stripping and painting parts

It’s still snowing here, with no sign of Spring. I think it’s coming, but you can never be sure around here. Now I must buckle down and get to work. I got the sheet metal parts back from the paint shop. They look good. Very red. The whole cost of stripping and painting every part was just under $200, including solvent and brushes. Very labor intensive, something I could do for extra money. The finished product is very nice. I imagine there are many people who hate cleaning parts. I didn’t mind it too much. It’s tedious, but therapeutic. Maybe that’s because of the solvent vapors. I wonder what it is worth to someone. $800? There is probably 40 hours of work involved. Anyway, I got all the parts back, so I should start putting the thing back together. I need a clean room, like NASA, so I’ll use the spare bedroom. The first thing to do is assemble the case halves. This is not as simple as bolting the main caps on a V-8. It must be done carefully to make sure everything is perfectly aligned and turns freely. Torque is critical. Clearances must be checked every step. After the case is assembled, it’s pretty simple and fast. The pistons are attached, then cylinders, then heads. Bell housing, rear cover, oil pan, valve train, exhaust headers, fan, distibutor, fuel pump, alternator, and shrouds and it’s done. Voila. That should take me a couple of weeks. There’s a lot of good snow out there to enjoy. Must be careful not to be consumed by this project.