[Essex_29]

Thank you, TFoch and sammons.

I got new bearings, seals and drive shafts mounted, then got the oil filler plug
out (after weding a bolt to it).
Then got  the rear brakes done and adjusted.



I had to watch a good video on youtube to get the springs right. Last time I built brakes
like these was last spring, but I had managed to forget how I did it.
That done, the right hand brake rotor  with new bearing and all was installed, and
suddenly we have a roller!



Getting the project down on the floor standing on its own wheels always feels like an accomplishment

[Rattiac]

Looking good.  Gonna be like a brand new car.  👍

[Essex_29]

Thank you Rattiac. It's fun with new parts. When I built the Essex I didn't have any money, so all parts were
used, good parts, but used. I put in s new rear brake cylinder and a repair kit for the brake master cylinder, not
much else. Budget was slim&tight that time.

I got all three brake hoses done yesterday. I should have welded those in before painting the frame, but I didn't
think of it then.



I bought a couple 5/8" box wrenches and cut them down to use as brake hose moutning brackets. This works
very well, and was fun, compared to filing holes to fit the hoses



I had been planning on painting the transmission, but it turned out pretty nice just cleaning ithe dirt and crud off with an assorment
of rotating wire brushes.



I also mounted the slave clutch cylinder. I'll change the oil,then it will be ready for installation.

[TFoch]

Very cool idea using the box wrenches for the brake hose mount!

[sammons]

Looks really nice Essex!

[Essex_29]

Thank you Tom. I was thinking about how to file nice looking hexagonal holes and decided wrenches
would be more fun.
Also, I was thinking of you today and the footer in your posts, as I was enjoying a good part of my
day lying in the sofa with the cat on my chest, and my grandkid sitting on my legs, reading books with
her and her sister. Time well spent, even if it wasn't spent in the garage.
Thank you also, sammons Always fun when the work you do show like they do at this time. It
feels like progress.

I spent a couple hours cleaning off most of the dirt off my engine thursday evening, efter getting it
bolted to the engine stand the night before. 



It's a ton more work that to clean up a chevy small block, there are so many small shapes in the
block and the heads, it's taking a lot of effort to get it clean, probably three hours was spent after
taking  the after pic above.
I dropped the bottom part of the oil pan to clean it out and check how bad it looked inside. Not
very good, but with some luck, the engine might be serviceable.



Tomorrow I'll probably go get a couple of those rotating nylon abrasive wire brushes to scuff the
block and heads with to give the epoxy something to grab onto. Before that I'll do some engine
work, cleaning the vavetrain some and flush the engine with some oil and diesel and ...
We'll see.

[Essex_29]

Back after a lot more cleaning and also some totally unrelated work.
I removed the cylindrical thingy in the oil pan here in my last post. I assume it's an oil level sender or
something. I welded the hole shut after removing the sender, it was leaking anyway, so no reason at
all to keep it.
A few days more of cleaning the block and various parts, I stirred a batch of epoxy and sprayed it on.



The engine looks funny in light gray, like an Iveco marine diesel. Transmission bellhousing was epoxied
too, as was the engine to trans adapter and the intake.

Then the next day, black automotive 2K Glasurit high gloss paint.



The intake looks very nice  when painted. Before painting I welded in a longitudinal divider in the center
of the intake to avoid the adjacent intake runners to steal the air/fuel mix from eachother.



The bell housing was painted where it shows when you look at the back of the engine with the car assembled.


Today, I sandblasted and epoxied the engine mounts, also the new water pump, thermostat housing and pulley.
Seems it's new parts that need to be painted every day.

[sammons]

Engine and trans looks great! You are moving right along.

[TFoch]

Looks like fine jewelry!

[sixball]

It looks great. You can't go wrong with gloss black.

[Essex_29]

Thank you all for the positive comments!

I had a hickup with some weird silicone crap on my engine parts which prevcented the paint to
stick. It seems okay now, but I think I might sand and paint the valve covers again.

I've been doing little things, like cutting paper gaskets and for the distributors and putting new
 seals in them. They'll mount on the ends of the camshafts, so it's a bit different than the old
V8s I usually work on.
Painting engine mounts, waterpump and pulleys, mounting some stuff and so on.
Today I finally got to take out the big box I ordered from PMC (a Polish company) that contains
 the engine to transmission adapter. The box has been warming its shelf for years already.
The aluminum flywheel with its cast steel friction surface looks phenomenal, it's like technical
porn. It sandwiches the flex plate to the crank, so the starter has something to engage to.

[Essex_29]

I had to get help to get the transmission coaxed all the way into position. Even then we worked
quite a bit to get it done. I must have gotten the clutch plate a tad off center.



I had to buy a few fastners today,  for bolting the bellhousing to the engine. Some of the bolts
that came with the adapter kit were a bit too short for my liking.
I have some after market gauges, and  ofcourse the temp sender doesn't fit. I went to a hydraulic
shop, and they had a thingy that fit the thread in my engine, but not to the sender. So a guy put the
thingy in the lathe, chopped it off, drilled a bigger hole through it, and ran a tap through it, so now
the sender fits. The thingymajig, the labour and a cupper washer amounted to the grand total of
16 ?uros. That's about $17.50. Unbelievable.
They took pity in me, I guess.

[TFoch]

That engine and trans would never fit in my 33 Chevy!

[Essex_29]

TFoch, it wouldn't have fit in this car either, if it weren't for some modifications to the frame and body.
Actually, no one knows how it will actually fit with all its accessories. Right now I have no idea how I'll get some
kind of oil filtration system to fit on the driver's side under where the power steering pump will mount. Also, I
have planned on running a mechanical fan, but right now I think there's a chance I'll have to run an electric
one and I really wouldn't want that.

In any case, the technicals fit just fine so far, where it was three months ago.



The engine and transmission along with the propshaft are mounted and the pinion angle checked. Lots of
visual progress today, and to me, a chassis close to ready like this is fun to just look at. Close to ready is
an illusion, of course, lots missing still.

[EDNY]

Essex_29...that is a piece of art!