I planned to install the transmission and transfer case to see where the floor was going to end up. Step one was to bolt on the flex plate. I had the wrong bolts. Flywheel bolts are longer than the flex plate bolts I needed so they were hitting the block. Nobody in town had good bolts. The auto parts stores here are lousy. Unless you go there with a part number or a picture, you might end up with a big mac instead of the part you want. They all had the bolts with star washers. ******! You need to torque those bolts to 85lbs. That's going to crush the soft star washers. It will loosen up, guaranteed. Then a cascade of failure will happen.
I tried to work on something else; strengthening the crossmembers I already installed. One thing that is challenging is that everything I'm doing is the first time I'm doing it. I've never taken a transfer case apart before. I've never built a floor in an Isuzu before. I'm having to jump off cliffs and figure out the parachute on the way down. The stock Isuzu sheetmetal evaporates when you try to weld it. That's going to add some complexity to the floor install. There is no way I can butt weld anything. If I had a torch or tig welder, maybe, but I don't. I did come up with a new injury. The burns from the chop saw sparks, the weld splatter that ends up in your ear, The cuts and bruises you get from touching the wrong thing or bumping your head are one thing. Today I put the welder down and it swung down and hit my knee. The still hot wire poked into my leg and was sizzling the flesh. Flaming acupuncture. That's a new one. I also caught my shirt on fire. Where there's smoke, you're on fire. Good thing the beard was unscathed.
