Stripping the engine
After a very sweaty morning in the attic fitting four more spot lights ("cans" I think) to the kitchen ceiling Charles came over this afternoon and we stripped the '37 engine that has been wrapped up since ~1996 when I crashed the '37 while testing in France.
I had prepared the engine for a long stay (backed off the rockers, filled bores with oil, etc, etc), and luckily it all paid off.
That's not to say it wasn't uncool to find rat droppings all over the intake manifold and the rag plug that I'd put into the distributor hole eaten. That left a big hole - big enough for rodents to enter my engine. *gulp*
After removing the heads and intake manifold my fears came true - shredded parts of a summit engine bag were under the manifold in a little snug nest! But that's as far as they went. No harm done.
A couple of the roller lifters were very lightly seized in the bores, but a sniff of 1000-grit and they'll be good as new. The bottom end looked like the day I built the engine. We removed one of the mains and very little wear on the bearing and my expensive Crower crank absolutely perfect. In fact it all looked so good that now we're considering not breaking down the bottom end.
Piston rings are my only concern though - after 10 years they should probably be changed. The crank turns perfectly though and no visible scoring on the piston bore walls.
How nice it was to smell of 5W-30 GTX again. Good times!
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