Starter

January 15, 2014 -

  Everything I do now seems so small and minor compared to putting the engine and transmission into the car.  Today I first tried putting in the drive shaft.  Unfortunately I am pretty sure the one I was sent is too short.  I heard that it should go about 4 inches into the transmission and this one maybe gets on 1 inch but then slips off when the other end is bolted down to the center section.  I will be calling about that tomorrow.  So then I went back to the starter.  (I had begun the other day with the starter but the bolts supplied looked too short and would barely catch into the bell housing where it mounts.)  Sure enough, after calling the supplier, the company that makes the starter has increased the thickness of the bracket on the starter.  I ran to the hardware store and as the man was locking the door because they close at 6:00 he let me buy 3 longer bolts.  I was determined to get something done today!  The shiny brass colored cylinders in the picture below are the big parts of the starter.

  There were some other side successes lately like getting another sheet of hush mat on the driver's side footbox *after* the engine installation which made it *very* tight.  I also replaced the rear liftgate struts, some interior body panel clips, and a side marker light on my SUV daily driver but that's not what this blog is about.

Transmission and Engine

January 10-12, 2014 -

  I got the clutch fork and its bearing during the week so Friday I put it all together and tried putting the transmission on by myself.  I got pretty close but not all the way and was really tiring myself out.  With Saturday being a rainy day I had the good fortune to have my friend Dave come over and help out for a couple hours.  After both of us trying to put the transmission on the engine (but this time with the bell housing attached to the transmission and not attached to the engine) we took a break and realized that the clutch just is centered enough.  (Some experts on youtube are seemingly able to eyeball it but we just weren't that good.)  We looked around for a clutch alignment tool until Dave (though he gives Whiskey credit for this idea) said we should use the transmission as the alignment tool by putting it in without the bell housing and clutch fork and the pressure plate nice and loose.  Then with the transmission in and everything aligned, tighten the pressure plate, pull the transmission out, put the bell housing and clutch fork and clutch fork bearing on, and then reinstall the transmission.  That worked! (Watch out for the clutch fork slipping off the pivot bolt head when you are handling the bell housing.)  Here it is:

  Then Dave and I started hoisting this into the car!  We ended up having to use some rope to pull the transmission down to get a steeper angle, and moved the car (with the front wheels on wheel dollies) forward to get it into position as that was easier than rolling the lift around.

  Maybe three people should have been involved in that job but we did all right.  I did find the bolt that had to be removed that interfered somewhat with the steering shaft.  I ran out of time and had to pick the job up Sunday with help from my Dad. With my Dad on Sunday we tightened down the transmission mount point, and tightened the engine bracket bolts to the frame. Here it is in the car:

  Dad helped me breakdown the engine lift and store it away.  Now I have a lot more room in my garage and this is really looking like a car!  Much thanks to Dave and my Dad!

Water Temperature Gauge Sender & Oil Level Sensor

January 5, 2014 -

  Now that my 14mm hex bit arrived from Amazon I was able to remove the plug in the engine block and install the water temperature gauge sender.  (Yes, 14mm is huge.  Your typical hex wrench set goes up to 8mm and that usually looks big.)

  After that I tried soldering the connector on the oil level sensor back to the wires that had snapped off when I dropped the oil pan.  I think it went ok, but it is hard to tell inside the connector if I might've shorted out the connections.  If I have I think an engine light will come on and tell me so.

Oil Pan

January 3, 2014 -

  Today I was able to get the engine plate on by pulling the flywheel just barely off (leaving in two bolts that it could hang on to.)  Then I put the clutch and pressure plate back on as well as the bell housing (which is the bulky thing on the right in the picture.)  Next up I removed the stock oil pan and stock oil pickup.  I installed the Moroso shallow oil pan and oil pickup.  It's nice and shiny at the bottom of the engine in the picture below.  Unfortunately I snapped two wires on the oil level sensor.  Not sure if I should try soldering those back together or buy a new part.  I put the question to Mike Forte.