Early on the fourth straight day of battling with the car, the engine is in and the car is running; I'll be able to drive it onto the truck. I'm not sure I believe it. Not bad for not knowing what I'm doing. Here's how it unfolded:
I lost a couple days to packing, work, and a huge yard sale, so Sunday was when I started up again on the car. It was the first of several days waking up early without an alarm. I did a fair bit of planning to devise a blocking scheme to lift my car without killing myself. It took two trips to Home Despot, considerable patience and some schlepping of the jack back and forth to get the car up and the engine in place. This is how it looked with the car at the proper height and the engine underneath the engine compartment:
and here is the engine a bit higher:
The next day was a day of lessons learned. The first attempt was a bust. Apparently the rear engine tin and the muffler need to come off - the fit is just too tight otherwise. So up went the engine and then down came the engine to take off the tin and muffler. Fits much better that way:
Once I got it lined up it slid in so easily I wasn't sure it was even in. I tightened the engine bolts to spec and started connecting all the goodies that connect to an engine when I realized that the gas cable couldn't pass through... and thus started the battle of Tona versus the rubber. I think it was about two hours to get that damn seal anywhere near where it should be - pushing it in, undoing the engine bolts, sliding the engine out again, using tape to hold the seal upward, cursing, sweating, who knows what else. Eventually I got it done, made sure the gas cable could pass through well, and re-attache the tin and the muffler. I was spent after a long, 8 hour day. Here's the engine installed with the tin and muffler reassembled.
The following day, Tuesday, I got down to business reconnecting ignition wires, hoses, the gas tank, a new battery, and all other miscellaneous items that needed connecting. With any luck, the car would be running by the end of the day... luck that was not to come. Before putting gas in the car, I decided to turn the key to see if the starter would even turn and ... nothing. Not even the solenoid. OK I lied. Not nothing. The turn signal indicator light was flashing, even thought the turn signals and emergency flasher were not turned on.
At this point I started freaking out. We were now in land of open-ended trouble shooting and who knows how long this might take. I followed some sort of systematic trouble shooting. I had fiddled with the turn signal relay and un- and re-plugging the cables seemed to solve that problem, but the starter was still dead silent. I cleaned all the battery terminals very well to make sure there was enough juice, plugged in the headlights to turn them on and see if they were bright or dim... and then they didn't work at all, so then I ended up trying to figure out
that problem on the assumption that the same lack of juice at the headlights was related to the lack of juice at the solenoid. It turns out the problems were unrelated, and to cut an already unbearably long story short, I noticed a disconnected cable, checked the wiring diagram, reconnected it, and viola! A turn of the key and the starter came to life. I never solved the headlight issue, but I ended the day pretty convinced I'd get the job done.
Today, the fourth day, was a glorious finish. I got gas, filled the tank, poured some in the carb, and even though it didn't start right away, my neighbor came over with some engine starter spray, and I sprayed that sucker while he started the car and eventually the fuel pump started drawing fuel from the tank. I did a quick tune - points gap and timing - and then I did a quick test ride.
This was the first time the car had been driven in over three years. I didn't know how relieved I'd feel that this was all finished. I pulled in triumphantly to the drive,
and then just did the boring task of getting the car packed and the fenders on for the trip. A bit of attention was needed since the windows are down and I don't want the headliner padding to fly away. Here we are, ready to travel:
And then, without losing a beat, I packed up the garage... car gets picked up tomorrow and the stuff on Friday.
Sunday: 5 hours, Monday: 8 hours, Tuesday: 4 hours, Wednesday: 3 hours
