TARP Blog

Days tend to run together in memory. I look at the blog and it’s been several days since my last post — things have been crazy busy both at work and at home. And yet, the car still needs work and the clock keeps ticking.

Thanks to Dave Anderson, the engine is (finally) mounted to the transmission and ready to be mounted in the car. I had the rest of the engine finished and wired up and everything, but although it’s not really all that heavy, it was just heavy and bulky enough that I couldn’t get it mounted alone. So Dave came over to the house around lunchtime on Sunday and helped me squirm that transmission into place. With 2 people, it actually wasn’t very difficult. The downside was that to get the transmission in place, we had to remove the side gear on the passenger side, which drained all the (pricey) transmission oil onto the floor. Oh well. And then the bracket/brace that connects the bottom of the transmission to the bottom of the block on the silvertop engine, well there’s a section that has to be cut out, otherwise that same side gear doesn’t have room to turn.

A little work with the grinder later and the bracket was clearanced and we had the transmission bolted up to spec, the brace mounted, and the side gear back on the transmission. I need to run out and get some more transmission oil at lunchtime today, as refilling the transmission took more than what little extra I had on the shelf. Nothing like seeing red transmission oil flowing out of the transmission onto the floor to get one scrambling for the oil dry and being very, very glad to have an extra full bag over in the corner of the garage.

Dave and I scrounged around for awhile in the bins of castoff parts to find the transmission mounting plate for the driver’s side engine mount. Of course, it wasn’t anywhere near where I thought it would be, but we found it and got that bolted on, as well as the other mounting brackets. Other than finishing the transmission oil refill, I’m pretty sure that it’s ready to go in the car.

There are a couple odds and ends that I need to clean up in order to get the car ready to receive its new engine. Late last night I figured out the mounting solution for the oil cooler and fan, so I want to get that complete and drill the holes through the trunk firewall for the oil line passthrough. Also, a couple of fuel and vacuum lines need to be extended, and I want to try to finish off the return radiator hose line issue so that’s ready to bolt up. Getting down to that bottom return line will be a total PITA once the engine is in the car. I hope to finish off those couple of items, as well as completing the hookup of the front radiator lines so that once the engine is in the car, I can get water in it and get it started up. Yes, at just under 6 weeks until the race I want to get this engine running

Race Prep Author: Pat