A little rust has been poking through the driver side shock tower for a couple years now. Nothing major as 2002 shock tower rot goes, at least it wasn’t around the crown where the shock mounts to the tower.

So as I had the gas tank out of the car to hunt down the source of a strong fuel odor (more on that later), I decided to start cutting. Here’s a shot of what was removed. I took out a fair chunk to be sure to hit fresh metal on all sides. Normally you wouldn’t be able to see clear through to the Bilsteins.

Shouldn’t be a bad welding job. More to report after I’ve warmed up the MIG.

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Yes, that stupid little lollipop linkage made of the world’s weakest pot metal mysteriously snapped on Uber’s clutch pedal. As far as I can tell, I must have knocked the clutch pedal a bit sideways while welding up the driver side floorboard/rocker panel in preparation for Vintage at the Vineyards and sheared the threaded piece right off.

And, unfortunately, a replacement part doesn’t seem to actually exist unless you buy a new clutch master cylinder with which the linkage is included.

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