Haven't done much with the car lately, only drove it once this last week because its so damn hot outside... Drove it around last night and noticed a pretty nasty shake in the steering wheel which I think is due to having a sloppy inner tie rod on the drivers side. Regardless the car is still running well, but I seriously can't wait to get the SR into it and really enjoy the car.
A few weeks ago a craigslist post popped up for a new reman steering rack and a complete SR bottom end. The guys number seemed to be dead, but I kept checking it daily until he finally updated it. I finally got a hold of him and was able to go snag the parts. Ended up with the steering rack, complete redtop bottom end and an Xcessive skid plate for $200.
The bottom end I picked up I am pretty excited for. I am still going to build a VET, but now that I have a complete stock bottom end I am going to make use of it while I build the VET's bottom end I really want. I was told this bottom end was replaced due to the motor smoking. The PO said the compression was perfect when pulled, but he didn't care to deal with finding the real issue so he just built a new bottom end and left this one to sit. It rotates over perfectly, cylinder walls look prefect and the pistons show no signs of detonation. With that said, I am going to refresh this bottom end with some new fasteners and slap the VE head on it so I can enjoy the car sooner. My turbo setup is going to be a bit much for it, but on E85 I should be able to make some nice power even with a stockish bottom end.
Now to some of you it might seem like a waste to spend money on rebuilding a stock bottom end, but to me it means that I can enjoy the car sooner. I'd love to do it all at once, but my income limits me quite a bit. With having it running, I will have all the time in the world to build a sweet bottom end that will handle how ever much power I want to make. I might even sleeve the extra block I have and run 90mm pistons to create an SR22...
