07/29/2010

Today started by removing the front grill to gain access to the bolts for the hood and then removing the hood. The hinge on the hood is in the front and so it was just too much in the way and needed to go. From there, off came the air box which was actually kind of a pain since there is a lot of stuff bolted to the bottom of it. At this point I decided to drain the oil some of the other fluids before they became an issue.

I had the oil catch pan in one had and was removing the drain bolt with the other as it crossed my mind that if some of the antifreeze had gotten into the crank case there might be a lot of fluid... too late. The drain bolt come off suddenly followed by a fast stream of grayish fluid that overshot the catch pan and made a mess before I could adjust the pan. It was under a lot more pressure than normal and I quickly realized that the pan was not going to be enough. I managed to get the bolt back in long enough to grab the second oil pan before continuing to drain. There look to be nearly two gallons of oil/antifreeze mix in the bottom of the engine – good thing I never tried to crank the engine!



With most of oil and antifreeze out of the way I proceeded to disconnect the fuel line and throttle cable from the carburetor. I removed the spark plug wires, top side of the radiator hose, heater connection, and a few of the vacuum hoses before discovering that there were many more than I had assumed. After that it seemed like a good stopping point for the night so that I could get some tags before disconnecting all of the vacuum lines. The last thing I want is to not be able to figure out how it goes back together!



More tomorrow!