May 2010

Getting the engine out was part of the battle.  The next thing I moved to was the glass.

Not sure what happened, but I don't have pics of this FUN and EXCITING process either.  Lets just say that the windshield is held in place by this thick, black tar-like sealant that is a HUGE pain in the tail to work around to get the windshield unstuck.

After I was done, Shane gave me a tid-bit where you can fish a thin wire through the sealant and use the wire to disengage the glass from the car.  Oh well.  I'll use that trick when I do my next car 25 years from now.

More disassembly.

Oh.  Before I go into the additional disassembly, I'll mention that I also found a neat item at the Cedar Rapids swap meet  in late April.  I found a 9" Ford rear end housing which set me back a mere twenty bucks.  Its 7 inches too wide, so it will need to be narrowed, but that might be an adventure for another day... or I'll pay someone to do it.  We'll see.

Next on the list was the front suspension.  I was pretty affraid here, not knowing how easy it would be to get all the fasteners off in the right way.  In the end, I did end up having to cut the springs in a couple places to get them out (I'm not using them anyway)... but things are out.

Here's the mass of stuff (above) which I'll probably not use again... so I'll have it in the attic for the next 5-10 years until I know for sure I won't need it anymore.

Here's the empty void left by the suspension. You really can't see it in this picture, but there's a lip on the frame there where the upper A arm sits.  What's crazy is that this location is a great/horrible spot to gather dirt/grime/rot.

Here it is, cleaned out.  Amazing that this isn't more rotten.

One of the things I didn't post a lot about in my previous post was my work to get the dash/heater/etc out.    I pulled out the ash tray and after sifting through some old pennies, dirt, dust, etc... I found what you see in the picture below.  I don't believe this was used for any electric purpose.... but I may be 100% wrong there.

Lastly - one other new item has made its way into the garage.  An new welder has arrived.  This one should weld the thicker and thinner metals all together.  I tried it tonight on some of the heavier stock for the rotisserie and it did a pretty nice job.  I actually had to dial the heat back a bit to get the weld looking nice.  We'll see how it handles the thinner steel before I sell my smaller Lincoln welder.

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These last two pics I thought I should post - some of you might know my buddy Shane.  If not, I snapped a couple pictures of what he's working on right now.  They're below.