Big day

I haven't been spending a ton of time on the car in the past month.  Winterizing the boat turned into a big surprise of water in the oil and took an extra weekend day to deal with.  The boat is put away for now and lots of work to do in the spring, but this isn't a blog about the boat.

I have had a few minutes to work on the car.  I have spent most of my time trying to disassemble both front suspensions to pick the parts that look best.  I have not had much luck getting bolts to come out, so I bought a cutting tool and hacked away.  The sparks make Jane nervous, but she trusts me.  Below is the partially disassembled suspension and some of the parts (shocks and kingpins) which came out. 

 I did shop black Friday at Home Depot.  I have been thinking about buying a tool chest and found a good deal.  The garage is definitely more organized. 

The big work was today (Dec 7).  John came over around 9:30 and we set to work getting the engine installed.  The day started with John staring at the space where the engine should go. 

 We strapped the engine to the hoist, and tried to figure out how to get it into the large, empty space at the front of the car.

The low ceiling in the garage meant we could only raise the engine so far, but we still had to get it over the front of the car.  We also wanted to be very careful not to drop the engine onto our toes.  That would hurt.  (Spoiler alert - we didn't drop it.)   We had to open the garage door to get the hoist in the right position.  It was about 20 degrees outside.  That said, installing an engine isn't something to rush.  It is quite a slow dance of moving the hoist forward, lowering the engine a little, checking that nothing is hung up or scraping where it shouldn't, and repeating. 

We were very deliberate, and made good progress.  It wasn't easy, but I wouldn't say it was hard either.  We managed to get it in place by lunch time. 

 We spent the next few hours installing the carburetors, radiator, oil cooler, oil lines, and I am sure a few other things I forgot.  Below is the car as it sits now.  I am really pleased with what we got done. 

Next will be a few more connections, add some oil, get some gas, and see if she runs.