Bonnet mounted and on the road 2/14/2003

Allright. Since the last installment (and the second 1 mile shakedown ride) the following items have been debugged - at a medium frustration level.

Ground wire / Starter:

Shortly after the second drive around the block, I tried to start the car, and my temporary dash wire ground fuse (put in place to save the harness incase of bad dash grounds) started to blow everytime I tried to turn the starter. Simultaneously, the starter died. I figured the problem was a short inside the starter. After a rebuild on the starter (which was melted inside), I installed it only to blow the fuse again.... Then attention was turned towards the grounds- and I cleaned all of them (except the one from the battery cable to the battery box.) The bad ground was the battery to the box. With this under control, I enlisted some expert help on finishing the door striker alignment and a couple of two person jobs including the bonnet. I had also forgotten to fit the brake pedal return spring, and got some assistance with the brake pedal adjustment. The toe is now set, so the car is pretty roadworthy. There are still a couple of under-dash items to finish.

The gas light has also been sorted (I had the light grounded against the dash), and obviously the front bumper and running board chrome strips have been installed.

Now - what is left? the hood (top) and sidecurtains..... my oil pressure gauge is stuck on 50 - and the odometer stopped rolling after 2 tenths of a mile.