Today was the day the old 216 c.i. inline six had to come out. I think this was the part I had been most looking forward to. These engines are pretty straight forward, especially with the front of the car off, but there were still a few obstacles. One was the years of grease that had settled over the frame, which is typical of original cars this old. I had a similar battle with my '57 when I tore it down. Luckily, lots of grease means very little rust, but it also meant I had to scrape around with a screwdriver to find a lot of screws and bolts that were completely hidden under the layers of grease.
Because the car had been stored inside for so many years there isn't a lot of rust everywhere and most of the bolts come loose with just a little bit of effort. It can be very time consuming when every bolt is rusted to the nut and half of them break off.
As I was working on the engine it began to snow, something that doesn't happen but only maybe once or twice a year here. At one point it began to snow fairly heavy. It didn't last long or stick though.
The old engine finally came out
My friend Daniel stopped by and he helped me move the engine back inside the garage. I had to pull it outside the garage to get it out of the car and there is a concrete lip so it can be very difficult to get it back in. He gave it the official sign of job finished.
Here she is as she sits at the end of the day
April's friend Keela came down for a visit. I got out of the shower and found them in the garage and April was explaining to Keela all about the future plans.
