Clean, Paint, Install

Well, this whole weekend was just that. Clean parts, paint parts, install parts. I have made some very good progress though. The timing cover, oil pan, intake manifold, distributor, and harmonic balancer are installed. I have almost everything ready to be put on the engine. I am still waiting to get some motor mounts. I ordered some but they ended up being the wrong ones so on Monday I will try to find some. The motor is coming together slowly but it is starting to resemble a motor again. Here are some pictures of the progress.

 The engine on the left is what I started with.

 Here I am after laying down some paint after it was prepped.

 Super high heat paint for the exhaust manifold and a coat of primer on the intake manifold.

Here is the intake manifold after paint. This was the biggest and worst part to clean. It was really coked up with carbon and took lots of time in the ultrasonic tank to clean.

 Dixie even got into helping me get it ready. She is scrapping off the old gaskets on the heads and block. ( I think she just wants this to be done so she can park in the garage again.)

 Check out how clean this engine is. No sludge whatsoever, and everything looks fairly new.

 I skipped a bunch of progress but right here the oil pan, timing cover, intake, distributor and harmonic balancer have been installed.

 I had a little issue with the harmonic balancers. To time this engine I need the timing marks to be on the side of the engine. The original corvette engine had it this way. The smaller harmonic balancer is off the vette. The bigger one on the right is off the truck motor and it was originally timed from right on top of the block. That won't work on the vette because the water pump is too close to the timing cover, so I had to get an aftermarket timing tab.

 Here you can see the aftermarket timing tab. It's the chrome piece and bolts up to the timing cover. I set the engine at Top Dead Center and used this tab. I then made my own mark on the harmonic balancer to show 0 degrees. It should work great.

 I don't usually make it a practice to use the vehicle I am working on as a work bench but I have this time because my garage is really in shambles. I need to do some serious cleaning to it.

I hit a spot where I need to get some parts so I decided to call it a day and do a little needed cleaning. I can at least see part of my garage floor again. Soon I will be able to get rid of the old block and maybe park my bug back in the garage. Well, I didn't make my goal of getting the engine completely ready to install this weekend but I am really close. I think I can get it done throughout this week and be ready by next weekend.