Gettin' antsy!

Waiting for parts is a PITA!  And not having them can stop the build process.  Right now, the motor mounts are done and painted and the steering linkage was mocked up.  As I suspected, the motor mount position is causing a conflict with the steering.  I ordered a few parts from Borgeson Universal this past Monday and got them on Thursday - pretty nice service.  Those parts got me close on the steering and helped determine what I hope will be the final configuration.  Talked with the Borgeson applications guy yesterday and the additional pieces are on the way.  Once the steering is finalized, I can remove the empty block, bell housing and trans from the car and get the painting done.  I had hoped to paint the Ididit steering column, mounting pieces and steering wheel all at the same time but the Lecarra Mark X steering wheel has been pushed out another 3 weeks to Feb 5th!  Looks like I'll have to paint the wheel separately.  Back orders can either stop the work entirely or force me to rethink the path I was intending to follow.  This past Monday I stopped by Scott's Signs and dropped off the original gauge panel and the new Dolphin panel to see if Scott can do some magic to make the new panel more closely resemble the old one.
     Here's some pics of the motor mounts with the steering mocked up using pvc pipe and various extensions as well as the preliminary steering setup using 2 couplings and some 3/4" DD shafting.

I tinkered a bit with the engine yesterday and mounted some of the accessories.  With the front sheet metal off the car, putting the engine back in with these parts attached shouldn't cause any conflicts.

 
The engine mounts that fasten to the block are painted the same color as the block while the mounts that will attach to the frame will be black, like the frame.  The visible bolts on the engine are all stainless steel.  The new PowerGen alternator that looks like an old generator is now mounted along with the water lines to/from the intake manifold.  And the distributor and spark plugs are back in.  The valve cover is only sitting in place for now as an old one will be used during the install to prevent marring of the chrome cover.  Hopefully, the steering system won't take too much longer.  Once that is completed I should be able to start making much faster progress.