My first efforts come from ordering/winning parts for the car. I found that you can still purchase (through Amazon) new Stant gas and radiator caps. While these are not original or reproduction parts, I felt the $10 was worth it. The gas cap looks beautiful, other than the fact that it is missing the ridges around the edge of the cap. It is so bright and shinny that it gives you an idea, however slight, of how the car will look when it's finished. Don't you think?
Other than that, I have been removing parts from the engine. I don't know if I've said this before, but I figure that I will restore the car mechanically first so that I can drive it and enjoy it (to a degree). This will move it from the category of rolling restoration instead of a multi-decade body-off full restoration that I will probably never finish until I retire. So, to that end, I figure that the engine is probably pretty important so I have to get it out of the car for machine work and rebuilding. I am considering pulling the engine and putting it in a corner while I save for the machine work. That will give me full open access to the front end to restore that. It would also shave 1000 pounds off the weight of the car which will make it easier to push outside, should I need/want to do that. So, here is a shot of the results of the disassembly.
One of the things not pictured in this photograph was the fuel pump. This is because, when removing it for the first time in 40+ years, it still had liquid gas in the settling bowl. It must have had enough of a seal to keep it from evaporating/oxidizing. I found a place that will rebuild it for $60 or I can buy a kit for $50. The knowledge gained by doing it myself would be great, but it's pretty tough to beat a professional rebuild for $10. In one of my recent eBay auction wins, I purchased an original fuel pump. While considering whether to do it or not, I figured I would degrease them a bit. Here is a 'before' shot of the original and an 'after' shot of both of them much cleaner than they have been in 40+ years.
In the final chapter of this post, I accomplished one last thing. I removed one of the cylinder heads. I would have removed both, but the front section of the exhaust is in the way and I have to cut/break the bolts to remove it. Anyway, I only broke two head bolts on the passenger side, but I had broken one those a couple months ago. I still have three bolts to remove on the driver side and have only broken one bolt there. All said, assuming I don't break any of those three bolts, that shouldn't be too bad for the machine shop to remove them. My theory, it turns out, was correct in assuming that I had a stuck valve. In fact, from what I can see on the passenger side, I have several stuck valves. Three of the eight were moving. The rest were nice and stubborn. To my surprise though, the cylinder walls were coated with a nice light coating of carbon with no visible scoring or cracks. I was quite certain it was going to be a horror show, given the condition of the water passages, but I now have renewed faith that my block will be salvageable. Here is one more picture to give you an idea of what it looks like.
