Here's the last weekend update before the Thanksgiving holiday (an American excuse to eat lots of food <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />). I'm knee-deep in "crunch-time" to get my Sporty on the road Wednesday morning... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

The rear bumper is "done" - done enough for the trip. I will work on filling in the open areas later, perhaps in the Spring, when the weather is warmer and dry. We've been getting rain a bit earlier than usual and cooler temps too. That's definitely thrown a wrench in the plan. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" /> Now I'm working on getting everything reassembled after lifting the body, finishing up the fender flares and maybe adding some mud flaps (to keep the cops off my back), and hopefully getting the front brakes done (at least). Here are some pics of the rear bumper in its "finished" state...








There's a good-bit of space between the spare tire mount and the rear hatch now. I plan to fab a cover plate for the gap between the bumper and the body. I might take advantage of the space to add a mount for some "pioneer tools" and a Highlift jack. Overall, I'm happy with the results. If I'm lucky, I will get the OBX diffs installed and the brakes completely done before Xmas. I will try to post one more update before I hit the road to So Cal. Oh, almost forgot that I need to fab up some license plate mounts, too... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Looks really good. I like the spare tire mount <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />.

Here's a quick update... no photos yet...

- Got the Sporty back together last Tuesday night. But the change in the body lift threw the tranny's shift linkage off.

- Got up early on Wednesday morning to adjust the linkage (couldn't get the key out of the ignition and it popped out of park randomly <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />). Found out there's no room to move wrenches on the linkage while connected to the shift lever. Also found the old cotter pin was brittle and had to take it out in about 30 tiny pieces. Once the linkage was dangling, I had to cut about 1/4" off the threads to get it adjusted. All of that only took about 2 hours...

- Decided to install the TruSpeed speed calibrator box, as described by Everett in the "Bigger Tires" thread. Thought that would be easy. Turns out one of the previous owners had cut about half of the wires from their connectors and spliced them together to bypass. I can only assume this was done because the floor got wet - likely from a leaking heater core(?). Regardless, I had to find all of the blue+black stripe wires (there were only 2), cut them individually and see which of them killed the speedometer. Turned out to be the second wire. Once the box was wired in (twice - wired it in backwards the first time... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/baby.gif" alt="" />) and the box was calibrated, another 3 hours had gone by.

- Took the Sporty to a local lube shop to get the oil changed and the tranny flushed. That doesn't usually take more than an hour. But it was the day before Thanksgiving and everyone driving out of town had the same idea (oil change, at least). And so another 2 hours floated away...

- Finally got out of town. Seemed that every 4x4 that drove by had a turned head in it. Even an old man driving a Cadillac stopped by at a gas-stop to tell me the Sporty looked good . And he didn't look like the wheelin' type... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

- Spent all of the time in So Cal with family. Realized quickly that I wasn't going to touch dirt on this trip... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

- All was well on the return trip until I stopped to get gas about 30 miles north of Bakersfield, CA. That's when the starter died. I like to think it went to heaven. After 150K miles, I'm sure it has earned it's place. But that left me scrambling to get a tow back to a Pep Boy's in Bakersfield to replace the starter - this all happening at 4 PM on the Saturday of a major holiday weekend. We made it there, just in time. And after 5 hours, 2 mechanics and the effort required to figure out that Kia used the manual tranny's starter on the 4x4 with auto trans (i.e. the mechanics installed 2 different starters), we were back on the road! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" /> So the 7 hour trip back to Nor Cal turned into a 12 hour adventure. Oh, all of the guys at Pep Boy's gave me kudos on the Sporty. I guess lifted and tricked-out Sportages really are rare beasts... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />

Photos will come soon... once I get can take some pics with the sun out. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

OK - Here are some photos of my Sporty with the bumpers installed. I'm not done yet... still have some "close it up" work to do on the rear bumper. And I'll probably work on a mount for a Hi-Lift jack and a gas can...

Oh yeah, I had to install a set of hood pins because my hood latch kept popping from the vibration of the road. Seems the two "gears" that mesh together (catch and release plates?) started shifting out of alignment. This happened on the trip to So Cal. Being that the only tool I had access to my father-in-law's cordless drill, hood pins were the only fix. I like to call it "field-expedient", and not an inch of duct tape was involved... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />



















Look! The hatch opens!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />




But it was REAL CLOSE!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />




<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

haha... was wondering why you had the underside of the stock fenders but then I noticed the next pictures with the aftermarket fenders bolted onto the OE.. Pretty clever! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> She looks really good! I like it!