Major re-shaping of the front bumper. Decided the car is too pointy at the front. Sort of like a fish with a little puckered mouth. Not aggressive enough. Jason and I squared off the fender by gluing styrofoam to the existing shape and then covering in a thick coat of fix-it-all. Next step will be to add joint compound and sand to shape. Then transpose shape to the drivers side fender.

New method to patch cracks - metal mesh matrix embedded in the chemical hardening fix-it-all. Should not crack at all.

Major progress on passenger side. Lots of time spent transposing measurements from drivers side. Dimensions are within 1/4" max at 6" intervals along every major datum line. After we measured and transposed the drivers side over to the passenger side we discovered that I had been too generous with the joint compound. It was way off. Jason spent a long time taking an angle grinder to the entire side of the car to fix the error of my ways. The white powdery dust was everywhere! It was like a storm was brewing in the garage and the cloud was billowing out. James and I had to leave the garage because it was almost impossible to breathe! What to do?

Fun-time - with a little prodding from my son, I got the go-kart out of storage and added some fuel. Suprisingly it fired right up and ran great. Last time I had it out it would not run unless I kept it on 1/2 choke, but this time it showed no symptoms and ran perfectly. We had a great time doing laps and tearing up the grass in the park.

Shot of the suspension under the front of the car. This gives you a clear view of how the front suspension works. I used a cut-down mcphereson strut with a 1984 AMC Eagle upper ball joint attached to the upright via an adapter plate that I made. The pullrod is made from two 1/2" LH/RH rod ends and a 7" swaged threaded tube. The Bellcrank and coil-over are stock 2001 Yamaha R6 motorcycle rear suspension parts. It pivots on a set of oilite brass bushings.

Neat Hinges - from a 1998 Oldsmobile Aurora trunk lid. Measured the Aurora engine - It'll fit. 4.0L 250hp all aluminium V8.... hmmmm.