October 17, 2009 -- Day 9

After being forced to take a few weeks off from the project, we're back at it again!

While pulling the brakes apart, we found we were missing the parking brake control arm on the left side.  So we went to our parts warehouse (the parts car on our back porch) and stole some needed spares.

This is the "gray ghost", our parts car that lives on the back porch.  Jenn really loves that!!

Robbing some parts off the gray ghost for the brakes.

We decided to move on to tearing down the engine.  We removed the oil pan from the bottom of the motor after we turned the engine upside down.

(Thanks Jack for supplying the worlds greatest engine stand!)

My parents, Charlie and Lorna, even stopped by to check out the project.  A big thanks to my dad for suggesting an alternate method to remove a giant bolt rather than buying a $25 socket.  I have a lot of tools but who has a 1 and 3'4" socket to remove the main pulley bolt?  Nothing a strap wrench to hold the harmonic balancer and a pipe wrench can't handle

We removed the harmonic balancer and the main pulley and then the timing chain cover.

Now that is a timing chain!  They don't make them like that anymore.

After removing the timing chain the forward engine seal needed some persuasion to break loose.

As you may have noticed I have a piece of tape across my chest.  Jenn likes to help label everything, including me, in case I forget.

Timing chain removed!

Marc and Elaine pulling cotter pins.  Every bolt in this engine has a castle nut with a cotter pin on it, even though they are all torqued as well.  Talk about overkill.  I guess that is why this engine was still running 73 years later.

"Delivering" a piston...that was the joke anyway (I think it had something to do with the positioning and the gloves...!)

"Congratulations, Mr. Dunn!  It's a...piston?"

HI ELAINE!!  Elaine is looking up, well actually down through the cylinder after the piston was removed, from the top of the engine that was now the bottom after we turned it over??? Which way is up again?

The old crank looks to be in great shape and so do the bearings.

The main bolts that hold the crank in were torqued (and cotter pinned) so tight we couldn't get them off even with a normal breaker bar.

Now that is a breaker bar!  Actually it is a 4 foot length of pipe on top of my 1/2" drive breaker.  Yes in this case bigger is better, and a whole lot easier!

Do not try this at home with out parental supervision.

(Yes mine were there)

Empty!
All the pistons the crank and bearings are removed.  Now all that is left is the cam shaft and valves.  One small problem, we don't have, nor does any tool store around, have a spring compressor for these old engines.  I guess we will have to see if the local tool supply guy and supplier of our project, (Jack) has one somewhere at his house.

One really heavy crank!

All the pistons in a little row.  It looks just like the delivery room.  How cute they all are.  I wonder if any of them will grow up to be an engine someday?  I guess we will have to wait and see.

(only if we can remember how to put this crazy thing back together)