Saturday, January 7, 2012

Installing Engine Accessories

I'm very happy I was able to install the engine and transmission yesterday.  It is nice to walk out in the garage and not have those two tasks ahead of you. I tackled the installation of some of the engine accessories today.  I did not plan to work on the car too much but ended up spending most of the day in the garage.


I started off with the installation of the starter followed by the alternator and associated brackets.  Next came the water pump pulley, new harmonic balancer, crank pulley, and then the belt.

The radiator collected a little dust over the past few months.  I cleaned it off and noticed the front fins had a little paint scraped off.  I touched it up and then installed the radiator and my overflow tank.  I connected the lower radiator hose to the engine but not the top hose. I'll do that part once I permanently intall the intake (I temporarily put on the intake to lift the motor into the vehicle).

I then mounted up my export brace and then put on the shock tower caps.  I then reconnected the ground to the back of the driver side cylinder head.  I also connected the battery and alternator grounds to the original mounting point on the block. 

Since the carburetor is not in place, I'm limited in what I can do with the fuel lines.  However, I cut some rubber hose to connect the line which emmerges from the driver fender to the fuel pump.  I installed a Fram fuel filter at this point.   This is not much of a custom arrangement but is certainly functional and the filters are inexpensive and available everywhere. 


I'm leaving the lift plate in place just to block off the intake.  While the stock valve covers don't fit, they do cover the heads without the rockers in place.  These are just there to seal the motor until I'm able to install the pushrods, lifters, rockers, and intake.

I've a large amount of additional space in the garage now.  The motor, transmission, radiator, and all the other parts were taking up a fair amount of space.  I spent a little time cleaning up the garage and then called it a day. 

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