Slice and Dice

Yesterday, I tore down the engine. Didn't look nearly as bad as I expected.  All cylinders have a noticeable lip at the top of the stroke. #7 also has a fairly prominent score and #6 has a very subtle one. I'll hold onto all the peripheral bits and let the rest go to the scrapper.

This morning I picked up Hanky's old top to trade with Alan. Rusty bugger, but it adds weight for the scrapper, too.

Later, I broke out the sawzall, air cutter, and grinder. Cut out the majority of the cancer in the driver's side firewall.  Someone needs to remind me to keep my fingers away from a spinning grinder blade. Bought a brand new pair of mechanic's gloves and promptly ran it across my finger, right through the glove and into my finger. Doh! Merely a flesh wound!

More cutting to do and a sheetmetal bender on order from Harbor Freight, then a-welding we will go!

Rolling on the Floor

I couldn't stand it any longer. I just had to pull the engine. This was Saturday morning. The intent was to get it out of the truck. Check. Take the tranny off. Check. Put the engine in the back of Heavy D. Houston, we have a problem. OK, so it seems that I managed to sheer off three of the four bolts that hold one of the casters on the engine crane while performing this task. Happened once before and clearly the bolts I used were cheapo crappo. So I tucked the engine up against the front of the frame, which gave me plenty of room to close the garage door. At least a half an inch to spare. I figured I'd go to Lowes and pick up a few grade 8 bolts to fix the caster, which I did on Sunday morning. But then it decided to rain. Not fun loading an engine in the truck in the rain, so there it sits, on the floor of my garage.

Since it was raining, I decided to take a closer look at the driver's firewall/floor. Pulled the last of the carpet that was still stuck to the kick panel and firewall, revealing - that's right - more rust than I thought was there. It doesn't really change my plans at all, just a little more metal to cut out.

Sunday we're hosting a getaway luncheon for Diane's family reunion that is this weekend, so nothing is going to get done before next week. Oh well.

Loosey Goosey

Well, the engine and transmission are free of their moorings. Now I just need to find a time to pull 'em, which likely won't happen until the weekend after next.