Thanks! I'm not able to do my power hours in this heat, but slowly keeping her moving along! I did buy a Vintage Air system and it just came in. I'll be dropping the engine and trans into the chassis soon, and going to have all accessories installed while it's easy to access in the chassis. Too miserable not having AC in Louisiana, I bit the bullet and spent the money so I can enjoy my car in the summers!

 

Yeah, this summer has been pretty miserable with the heat. I tuned up my AC this spring and with the added insulation, it feels nice inside regardless of the outside temp. You will like the VA Kit and it will go in easy with everything opened up. The investment is well worth the cost. Dropping the motor/xmsn/acc is a good idea while you have the body off for paint. Can't wait to see it next year or the next time I'm in BTR. Lunch is on me!

 

Sounds like a plan! Whole car is blasted apart lol engine rebuilt and drivetrain about to go back in the chassis. Spending all fall doing the body work, and painting her in the early spring.

 

Got the oil pan torqued down with fresh bolts and the new seal:



Then I finally got the new fuel pump properly installed



Engine was now done, so it's time to tackle the bell housing and trans: first degreased and scrubbed the bellhousing down



Got her cleaned up with Simple Green and elbow grease, and looks like it was rattle canned in the past. I'm going to be sandblasting it, so it'll look like new soon



Now it's time for the Richmond S T-10: going to sandblast and clean this up too before I mate with the engine

 

Nice work as always!

 

Today my goal was to get my trans and bellhousing sand blasted so I could clean them up in preparation of being rejoined my my engine. My neighbor has a serious air compressor and sand blaster setup, and let me come over to knock out these parts this morning: a professional setup made quick work out of it!!!

Here's the before pics of the trans. I removed the shifter assembly so it didn't get all gritty




After sand blasting:








Got my driveshaft knocked out too



While I was at it, I blasted off my valve covers once again so I can paint them black





So the trans and bellhousing need to be painted, and I'm thinking of using aluma bright. Any thoughts or experience here from others?

 

not with Aluma Brite but I can tell you to make triple sure all the blasting material is out of the bafffles in your valve covers...A clear satin or clear flat paint would look good on the tranny and bellhousing

 

Yeah it took a lot of compressed air and scrubbing to get those valve covers clean after that!!

 

Today I wanted to prime the engine, and make sure we had oil pressure and flow before I went further. I filled her up for the first time with Rotella 15W-40 and connected a mechanical oil pressure gauge to the oil sending port. I had previously purchased an drill powered oil priming tool and hooked it up and went to town: Didn't take long for it to build up 50PSI oil pressure, and then load down my 18V drill but I kept going until we started getting oil flow out of the rockers. They slowly started pumping up oil, and I had to slowly crank the engine over and go back to drilling until I got oil out of all of them: everything checks out good!





Oil starting to flow to the top before I cranked over the engine




Now those valve covers I sand blasted on Sunday also got a coat of low gloss black enamel yesterday evening. I put in some elbow grease to get the look I wanted



Almost there! Just need some more sanding and they'll be perfect! This accomplished the contrast I wanted on my top end, had way too much silver up top!



I decided to try out "Aluma Blast" paint on the bellhousing after it was highly recommended by many. I like the finished look better than the aluminum engine paint I used on my intake, it looks like proper raw aluminum but has protection and it'll be easy to clean.

 

I like your Aluma blast results and the oil flow.
On the driveshaft I see grease fittings.
Make sure you get solid spicers for that engine!

 

Thanks! do you know which Spicer U-joint for the drive shaft? I've had great success with their U joints in my Jeeps.

Any tips on how to support the engine while I install the bellhousing and trans? Should I just have it dangle from the cherry picker then set it down on a wooden pallet?

 

That shiny rectangle on the valve cover is calling out for something custom to be engraved into them.
I have some ideas for my own, I'll have to look for some similar covers.

 

I plan on setting my engine into the car, installing the engine mount bolts and blocking it up under the oil pan.

In your case, since it's a bare frame, once the engine mount bolts are in I'd leave it hanging from the engine hoist while installing the flywheel, bellhousing and trans.

 

Driveshaft U-joints are either 1310 or 1330. My 72 BB has 1330. Earlier cars had 1310.
I do not know exactly when they changed.
But my diff pinion yoke has the 1330 9210 number cast into it.
Check there.
Or measure

.

This is my 1972 GM 1330 diff pinion yoke with 9210 cast into it

 

I like the way you think!!!

 

Thanks! I need one of those Spicer rulers in that pic!!

 

In a race against time to get everything painted that I blasted before it oxidizes, I managed to wrap up the driveshaft and trans:

Removed all my brackets from the trans, painted them, and reinstalled them after I painted the trans with the Aluma Blast. Looking way better!



Pulled off the u joints, wire wheeled, degreased, then sprayed the driveshaft with the same silver I used on the half shafts

 

Looks great!

 

This weekend was full steam ahead in buttoning up the details on the chassis so I could get my engine back in.

I installed new tie rods on the passenger side (had done drivers previously) and torqued down all the bolts on everything. I then had to set the front spring bolts, torque down the spindles, and tighten down all the brake line brackets.



Then it was time to remove my engine from that engine stand that it's been sitting on since February!




Next chore was to install my new clutch:




Next was to get that fresh bellhousing installed:



Oh yeah she's almost ready to go home!

 

Nice work, I hope to be where you are before too long.