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My Subaru Outback has 200,000 miles with the cvt.  I did not know you could have the transmission fluid changed.  I will look into that.  I just put new tires on mine.  I guess I am an optimist.

Most of the aluminum welding is done.

Today I finished up the installation of the mini starter.  I modified the gm mini starter by drilling 3 holes through the mounting flange so that the starter now mounts flat against the motor plate instead of the normal attachment for gm starters to the engine block.  I also had 1/4" milled off of the starter flange to allow for the thickness of the motor plate.  The trick was getting the three mounting holes drilled so that when the starter engaged I had no more than .035 between the two gears. That was made harder because the holes had to be marked on the engine side, transferred to the transmission side and then drilled.  I got it.  I have video of it working but I am not sure how to post it here.  This has been something that I had concerns about when I started this project.  I am glad to have it behind me.

I am looking forward to seeing a photo of the lamp.  I like stuff like that.  It is always fun to build something new.

I took this photo this morning.  There was a cruise night last night and someone left some nice marks across the parking lot.  I lined up the old car to take this photo.  The car in the photo would not leave these marks.

I had the windows tinted in the old car today.  I do not care for the look so much but my wife has complained that the windows needed to be darker.  Truthfully she is right.  The Vintage Air unit I have is old and to small for the car.  It should make the car more comfortable in the summer.  I think the look will grow on me but it makes the car look to trendy.

The aluminum inner frame will be mounted with a sandwich of rubber to the original model T frame.  The engine and transmission are mounted solid to the inner frame.  I am hoping this will take some of the buzz and vibration away. I believe that the inner frame will also carry most of the stress and the load of the drivetrain.  Most of this project is being designed as it is being built. Who knows if it will work.  I keep telling myself that it is more of an adult go kart than a real car, but it will be street legal.

Aluminum inner frame assembly is welded.  I plan to fabricate the starter mount this week.  I ordered a bunch of parts yesterday. Tomorrow I am going to remove 1" of the rear Z and see how that looks when I reassemble the suspension.

You know I like stuff like that.  Good job.  I have a fiberglass T bucket bed that I may make into a wall desk.

I modified my welding helmet so that I could attach a Harbor Freight headlamp.  It helps a lot.  I am having trouble seeing in low light conditions and when welding.

I built a rotisserie so that when I weld all the aluminum parts together, I can rotate the assembly and make all the welds horizontally.  I have been practicing with the new welder and I plan to do the welding tomorrow.  I wanted to get the settings dialed in and practice welding the 1/4" material to the 3/8".  I preheat each starting point with a torch and that means it will take longer but that's okay.

Snow work is done at my place.  It was a very fine snow and realitively easy on the snowplowing machine but not som much the old operator.  I will rest some and then do some of the neighbors.

I am getting ready to fire up the snow blower.  We got about 8" of snow yesterday and it is 0 degrees this morning.  I will go play in the snow some

I hauled firewood to the shop today.  There was a cold wind blowing but I made a quick job of it.  Next week the weatherman is calling for significant snow and then very cold temperatures.  I have work to do in the shop and the refrigerator is stocked.

As a side note, I am still in awe of the welder I bought.   I sold the expensive Lincoln to a friend.  Both of us are happy.

I wanted to try the conventional set up first for two reasons.  The mig torch allows me to get in to tighter spaces and without the spool gun blocking my view.  Secondly the spool gun is heavier.  I intend to spend some time practicing over the next few days before I start welding on my project.

I plan to set up my welding work on a rotisserie so that I can do most of my welds horizontally

I did my first welding with the new machine today.  I think it is possibly the best money I ever spent on a tool.  It is simply amazing.  The very first bead was better than anything I have done with the other welder.  I set it up to weld aluminum with it feeding the wire just like a conventional mig machine.  I will try the spool gun later but for now I will dial in this set up.