Engine Assembly - Take Two

As you will recall in my previous post, we had the engine rebuilt. We got it back from the shop and Mike spent the next couple of nights putting everything together on the engine. He had it all painted and everything on it ready so he could just drop it into the car once the car was back. One little phone call Mike received yesterday changed all of that.

The engine shop called to let us know they put the wrong pistons in my engine. They had been working on another 289 engine at the same time as mine and put the pistons from that engine into my engine. So they needed us to bring it back so they could fix it. So that meant the entire engine had to be torn apart again.

Mike's dad came over and they both got the engine torn down and were able to drop it off at the engine shop again. The shop went right to work and had to engine done in 3 hours. So we picked it up again and Mike spent the night reassembling the engine. He was able to get it all back together again.

It was beyond stressful having something like this happen when we are so close to our deadline. I am glad it was able to be rectified so quickly although it did set us back a day... which every day counts at this point. Plus is was frustrating the way the engine shop went about it. We didn't get any apologies and the guy wasn't very nice when we picked up the engine. He did refund $100 but that hardly seems like much considering the trouble it caused. I wish they would have been a bit nicer about it as well. At least we know that we won't be going back to that place again.

Mike has gotten a lot of things done. I will do another blog post with pictures of his progress as soon as I can find the camera. Hopefully I will be posting pictures of a nicely painted car soon as well. We should have it back hopefully in the next few days.   Exciting stuff happening! Too bad it is all accompanied by so much stress. I will be relieved when this car is done.

Getting More and More Redneck Everyday!

It's interesting how a car restoration can turn redneck real fast. It just makes me laugh how redneck our house currently looks. I know I had previously posted pictures of our computer room full of car parts... as well as our back porch, dinning room table and coffee table loaded with car parts. Well I just had to laugh that the it has spread to the dinning room light. Mike has been hanging parts to dry on it.

 Notice we still have tons of car parts on our table... but not as many as we had.

 I of course had to throw in a picture of the engine. It is coming together nicely. I am still totally in love with the color and really think it is a gorgeous engine!

 Mike also got the chrome trim on the front seats. They look great!

Time is winding down for getting the car done. It really stressed me out when I think about it. I was to the point of wanting to just throw in the towel the other day. It just gets hard seeing so much money going into it and knowing that we are quickly running out of time to get it completed. It has been majorly stressful for all involved. I really just can't wait for it to be finished and for everyone to be able to relax and breath again! Oh and of course I also want it done so we can enjoy the car!

The Seats, The Engine, The Excitement!

So we were not originally planning on having the engine rebuilt, but when Mike tore into it there was massive amounts of sludge. It was apparent that the engine really did need to be rebuilt. It sucked having that extra cost, but it will be worth it.

The engine came back from the rebuild shop today and it is gorgeous. I never though I would think an engine gorgeous but its so clean and shiny and blue... my favorite color!  So I of course had to post lots of pictures of all angles of this beauty. These pictures can speak for themselves.  This is the long block only, so once he gets the entire engine reassembled... I will have to post more pictures.

 We also got the seats back from being upholstered. I was so incredibly excited to see the seats and they are incredible! The seats we used are not the original seats from the car. The original seats are in too bad of shape. We held on the the original seats so we had to get a picture of the new seats next to the old ones. Pretty sad!

 This is the back seat. So pretty!

 We couldn't take a picture of the front seats without the console between them. The console is not original to the car and is only for comfort when we are driving the car. It will come out for car shows.

 I was super excited to test out the seats. I told Mike he couldn't test them until I had. I figure it's my car so I should be the first to test them. I figured the steering wheel would finish the photo nicely.

 I finally agreed to let Mike test the seat. Technically he will be in the drivers seat a lot more than I will. I do plan on driving the car some times but he will be the main driver. I trust his driving skills much more than I trust my own skills. I think I am going to be incredibly paranoid of taking the car out. I don't want it to get hurt. Maybe it it didn't have the sentimental value to it since it was my dad's first car... then it would be a different story and I don't think I could care quite as much.

I do love Mikes face in this picture. He always makes the best faces.

It was an exciting night. This is all really happening. It has been almost 4 years in the making but there is an end in sight. This car should be completed in a month and a half. It just seems so crazy it is all coming together. I am so excited! 

The car should be back from being painted in a couple of weeks and that is when the madness will really begin. As it is I feel like I don't see much of my husband but I know it is only going to get worse in the coming weeks. I know it will be short lived and soon I will get to spend plenty of time with him at car shows or taking drives in the car. I cant wait!