Greetings . . .
With Engine Bay at the ready I got to work assembling the bell-house and clutch assembly. I had shopped the various specialty places for vintage parts - but was surprised to find that NAPA had then entire kit (clutch, pressure plate, throw-out bearing and alignment tool) for 150 bucks:
Everything I have read suggested that Chevy did not paint gearboxes. There wasn't a lick of paint on mine when it came out of the car. So I de-greased it and top coated with Eastwood's Diamond Clear satin - which is suitable for bare metal:
With the help of my wife we were able to guide the engine home. The crank-adjustable hoist-leveler gets the right angle of attack (tranny tail shaft low - front mount high). Without it we would never have gotten it in. The bell-housing just clears the firewall:
With my 1/2" electric drill chucked to an old dizzy body I can spin the crank with oil pressure present. This makes it safe to turn the engine over and over in setting the initial lash of the valve train. Getting moving on these major assembly steps really has me motivated:
regards,
stock49
