Spare Engine Dismantled and Pertinent Parts Put Away

Last Saturday evening, while the girls were skating, I spent a couple hours completing the teardown of the spare ‘vair engine. After investigating the condition of the crank and cam, I decided to leave them captive within the two halves of the bolted-together block. I brought the wheelbarrow into the garage and tossed the pistons (have a good set on the shelf already), valve covers (have a good set…), oil pump housing (have a good …), and the bent oil pan (have a …). I removed Heidi’s original block from a bottom shelf, added it to the wheelbarrow load and then filled the spot with the spare block assembly. I poured all the nuts, bolts, and small bits into the bottom of a box followed by the six cylinders. The box found a nice home on top of the block. I was able to get the rest of the parts – heads, bellhousing, flexplate, top cover, shrouding, etc – onto shelves and out of the way. At that point, all that was left was the cleanup. I’d created a mighty mess of soiled sockets, dirty drivers, and spoiled spanners on a filthy floor. Purple Power and rags took care of the tools, while granular floor sweep absorbent (aka kitty litter) was liberally spread over all the oily spots.