PHASE TWO: Finding the Frame- Pt. One

I received the magical phone call today from Sarah saying that she had Jack and needed to run a few afternoon errands.  I had Nora napping so the ONLY logical thing to do was go out into the motorpool and do something messy.  With the tub (mostly) done and stashed away in the corner of the garage, I needed to find something new to work on.  And there she was, like Ms. America strolling down the catwalk in her swimsuit, the engine practically jumped off of the chassis.  Well, it would have jumped off if it weren't for a couple strategically placed bolts and an oddly positioned "Bubba-add-on" chain connecting the engine to the underside of one of the engine mounts.  Either Bubba was afraid of someone stealing his engine, or the chain acted like a heavy duty grounding strap.

So I removed the four bolts between the transmission and the clutch housing and then the two engine mount bolts.  I rigged up the hoist and grossly misjudged the length of the strap I needed to lift the engine off of the chassis.  My math told me a twenty foot strap would give me enough strap left over to hang over the engine once rigged up.  Well, I had my left-over strap and then some!  I might go find a fifteen footer or two eight footer's for next time.  Anyhow, unlike a space shuttle launch, once I got going, I wasn't going to stop.  Don't worry, Sarah, I remembered my credo "Safety First."



3...2...1...BLAST OFF.  I had to slightly lift and then push the engine forward to disconnect the transmission from the clutch.

 

The engine is completely separated from the transmission.

No, it is not falling.  But it is clearing the front bumper and will soon be on its way back to planet garage floor.

Once I had the engine airborne, I backed the chassis from underneath the engine.  I really didn't want to push the hoist around the garage with a dangling engine three feet above the garage floor.  I was very anxious to get it back on the ground s..l..o..w..l..y.


Successful landing.



With a successful landing, I then pushed the engine aside so it wasn't sitting in the smack dab in the middle of the bay.  I cleaned up my small mess and then pushed the chassis back inside.  With still some time to kill, I started eyeballing that transmission.  I loosened all of the bolts around the universal joints that connect the drive-shafts to the axles.  I ended up completely removing the front drive shaft.  The rear one's time will come later this week.  Also in store will be the steering shaft and clutch/brake pedals.  I am practically drooling over the frame right now:  I really want to get my grinder on that sucker.  Don't worry, I'm not drooling, though.  I do not want to make any extra surface rust.



The current state:  engine on the floor up front, forward driveshaft (between transmission and front axle) disconnected.