73 on a slow road to recovery... by Done Yet?

8 minute(s) of a 308 minute read

How about an update...

For starters I painted clear on all of my steering linkage, I also went back to the bodyshop where my car was painted and used there polishing machine to polish both front and back glass mouldings and a few emblems. The Z28 grille emblem was cleaned and the red in the Z was repainted, and the LT emblem was reshot black and polished.



Then i installed and greased all of my steering linkage.



The headlamps and bezels were put in next, then the front turn signals and then the front bumper.





Today I had my new windshield installed. Once in the car both front and back glass mouldings were also put on the car. I also put on the lower front spoiler and all four marker lamps.







Its been better than Xmas at my house with the big brown truck stopping here pretty often. Heres a pic of my new exhaust its a 3" X pipe violator setup and a few other parts that came. I also recieved a radiator but it came damaged and i am waiting on the new one.

9-8-2011

Bye Bye Rust......

I posted an add on Craigs list for free scrap metal, I must have gotten 200 calls. Any how this was the first caller hauling away the rusty metal from my car and what was left of my donor. Do you think he was a little over loaded???

9-9-2011

This car should have a heart beat by next Wed.

I've been racking my brains trying to think of everything that needs to be installed before the motor goes in, hoping not to forget anything that will be a problem to put in once the motor and trans are in the car. Today i picked up my motor from my buddies machine shop, and brought it home. I also stopped by Napa and picked up my calipers, brake pads, water pump and a few other odds & ends.





I still need to install the fuse panel and engine harness, the brake and evap line that runs down the drivers side of the car, inter med. steering shaft and the fuel tank before dropping the new power plant into its new home. I will have some help tommorrow and hopefully get the motor and trans sitting in the car, If not on Sat. Sunday for sure.
Today i ran all of the front brake steel lines, installed my pads and calipers, It turns out i was shorted one front brake hose, and im waiting for the manager of Auto Parts Express to call me back. Not only did they short me a hose but I ordered and paid for Wagner hoses, i was shipped Dorman which sell for half the price, but i paid wagner prices. So my front brakes are on hold until i recieve the correct parts. I was able to run the fuel feed line from the rear of the car to the front before the rain came. Stay tuned hopefully we will be making some noise in the next few days.

9-10-2011

Saturdays Headway

Well i had some help for a couple of hours this morning and then I was on my own. First on the list was to install the evap and new brake line to the rear of the car on the drivers side. Next was to install the steering coloumn and intermediate shaft. I will be reusing my original wiring harness, and the fuse panel and engine harness were bolted to the firewall. While under the dash the L/S kick panel and E-Brake pedal was also installed.









I fought with my fuel tank, trying to to get it up in the car. The fuel tank lost i got it in LOL. Before installing the tank i glued 2 rubber strips to the top of the tank to replace the old tar paper strips that were there.





And last I started to bolt a few things to my new motor getting it ready for install.



Maybe someone can help me out... for the life of me i cant remember if the fan and water pump pulley were held on with bolts or studs. I have a stock fan setup. Any help would be great Im not sure what kind of hardware im looking for. Thanks Rob

9-12-2011

Vacation is flying bye....

On Sunday I was able to take the motor off of the stand install the flywheel, the converter and transmission to the engine. Had a few issues with the converter bolts that held things up a little. And the the rain came So the engine and trans hanging form the hoist were covered with plastic.



The rain did stop after about an hour or so, and i couldnt resist swinging them into the car. I was losing daylight and having some trouble geting the motor to sit correctly on the mounts. So i called it a night and covered everything up. This morning the engine and trans fell into place like a gentleman Along with the motor and trans the headers, starter, shift cable, shifter linkage, water pump pulley and fan, thermostat, were also installed. Getting closer to fire this baby off. Heres a few pics of todays work.