Yes, and even better after cleaning. Moving to the scary side now.

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Right side. Very nice as well.

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one of those oh thank goodness moments!

No kidding. It was really about what I had expected, based on crawling under the car prior to purchase, but in the back of my mind there have been these doubts....

My method for engine removal and installation never requires an assistant. Just two pieces of threaded rod and a floor jack. Piece of cake.

Search "threaded rod", and you will find it.

Well yeah, experienced guys can do it in their sleep ... but really, who likes drinking beer all by themselves

Engine drop prep continues. Exhaust is out today.

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Man, that is much heavier than I would have guessed.

Actual drop itself will be postponed a day or two. Another local 'teener (JB620) has contacted me, offering to loan me a brand new, never used Tangerine Racing Engine Lift Plate as soon as it arrives in the next day or two. I will gladly wait a bit for that kind of much appreciated help!

In the mean time, disconnecting all the other stuff will continue.

I used the tangerine engine lift plate when I helped Zach - vacca rabbi, with his engine install. It's definitely worth waiting for.

I always remove the muffler before the heat exchangers ... because, yeah, the whole enchilada will be unwieldy.

I will probably put them back on that way, but didn't want to fight the rusty bolts to pull the muffler off. Easier to cut those off out here in the open.

Which reminds me - one fear was unfounded, I didn't break any exhaust studs during the removal! 5 of the 8 studs came out of the heads, but I am totally fine with that.

Other observations -

The little thermostat bellows works fine (tested with heat gun), but the wire cable that it pulls on is either disconnected or broken, so the flaps are in the hot engine position all the time. Will need to address that while it is out.

Want to replace the taco plate o-ring and crush washers, but it doesn't seem to have slack in the wire to pull it down far enough to get at the o-ring. Will need to look at that while it is out also.

Most of the rest of things looks pretty good, aside from oil leaks. Was thinking that I might be ready to put it back in soon, but then I remembered that I need to look at the hell hole closely while I have easier access. That could delay things...

The wire has a push-on connector. You should be able to pull it off by hand, or reach in the hole with a pair of needle-nose pliers or hemostats to grab the connector.

The thermostat wire is a derailleur wire available at any bike shop.

I wondered if that might not be so. I probably have some in the garage somewhere. Will get that connected while I have it out and easy to work on.

Engine down!

Thanks to the following, it was a relatively painless process, even solo.

• McMark - for the great how-to drop article in the tech section.
• Racer Chris (Tangerine Racing) - for designing the awesome Engine Lift Plate.
• JB620 - for the gracious loan of the above mentioned TR Lift Plate.

That Lift Plate is a super tool, makes it a simple one man job with just a cheap floor jack. Well worth having if you have thoughts of dropping more than once in a blue moon.

No surprises yet, but the exploration is just beginning.

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Get 12mm copper plated exhaust nuts. They are easier to install than 13's.
You might also want to replace the ss soft brake lines with new rubber ones. SS don't last forever - the rubber inside can still collapse. It might help your brake issue.

Roger that on the copper plated nuts, I've used those on previous projects.

Will consider the rear hoses while I'm under there. The SS hoses appear to be quite fresh, they lack all the road grime that covers the rest of the suspension and brakes, so I'm leaning towards leaving them be.

Separated the engine and trans, no unpleasant surprises so far. Clutch looks fresh, input shaft and rear main seals are both appear to be dry now, will know more once I get it farther apart. Will likely replace those now anyway, just due to age.

More progress today. The clutch is fine, does not need replaced. Input shaft seal is not leaking now, but looks a bit sketchy and will be replaced. Rear main seal was starting to leak, so this was well worth the time. Replaced pushrod tube seals on the right side today, will next tackle the oil cooler seals before moving to the left side.

Building a list of parts for little things I want to address prior to reinstalling the motor.

Looks like a great car and gifted owner. I too (Jamie) would like to find some time and come down and see it.
Keep the pedal down .................

tangerine plate is essential

congrats on all the great progress!

Awww, I don't think of myself as gifted, just a competent mechanic. The stuff you do in the metalwork and rust abatement area seems much more of a gift to me, Cary.

The farther I go, I find that while I still find things that are worse than I hoped, it is still a really sound starting point, and will be a great car before long. Some of my recent acquaintances and new neighbors who have not seen projects I have done before have expressed some doubts about my sanity for starting something that doesn't look so good right now. My wife just smiles and says, "He's dragged home cars that were far worse..."

Cary, you and Jamie (and any other semi-local teeners) are welcome to come by any time. Although, I cringe a bit when I think of what an experienced 914 eye might spot...

Hey Arne your making great progress. I saw you were dropping the motor. Had hoped my schedule would open up so I could come down to help. Just to much going on at the moment prepping for our move to Albany & our new home. I did manage to find a good pedal board if you still need one

Albay, OR ... PA ... or NY?

Definitely still need a pedal board, Jamie. But no hurry.

Oregon, I've been led to believe.

Good call on the input shaft seal mine was fine (looking) then leaking and about screwed my new clutch,just got it in time....
The RMS is a must do.

Spent time today compiling the parts I'll need to address before putting it back together. Also crawled inside to determine what the rust situation really is.

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And it doesn't appear too bad. Someone has been in there before, someone who welds worse than I do, and didn't know how to clean up and prep for paint and sealer when they finished. Battery tray is probably a total loss, and I'm going to need to spend some time doing the cleanup, etching and prep before trying to seal things up. No perforations, nothing I could poke a pick through.

So I've got some work to do while I wait for the next batch of parts.

Arne -
Sorry haven't been available to assist up until now. Maybe I can swing by this weekend to provide encouragement.

Morgan

No worries, Morgan. You're welcome to swing by anytime, as long as the sight of a small, cluttered work area doesn't faze you. I will send you my contact info in a PM.

Things are actually going fairly well so far. I will probably spend some time on it during the week, probably tomorrow or Friday afternoon. Will only have one of the two days this weekend, not sure which just yet. Focus will be on more rust cleanup and such, to see what real repairs might be necessary prior to putting the drivetrain back in.

I'm quite pleased with the hell hole situation. After much digging, poking, scraping, wire brushing, etc., it is all quite solid and acceptable. The visible rust was all superficial, caused by really poor cleanup and paint prep by whoever did the previous repairs. No, strike that, it wasn't poor prep, there was no prep at all. They apparently just welded in some patch panels and a battery tray support, and immediately sprayed it with yellow top coat. No cleanup of the welding flux, no primer, just paint. Sad.

I've done some remedial cleaning, etched and such with phosphoric acid solution, and gave it a good coat of high zinc primer. Will find some nice yellow paint to finish it off prior to putting the drivetrain back in.

The cleanup, resealing and other work on the engine and transmission is also going well. The transmission is done, so after replacing the rear main seal, I married the lump back together. Morgan (mstein95) stopped by today with his pretty Phoenix red '74 and gave a hand with that part.

No new surprises recently, so I expect to put the engine back in the car late this week. Might be mobile again by the weekend.

An engine drop sounds scary but once you do it, it turns really productive. Remember new schnor (so?) washers on the cv's and don't be afraid to buy a new grounding strap for the trans.

It's also a lot easier to replace the alternator belt at this time.

That doesn't look so bad. Consider pulling the pad. Stuff likes to hide.

Yeah, I was hoping I could avoid the drop because I'd not done one before, but doing it was definitely the right call.

Gotta laugh about your (very good) suggestions, Mark. The new ground strap is already on the transmission now. The new alternator belt is in the things-yet-to-do pile. In addition to those, I've got new front motor mounts in place as of today. I identified all of those as things I'd rather do with the engine down. Wasn't hard to figure out what things were best done now. While I'm a 914 noob, it is just a car, and this is far from being my first refresh project.

I've had the pad down, in fact getting it properly secured before I put the engine back is yet another task on the list.

Update - I was planning to put the engine back in late this week, but have decided to delay that while I wait for some proper Saturn Yellow paint for in the engine compartment. My original thought was just to paint it with something semi-close to cover and protect the primer and such. But in the end, I decided I needed to get as close to the correct color as possible, and will need to wait a few days for that to be mixed.

In the meanwhile, I will spend my time doing other bits and prep. Regardless, I figure it should be running again by the middle of this month.

Today's tech tidbit - Yes, it is possible to change the oil cooler seals without removing all the engine tin. I did it with the engine out, but it could probably be done with the engine in as well, but it would be even less fun. You do need to be able to thread a nut on the innermost stud with just two fingers by feel, there is no real way to see it.

The big tip? Use a 15mm end wrench to put the seals in place, as described in this Pelican tech article.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/9...ooler_seals.htm

The article talks about doing it with the engine in, but with it dropped I was able to remove the front mounting bar, which eased access a touch. The article also doesn't note that you probably want to remove the oil filter for access. I also had previously dropped the exhaust, so that also helped a bit, I suspect.

Personally, I think the engine pads on the engine side are a mistake. Pretty ineffective. Much better to have modern heat and sound pad on the inside of the firewall instead of trapping moisture on the exterior. Just my opinion.

Cleaning various bits and making things nice, while I wait the Saturn Yellow paint.

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Well, I believe that most of the "have-to" tasks prior to putting the engine back are complete. Still waiting on the yellow paint, so I will spend some quality time with the car cleaning and tweaking things. Will be on the road a few days next week, so I don't expect to put it back until Father's Day weekend.

Have started gathering other parts that I will need/want later as I anticipate getting the freshly sealed engine and transmission back in the car soon.

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Is that a dash pad top or the 914 rubber replacement dash? Just curious.

New complete pad from 914Rubber. Fantastic part.

Nice, its on my wish list along with 90% of the available parts from their online store.

If your interior Backpad isn't great. I have a really nice one Available

Thanks, Jamie. The backpad in mine is pretty nice too. In fact, other than the carpet (shot), the dash and one small tear in the driver's seat, the interior is quite nice. I actually considered not replacing the dash pad, but those two cracks were just too obvious for me.

Oh yeah, it is still missing the pedalboard, but you knew that.

Got the engine and transmission back into the car today. It's had oil in both parts for a week, no leaks so far. So I may have it under control. Haven't started it yet, called it a day before I got everything done. Still need to attach the muffler and the heater ducting. But that about it, so I expect to start it up again tomorrow.

Got to thinking about what's next. Need to hang the muffler, clean and reinstall all the heater bits and adjust the shift linkage. At that point I should be back to where I was before, but better. No more oil leaks, no vacuum leaks (all new hoses), new front motor mounts, fresh shift bushings, and a whole lot cleaner underneath.

And it runs again. Hung the muffler, connected the battery and fired it up. No real drama. Had to loosen and readjust the left HE, exhaust leak at #2, easy fix.

At this point, no leaks at all, which was the big concern. Will work on the heater bits and linkage adjustment tomorrow. Should be on the road in a couple days at most.

Nice Arne! Yeah I've got to snag the pedal board. Been moving the last week & prepping to move before that. Kinda got pushed down my list. I'll be over grabbing hopefully my last shop load tomorrow after work. The pedal board is there so should be able to bring it to work Wednesday

Since the last post when I said it was running again, it decided to not run. Details in this thread - What did I do or miss?

As the final post in that thread indicates, I think I am getting a handle on that, and will be working on it again tomorrow afternoon.

In the mean while, I got a chance to use a borrowed pressure bleeder on the brakes. Did the two front this evening in between other non-car stuff I had to do. The fronts are easy to get to, just turn the wheels and do it on the ground, so no real setup time.

Got significant air from right side. Pedal now moves maybe 2" at most, and very firm. I think I may have that issue finally resolved too. Will do the rear and maybe even the master cylinder tomorrow just to make certain all is up to spec.

Got it! It runs again!

When dropping the engine, I must have bumped the new steel fuel lines, pushing the supply line forward a bit, which kinked the hose. I went ahead and put a longer hose with a loop in it to prevent this in the future.

Now I appear to be back where I was prior to the engine drop, except without the oil leaks!