I only dream about finishing! It is more of a cleaning/preservation than a restoration.
I bought the car back in the beginning of August and have only driven it 5 times. The suspension was shot and instead of just buying shocks and bushings I bought the performance plus suspension by VBP.
After removing the suspension parts that were to be replaced the "while your at it monster" moved into the garage and now the only thing left to remove is the engine (tranny came out last week so I could clean the tunnel and replace the heat shield).
I have painted the engine block, firewall, engine compartment and frame. I painted the backside of all of the fiberglass satin black to save myself the trouble of masking off the frame.
This week I'm painting the bottom side of the floor boards. I'm going to use an aluminum paint thats rated at 650 degrees. I'm using a reflective paint in hopes of turning back some radiant heat and I'm going to sponge it on instead of spraying it on. My thinking is that I avoid overspray getting on all of the new black paint and in the future it will be easier to touch up.
Once the painting is finished I can clean and paint all of the stuff that has been removed. Nothing goes back on the car that looks old. Hopefully I can start putting things back on early next year. But I'm thinking about cutting out the rear bulkhead and rebuilding it for integrated speakers (I have about 6 inches to play with before the gas tank) you know as long as the gas tank is out... Damn there is that monster again.
Besides the new suspension I got a shift kit for the tranny and intend on getting a rack and pinion steering system (the steering needed to be rebuilt at around $400 so I might as well upgrade) and dual electric fans (my shroud came out in several pieces and the price between a new shroud and the fans is almost a wash).
If all goes well I should have a real nice ride sometime in April. The original back on the road estimate was this past November.
Wish me luck
Here is a picture of the back end before it got painted.
Here is the front clip after it got painted. (headlight assemblies are on the slate for a refresh during the holidays).
And this is the engine.