The New Project: Part Deux!

[el hemi]

Steve...thumbs up for involving your kids and wife in the project. You are creating memories. In the end that is what counts. The car may or may not be there but your kids and wife will always remember the time spent in the garage with dad. Great job Steve! Carry on!

[Xplantdad]

I always enjoy reading of your exploits Steve...Enjoys your kids, the grow up FAST [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

I got the engine all prepped and ready to go back in. Once it was up on the hoist I called the wife out to assist. She was not amused since the last engine install she helped on was with Gramma's Firebird and the motor mounts in a 1975 Pontiac are super hard to get lined up as compared to the older style used in 1972. That one took two hours of jockeying just to get one motor mount bolt in place.

This engine went in like a dream. I figured out the trick: Move the car to the hoist and not the hoist to the car. I had the engine in the driveway lined up with the center of the transmission tunnel. I then had the wife hold the back of the trans so it wouldn't rotate out of position. I then pushed the car to the engine and while she held the transmission in place, I lowered the engine a couple inches. I'd then push the car forward a few inches and lower the engine again. We repeated this around 10 times and the engine just popped right in.

The whole process took about 30 minutes.







All ready for the rest of the external engine parts. Those are the &quot;stunt&quot; valve covers instead of the newly painted ones.

[Grant Didmon]

Hi Steve,I noticed that you have started slacking it a bit working on the Formula,there must be at least three or four hours out of twenty four,that you are spending sleeping and not working on the car.What's up with that?
I was studying the pictures of the Formula back in 1993,and saw that the owner had already pulled the HO hood signs off the car,and the fender emblems off by then to hide the true identity of the car to on lookers.Also what blew me away,it still has the original 72 deluxe seats in it in 93,and I was told the interior was stolen in 1986,so it happened much later.
Also he took off the roof drip moldings,and then installed them back on much later,as they are on the car when the motor was being done.He still had the wheel well moldings on in 93,and they were all off the car sitting in the garage when I first went to see the car in July 2011,and by the time I bought it,they had disappeared out of the garage.Those were the same tires on the car also as when I bought it,so that is why I bought the new TA's with in two hours of owning the car.
Have a Merry Christmas,
Grant

[njsteve]

Hey Grant!

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I was out in the garage finishng up the prep for the start-up tomorrow. All that's left is to prime the oiling system one last time, put in the distributor and turn the key.

I'll update everyone tomorrow. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]