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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MSRTom" data-source="post: 993547" data-attributes="member: 10772">Yes. I know the blue interior stuff is gross. It was cool back then, but now I long for a nice, stockish interior.So after I put all of that stuff back in the car, I figured that I should get it running (no-brainer, right?). I wanted to rebuild the factory longblock (still do), but needed something right then. So I called up a local salvage yard and got a 5.0 out of a 96 Explorer. After helping me get the car turned around and pointed in the right direction toward the other garage door, Dad took a break from helping me out. It looked like it was about to rain, but as I stood there, looking at the empty engine bay, then back inside to the waiting engine hoist w/the Explorer 302 sitting on the floor on an old tire, something told me to keep going.<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KV_8hfzOvpg/T5lACEP9ssI/AAAAAAAAARQ/6w1JdmVmvvw/s0/CoatedLongtubes%20001%20%28Copy%29.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />As "Free Bird" started playing on the radio, I pushed the front end into the garage enough to get the engine lowered into the bay. I had it bolted in place and most of the wiring harnesses connected by the end of the song. I know it's a pretty long song, but I still thought that it was noteworthy. Then I pushed it back, repositioned the canopy and snapped the above photo. It's still one of my favorites of the whole project.From the summer of 2009 until the spring of 2011, things were accomplished, but incrementally. I am trying to become one with my camera so that I can take pics of stuff that I do for the project thread, but back then, I wasn't taking many pictures. During this period, the clutch and transmission were reinstalled, interior pieces fitted, and a few issues (mostly electrical) were sought out and corrected. For example, the ignition switch would not engage for the longest time, but I finally traced the problem to some wiring problems at the steering column. At some point (It bothers me to this day that I can't remember the exact date), I took the car on its first drive ever since the accident. Holy crap, it was terrible. Hesitation, backfiring, suspension all out of wack, speedometer didn't work (still doesn't...but I know why). Nevertheless, it was one of my happiest moments as an automotive enthusiast.So if you haven't noticed by now, go ahead and scroll up so that you can see all of the crap that's filling up my parents' two car garage. Most of that is mine. Mostly either parts that I picked up for spares, or pulled out of the Cobra, or performance parts that I had planned to install. I started feeling guilty about it, so I decided that I should probably buy my own house (I assure you, this was the only reason I bought my house. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite11" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll Eyes    :rolleyes:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":rolleyes:" />). I bought my house in Summerville, and moved 25 miles north of my parents' house on James Island. Needless to say, not much got done on the Cobra for a while. In June, I decided that it was time to get the Cobra moved to Summerville. On one of the days before the voyage, I sprayed off the car to knock off the dust and loose pollen. Here are some of the shots after that. It's not clean, just wet.<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Bj2e658LIaE/T5lDRy4PztI/AAAAAAAAAJk/KTp3jFTCysY/s0/IMG_20110605_112313%20%28Copy%29.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L0GozpoaDD8/T5lDgXWg4kI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/NpkBSFlAgyI/s0/IMG_20110605_112324%20%28Copy%29.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-m-zfbCsJmjU/T5lDbSfCi2I/AAAAAAAAAJs/m0xxWoMQAJE/s0/IMG_20110605_112339%20%28Copy%29.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-CDFr-qeF8Zo/T5lDjuLs7CI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/e68PaoKC4rs/s0/IMG_20110605_112415%20%28Copy%29.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xwGM65ZHUZM/T5lDwsT_EqI/AAAAAAAAAKE/8eWicu1x7IQ/s0/IMG_20110605_114843%20%28Copy%29.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ROUkNuNQ644/T5lDz80cP1I/AAAAAAAAAKM/wzfAlCIVxBs/s0/IMG_20110605_114858%20%28Copy%29.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-KvMlTPIPYb0/T5lD5vPoIgI/AAAAAAAAAKU/cG56qLCrxGU/s0/IMG_20110605_114921%20%28Copy%29.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0GllJ0PM0B0/T5lEE5smXhI/AAAAAAAAAKk/79KZJ1dS7RQ/s0/IMG_20110605_114930%20%28Copy%29.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GUIZDzMF6RM/T5lEEFa0zoI/AAAAAAAAAKc/IJS2O4YEGQU/s0/IMG_20110605_114943%20%28Copy%29.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>