DAY 4 WEDNESDAY JUNE 27, 2007:  We were able to get the frame together and the upper control arm mounts in place, and that is about all.  We are really going to have to pick it up tonight in order to make this happen.  Friday has been scheduled as a marketing day with a car display for the Nevada State Bank Racing Team, so we will not be able to hit it again until Saturday.  We are still waiting on the engine, once again Special Thanks to Cornwell Tools - Carl Brown, it was supposed to be at the dyno last night and to us today, however still waiting for the word.  I won't be able to update until Saturday so I will run down the plan for the next couple of days.  If all goes according to plan, which is seldom, tonight complete the repairs on chassis and install all suspension right side suspension.  Finish the right side body mounts, and install door and fender.  If engine is delivered to shop bolt on all accessories, and have ready to stuff (Thursday).  Stuff the engine and get running, begin air dam, front nose, and all cooling accessories installed (Saturday).  If we can get this far by Saturday night it will leave us two days to work on the set-up and tweak.  Check back for more information and pictures by Saturday.

DAY 5 THURSDAYJUNE 28, 2007:  Still no engine, we are back to Friday as a delivery date.  If we want it by Friday then there will be no dyno break-in or tuning, but at this point we just need the engine.  Joe is still working on the chassis, and most of tonight will be spent preparing for the Nevada State Bank Grand Opening display in Mesquite.

DAY 6 FRIDAY JUNE 29, 2007:  Jim, Pat, and Jeff Bargerhuff spent the day in Mesquite meeting, greeting, and handing out pictures.  It was great that Findlay Chevrolet Marketing Director Doug Fleming was able to make it up and see the people.  Mesquite is a wonderful place and we had a great time meeting all of the banks customers.

DAY 7 SATURDAY JUNE 30, 2007: The engine arrived last night at about 9:00 pm, Cornwell Tools – Carl Brown, waited at the machine shop until completion and then brought it straight to the shop.  Today, we bolted up all of the accessories possible, and got the engine in the car.  When we started to put on the headers we ran into a problem that ended up costing us five hours.  The new engine has studs for the heads, which were hitting the header flanges.  Jeff “Jr.” Donohue took over this project, installing and then marking, taking back off, grinding on flange, and the re-installing to check clearance.  After the header was on the car five or six times there was finally enough clearance, and Jr. moved on to the other side.  This was tricky because we did not want to take too much off because we did not want to weaken the flanges, so a little at a time is all we could do.  The rest of the crew worked on other things while Jr. completed the headers.  We called it quits around 6:00 pm, after eleven hours.

DAY 8 SUNDAY JULY 1, 2007:  We started at 7:00 am and worked until about 10:00 pm today.  We finished the exhaust and started on the radiator and oil cooler.  Joe and Jr. came up with some trick new ways to mount both, not only is it better, it should also increase our cooling capacity.  After all that was completed we noticed the tension bolt on the back of the water pump was too tight on the timing cover.  After about an hour of trying to fix it with everything on the car we realized we couldn’t.  One step forward and five steps back.  We had to take the entire front of the engine off and this cost us about three hours.  We got the tension bolt fixed and then re-installed all of the cooling accessories once again.  We finally fired the engine at about 4:00 pm.  We let it heat cycle for the thirty minutes needed and shut it down.  The good news is that the temps stayed in range and there was only one small oil leak.  We fixed the oil leak and ran it another twenty minutes for break in.  After the break in we started on the body.  We got the doors, fenders, air dam, front bumper, and nose on and called it a night. 

WHAT’S LEFT?  We have to install the correct rocker arms and re-set valves, another heat cycle, bleed throw out bearing, make sure shifter & clutch are working, and then the set up.  After set up we will need to re-check all of the body for correct height and a once over on the entire car.  We are down to about 24 hours before the car needs to be loaded and on the way to the track.