Today I tried to get the bumper halfway aligned before sending the center mount bolts down to 90 ft/lb. Here was the setup:
You must be registered for see images attach
I needed it up a little higher so I added some preload with the jack against the chain tension. The result was not productive.
You must be registered for see images attach
So I can only assume it's yet another shortcoming with the body lift. I torqued it as it was and the bumper is still low in the center relative to the outside. If you don't know to look for it, it doesn't really stick out. So I torqued those bolts and moved on to cleaning and painting the washer plate thingies for the core support body mounts to get those torqued. Managed to suck my thumbs into the bench grinder's wire wheel a few times which was both a new and unpleasant experience. I don't recommend it. Got that all done and the face finally back on.
You must be registered for see images attach
Looks about the same as before except for now the frame is clean and painted, new outer fenders, new fresh painted/undercoated not rotted inner fenders, added a proper factory PS cooler, bigger M7B style trans cooler, mounts and stuff visible through the grill no longer rust/overspray color, grill and plastic fender filler bits and outer fenders no longer chopped up for oversized tires which is what rotted out the original fenders in the first place, bumper now fully installed and torqued so it doesn't bounce all over the place, grill now stays together, and passenger's headlight doesn't flop around. I'm sure there's more but that's the gist of it.
While I was doing this, I left the truck running for a while. I'd had a bunch of sub-30 second cold starts to move the thing so I could drive the Z06 to work and wanted a decent heat cycle plus I needed to test the new stat. Per the factory temp gauge it appears to be running 195, so win. It also idled down below 500 so another indicator that we're getting to the proper temp. Since this is a new phenomenon, it wasn't without a quirk: a small misfire. It would lug down just under 500 on the factory tach and give the occasional misfire. After a few, it would flare up to about 500. Very minor flare, I had to do a double take to verify it. I haven't given it so much as an oil change or a tuneup yet so hoping it's low hanging fruit. It's very a very minor quirk at this point. But the first time I moved it out of the driveway with the new fenders something very ugly reared its head. The bent frame that has the wheel shifted back an inch plus causes it to rub on the fender with very little right steering input. So I don't even think it's prudent to dump this thing back at the hangar again until I unbend the frame. Hooray. . .