1992

1992. Its our second Year living in the House on Diamond St. 812 Diamond St to be Exact. The House is far diffrent today. But still there. My Chevelle just turned 20 years old. And it is time to Put a New Motor in It. It had a Small Block Chevy 350. And that is what will go back into it. So Here I'am Just getting Ready to Pull the Old Motor out. My little Brother Rodney was Helping me do this Job. And We took lots of Pictures. I had my Garage Set up Pretty good. All my tools I had been collecting for the last 10 years. Nice work Bench. Plenty of Room.
In this Picture I'am standing in the Engine compartment. This would be impossible under Normal conditions. The top half of the Engine has all ready been removed. Along with the Radiator. water Pump. and lots of little things like that. As well as the Hood. You must have two People to take that off.
Ok the old engine has been pulled from the car. And its a Filthy, Dirty, Greasie worn out thing. So now I need to Put it on the Engine Stand. (I Barrowed Al's from B & M next Door.) But I guess I dont have Pictures of the Engine Stand. The Reason for the Engine Stand is because I need to take some of the Parts off the Old Engine and Re use them. like the Harmonice Balancer. The Oil Pan. And the Flex Plate. Or Fly wheel. All seen in this Picture.
Here you can see How the car sits with out the Motor. The Frontend is now rasied up a good 7 or 8 Inches Higher now. All the Weight of the Engine is gone. In the Next Picture we will Push the Car out side and do some Much Needed cleaning of the Engine compartment.
Well. Here is the new Motor. This is called a Short-Block. That is how it came from the Builder. Except the Valve covers. So now I need to install the Harmonice Balancer. And Oil pan. Looks like I have allready done that. And it looks like I'am holding the Flex-plate. (fly wheel) You can see the Hood to the far left.
In this Picture. I Quit. I have had enough. I'am walking out. No. I'am kidding. I can see the Balancer is on. The oil pan is on. And the Flex-plate is on. And for some reason I have put the old rocker covers back on. Probably just to Protect aginst dust. I would put brand new Chromed rocker covers on later. I allso had to save the old Motor Mounts. You can see one on this side of the Block. We are now Ready to Drop the New Motor into the Car.
My Honda was my only transportation during this week. I was so happy. It didnt Rain.
Ok the New Motor is Basicly Mounted back into the Car. And its now time to reconect the Exhaust manifolds. I had. very much considered Headers. I had thought long and hard about that. This was the moment to make that Choice. The condition of the Original manifolds Made that decision for me. They were both still good. So I stuck to that.
In this Picture You see I have began to put the Original Exhaust Manifolds back on. It was not to hard a decision. It would have cost me an entire day of work if I had decided to go with Headers instead. Besides I still had the Three foot glass-Packs underneight. And that was Plenty of Rumble for me. soon I would have it all back togather and fired up for the very first time.
In These Next two Pictures I Aparently Must have the Chevelle Running. Since it is Turned around and facing the other Way. I know We would have not Pushed it into that Position. The only Problem I Remember havinig with the First time Firing the New Engine. Was A small Electrical Ignition Problem. But that was Easy to Fix. Now I would be taking it out around the Neighbor Hood. Just Test Driving. And getting it up to Temprature a few times and let it cool down. Just testing before Putting the Hood Back on and Returning The Rented Equipment.
Here is the All most finished Product. Looking Pretty good. And Running Great as I Remember.
So Here is what My Chevelle has under the Hood now. Well. not Quite yet. The New Short Block of course. Built to Original Specs. 350 Cubic Inch. I added lots of chrome anywhere I could. New Edelbrock High rise 4 Barrel Intake Manifold. And I allready had the Polished Aluminum Holly 650 Double Pumper Carb. Ohhh. That was Nice. And the Nice Big Chrome Breather. It was all very Nice and clean. Looked good.
The Hood back on now. It is done. I would never have to do any more work to this Motor. Infact the entire Car is now finished. And starting with 1995 I would begine to Neglect it Terribly. Pay no attention to it. Just drive it into the Ground Basicly. Because of Alcoholism and Depression. But for the next two Years it was still my Baby. And I loved it. How stupid I was to Depend on it for my Happyness. It let me down along with everything eles in life. But GOD will never let me down. It took me a long time to Learn that finnally.
In these next 10 Pictures. I'am at Tallowbox-Fire-Lookout in Ruch. In some of the Pictures I'am in the Process of driving the Dirt Road. In other Pictures The Chevelle is Parked down below the Look-out about 500 FT. It was easyer and Better on the Car to just walk that Remaining distance to the Top. In another one of The Pictures We see the Look-out from down below Near where the Car would be Parked. And finnally We see Grant & Hydee's Pickup parked under the Look-out. I got to be really good freinds with them. I would later go to Coos Bay to there Home and spend several days with them. They are both gone now. Tallowbox-look-out is in Ruch Oregon. About 29 Miles from Medford. It is visible from The Church Parking lot. I Recomend a Visit to the Look-out anytime. Its well worth the Veiw.
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