Let’s be real here.  I want this thing to be done and often get asked these questions.  Really often.  “When will it be done??” “Can you have it ready for (insert show name here)??” “Any updates on the project?” These are the most recent questions but have been said to me in other ways over the course of the last few years.  Looking back, i didn’t think it would take this long.  But, I also didn’t give myself any kind of marker to complete it. 

I will say this, I swore from day 1 of owning this car and walking this path that it would NOT be done by borrowing money.  By that I mean that I wouldn’t be using credit cards, bank loans, or any means of paying for things by using some form of credit.  I dug myself into a hole with a previous car and I swore never to do that again. I was paying on it long after it was gone. So this car will be done and at the end I will be debt free from anyone or any thing.  So this has stretched the process out and add in that I have changed jobs twice and have taken a deduction in pay both times.  Those things have made this process long.  But, it is at a pace that I can financially handle.

This is no pity party.  This is me being real and presenting something else I’m passionate about since finding peace with it.  Finances.  This was a stand that my wife and I took many years ago thanks to a wedding gift from a very close friend.  We were given a paid class to Financial Peace   Dave Ramsey offers so many resources and taking the class set my wife and I on the same page financially. So it will get done when it gets done.  Hopefully sooner than later.  🙂 On to the parts.

Shocks… again.

I sent off the Koni shocks to have them checked and rebuilt.  I bought a set of shocks from Performance Parts Inc and they were the last iteration of the Koni “reds”.  Upon further investigation these were not the same as what Koni offered when these cars were built.  So now the Koni’s I originally had for the car weren’t dead on accurate.  So they were sold to a fellow Saleen owner in need of a good set for his wife’s Fox Saleen.  In the process I came across a set that had the correct part numbers and were manufactured within the era of what Saleen sold when they had them in the catalog in the 90’s.  They had seen a few miles on them and were used on a race car.  So I packed them up and sent them off to Koni for a rebuild/recondition.

 
Once they arrived at Koni I received a call.  Apparently I was 3 months too late.  Koni no longer rebuilds/restores their shocks in house.  GREAT! That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. But, with that Koni advised they would ship them to Performance Shock in California for me.  Excellent!  With that, they shipped them off that day and they arrived at Performance Shock a week or so later.  The service was excellent.  I was called when the shocks arrived and notes were made on what I wanted.  You can deviate from stock valving and opt to just have the mechanicals fixed with no cosmetic resto.  With the Saleen spring rates for their street cars there was no need to deviate from the stock valving. Once the shocks were disassembled they called me to give me the details on what they found.  Once armed with that information we were able to come up with an amount for the restoration.  They turned out great and are the old original Koni “orange” that is correct for these shocks.  I was told my set was used as reference for someone having their shocks rebuilt for their 86 Saleen. The placement of the decals was important. 

I’ll close this post with this.  If you’re stuck in a rut with debt.  Hit the pause button and take inventory. It’s a tough road out because the path to debt is an easy one these days.  The first step is recognizing the issue. Go to Dave Ramsey’s website by clicking the hyperlink there for great resources.  Make the sacrifice and get debt free. 

Oh, and the short block has landed into my garage.  Heads come back from the machine shop next week which means assembly on the heart of the beast will be soon!