Updating a classic car to modern power.

Late last week, someone let me borrow their engine hoist. They even dropped it off at the house. I just had to put it back together. I thought it was a bit odd that they had taken it apart, but whatever.

Yesterday’s big project was to yank the gas engine out and pull the transmission off of it. I had already pulled the shifter out and removed the motor mount bolts so it only took about 15 minutes from the time I started lifting to the time I set the engine on the ground. It took another hour or so to get everything separated and pictures taken, though. Pictures are below their caption.

Everything hooked up and ready to go. With the chain hooked where it is, the assembly was very well balanced. The output shaft of the transmission hung about 5 inches lower than the front of the motor. I don’t have any pictures of the in-between steps, but I did record a video of it. I’m probably not going to post it, though, if for no other reason than it’s not all that interesting.

And there it is.

Before and after. Lots of room now. At least until I get some stuff to put back in there.

These came apart pretty easily, too. Pulled the bolts, grabbed the pry bar and did a little levering.

I will need to get this gunk cleaned out of the bellhousing. I’m not going to miss all this oil and grease.

The “magic number” on this transmission, the distance from the front of the bellhousing to the face of the flywheel, is 1.8 inches.The style of motor, the size of the motor adapter and this number is what determines how thick the adapter plate has to be.

The flywheel weighs just over 18 pounds so I’m considering getting a lightened one, but they are a bit pricey.

When I hooked up the battery to move the car into the garage (oh, so long ago), I wondered why the stereo didn’t come on. I found out yesterday. Somebody had an aftermarket stereo in there and just bolted the stock one in when they sold it; either to me or the guy I bought it from. And, they left all the raw wires hanging out behind there. Shouldn’t be too hard to track down what goes where, though.

That’s all I’ve got for this update. I’m probably going to be doing more design work for a bit so I should be able to clear the other side of the garage so the wife can park inside for the winter. That will make her happy.

See ya next time.