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| Naked Rear End |
Lots of progress over the weekend and into the first half of this week. I gutted the rear end, removing lights, gas tank and any hoses, lines or wiring harnesses. I must stress the importance of situational awareness when working around gasoline. While preparing the tank for removal, I unscrewed the drain plug and nothing came out, so I assumed (mistakenly) the tank was empty. The drain area must have been clogged with sludge because a few moments later, while lowering one end of the tank, gas poured out of a side vent just inches from my old school incandescent shop light! That could have been nasty. Lesson learned.
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| Weber Triple Carbs and Cannon intake manifold |
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| Lowering the engine |
After some consideration and flip flopping, I decided to drop the engine instead of hoisting it out. The arguments for each method are valid and in the end I wanted to save a buck and avoid buying a hoist. I first removed the bulky bits from the engine and disconnected the mounts from the subframe. With the engine support beam bracing the weight of the engine I then dropped the entire front suspension as a unit. To disconnect the engine from the transmission, you simply walk the engine brace forward an inch at a time and with a little wiggle the two components just slip apart. The transmission cannot fall far, but it will drop an inch or so until it bottoms out on its mount. In hindsight, I'd prop it up with a jack or jack stand to avoid any jarring.
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| Not much left of the original blue/grey block paint |
These engines are cast well and look fabulous after a rebuild. This one may look worse for the wear, but all the essentials are there and it should clean up nicely. From this point on, the project splits in two directions with engine rebuilding on the one hand and body work on the other.
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| First time seeing the shell without wheels |
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