All things that are supposed to be red are now red. Now to button it all back up, hopefully this weekend, crossing my fingers! We've had a bit of good weather here, so I hope to take advantage. I think i have all seals and gaskets that I need. if not, I have a tube of FIPG to make up the difference. I seriously need to clean my bench now that I see this picture.


I also tried some dashpot polishing as well. I had a couple spare SU's that I took one of the dashpots off, and with some White Diamond polish and easy going, I got some shine on it. I then used a bit of Autosol to give it a little more shine. I think I will do this for my regular carbs when all is back up and running.


As well, the flywheel and pressure plate are at the machine shop to get assembled/balanced, just in case. the engine mounts, and other brackets are painted black. Any progress is good, and I have made a bit in the last little while.

It's all looking great!

Just slap a mixed tape in the player and soldier on! Looking great.

Nice progress there David, waiting to see this roll yet this year.

The engine and transmission are finally in. Once I get some pictures uploaded, I will post them here. I have to fit everything else like the distributor, rad, exhaust, etc, but I had to get everything in before the snow flies. I can putter away on those as time allows. It feels good to get this far. I have learned a ton on this journey.

Thanks for keeping us updated, sure has been dead on here of late...

Here's the pictures... I added some of the pilot bearing extraction as well. The toilet paper trick worked great! The keys for me, were to keep the paper quite wet, and to wrap the end of the bolt in electrical tape to take up the inner diameter of the pilot bearing so that no TP could force its way out of the front of the hole. It all needs to go to the back!

Pilot bearing ready to come out! Remove the clip and the large washer...


Smashing the TP in....


It's working! This is unreal.


It's out!


The gruesome aftermath. After this stage, I cleaned all the TP out, added a very thin film of copper antiseize to the new bearings' exterior race, and tapped the new bearing home. The washer and clip go in to retain the bearing in place.


The new Sachs clutch is installed, ready for mating with the transmission. Flywheel and pressure plate have been balanced.


Assembly is complete, ready to go in! Get that hoist in here and raise it to the sky.


And everything goes in... and removing the hood makes things infinitely easier. My brother in law helped me with the install, it was good to have a another set of hands to juggle things into place. I raised the front of the car, to help clear the tail of the transmission to the floor. Clearing the front suspension crossmember was the trickiest part of the deal, I didn't want to scrape anything up.


I should mention that I did use the old garbage transmission crossmember to hold everything in place... for now. I need to clear space for the wife's BMW to fit in the garage over the winter, so everything need to go back in, and time didn't allow for new trans mounts. It's definitely on the radar though, that has to be fixed.

As for what's left, I need to fit the electricals, decide on what header to use, and hook up all cables and carbs. So in other words, everything else. I also got a Remflex manifold gasket, I am interested to see how that will work as well.

Progress achieved!

Wow - that looks fantastic. Nervous moments as you put the far too nice engine back in the car! Love those days (though I have to admit that I rarely do this without all hands on deck and that makes for a good day even if the car doesn't run!).

Nice. I remember when my last-built B20 looked that pretty; long time ago! Still runs like a top after 20+ years, though.

Awesome work David, congrats on getting this far.

A bit of an update, got to spend some dedicated time on the car, got 90% of the bits and bobs reattached to the engine. It's getting there! Hopefully fire it up within the next week or two, time permitting.

Getting there, looking good!

Yup - looks good...the header/alternator clearance is tight!

It's alive!!

I want to adjust the valves, check the timing, adjust the carbs etc etc, but for now it's running and I am a happy camper. The alternator is now equally between the header and the upper suspension. The header exits out into a resonator, which will eventually go into the bin, and will be replaced by a Simons sports exhaust. But for the lack of muffling appliances, it sounds rather nice! But does it move...? That's for another day to attempt.
But in the meantime, goal achieved. Feels good.

The discovery continues...
1) Something is up with the cooling system...the top hose gets very firm, the radiator doesn't get hot all the way through (top hot, cold bottom), the bottom hose is cold. I initially suspected the rad, but since there is coolant coming out the bottom, there can't be a blockage in the internal rad structure. So I suspect the water pump at this stage for not moving the coolant. The coolant pipe, heater and valve hoses get hot, so coolant is flowing through there. I had the heater on full blast, and a front pedestal fan blowing into the front of the car for max stationary airflow. Not the greatest news but more diagnosis is needed before I start ripping and tearing.

2) I suspect I am only running on one carb. I can stall the car by blocking the air on the rear carb. I took apart both carbs on the engine, reset the jets for 12 flats back from even, and no change. I suspect a blocked float on the front carb at this stage.

3) I took it around the block. It moves, too! The clutch engagement is fine, no grinding gears or unknown circumstances. One step forward, two back, but that's ok.