So while I had intended to drop her top so I could easily have access to undoing the shifting rod from the transmission as well as using her interior for storage space, I ran into a slight problem that I did not foresee.
With her up on stands, there’s absolutely no way to clear the garage door.
Now I think I may be able to do it with the garage door open, but I’m not sure it will vertically clear the gear rail. I’ll try again tomorrow.
Exhaust Stored
I’m notorious for keeping bubble wrap and good packaging. It comes from a previous life as a toy collector.
But last year, when I bought a set of rear pop-outs for Żuczek, the seller did an amazing job wrapping everything in multiple layers of bubble-wrap so I felt horribl disposing of it.
It all came in handy today as I wrapped up all the newly coated exhaust components in it.
Everything fit well under the driver side front dash.
I’m so starved for storage that I have to make every bit count.
Axles
It has been some time since I touched the axles, some of the first work I started this year.
I had been building up multiple coats of paint and then multiple coats of a protective top coat.
My goal has been to try to achieve the same thickness that was on the them when I pulled them off the car and started sanding them and cleaning them up on Day 3.
I tore off the tape and hangers and for the most part I think I did ok.
It doesn’t feel as thick, but I think it will be fine.
They all got wrapped up in bubble-wrap and went into storage with the exhaust parts.
Garage of Love™ Sorting & Discoveries
I needed to free up some bins for the new parts that are coming and I went ahead and resorted some.
I need to keep better track of my inventory. I seem to have a brand new still in the box 50amp alternator that I did not remember buying.
If I had known about this, I probably would have skipped buying the 90amp Compu-Fire one that I ended up getting for the AJ refresh.
I found the bind of old and in need of restoration DVDA cores that I have acquired at swap meets and such. I think I paid $5 a piece.
I should see if the guy I bought the restored 205H from takes cores for credit. It would not mind having another fully restored Bosch distributor on hand.
I found this tar board that I’d purchased for Yellow. It is cut for a sedan, so I’m not sure I can mod it properly to work with Murbella.
The reason I say that is it is very different than the other one I posted about. This is not all that pretty, but, it I wanted to try to match the dual-thickness of the original that I pulled out, I bet I could make this be the first layer, then bond it to chicken wire, then bond that thin glamour layer to it.
I need to go back in the last 3 years or records to try and figure out which car I did in fact purchase this for. It had to be the Yellow 74 since I don’t recall it being any time recently.
I discovered I also had a full new set of stock springs, retainers, and valve keepers.
I had completely forgotten that when I bought the SCAT C20 scam it was a kit that came with lifters, springs, etc. and I pulled all these off the new EMPI big valve heads and used the SCAT ones.
This kind of sucks since I ended up buying all this to rebuild the FI heads for Murbella. Oh well.
Engine Building Prep
So I pulled out all my sealants and lubricants (and greases) needed for the engine building and then the suspension work
I must not have properly sealed the Gascacinch so I’ll need to get a new on. It is totally solid.
I like the way that product works on the more paper-like gaskets at the alternator stand and oil pump. Much cleaner than the aviation sealant for the case and case nuts.
The only thing I’m missing is a cam lube, and this time I decided to try the Cam-Shield paste product since CBPerformance already had it available. I imagine it will be pretty much like the ZDDP paste I used on the 2019 New Build.
New Arrivals
Part of my Amazon order arrived today and it included the gasket material I’m going to build the new gaskets for the plenum and the throttle body out of.
I am not sure if this is the correct type of Fiber product. It is so difficult to determine which one does what when Amazon and other vendors don’t clearly indicates every variation. There’s a shitload of materials out there but the one that is on there is like paper, and most paper ones seem to have some rubberized material in them.
I thought the cellulose one would be the closest to paper, but then it’s application info is all about water and coolant. So I don’t really know.
I realized that the shitty electronic calipers I’ve been using are… well… pretty shitty.
I decided to order a proper set of micrometers and I figured I’d throw in a low-cost bore measuring set of guages.
The micrometers arrive in 2 weeks. I don’t think I realized that when I ordered them I should have been paying closer to the product and shipping times. I was trying to stay below $100 for the micrometers, and hopefully they aren’t too crappy.
Now when I went to Jegs the other day, the guy I talked to about gasket making said to run to Harbor Freight and spend them money on a basic punch set for leather or other materials. He said this will make a great clean “hole” in the gasket for studs and bolt areas.
Amazon had a basic $10 set so I snagged it.
Cleaning
So since 2017, I’ve more or less been keeping this big plastic used protein powder bin full of nuts, bolts, washers, and other assorted things I’ve pulled off cars. Most of it was filthy, oily, grimey, etc. and I would go in and pull out an emergency piece here or there as need.
Now a lot of it is crap, but I see no reason to use new screws to remove difficult studs, and there’s been quite a lot of times I’ve needed to just grab a washer or two as spacers for things.
So. I sat there with solvent and cleaned up all this crap, sort it into general types, and then threw out a ton of what was just stripped or damaged.
I really should have done this years ago. I can’t let it get that bad again.
Most of this will never see another use, and I will always get a whole new case hardware set if I build an engine.
I do need to sand down and refinish those VW brake line clips. The originals are so much better than the crappy ones you can buy in the aftermarket. Problem is they are really corroded as they’ve come off Yellow and the other cars. Still, they’ll last longer than the new ones. I’ve broken so many new ones.
Shelf Sorting
I do need to redo all of my bins. I’ll probably wait until all this project is done.
I want to redo the bins of engine parts along these cases, making it easy to know if I have complete parts to start a short block or long block.
I need to determine what I’m going to do with all these cases. The AH case needs a new stud installed, I think all of them need some oil plate studs now since I robbed them when repairing the New Build Case last year.
I’ve got 2 8mm cases (AH and AR) and then the 10mm (AE) case to work with.
Perhaps, in the next year or so, I can just build 2 long blocks, test run them with miscellaneous parts to break them in, and then sell them as 0 mile rebuilds. If I don’t spend too much, and use what I already have on hand, I could probably get $2000 or so per long block.