and got a great jump on the bodywork today, and there are plenty of dents to address! It looks like someone drove this drunk down a street with cars parked up and down it, or they were playing tag, because both sides of the wagon are dented up front to back. But, with a little help from my friend Tim, and a bunch of hammering on sheet metal, I am almost ready to start putting down a layer of filler to true up the panels.

We got the windows, hardware and trim removed from all 4 doors, and in the next couple of days I will be sending my dew wipes from the doors and the tailgate out to be redone. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this goes smoothly. If so, I will be set for about $150 which is pretty awesome.

The rear tire is off the car because, unfortunately at some point, someone thought it would be a good idea to flatten out the lip of the wheel well with a set of pliers. I straightened it out as best as I could, but I couldn't true the underside up 100%. I guess if it has to be off, that is the place to do it. The wheel well trim is quite rough, but I picked a decent set up some time back. I will have to see if thwy are a correct fir now since they are off a full-size Merc, but not a wagon. I hope so, because finding even those was almost impossible.

I also got to spend a little time yesterday working on the second header and have the first tube's run tacked up. That's the hardest part, but now that it is done, I can run the other three around it down to the collector. Should be interesting since I will need to work around the steering.

More to come soon...

Door Panel Restoration...

OK, so this is a bit more of an overhaul than a true restoration, but the first panel is done and it looks sooooo much better than before.

This first picture shows the complete panel with a spare used that is very similar in condition to where the completed panel started.

What a difference! But these aren't going to be perfect. The vinyl is 46 years old and has cracks, chips and other imperfections, and this isn't going to be show care, so I'm cleaning these up only so far, and I drew the line at actually repairing the vinyl.

I started by giving the panel a good wash. From an appearance standpoint, it really didn't have much an affect, but was critical to prep for the dye. I opted to use my old standby, Simple Green, to clean the panel.

Next, I carefully removed the backerboard. It was warped (like almost all of this age) and starting to deteriorate. The lower section of the panel was glued down to the backerboard where the lines are. I carefully separated it using a putty knife, and that seemed to work reasonably well. The staples at the edges came out easily, but the vinyl at the edge is very brittle, so care when working with it for all processes was important.

The last step in removing the backerboard with popping it free of the top steel panel. 22 holes were punched through and the points were stamped flat. I used a long, wide-bladed screwdriver to pop these free. It did damage the board at the holes, but left plenty intact for use as a template.

Once off, I had to decide what to use for the new backerboard. I knew I didn't want to use fiberboard of any kind, so I did some looking. Home Depot had a plastic panel smooth on one side, and pebbled on the other that was slightly thinner than the original board and $25 a 4' x 8' sheet. One sheet is all that is needed.

Probably the biggest impact on the appearance was redying the panel. It was already cleaned, so now I had to remove the old "chrome" finish on the thin rule trim. A little quality time with a flat razor blade and it all came off. Then I taped it off. Using SEM Color Coat in medium heavy coats, the dye covered nicely after just two coats without plugging the pattern, running or sagging.

I carefully traced the old panel onto the new material taking care to flatten it out as I worked, and then cut out the perimeter using tin snips. I could have used a saw, but with a little care I could trim out the panel and make a much smaller mess without having to clear an area and set up with tools. I suspect from the way the material cut it is made with fiberglass. It did score and crack pretty easily and cleanly.

Next, I measured out and drilled the holes for where the panel attaches to the metal cap. 20 of the 22 were in line and evenly space. The last two had roughly 1/8" and 1/4" run out. I drilled the holes to be almost exactly the size of the part that would poke through them. They fit very tightly. To keep from cracking the board, I placed a small deepwell socket over the hole and gently (relatively speaking) tapped them down. Then, using a punch, I flattened the tips back over then panel where I could. As tight as the holes were, I have little fear of the panel popping loose.

Here is a close up of the two holes that were out of line from the others.

The holes for the door handles and window cranks I actually waited to drill out until after I mounted the panel. It seems like I was doing it out of order, but it helped me make certain the holes weren't off. They were 1" dia, so I used a paddle bit which made clean holes with a support board behind the to prevent tear-out.

The holes for the door clips were drilled, and then square cuts were made by scoring and snapping small areas out. They aren't as pretty as the factory, but they work well, and the door clips aren't loose.

Next, using double stick foam tape, I cut thin strips and applied it to the back of the vinyl where it glued originally. We'll see how it holds up over time. The edges got the same treatment with a slightly wider slice and seems to hold quite well. If it holds until they are hung, great!

The last thing I needed to complete was the trim. It needed to math the factory chrome trim, but without having to be removed, and it had to be affordable. After trying a couple of options, I ended up with a sealant tape. The chrome isn't quite a bright as some other options, but it performs much better for my purposes, and is a close match on brightness.

I cut 7/16" strips that I laid after supplying a small amount of water to the trim with a spray bottle first. this makes it easier to reposition if need be without trashing the tape.

The end result? I'm happy. I just need to get started on the next three...

You Know You Buy A Lot On eBay When...

With three projects going, I buy and sell a fair amount on eBay, so it isn't uncommon to come home to find a package or two on the porch. That is, unless I haven't purchased anything, and then it's really odd.

In the past week that has happened twice from people that I have never purchased from, nor have I sold to. I didn't realize the first package was sent in error as I hadn't had a chance to open it and it sat for several days before I did. What gave me concern was when I had everything I had ordered, or so I thought, and two more packages showed up. Very strange!

So I did the honest thing and contacted eBay. Their customer service rep listened to my story carefully, and then asked to put me on hold. When he returned I was informed that he could neither confirm who the seller was, nor the buyer. Further, they had no policy on record to address this scenario as they have "never had anyone call to say they received something they didn't pay for," so their position was this: I could keep the items, or I could try to figure out who the sellers were and talk to them.

Morally, I can't (and won't) keep them, but now the burden of finding where these belong has fallen on me. Fortunately there were enough clues for me to locate the original auctions and sellers without having to chase them down via their return addresses. I have contacted both. The problem with this is this only gets me half way there. The items are no longer legally theirs. They belong to the buyers.

Further, I have to hope that both items were purchased by the same person, that they weren't using my name and address intentionally to commit fraud, or in an attempt to defraud me, and convince them that my shipping address is showing up in their account through no action on my part.

Fun.

And if it's two different buyers, I now have a whole host of potential issues to worry about.

On the bright side, at least I don't have to worry about eBay coming after me. They could care less.

Many happy returns!

P.S. More on wagon progress soon (now that I finished redoing my daughters bedroom set!)

Replaced the Rear Springs...

Got a little time out in the garage today, so I replaced the rear springs. I bought them over 6 months ago, but they haven't been a priority. While cleaning the office today I had to keep moving them, so they moved up the list. Easy project to take from start to finish and the car sits level again.

A Little Interior Work...

Been a little while since my last update, but in my defense, I have been non-stop around the house getting the Spring cleaning done early. Anyhow, on to the updates!

Today I was able to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather (we hit 60s in early March!) and do some work on interior trim. I need to get it all pulled, painted or reupholstered so I can pull the dash pad and replace it with the new one, and I need to paint the lower dash. I'm hoping to do that one without removing it, but we will have to see if I can pull that on off.

First off, the pillar trim is padded. I stripped the old covers off and this is what I had left (note original cover still on lower pad):

Unfortunately, the vinyl they used to cover the pad is quite thin, while I had to use the same material as I did for the seats. This made it much more challenging. Hopefully everything fits when done. Spray-mount, press, trim, and work it into place trying to get the adhesive to stick and you get this (original still below):

Much better, but I have some wrinkles I will need to try to work out. The thicker material really makes this a challenge, but it looks a thousand times better and it will match the rest of the interior.

I also redid the spare tire access cover. Resisting instinct to do it my way, I applied adhesive the same way as the factory did. The net result is I ended up with a couple bubbles that will be difficult to do. Hopefully I can get them, but in the meantime, what a difference!

I still need to reinstall the bar at the bottom, and the hook on the inside by the handle hole, but much better.

I also sprayed about a half dozen pieces of trim and then ordered more SEM Super White (which is really an off white, and sorry, no pic yet) because I am going to at a minimum do the door panels as well, and may spray the last two larger interior panels that go in the back of the vehicle. Plus, I need to do ALL of the third row seat assemblies, minus the upholstery. The big panels are upholstered, but it is just going to be way to much work to have new ones sewn up.

Once the trim and dash are set, I can reassemble the interior, and add the console back in. I still need to redo the seat tracks, but I bought a 5 gallon bucket of EvapoRust to soak them, rather than trying to disassemble them and blast them. If my gamble pays off, I can eliminate the rust, paint them and put them back into service while saving myself a ton of added labor, and ultimately end up with a better product.

I found one picture I have of the windlace from the driver's door. It looked rough, but after cleaning with Simple Green and then lacquer thinner and them a fairly heavy couple of coats of SEM Color Coat, and they look almost new!

That's all for now. I'll try to get a pic of the trim for my next post, but there won't be much to tell other than it worked and it was easy, or otherwise.Now to pull all of the third row seats so I can have them soda blasted...

Pulling Door Panels...

Just a quick post on pulling door panels. I picked up some spare doors (for the glass) and needed to remove the door panels first. Getting the old Ford panels off can easily result in damage if you aren't careful due to the substrate being a low-density fiberboard that is prone to tearing and readily absorbs water which weakens it.

This picture shows a technique you can use to pop the spring clips without tearing out the mounting holes. You get the putty knife (or similar) as close to the clip as you can, and pry against the PUTTY KNIFE ONLY with a wide, flat-bladed screwdriver as close to the clip as you can.

I personally like to start at a lower corner and work my way across the bottom, and then up either side for the best results. One last note ... be sure any fasteners, door pulls, window cranks, or any other item that will prevent remove of the panel has been removed first or you can stress or crack the panel.

Finally Found A Correct Roof Rack!

After much searching, I have finally located (and procured) a correct Mercury roof rack! It isn't quite as nice a s the Ford roof rack I had picked up previously, but the mounting holes are all the same meaning no new holes in the roof, and all of the rubber gaskets and insulators are in outstanding condition.

It may seem a little odd, but I would rather stay with an original, correct roof rack that isn't quite as pretty rather than go with the nicer one that just won't look right. At least not to me since I know better.

I also picked up a full set of glass (minus the windshield, but that will come soon), and all of the trim off the back around the tailgate. Nice to have spares, and I will probably even replace a few pieces since these are so nice.

Pictures to come soon!

NOS Dash Pad...

As luck would have it, I ran across an NOS dash pad around the first of the year from a guy in Florida. Still in the factory plastic, and never been opened! I was able to get that to replace my cracked black pad (wasn't sure if that was going to ever happen.) This will need to be dyed first. Time to get some SMS black with the low gloss!

I was also able to pick up an original AM/FM radio. Was supposed to be in working condition when pulled. I have another in questionable condition. Now I just have to figure out which knobs are correct for the radio... Then I will need to test it to see if it works before it goes in the car.

What a lucky find on both counts!

A Quick Update...

Wow! it has been way too long since my last update. Not much has happened due to a family illness and finishing up the installation of the hoist, and drywalling the modified garage roof. Once I have my wife back in the garage, I should be all set to get some work done. Hope to be posting more stuff soon!