10 August 2011

extraction

Since the firewall has been skinned around the engine,
I've been jonesing to pull the old cadillac out and clean up the front side.
Well it's only been 3 or 4 days but its been well over a year waiting for this step.

Besides having some work priorities,
the other reason was the shop floor was way too cluttered.
There has been a flathead and a sbc laying basically in the walkway for months.

Jaxon
not so little helper


























Today my oldest helped clean the shop up while I worked,
and wow it really made a big difference.
I finished my work project early,
 and had some spare time to move those 2 engines,
basically putting them on carts to roll around.

With the floor uncluttered,
decided better yank the engine out and fill the space up.
It was a relief the big flathead came out without taking off the front grill.

cavern


























The car was so light without that hefty block of cast iron.

Since the firewall was built from the inside,
the front side had some nasty untrimmed and unwelded seams.

connect the dots




















After a couple hours of family time,
this dang car was calling me back.
Begging for a little firewall massage.

cleaned up



















I've been able to quit coffee now for over 2 weeks.
On top of that,
I haven't replaced the caffeine with tea or soda either,
(well maybe one "arizona green tea" yesterday)

Anyway its tough to rally up at 8pm,
but I was glad I got out of the house.

What could be better than sitting on the couch watching a movie, drinking a beer with the family?
How about having a shower of welding chispas fly in your lap and shoes,
burning paint, and grinding welds and surface rust.
All sober cause I got to drive home...
Sounds like fun!

Now the majority of the welding is done.
There are some gaps left to fill that will take some time,
and also the left side of the distributor indentation is a little crooked.

heavily modified firewall


























 Still, I can't expect to finish it in 3 hours!
There's a handful of other "engine bay" projects
- front spring clamp/crossmember holes,
-inner fender panels,
- pedal modifications
to name a few.

Now that the engine/tranny are out,
I can also get even more projects finished
- dial in the clutch arm pivot
- figure out the starter holes
- clean engine
- make a log manifold...maybe

Until next time...

TP




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