Happy Sunday!!!
I spent the day shooting in preparation for the Big Match next Sunday. I carved out some time to work on the ol' bucket yesterday. Here's how it went.
I knew what had to come next, but cutting into something so valuable gave me a lot more pause than expected. (about six minutes) Then the RF flare came off and exposed the stock arch. Some concentrated effort using two different air saws with very used blades and this happened.
I swapped the rear wheel to the front and screwed back on the flare and this happened.
Not the best fitment, but hardly the worst.
I stared at this for a while and shared these photos with a few friends to get some feedback. The Full Send Society was very supportive (as they're wont to do) and the other friends I shared this with were similarly stoked. So when all the teams call for blood, blood must be shed. Next sacrifice on the altar...
More air-sawing (and swearing and wondering how RWBro does it) and voila!
GD, that's a big spacer! (2" or ~0.0000508km)
I got the LR swapped 'round to the RR (fronts on left, rears on right for those of you playing along at home) and pushed it all out into the driveway.
Now that is awesome...even if the wheels still don't fit well...yet. That's 17x9.5 et13 front and rear, rear with a 2" spacer. (The other side looks like a crashed car kludged together enough to roll around the impound lot.)
I stared at this for a while...like an hour.
I shared this pic and a couple similar others.
Many texts were shared.
Hell, I think I even made an IG post.
Eventually, I realized that I wouldn't be able to work on it Sunday (today) so I better get to hacking away on the other side.
I buttoned back up the LF and moved to the LR.
I then buttoned back up the LR...just in time to get done ~15 minutes after Kelly got home which means I was ready to go out to dinner (with friends) about 45 minutes late. #whoops
No pics of the left side because it looks like the poop with the wheels sunk way in and the bumpers still hanging on with clamps and tape.
Next steps are:
- swap the wheels to the left side and make sure the flares fit how they should
- tidy all the cuts to make sure they aren't wavy messes
- bodywork the cuts to make sure they nicely mate up to the flares
- strip the paint from the car up to just above the line
- scuff the mating surface of the flares
- panel bond the flares on
- reinstall the ~100 screws to make sure the panel bond does its job
If I can get all that done before Sunday, it'll be a great week. So you all have a great week too.