The frame is done. The suspension is done but for shocks. I think shocks will be the very last thing to go on the car. Once it is finished, I can weigh the corners and get absolutely the right shocks for it. The differential still needs to be done so I can install it and go ahead and hook up the rear parking brakes, which reminds me, the rear brakes are not done yet and neither are the front calipers. All that stuff is on order. There was a nice set of pictures for October showing the new pivot bolts in the rear hubs and the suspension/steering/anti-roll bar/brake pipes (red!!) all installed on that blue frame, but they have gone somewhere and I can't find them. I'll shoot soome new ones here soon...

The engine came apart very easily. Most of the head bolts were loose, most of the rocker pedestal bolts were loose, the mains aere loose, the big end bolts on the rods were all loose...basically, everything was loose but let me clarify "loose" here. There was not a single frozen bolt on the motor and they all came with easy pressure on a open end wrench or 3/8" ratchet. No muscle needed.

This engine smelled burnt. The tops of the pistons were caked with carbon, as are the valves and the head. The cyl walls are peretty good; smooth but with a little discoloration where the pistons sat for the last15 years. The trapped oil in the block was mostly good looking but there was quite a bit, I mean half an inch!, of sludge in the pan. I reckon the previous owner drove the piss out of this car but was also got all his oil changes in.

Here's a biggy: Thrust washers....perfect!! As new!!!

So now I'm going through all these parts and deciding what to do to this motor. Supercharging appeals, but then so does bank robbery and I don't do that. So we'll see.