Floor wax or dessert topping? Update or rerun?

I'll go ahead and deal with the familiar, since there's not really anything to learn from it: Eagle's sick, but running.  Gremlin's engine is out to attend to a clearance problem between oil pump pickup and pan (they ended up getting a little too close.  Always use a new pickup, kids!).  Rear suspension is still out of whack, but hopefully getting better.  Despite traveling back in time, the numbers on the calendar move forward.

Now, to the news/helpful info:

1)  Previous pickup installation failed due to a combination of factors; lack of experience, poor preparation, and penny-pinching being the main causes.  See, I knew I didn't know well enough to challenge repeated advisements against reusing a pickup tube, but I did it anyway.  If I had made sure to get a new pickup, chances of me having to do the installation again probably would've dropped by the official ass pull number of 75% or so.  The remaining 25% is from an idea that had not occurred to me at that point in time.

A buddy of mine suggested I use a dry ice/acetone bath to cool the pickup tube before driving it into the pump.  I already have way more acetone on hand than most really should, and dry ice is cheap, so I decided to give it a shot.  After using this combo (which chills down to around -109°F once the dry ice sublimates), installing the tube was a quick and easy job.  I highly recommend going this route for these kinds of tasks (usual wards against litigious stupidity invoked here, meaning, be careful with the shit).

2)  The AMX has left the car hole in quest of bigger and better things!

Two brothers from across the Sound purchased him a couple weeks ago, and are doing a round of fixes to get it ready for a navigation challenge before tucking in and doing some more in-depth restoration work with it.  I'm thrilled to see it getting back in action.  Seriously.  They sent me a video of it moving under it's own power for the first time in over a year.

3). I've come to suspect Eagle's remaining problems have been tied to the brake system.  Unfortunately, no improvement was seen after inspecting the drums (and finding the right shoes were installed backwards, because I'm a smarty pants) and making sure everything was as it should be.  It stops when I ask it to, so the investigation ended there.  To be frank, I just don't have the time to keep feeding into it, especially given that the Gremlin is at a point now where it can resume it's duties as my actual vehicle as soon as I get this rear axle mess sorted out.

Speaking of which,

3)  The rear axle still isn't aligning correctly, resulting in yet another teardown of the rear suspension.  I'm not going to say that I think I've got it now, but I have discovered some interesting things.

A number of things just weren't adding up in how the rear end was coming together, from the shock length to the pinion angle, so I decided to check the parts catalog to see to what extent the rear of a '76 Pacer that I found listed for parts would work out.  Here's what the '77/8 page for Gremlins, etc shows:

See the adapter plate between the axle perch and the isoclamp plate?  This was the first time I had, because the Gremlin doesn't have them.  Now, let's look at the entry for all Pacer years (or at least from '73-8):

This layout is what the Gremlin has had since I've had it.  Note the difference in axle perch, which doesn't require any adapter. That's the style of perch I have, and when these details are considered alongside the shackles that were on it (the mystery metal $10 AutoZone lift shackle special), I'm inclined to think that the Gremlin's rear may have been donated by a Pacer at some point.  It's also possible that this is what it came with from the factory, and/or the catalog isn't totally accurate.  Who knows?  At the least, I found it interesting.

4)  I've had it with trying to preserve the AC system.  It's tried to kill me for the last time when I was pulling the engine, and I also found out that it actually had been converted to R134a at some point (but no sticker to announce it was ever seen).  That said, I'll pull a Sanden compressor and other mess from a Fat Cherokee as soon as I can find one that isn't in the yard with extensive front-end damage.

5)  In the theme of retrofitting and "wish I knew"s, the PS pump and bracketry has been given the 86 as well.  Partly because I discovered that the newer GM Type II pumps will work great with my quick ratio steering gearbox (with less power sink and heat, to boot), and also because the old Saggy pump housing was mortally wounded in the aforementioned attempt on my life made by the AC system.

Fine tuning, I guess.