We're pulling the 318 from Flying Jerry's old car today (shown in the above post). The previous owner wants that engine back; why that is I have no idea. He's getting a free A904 back with it, though.
This car is
bad... really,
really bad. Simply trailering the car less than a football field this morning, the driver's side factory hold-down bracket fell off the rear frame rail. Mind you, it's stil bolted solid; that secton of rail simply fell out. While aligning it for the hoist I realized there's virtually no frame rail forward of the transmission crossmember on the driver's side, all the way to the UCA. I put the pad on the junction of the trans crossmember and front rail, but the car settled down to the rocker panel, which is sitting on the lift arm. Near as I can tell, the only useful metal parts of the car is the outer firewall and the core support.
The engine's a story unto itself. I'd pointed out to Mike that there were rust holes in the valve covers, but he insisted on getting it back. OK, man, it's your deal. While cutting off the RH exhaust headpipe, water started coming out of it. That drew my attention to the oil filter, which looks like a craft-show pillow made to look like an oil filter. Or, say, a filter that was subjected to tons of force. Y'know, like water expanding as it changes state. Sho' 'nuff, when I cut the headpipe the rest of the way, I nicked the filter. Water came out in a small but steady stream for almost half an hour. It was pure water, perfectly clean... in other words, it's not from the cooling system. Apparently valve cover holes are efficient inlets.
The little bit of antifreeze that did come out of the engine and radiator--less than a quart--was greyish with just the slightest hint of green to it. You could barely see a hint of green as it streamed out, but not see it in the bucket. Based on appearance, I would guess it was effective down to about 30°F.
I've no doubt the engine is total garbage. I'd mentioned that to Mike multiple times already, but he wants it back. One less concern for me, really. Pure water in the cooling system is one thing, but in the oil passages? That block's gotta have more cracks than the
Badlands.
The shifter was a plow cable, routed through a hole in the floor. Its handle was a machine screw through the end fitting and wrapped with electrical tape. Park was all the way back, with 1st being all the way forward.
Apparently kickdown linkage is for pussies. Despite this, the transmission fluid was beautiful red. My guess? They tried changing the fluid and filter when the car stopped moving. "I don't need no kickdown! I can just push forward on the plow cable!"
The fuel pump's feed pipe was connected to the
return line (for the vapor-canister vent). I can almost hear Flying Jerry wondering aloud why the car stops running with over 3/4 of a tank showing on the needle.
I'm not sure when or how the temperature sender wire found its way to the (+) terminal of the ignition coil, but that had to be a riot to watch on the temp gauge. The actual coil (+) wire was not connected.
I can't make this shit up, guys.
The taillights are in the interior and in really nice shape... one of very few things this car's got going for it. The disc brakes are intact other than the missing pins on the driver's side. The rear axle's a 489-case one-legger and I'm guessing a 2.76, because they all were. Also, it somehow acquired a factory chrome A-body fuel cap at some point, which I can put on the '68 to snazz it up a bit.
As a side note, mostly for
@RUSTY Cuda, the seat-belt interlock wiring harness and override switch are still present in the engine bay, all connected as they should be, although the switch's button is missing. It does not appear to have ever been messed with or modified. The wiring in the area of the override switch is definitely unmodified, and it looks exactly like the harness you just bought from Year One. The car's sequence number is 207xxx--quite a bit lower than yours. That braided ground strap with the rubber sleeve is still there, too. It was bolted to a factory-looking bracket welded the firewall, with the other end under one of the wiper-motor nuts. The rubber end was at the wiper motor. Nothing on the firewall, surprisingly, seems to have been modified or even replaced, but that doesn't seem right.
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The engine is out, but we're taking a break because the other guys wanted to go out to lunch. I did not. We need to get wheels back on the front and put it back on the trailer, then load the engine/trans on a different trailer to return it to the previous owner. The car will go to my storage area, although I may stop by here to further pressure-wash it. There's still a ton of woodland detritus on the cowl, in the engine bay, etc.
I'll try to get pictures of all the rust damage later. Did I mention it's really
really bad?
