Just Call Me Righty

...'cuz I seem to want to get rid of my left hand real bad. Dinged up my ring finger this time at the climbing gym last night. It's a good bit larger than it should be and doesn't move quite like it should.

But does that keep me out of the garage? heck no. Just put a glove over it and move on.

This afternoon I went to order a replacement bushing for the transmission. Ordered two in case I bung up another one. All of eight bucks for the two, I think I can afford it. What I can't afford is having to wait until next Wednesday to get them. Apparently NAPA has to send them to the local shop from Indianapolis via UPS. Now how they make any money on a $4 part shipping by UPS I don't know. Don't really care either, I just need the part.

Anyway, since I can't button up the transmission, I figure I need to get the engine squared away. So, tonight was stuff removal night. Started with the freeze plugs. Judging by the pain on them, I think that they may be original, but darned if they don't look almost new, aside from a little grunge. Popped 'em all out. Had to remove the fuel pump, starter and alternator bracket to get to 'em all. I might need a fair number of those gaskets I got at Nats after all.

While popping out the plugs, I notice that one of the air rails is cracked. That's all I the incentive I needed to trash those buggers. Pulled them out. I'll run over to Home Depot and get some plugs to fill 'em back up again.

Then I turned my attention to cleaning up the manifold from Hanky that will replace the broken on that was on the engine. Took a while to chip off the layer of Pinelands mud that was baked on, but it's now resting in a bath of Evapo-Rust for the night. Tomorrow morning, flip and repeat.

Tomorrow I'll see about flushing all the sludge out of the engine. And there is plenty of it. behind the front plugs was enough mud to fill a baby's diaper and then some. This could take a while. If I am diligent and don't get distracted by the swap meet at the climbing gym or the tent sale at Harbor Freight, I might get the plugs back in tomorrow. Maybe even the rear main.

Oh, did I mention that the engine is leaking oil all over my garage floor. Must be a Scout engine. Seems that in it's current nose-down attitude, the oil in the pan is enough to meet the pan gasket. Pan gasket, meet oil. "Why oil, pleased to meet you, come on through."

Time to ice my sprained finger with a nice cold Yuengling.