Not much progress lately. Two of my biggest fears have been realized with this car.
1. I'm putting in way to much overtime to be able to dedicate any real time to the car. Good for the funds, but not for the deadline. On top of that, spring came early this year. The lawn is already in need of mowing, and the daffodills have already bloomed. I didn't even know we had daffodills! But now I've got to manage fit in a lot of yard work too.
2. The shop has become an unholy disorganized mess. Typical of any project of mine, but given that this is the biggest project I've ever taken on, it's gonna get way out of hand if I don't fix it soon. First thing's first- Start selling off or throwing out anything and everything I'm not going to re-use on this car. Anyone interested in some stock TI pistons and LW rods?
I did manage to get the old 2.25" swing valve taken off the turbo, and only broke one bolt. Thank you PB Blaster! Also, I don't remember who posted it, but someone said to remove the inside bolt, knock the swing valve counter-clockwise with a hammer first. That little tidbit worked great! I've got the new 2.5" one mounted in the bench vice ready for porting. I had to re-tap the O2 sensor hole just so I could get a plug into it. I've had an Innovative LC-1 sitting on the shelf for a couple years for the Charger; I've decided to just put it in the GLHS instead and skip buying a new O2 sensor for it.
I have been reading that thread, and actually meant to ask you about that. You said once removed, the clips are usually not as tight as they need to be (paraphrase). So if once installed there's some wiggle, I need to replace them?
I've always said the 525 is a lot stronger than it gets credit for. The fact that an '83 carbed trans held up in this car as long as it did is testament to that!