OK, catching up again on the build... Life hasn't allowed me to get as much done as quickly as I would like. Two weekends ago I spent the weekend moving my parents out of the family home of 42 years... We were loading a pod to send to Knoxville with my parents, a horse trailer to go to the next town with my brother, and a Uhaul to come home with me. Then last weekend I spent an evening in Denton at daughter #2's concert. While they kept me from working on the car, I wouldn't have missed them for anything! More of those events are coming up in future weekends.
Prior to the outings I was able to get the radiator and fuel tank into the car. Unfortunately I did the radiator right before the new video came out, and didn't cut the hose per the new instructions. I also didn't mount the horn per the video that published today... I'm finding that I'm getting to redo a lot of things as the new videos come out. The gas tank went in smoothly, though it was painted red rather than black as I requested. On a positive note, the guy did a great job getting all the paint out of the tank before he painted it red the second time. I didn't want to send it back for a third attempt. And, of course, of the tons of baggies of donor hardware I have, I don't have the second screw to hold the filler neck to the chassis. I was able to find another screw with the same thread, so that will work until I stumble upon the original or get to stop by a salvage yard. Hang onto that hardware!
Since I'm about at the point where the engine needs to go into the car, I decided to spend last weekend replacing the clutch and flywheel. Everything was going pretty well... until the screws that hold the throw-out bearing didn't want to come out. I ended up using the "phone-a-friend" technique to get a buddy who is an auto mechanic to come help. A chisel and hammer knocked the screws loose, then a lot of care was used to get them the rest of the way out. The cutout in the screw is very shallow, so make sure you have excellent engagement before trying to remove them. I don't want to put the damaged screws back in, so I've ordered replacements, but they won't be available for a couple weeks so I'll have to wait on them before I can close up the transmission and put it in the car.
To continue making progress, I installed the steering wheel last night. It appears I'm missing the two turn signal mounts, so I'll have to request them. But it is nice to have the steering wheel in place.
A handful of questions for the experts...
- After I got the wheel in, there were 3 larger 5/16-18X 5/8 screws remaining unused. Are they extra if using the removable steering wheel? Or do they go with the turn signal mounts I don't have? And there is a ton of extra hardware in the steering wheel box that I presume will go unused...
- For the transmission, when I removed the driver side axle from the transmission and the passenger side axle from the intermediate shaft, fluid came out. However, once I had it all apart, there was no way for fluid to get into the intermediate shaft from the transmission. Are you supposed to put some amount of transmission fluid into the intermediate shaft before installing the axle? What about on the driver side? And how much?
- Should I put the intercooler pump onto the engine before I put the engine back in the car?
And a final comment, I finally stumbled upon the
Helpful photos log yesterday. They are immensely helpful. If you're reading my log looking for pointers, that would be one of them...
Now to fix the hose, add the horn, and put the engine wire harness back on the engine!