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Message: <blockquote data-quote="miscreant" data-source="post: 1487437" data-attributes="member: 22856">Well it's been a little over 8 months and a lot has changed on the car with a lot more changes coming.I did get to finish the engine bay over the course of my winter break and it came out really well. It involved several hours of applying bondo and sanding over and over again. I also used some panels from Scott Rod Fabrications to block off the holes in the firewall and they were very well made. Definitely interesting to drill and rivet into place but well worth it.[ATTACH=full]11047[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]11053[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]11054[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]11055[/ATTACH]I also tackled the manual brake swap after finishing the engine bay. I used the Maximum Motorsports plate and pedal kit which were very nice pieces and bolts in without any issues. I used a 1993 Cobra master cylinder for the swap and hand-bent the brake lines from the master to the Jegs line-lock solenoid and the Willwood proportioning valve with the use of an eastwood brake/fuel line bender. All of which came out well and were painted the same color as the engine bay. It should also be noted I used an eBay proportioning valve plug (I don't currently recall the vendor) and removed all the internals to the distribution block. I am also very thankful I was able to flare these (ISO/Bubble flare type) on the first go without any leaks so that is a plus.[ATTACH=full]11056[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]11059[/ATTACH]Some other stuff that was tackled in his period was a front main crankshaft seal as well as a new transmission separator plate. I had to modify my stock separator plate and I didn't like the lack of support for the starter. The front crankshaft seal had a tear in the lip which has caused a steady oil leak. This most likely had occurred from poor timing cover alignment or improper installation, but we live and we learn. This also gave me time to re-seal the back of the intake manifold since it had continued to seep at the back of the valley wall. I used some ultra black from Permatex and have not had trouble since then. Oil pan rail stiffeners were added to provide a better oil pan seal as I had also noticed a small seep there.[ATTACH=full]11063[/ATTACH]The cooling system also saw an upgrade from a single 14" SPAL fan to a Contour fan with some fabricated mounts by yours truly. This was to help with the temperature creep at stop lights and in traffic (which I later found helped but the cooling system needed more help).[ATTACH=full]11062[/ATTACH]After putting it back together it drove really well. I quickly adapted to the stiffer brake pedal and the engine no longer leaked. After driving it for awhile, I noticed the starter had developed a grind. Thankfully, I had gotten one from LMR and it came with a lifetime warranty. After, inspecting the starter and chatting with an advisor at LMR, I had a new starter with almost no hassle. Very happy with their customer service so far.This brings us up to January with lots more to talk about, but I'll post that tomorrow.</blockquote>