Saturday, October 9, 2010

Home Sweet Home

After a good afternoon of work, the engine is now sitting pretty in the engine bay, just where it should be.

Started the day by heading over to Lowes to get some hardware and Advance to get a brake line to fashion up a new trans cooler line. Once on the garage, I put on the passenger side exhaust manifold, oil pressure sender, fuel pump and A/C/Alternator bracket. Then Brian H came over and we lifted the engine and dropped the pan to fix the leaky gasket. Had to make a run to Advance again, but we got it cleaned out and put back on. 

We then bolted the trans to the engine. Did you know that torque converter bolts aren't symmetrical? I do now. They aren't off by much, but enough to make you have to do it twice if you aren't paying attention. We then eased the engine back into place and bolted it down. Also cut the ear off the PS pump bracket (the one that holds the now-gone air pump and keeps you from removing the valve cover) and installed it and the PS pump.



We also laid out my exhaust pieces and separated the muffler from the head pipe on the driver's side and decided that I could get it in after the engine is in. This is an exhaust that is nearly new, but scavenged from a parts truck, so will need to be welded back together and I need to cut and weld up the passenger side headpipe from the old exhaust. Depending on how things go, I might end up taking it to Meineke and having them just install a new exhaust. I don't want that to be the bit to keep Hanky from Pinelands.

Still have to wire it up and bend and install the trans lines before I try to start it.

After writing this out, it doesn't sound like we got much done today, but we were at it for a good five hours. Maybe if we (I) didn't misplace the wrenches every five minutes, it would have gone faster. There is always tomorrow. I'll be back at it bright and early.

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