I wanted to do hoodpin stuff with my friends

Over the past month and a half not a ton has happened on the Falcon, but I'll share what little I have done. Over that same time period, I did have a pretty great trip to Europe with the wife. It was a long trip that ate up lots of money which means the Falcon project may move a little slower, but was totally worth it. I'll only share one photo from the trip, lest this thing become a travel blog.

View from Neue Regensburger Hut, Stubaital Austria

So anyway, we made it back from Europe, but as always, time is short and life is busy. I've only had time to complete a couple small tasks since August. I decide it was finally time to get a real hood retention system. Ever since I cut the core support to fit my big fat intercooler, I've been using a ratcheting tie down strap to hold the hood down as you can see in the photo below.

I have been hesitant to actually go ahead with this project because I didn't really like the idea of drilling into the hood ton install hood pins and was hoping I would think of another method to retain the hood. Well, I didn't think of another method other than Quik-Latch which, while appealing, was a little too "billet-style" for this car. I'm still not totally sold on my hood pins, but the deed is done, and hood pins are pretty old-school anyway. I'm sure they'll grow on me. On the bright side, they only cost about fifteen bucks, and are far more functional than the old ratchet strap.

Pins mounted, ready to mark drill spots on the hood

First hole drilled, second hole marked

Installed

Up close

The other small task I completed was to eliminate the last of the old girl's really terrifying features. I found that when making a right hand turn, the motor would shift slightly and the motor mount would catch on a set screw in a steering joint. This meant that mid turn, the steering angle would suddenly lock, and that would make me say "oh bother"... or something to that effect. I was able to clearance the mount in a few minutes thanks to my third favorite tool, the die grinder with a carbide burr.

It seems the more I see those two tailpipes sticking out the back of the Falcon, the happier I am with my exhaust job. Almost makes the 30 hours I spent on it worth it!

Two small items: at the beginning of this post, I said that work on the Falcon might be a little slow for a while. This is true, however, Jen and I will be moving to another house, the house where Grace currently resides. When that happens, it will be a lot easier to work. That's the first item. The second item is the video shown below. Bonus points if you can decipher it's relevance.

Bye now!