Tonight should be the night

[Bliggida]

I spent a few hours the other day, really busting @$$. Not the absolute worst engine I've ever worked on, but enough to say they are a pain.

So far I've pulled all the stuff needed to get to the intake(s).
Alternator
coil packs with mounting plate
right and left fuel line brackets.
fuel lines
injectors
The upper and lower intakes are removed, the valve covers are off.

Now all that is left is to unbolt the exhaust manifolds, rockers and push rods. And then unbolt the heads themselves.

I snagged a knuckle really bad the other day and it made me want to quit for a day. So now I'm back at it. Despite the smeared blood on the firewall. I am hoping the engine shop will have the heads turned around in a couple days. And I may be able to get started with re-assembly Friday, and then have the car running by monday. Depending on how lazy I am.

In retrospect having gone this far into the motor, a cam swap would only be another hour or so, and bolting up a set of headers seems a no-brainer. But, not this time.

Building the engine off a stand makes too much sense so maybe I'll wait for that instead.

Anyway, that's the heads up. Did anyone need pictures of anything while I am 'in the area'? If so, AIM, E-mail, Post my name etc. I'll try to get 'em to you same-day.

Thanks for the support from many of you.

...off to turn da wrenches.

[xjarayax]

err so what are you doing?

[yankee_girl61]

could you use some new heads and intakes? i have some just taking up space.

btw, i still have your flick. i really liked it a lot, but i never meant to keep for a month. when i get back to san antonio i will get it back to ya. or you could just come to the house and pick it up.

[hou-tex-six]

Just pull the whole thing out, it only takes 3 hours.

Cp

[Bliggida]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by xjarayax:
err so what are you doing?<hr></blockquote>

I bent some valves

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by hou-tex-six:
Just pull the whole thing out, it only takes 3 hours. Cp<hr></blockquote>True dat! That's originally what I wanted to do. There wasn't an engine on my second engine stand, so it was open to use.

Will definately do that next time round though. If I do decide to stick with an L36 (or LS1, same still applies) I'll build one off the stand if I can find a cheap block. That way I can have it machined, then build it up from the bottom end - up, balancing and blueprinting everything myself.

UPDATE:
I quite a tad early today, will finish tomorrow morning. The weld I had on the exhaust came back to haunt me. The problem I had was the intermediary pipe coming loosing from the clamp at the end of the Y-Pipe past the catalytic converter. Anytime I had wheel hop or fish tailed it'd work loose and leak bad, knocking and clanging against the floorboard. So I originally intended for a tack-weld. The guy I had to it (threw it on a rack at a local muffler shop) I told him to just tack-weld it, since I might need to bust that tack loose and remove the exhaust for work. He didn't listen and welded about a quarter of the pipe. So when I went to remove the headers, I decided to drop the Y-pipe for clearance. Only to find that weld holding it from going anywhere. SO, I had to stop work. Break out a grinder to cut through that weld. That alone took much more time than it should have, about a half hour. But eventually I removed enough material (too much) and the Y-Pipe came down and out. I pulled most of the header bolts out without removing the spark plugs. But it would be much easier if the plugs were out of the way - I'll do that for re-installation.

When I quit, because of the leaking pan gasket I was a grease monkey. Normally don't bother me much, but this time I just felt dirty. I had metal shavings on my back and neck bugging me. And in general some of it just plain south Texas heat. And the gashed knuckle that was healing, re-opened and became deeper. Along with a few other cuts and scrapes to add to that. But that isn't anything compared to what I found when I went in the house to clean up....

The speck in my eye
I felt debris in my eyes, which happens sometimes, so okay - cool, I'll just wash my face and run some water over my eyes and that should do it...nope, still bugging me. I really tried not to rub, because I know that's never good, but I don't know anyone who actually resists doing so. So, finally, after like 10-15 minutes, I'm trying to figure what the deal is. So I head for the bathroom to see if I can find it. I am looking inside my upper and lower eyelids and I don't see anything, but I can feel it. So I am looking at my eyes really close. And I spot it. In my actual eye!!! If I remember anatomy, over the Iris to the lower inside of the pupil (The colored part [iris?] - mine are brown) So I start splashing water with my eyes open to dislodge it and it won't work. My older brother is in town visiting, so I poke my head out of the bathroom and tell him "eh come in here for a second I need your help with something" and his facial expression was funny and puzzling as to what specifically kind of help I needed. I said "relax, I just need you to take a look at my eye" To make sure I wasn't seeing things funny. So he looked saw the speck. Good! Now get it out! He tried with a water syringe to dislodge it, while I tried my best to keep my eyelids from closing. And that didn't work either.
After that I had dipped a Q-tip in water, and tried with the other hand to keep my eyelids open again, while I gently brushed the actual lens of my eye. After several swipes I thought it was in there too deep and I'd have to see an Opthamologist. But finally I am sweeping it, and the irritation is gone. I look at the Q-tip and there is a barely visible speck sitting on it - I GOT IT!!!!

After it was all said and done, he said "why weren't you wearing safety glasses" he was suprised to tell him I was! I don't know how it got there? I don't think the actual grinder lodged it, it was probably due to me rubbing my eye that it stuck it in there like that?

I guess safety glasses don't guarantee you nothing will go wrong.

But at least I got it out with no permanent damage. And it made me realize how effective a mechanic and driver it makes you if you are missing depth perception, or blind.

Remember to take care of yours folks!

[cb1101]

My eyes are tearing after just reading that 1 [img]graemlins/crybaby.gif[/img]

[AlienInv8r]

Shoot man, that sucks, I bet that stung pretty bad. Good thing you got it out though, you definately need your eyes. Hope the rest of the engine work goes well.