Project Heavy Metal - an all steel classic, remastered

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

SO EXCITING.
Jelly that thing in there and let's see pics!

Closer.......

[acme911]

👍👊🙀

[AG81]

Looking forward to seeing them touch each other.......

[Competizione]

I'm looking forward to some far more sordid action.....

[Jonny042]

Haha you guys crack me up.

Just the tip?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

So full of awesome!

[Jonny042]

Ok, well it's a little anticlimactic - more details to share but no time at present. The "lift" went really great. Relaxed, and dare I say easy? New ATV hoist really helped.

(EDIT - Not to say I'm not REALLY excited to have this motor in!)



It's tough to photograph the motor now that it's stuffed in there:

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

So full of awesome!

Thanks, Shaun!!!

[chrisbalich]

*like*

[Uwon]

Absolutely perfect! What a milestone!
Cheers,
Johan

[icarp]

Well done Jonny! as always the outcome is fantastic . I love your attention to detail.

[AG81]

Looks proper sitting in it's new home..... Really like the clean engine bay with no sound pad.

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by Uwon

Absolutely perfect! What a milestone!
Cheers,
Johan

It certainly is a milestone!!! Thank you.

Yesterday it was almost a shock to walk in and see the motor missing from it's usual spot LOL.

I figured mounting the muffler would be a five minute job, even if I stopped for a break. Boy was I wrong...... turns out it was fouling both bumpers and their position had to be tweaked a bit. Finally got it in with millimeters to spare:



The next 5 minute job was to mount the rear licence panel and bumperettes, of course the panel hit the muffler as well. I had to carefully shape the lower portion to a bit more of a curve to better match the muffler. Again, mm to spare.... I'm going to go back and loosen the front trans crossmember mounts and see if I can't shove the whole works forward a bit. Maybe I'll gain a mm on each of the main mounts, the mount mounting bolts, and the xmember to trans studs.

I was relieved to see that the exhaust outlet matches the cutout in the bumper. May have to trim the tailpipe a bit, looks like a shin banger.



Before I forget, a few quick notes on my method for motor drop/install. I have these enormous 5 ton aluminum jackstands which have at least 4 times the footprint of a regular 1-1/2 stand, so they are super stable. One under each torsion bar. I normally don't worry much about marring the finish on the underside of the spring plate but I wanted to protect them this time. I was tossing around ideas until one day it came to me:



Google, through the power of advertising, one day out of the blue showed me what appeared to be the perfect motor/trans hoist. And it was on sale for $129.00 in Canada which is probably about 75 cents USD.... I'd been using one of the more typical ATV lifts and it was given to me..... and was worth about what I paid for it. It would leak down almost as fast as I could pump it up and made motor lifts far too exciting. The new lift is great, and allows me to support motor and trans in one easy to manage package:



I keep the front of the car low for the first phase of the install, having made sure I have enough lift travel to go the distance by measuring and planning. The low front end gives enough clearance to fit under the rear of the body and also plug the snout of the trans into the tunnel. Then lift the front of the car to level it, pump up the lift, and put in 4 bolts. It really was that easy!

[PorterF]

Looking amazing, very nicely done.

Do you have the name of or link to the engine hoist you are using? I have seen all the "way too exciting" extractions using floor jacks and 2x4s or motorcycle lift. Seems like $129 well spent.

[Focker]

I'm in Vancouver and also curious about the hoist. Canadian Tire or Princess Auto?

[Jonny042]

Uhoh..... looks like they are all gone....

https://www.royaldistributing.com/maxx-lift-a12-9010.html

[acme911]

So beautiful, it hurts!

[Focker]

Originally Posted by Jonny042

Uhoh..... looks like they are all gone....

https://www.royaldistributing.com/maxx-lift-a12-9010.html

No problem. My buddy is a rep for Kimpex, they probably sold them in originally!

[Flojo]

this car is getting a unicorn for the shelve…., way too nice to drive…

Originally Posted by Jonny042

Nothing, I suppose, but copper coating helps prevent seizing for serviceability, and the fact that the conical nuts are self locking is an added bonus.

The Barrel nuts are also sensitive to stud length - not an issue in this case but can be if you don't get the stud length just so, say when converting from thick flange to thin.

Plus they are only $0.50 each so they can be tossed and replaced with new if/when the heat exchangers are removed.

They are typical to what you'll find on a modern car, for good reasons.

3 good reasons, thanks.

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by Focker

No problem. My buddy is a rep for Kimpex, they probably sold them in originally!

It's a bit odd, the "normal" atv lift that you see from HF, Canadian Tire, etc., everywhere, has clearance issues - even without a muffler you end up needing to have a floor jack supporting the front end of the trans. Plus the one I had leaked down which was interesting.



The one I got does not seem to be ubiquitous in the same way. I found an ebay listing for an identical one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bickers-Solid-Hydraulic-Easy-Use-Motorcycle-and-Atv-Lift-1100lbs-Capacity-Stand-/264618709627