Engine Installation:

By the time Huw showed up today, I had the engine pretty much stuck in the process of it going back in the car. This is what he gets for showing up late! (I'm sticking my tongue out at him!) (Editors note:  My excuse for being late was.. hell, I have no excuse!)

Actually, I'm extremely glad he did, I couldn't have gone any further without him. I've done this a few times before by myself and never had any major snags, but this time it just didn't want to cooperate. My leveler didn't hold right at one point, tilting the engine quickly and sending a couple tools flying, in addition to making a dent on a lip by the hood hinge. I'm just happy the windshield didn't get hit! Things just hung up all over the place, and it was a chore snaking it all back in. 

We didn't start taking a few pictures until after we were done, so the grand excitement can't be shared with the world, but here's a few pictures of it all together. This rather unexciting shot shows mostly a very pretty rear end and a glimpse of the tank. I've had good luck with Hammerrite paint, we'll see how it holds up for this application.

I didn't notice this until I was making sure all was ready to go in, but the exhaust hanger bracket doesn't sit square on the bottom of the transmission because of a step, but Triumph in it's infinite wisdom decided that if one were to take these two bolts out, the transmission fluid would have to go with them, so I have to figure out how to deal with that. The tail housing was the only part of this entire thing that I didn't clean up beyond the usual slime. 

I still can't get over how you have to stick the engine in this car. Jack the tail up as high as you can go, then go in at almost a right angle with the engine and transmission. Huw's way of putting the car onto the engine sounds better every time I do it! The paint on this car looks okay until you get up close. Cheap repaint is my enemy here. How to fix that will be worse than all that I'm wrapping up right now, as I don't do bodywork or paint.

I didn't realize this until later, but this isn't the same alternator that every other wedge in the world has. This one has studs for connections, and the rest of them have a single plug. I know it's factory because the flag lug hanging in the foreground isn't something I've seen other than from the factory. If someone can identify this, I'm interested in knowing what it is because eventually I'll have to buy parts for it, or another one entirely. You can see another view of my oil pressure sender mounting bracket there as well.

Deep sigh of relief now. Engine is in the car! You can't really see the dent by the right hinge bracket, which is good. I pounded that out a bit already, though. I still have to straighten a dented heater line on the bulkhead and make sure that a certain dropped wrench didn't leave any marks on my head. Now as I always say, the devil is in the details, and I expect some connections to take quite awhile, as a few have been re-engineered. 

Still on the to-do list is:
Install driveline (done by this writing)
Hook up assorted wires, hoses, pipes, cables, and lines
Install radiator (rod out if necessary, on its way to me now)
Install electric cooling fan
Hook up clutch and bleed
readjust valves (getting picky at 1 thou off!)
add oil and fluids, and start testing systems.

I like that last item. Add oil. A sure sign of progress. This car has been drug around two moves since 1996, gathering dust and occasionally offering up parts for my daily driver, while all I did was just look at it and dream. Sigh.... Even my wife is getting excited: "Can we take it for a drive tomorrow?" I drove her bug about an hour after I put the motor back in (An exhaust valve seat popped out, jamming the valve open and dropping the pushrod. Head swap time.) but things don't work the same way on British cars. My cynicism is always a restraint to my anxiousness, itching to get things on the road again. Like Huw, I never had the pleasure of even starting this car when I got it, so the excitement is even more dreadful!