Reinstalling the motor, part 2

After an 15 month (or so) hiatus, I finally got back to work on the Monte Carlo. A lot had happened since the last time I had last worked on it. Little things like loosin (and replacin) the rear end in the El Camino, buyin and "fixin up" the Ugly Truck, a wee spot of heart trouble and quadruple bypass surgery. I'm hopin that most of that is behind me. So onto work:

(12/27/04) The old beast had gotten slightly dusty...and had accumulated a growth of "stuff" that had been using the deck lid as a shelf.

So I spent a little time cleaning things up. This helped get me motivated to keep working on things

(12/30/04) I got a 26 inch 3-row radiator from a friend who had been running it in a big block-powered Nova. It came with the fan. I moved it from the pusher side to the puller side.

Then I did some test fitting with a high-tech clamp to hold it in place. This should give me better cooling capacity than the old 2-row and it also provides more clearance for the ram air snorkels.

(01/03/05) I got a very good deal on the MSD Pro-Billet distributor from a friend (it doesn't look like it but it's used...and this is the way he shipped it to me). And I got a new "Blaster" coil to go along with it. There's no vacuum advance on the distributor, but I don't think I'm gonna need it for the use I have planned.

(01/16/05) Another friend helped me wire in the Pyrometer control box. For those who aren't familiar with this, it's a device to measure EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature.) This unit is designed to read a probe in each header tube just where it exits the cylinder head. It should help me tune the motor and also keep an eye on things so that I don't burn the motor up running at wide-open throttle for long periods of time (like on the 7 mile long course on the salt flats.)

I installed the connector cable and bolted the list on it. Next issue will be gettin that distributor in.

(01/23/05) My friend Jim and I hooked up the starter, solenoid and the battery, then we clipped a remote start button on. It was absolutely wonderful to hear it turn over for the first time in about 3 1/2 years.

We cranked it over to TDC while finding the compression stroke on the #1 cylinder. We actually got it much closer after I took the picture.

Then I climbed up onto the motor and stabbed the distributor. It went straight in, meshed with the cam and the oil pump drive just perfectly the first time. I was so amazed that it had gone in that easily that my hands were shakin enough that it was hard to thread the clamp bolt. :)

I just need to get a coil clamp, mount up the Blaster and then run the ignition wires...and hook a few other things up...like fuel lines, vacuum hoses, radiator, etc. But it's progress. Back around the first week of September, as I was lying in a hospital bed, I didn't think I'd be able to get back to this. It's a major bonus for me.

(04/17/05) I've been doing a little bit here and there...but I can't do nearly as much as I used to. I was in the hospital again last week for a short stay and the docs have changed all my medications around. But the new ones seem to be doing pretty well. So far, so good.

I finally got a decent fitting upper radiator bracket from an 87-ish Olds Cutlass. It looks like it's gonna work fine with the narrower 3-row radiator and electric fan. I need to modify it slightly so that it will allow the radiator to slide about 2 inches to the left. That way I'll have equal spacing on both sides for the ram air intakes.

A friend helped me out a bunch and we got a lot of the busy work done...like wiring in the MSD box, coil and distributor and cleaning up some of the other wiring harness stuff so that the underhood area is looking a little neater. The warmer spring weather really helps. It's sure a lot easier to work on the cars when it's 65F instead of 35.

More to come.

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