My new shed arrived last weekend, and a lot of the junk from the garage went in there making working an awful lot easier. I bought the proper bolts to fit the spare orange engine, and just to double check my measurements, I decided to put the old gearbox on the back as well. I asked Bob to give me a hand and a second pair of eyes, and within a few minutes we had the engine and box on the crane. It lowered in easily, but the mounts turned out to be about a centimetre out. Engine back out, grind the tack welds off and try again. We hung the mounts on the engine and lowered it back in. About 30 minutes later and with the engine out of alignment we decided to put the old transmission crossmember in to line it up. Another half hour of measuring and checking, and it looked spot on.
Two tiny tack welds to hold the position, then out with the engine again. A few more tack welds and then back in to double check. It’s an easy job with the heads and ancilliaries off. It went back in easily, so the blower motor came off the stand, the TH350 went on the back and was trial fitted on the mounts. As we hoped, it was a good fit, so out it came to finish weld the brackets. Halfway through the second one, disaster struck.
My nice new mig would not power off. Switching it on and off made no difference. The engine was still hanging on the crane, and it was late Saturday afternoon. Bob offered to be the trigger and switch the welder on and off so a few more beads put the bracket on securely, though not finished. The motor was a pig to get back in, as the distributor was on and the crossmember was in. After a few attempts I pulled the crossmember again, and the engine was in. Crossmember back on, and stand back. And there it was. What I’d wanted for as long as I can remember. A car with a blown small block fitted. I really should get out more. The old engine’s sump had fouled the steering on full lock, but after quickly hanging the steering rack, it fitted perfectly. It’s all going right for once. It was getting late so we tidied up quickly and closed up for the night.
