Engine, Rust and Grease

 I removed the rotten wood bed and have removed all bolts except for the 4 bed mounting bolts.  This gives me good access to the undercarraige and will make it easy to remove the bed to prep and treat the frame when the time comes.  I have also purchased a new wiring harness for it so having this open will make it easy access.

 Next I pulled the engine.  I chose to pull the transmission at the same time since I will need to clean it up and will eventually replace it with something more street worthy.

 I disconnected the engine and transmission and the mounted the engine onto my engine mount.  (Note: I used #8 bolts for the carberator mount when I pulled the engine and for mounting the engine on the mount....you don't want the bolts breaking and things coming tumbling down)....And yes that is another project car in the background, a 1971 VW Super Beetle.....I'll be adding that to the blog at some point down the road.

 Next I started dissassebling the front end.  The front fenders were beyond repair.  They were rusted through on both sides (see later pictures).  I will purchase replacement fenders from LMC.com. As thin as the metal is and as large as the rust spots were I find it easier to just bolt new ones on then try cutting, welding and shaping the old ones.

 Soon I will trailer the truck over to my buddy's (TJ) father-in-law's place to be steam/power washed. Once everything is nice and clean it is much easier to work with. And easier to see what needs to be done.

 Front fenders, grill, grill surround, hood, both front fenders have all been removed.  Note: I left the brake system intact so I had an easy way of stopping it and keeping it in place when I move it around.  This is easy since the braking system is a completely independant system.

 More pics.

 As you can see the fenders are pretty rusted.  This could be repaired but for the price (couple hundred $$) I can just replace them.....much easier!

 I removed the seats and all the floor covering.  I needed to see what condition the floorboards were in.  I had pulled some of the floor mats back before purchasing the truck and had found some significant rust on the edges so I was concerned about how bad the whole floor was.  I was pleased to discover the rust was confined to the edges.  It will need to be cut out and have new peices welded in but it will be good as new, and not a real big deal.

 I tore down my engine.  I was having trouble reading the block number to positively ID my engine until I got a clean block and degreased it.  Uh oh Houston we have a problem!!  It is not the original 283 V8 but is a Chevy 267 V8.  Not a big deal??....well....the 267 is sort of the bastard child of Chevy motors.  It was only made for about 4 years between 1979 and 1983.  It was supposed to be a fuel efficiant V8.  It was discontinued because people did not like the lack of power and it had problems coming into emissions compliance.  Hence not many were produced and so there are not many out there and so it is hard, and expensive to get parts for it.  I have decided to purchase a crate Chevy 350 which will be easy and cheap on parts and give me plenty of power to boot.  It also has a proven track record that I like.

Since I intended to rebuild this engine I had kept things in a specifice order (as they were installed in the engine) so that pieces that might be reused would not be out of place.  This also allows for a neat and orderly work space which is important for organization and safety.

Block casting numbers were finally found (under many layers of grease) on the left side of the transmission flange).

More to come.....Jason