Teardown continues

We chose to do bodywork the way nature intended: in sleet, wet with numb fingers, and the spiritual guidance of a failing headlamp. Today’s mission was simple on paper—remove the front bumpers, the rear bumper, and the driver’s side fender—then cruise around town hunting wheel hub dust covers like they’re rare truffles. Easy. Normal. Definitely not a comedy.

The front bumper came off first, mostly by persuasion and the quiet cracking noises that make you stop breathing for a second. The rear bumper followed, clinging to the car like it still believed in factory fitment. The driver’s side fender? That one fought like it had a family. Every clip we removed seemed to be replaced by two new clips we didn’t know existed, hidden in places accessible only to people with smaller hands.

Then we pulled the seatbelts, because nothing says “race prep” like unbolting safety equipment to install different safety equipment later. It’s like taking off your parachute to sew a better parachute—what could go wrong?

After that, we drove all over town looking for wheel hub dust covers (unsuccessfully), and we decided to try to reclaim the ones we already had. Meanwhile, we lost various 10mm sockets and misplaced tools as we went, as tradition demands. Somewhere out there is a thriving 10mm socket civilization. If you listen closely, you can hear them laughing.