Sept 19, 2009 -- Day 8

Today was supposed to just be a reorganization, cleaning, and sorting day, but we ended up tearing the engine all apart.  We just needed a day off from sandblasting!!!  We just ended up getting dirty...

Trying to remove the clutch. NOTE -- undo bolt on back of pivot mechanism for clutch fork to remove clutch! Do not pry with a screwdriver!  (No clutches were harmed in the disassembly of this vehicle!)

Removing the fuel pump

YUCK. 73 years of dust, dirt, grease, and oil....(how DOES it still run?!)

This is going to get messy.

Screwdrivers make great sludge removers! (Or anti-rust protection remover!)

Moving the engine from the hoist to the stand.

And it's on!

Top of the engine (what's under the head)

THE AFTERMATH

(We ended our night at approximately 4:00am yet again.  We did not have any desire to clean up, so Jenn and I tackled it the next day. And it's a good thing we waited because it was a several hour job!)

This mess is what was all over the floor!  You can see why it would take so long...YUCK!

We got the garages cleaned up and reorganized and the engine, tranny and fuel pump mostly cleaned up.  The block is going to be sent out and professionally cleaned and machined while we take care of the rest on our own.

Sept 18, 2009 -- Day 7

Sandblasting, sandblasting, and more sandblasting!  Oh, and parts washing, too.

In the sandblasing shantytown on the side of the house, getting ready to get back to work.

This is a great shot of the before and after sandblasting.

This side had been blasted, but nothing on the inside has.

Why work with only one compressor, when you can have two connected?!

Jenn worked on removing and grease, oil, and dirt from the clutch pedal which was also a slow process.

A reminder of what that clutch actuator looked like before a good cleaning...

And what it looks like now thanks to Marc's good ol' fashioned elbow grease AND Ozzy Juice!

(note:  do not trust the guys at Harbor Freight when they give you Industrial Degreaser to use in the parts washer saying that it will take grease off anything, because it also takes paint off of parts washers!!!!  We found Ozzy Juice and Napa Auto parts which is biodegradable and non-toxic and works even better than that other stuff!)

If you look hard you can see us in the garage, but it's pretty stacked with junk!

Another day, another bag of sand gone.  It's starting to look like a sandbox in the side yard.  Pictures of that to come later!

Sept 17, 2009 -- Day 6

Worked on sandblasting the frame today with Marc.  It is a very slow going process. 

Rolling the frame into the side yard to begin blasting

Beginning to blast

Had to have some comic relief from the boring process...it's very time comsuming!

It's night time and we're still going...

A little graffiti artwork in sandblasting -- who could resist?! (It says "Emet")

And still blasting away...but getting somewhere!

See, we weren't kidding when we said this is slow.  Just bear with us while we through the sandblasting stage we all "love" so much!

Sept 16, 2009 -- Day 5

Just did some work on an original 1936 Arizona license plate that Jack gave me for the car.  After some straightening, sandblasting, and painting, it's as good as new (almost!)  I left the pitting on there instead of filling it just to give it some character.

The plate before, with just a bit of sandblasting on one side to see the before/after.  It was also quite bent up as you can see in the picture.

The back of the plate with just a bit of sandblasting on the edge

I sandblasted it and pounded it out perfectly straight

And then it was time for paint (In the original paint scheme, of course!)

We are all very happy with the way it turned out and can't wait to get it on the car!

Sep 11, 2009 -- Day 4

The man himself, Jack, came down to help us complete the last of the obvious major teardowns today!

Jack working on reshaping one of the running board brackets that was completely curled under.

Almost like new!

Jack had to use a torch, hammer, and chisel to remove a frozen bolt to disconnect the drive shaft!

All good now!

Preparing to lift the engine

...and it's gone!

Got the parts washer up and running...

...this is going to take a while...

...even with a wire brush, screwdriver, and scraper...!!

The project will appear much more slow-going for a while because of the small, time consuming chores that come next, ie... cleaning parts!

Sep 5, 2009 -- Day 3

This day started out with a simple removal of the trunk shelf and ended with our most amazing feat yet.  We removed the body bolts, the front floor board, and all the connections between the engine and the body in preparation to separate the body and chassis for the first time in 73 years. 

You can see straight through to the dash board from the trunk!

Where the back seat used to live, and out the back through the trunk

Working on disconnecting the engine controls

Marc working on removal of the body bolts

Teamwork on disconnecting the pedals

Removing the floorboard

Jenn and Elaine keep everything very organized

Brandon works on cleaning up the transmission after the floorboard's out

Hi Marc! We can see you through the floor!

Tranny cleaned up pretty well, you can see the original green coming through

Cleaning the floor and vacuuming up the antique dirt

Attaching the engine hoist with the tow strap to the front of the body

Beginning to lift! The back was supported by a pneumatic lift (courtesy of Jack!)

Up she goes!

Starting to roll out the chassis, but wait! 

If we can't move anything but the chassis, how are we going to get it out over the engine hoist that's holding up the front of the body?

Wood ramp, that's how! (Thanks to Elaine for the brilliant idea!)

She's free, she's free!

What's left hovering precariously in the air...

...but she's out!

SIDE NOTE:  You may or may not have noticed that the position of the garage door has changed throughout the pictures depicting the separation of the body from the frame.  Why, you ask?  Well, we needed to get creative with the workspace we had.  Upon lifting the body, the pneumatic lift hit it's ceiling and it wasn't high enough to go over the steering column.  The engine hoist could lift the front end higher, but not without hitting the garage door (because it was fully open.)  So, we needed to raise the garage door high enough to allow the chassis to roll out with the very tall steering column protruding from it, but keep it low enough in order to lift the hoist as high as possible.  Let's just say we used every square inch of room and pushed every measurement to the edge!

OK, now time for a few fun pics before we wrap up work for the night:

Here's us -- Elaine, Jenn, Emet, Marc

And one with just the guys (Brandon in back)

Back to work! Can't leave the body up in the air, so we cut some boards to place between the jackstands that follow the rail where the body was bolted to the frame and lowered her down.

On the jackstands

A reminder of what the garage looked like before this project...

...and it's current state!

The little garage collects more parts everyday!

All of this work was done in just a little over 24 hours of labor.  Not bad!  We've made quite a large amount of progress in that time and we are pretty happy with how it's going so far.