Free Beer for Help Build

[SurgeVet]

The obligatory prelude... Abbreviated:

Nearly two years after I wanted to start, I've reached a point where I actually feel like progress is on the horizon, and I can start a build thread.

Like many, an FFR build has always been a dream of mine. Back in college I actually bought a 5.0 Mustang to eventually use as a donor for a MK4. But it was too nice to rip apart and, between deployments and moves, the Army has a great way of making one sideline major projects.
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Eight years and four deployments later the Army and I happily parted ways, and I moved on to a new career path that brought us to a great country home in VA. It was my wife's turn to decide where we lived, she did put up with the Army after all, so I sacrificed having a garage in order to have horse fields and a barn... That just means you get to build a garage the way you want right
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In the late summer of 2016 we broke ground on a 30' by 28' garage with provisions for a storage lift and an upstairs gym. With a 1/2 cathedral ceiling for a park under type lift, commercial sized door, and strategically placed 240 outlets, I designed the garage specifically to accommodate a "just for fun" car with room to build it. So with no more excuses and a major investment in a palatial garage I put in the order for an 818C with a delivery set for December 2016.
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In the fall of 2016 I came home to find my wife dragging herself across our lawn unable to stand and walk. She had been thrown from her horse and broken her back and hip in 4 places. Obviously the priorities shifted. During the road to recovery Courtnie Provencher with FFR was kind enough to delay delivery until March 2017.
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With my wife up and walking again, and a car sourced from Leonard in mid 2017 I figured things would start to move more quickly... Nope. Life got in the way and the next broken bones were mine. Still on crutches I finally committed to the teardown in December 2017 with my buddy recovering from shoulder surgery. Together we were a fully functioning adult right?
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Over the last few months I've finished liberating the lift, by cutting up the rest of the rust bucket (it was a New York WRX owned by a Subaru tech), cleaning the parts, sourcing parts I'm going to need, and selling the bits I don't.
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This is a decidedly long way of saying Now it's time to build! I'm sure I will be hunting for advice and recommendations while I embark on this build. I will also make a standing offer of Free Beer for Build Help. I brew so I'm confident the taps will not run dry.
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