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Some members found my post on TGO so I thought I'd update my project thread here with project and life news.
In 2018, I began working with kids who are at risk like I was when I first joined here. I'm four classes shy of a master's in Special Education. Last summer I got engaged, and this year I am about to close on a house about 5 minutes from where I grew up. I had been looking for property in Monmouth county so I could build a garage/shop in the back but the housing market is crazy and I'd be years away from the shop being built so the 60-mile commute wouldn't be worth it. Some of the best advice I ever saw here was about saving for a house instead of blowing money on cars and I took it to heart.
Another piece of advice I took to heart was not to mix your hobby with a career. I don't think cars and racing are just a hobby of mine anymore and I don't think they ever were just a hobby. After graduate school, a career, and running my own business I think it's time to make my life revolve around them and I'm hoping I can be a regular at meets and track events all over the state and country and I'd really like to start filming events and racing. I'm also interested in starting or working with a program to teach/mentor at-risk kids about mechanics and racing.
Since the last update my goals have changed, I think a realistic goal is to put 1500 miles on the car and run an 11 second 1/4 mile pass by the end of August 2021. So far the old motor has been removed from the car and a Spohn k-member has been installed as well as BMR A-arms and I took one coil off of the springs. The car still looks like a 4x4 but I'm hoping that with a hood, and a turbo down the line it will look a little better. I did PAC springs and a Sloppy Stage II camshaft to the motor, and I'm very nervous I screwed it up. The LS was installed and it was a complete bitch. All the work I did to install the Poly inserts into the stock motor mounts was a waste of time. I had to go with stock replacement ones in order for the motor to finally slide into place, I installed the stock radiator which may or may not be good enough. I'm on a tight budget until I close on the house and get my paycheck in September so I'll have to address that later. I decided to ditch the headers I had in favor of Speed Engineering Long Tubes and they slid right into place from the top. The plan is to try the Hooker True dual kit with them. I read on TGO that they fit great and you only need an exhaust bracket for the driver side. I currently have the stock rear end yanked from the car and I'm ready to drop the fuel tank for a new one with -6 AN lines, Corvette fuel filter/regulator, and a Painless fuel pump relay kit and a 4th Gen 12 Bolt. All of this work so far has been done by me and me alone. It's not something I ever thought I'd be able to do by myself and I have estimates on my computer as motivation. All of the tech threads here and YouTube videos have been such a big help for me, thank you to everyone posting and answering questions, I could not be doing this without you.