Bunch of action over the last week, and a lot of it is the "visible" type, which helps motivate me to forge ahead. The engine is out, the front and rear glass is out, I'm working on disassembling the last of the exterior part of the heater system and other bits before calling the media blaster.

I called the media blaster last week after making my journal entry, and we talked about when he could fit me in, how much it was going to cost, etc. Rough summary is that he can fit me in with about a week or so of notice, and it will likely cost between $600-700 to do the whole car. I don't think that is too bad after talking to some knoledgeable people. So that's where we are going next.

I got the front and rear glass out without breaking anything, in the manner described in the shop manual. It wasn't too hard, and man it is interesting to see how badly rubber deteriorates over the years. The seals, especially the rear one, were so brittle it was possible to snap them in some places simply by bending. No wonder water was getting in through the rear. I found a good deal on a new rear seal on eBay, for half as much as Stoddard's or Tweeks, who both want about $65 for the part. Let's hope the deal is as good as it sounded. I am going to order the rest of the replacement rubber as a group from one of the above sources.

Alex was available last Sunday for engine removal, and I readily took up his offer of assistance. He suggested we use my car ramps instead of jack stands as our primary means of elevating the rear. I thought this was a good idea as well and most of the books concur. We used jacks stands as backup. Getting the car onto the ramps without being able to drive it meant we needed to tow it, because there was no way we were going to push it up the ramps. Alex brought over his beautifully restored Land Rover 110 Series truck, and we pushed the car out of the garage, turned it around by kicking the tires and maneuvering it with the help of my wife and father-in-law, and then put it back in the garage. Then we attached the winch via a tow strap to the two rear suspension pick-ups, and slowly pulled it up the ramps. Piece of cake.

Engine removal went pretty much strictly by the book, as described in Secrets of the Inner Circle. We did run into one detour that cost us about an hour or a bit more. The engine is held to the transmission by 4 nuts/bolts/studs. The top two are a major pain to remove, as a helper needs to undo them by reaching behind the fan shroud through the engine compartment while the other guy lies under the car and holds the bolt to keep it from turning. Holding it is an act of contortion not unlike a member of the Circe de Soleil circus troup. Eventually we got it. I went and bought a 17mm ratcheting wrench at Sears to speed future engine R&R.

The detour/screw-up was when we went to remove the lower to nuts. We completely missed the correct ones, mistaking the motor mount nuts/bolts as what we were looking for. Wrong. Don't undo these or you are unbolting your transmission. After removing a bunch ("why does the book only mention 2? Something's weird here") and seeing that the engine didn't want to budge, we knew we were off. A quick post to 356talk confirmed, and we went back to hunt for the missing nuts. They were so covered in grime we just hadn't seen them. Re-attach motor-mounts, undo two remaining nuts from previously gunked-up studs, and the engine was free. A bit of gymnastics lowering the engine balanced on a floor jack to the floor (it is a tight fit, and you need to rock it forwards and backwards a couple of times to clear both the pressure plate on the transmission side and the generator on the rear engine tray side) and we had it on the ground.

The engine looks to be in remarkably good shape, and I only wish I knew how long this 1959 engine has resided in my 1965 car. I'll probably clean it up a bit and then sell it as is. It certainly can be used, I'm just eager for more power and originality. How is that going to happen? I did locate and buy the engine I was talking about previously. I found a basically unmolested 1964 "C" engine, which has only had a valve job and light flycut on the heads, which I purchased for $2000 from a fellow Registry member in Florida. After seeing a bunch of basket case 912 motors for the 1400-1600 range that needed much rebuild work, I do not regret spending an extra couple hundred for a proper engine that I won't need to change the flywheel/sheetmetal/generator on that will bolt in and run for a good while before needing a rebuild. We'll cover the new engine in some detail when it arrives.