This posting is one in a series. If you have not yet read the earlier postings in the series, you’ll need to, as this posting won’t make much sense without having done so! Just do a search using the word “SLURP”.
It’s Thursday afternoon, and Randy and I plan to begin the engine swap chain of events tonight by stripping body parts off of Red’s front end, to facilitate engine/tranny extraction on Saturday.
Almost (not all yet) the purchased parts have arrived.
Mike, the nice man who bought Red’s existing inline six / cast iron Hydra-Matic combo for use in his own more restoration oriented project, left Minnesota this morning, with trailer, to do a multi-day loop that will bring him through here (Texas) plus another state where he is picking up some other equipment. I asked him if he wanted to wait until he was sure we had extracted the drivetrain for him to pick up. He said “No, I’m coming.” I asked him last night if he had yet checked the weather along the route. He replied “Doesn’t matter. I’m coming regardless!”I think he is eager to move on his own project . . .
So, Randy and I had better truly have that drivetrain out of Red Saturday . . .
The cam is here, and that’s critical because the new engine cannot go into Red until the cam has first been installed (MUCH easier than afterwards).
The new transmission from Greg Ducato’s team at Phoenix transmission will arrive early next week. This Friday would have been nice, but early next week will not delay us much, as we need to install the cam and other goodies into the new engine.
The missing nuts for the engine hoist are coming via 2nd day air Friday. Yeah, the hoist came short the 8 nuts needed to secure the intermediate casters, and those nuts are NOT “hardware store” grade. The trick bolts needed to safely lift the LS series engine and tranny, and to hold the engine on the engine stand, are coming in the same shipment.
Anyway, it’s a rainy afternoon in Spicewood, Texas, and all is calm before the technical storm of activity that begins tonight.
After tonight, Red will be undriveable until we get the new drivetrain, and all its required appurtenances, in. I sure hope we didn’t forget anything important, and expecially anything really expensive!
Here’s the work area, four hours before we start. The high gloss black parts in the second photo are the engine and tranny mounts, which exhibit the beautiful and durable finish that the local powdercoater, Crosslink, was able to apply on a ONE-day turnaround yesterday! Erol, Jessica and the team not only delivered FAST after my bringing the parts there was delayed by Mike’s car accident, but in addition they delivered BEAUTFUL and DURABLE. Powdercoating is a wonderful finish for street rod parts, as it takes incredible abuse and stays looking great.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/Calmbeforetechstorm.jpghttp://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/Powdercoatedenginetransmounts002.jpgJim G
