[TPR] Asa's Roll Cage progress

[Asa Jay Laughton]

After taking the Pantera for a spirited run, and after emailing you all 
the last time, I went back out and began work on securing the front legs 
of the roll cage.

I had been very reluctant to cut the carpet.  Why?  Well that's a darn 
good question considering it's the original stock carpet and already has 
holes through it to the jute underlayment on the driver's side.  Once I 
took the floor mats out and was reminded of what was actually -under- 
them... I took knife in hand and had at it.

The first photo (or last depending on how they were attached), shows how 
I bench-fueled the rebuilt carb and leveled the floats.  Using a 
handheld vacuum/pressure pump with the jar attached full of gas and 
attached to the fuel log inlet, just pump until the floats stop coming 
up.  You can see the sight plug is removed on the left fuel bowl (it was 
on the right as well but you can't see it.  I had set up the car as 
level as I could right-to-left (width-wise) and at about the same front 
to back angle as it would be on the car.  It worked pretty well.

Next, there are a series of four photos showing what I did to finish 
attaching the roll cage in the front.  I first cut the carpet and peeled 
it back for access to the rocker.  Using a hole saw, I carefully cut a 
hole near the roll cage mounting pad.  This gave me rear-access to run 
the bolts and washers up through.  Then I had to insert a wrench to hold 
the inside while I tightened the outside.  I then tightened a second nut 
on top the first to lock them in place.

One photo shows the hole cut in the driver's side.  The other three show 
the passenger side which has the battery cables running through it.  I 
first drilled the pilot hole for the hole saw.  I did this by setting 
the pilot bit in the hold saw so that only about an 1/8" was protruding, 
that way the hole saw edge would stop me quickly.

I then ran a piece of stiff wire into the hole and felt around for the 
cables and the immediate back side of the rocker I needed to drill 
through.  The cables felt like they were well out of the way so I 
proceeded.  You can see the cables after I got the hole cut.  The last 
photo shows the nuts and second nuts in place.

For now, I'm just flopping the carpet back in place.  I'm hoping to buy 
an oil temp gauge this week and I might need to run more stuff through 
the rockers.  Once I'm finished completely I'll tack the carpet back 
down with some 3M Super Trim Adhesive.

I tightened all the roll cage bolts all around and we are done.  The 
roll cage is completely installed.  All I really have left to do on it 
is attach the padding.

I briefly spoke with my friend a couple doors down who has all the 
welding equipment.  We weren't able to get together today, but we will 
tomorrow in order to weld in the O2 sensor bung.  I'll have to run those 
wires through the driver's side rocker; another good reason not to glue 
the carpet back down yet.  :)

Alright, I'm off to a barbecue at our Pastor's house, and then later 
tonight I'll probable be putting in another order at Summit for gear 
oil, oil temp gauge and pod and probably spark plug wires (I don't 
recall how old these are).

Getting closer,
Asa  Jay

-- 
Asa Jay Laughton - W7TSC, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
&  Shelley Marie
Spokane, WA
******************************
http://www.racingagainstautism.com
http://www.teampanteraracing.com
http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism


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