Good news, everyone. No photos yet, but they're a-comin' as soon as I find my little hoobedoo flashcard-reader thingie.
Here's the scoop. I've gone through three transmissions scavenging pieces. I have a nosecone from one, side covers and a differential from another and a case from a third. None are original from my old transmission, 'cuz my car used to be IRS and now it's swing. I already had a 3:88 ring and pinion on standby.
There's a big difference between the inside of the bell I had and the one I'm using. I needed one with a mounting bracket for my clutch setup inside, not a slick one, so that was the horse trade I made last week.
All the pieces are clean and ready for comingling. The case either is or will shortly will be painted black with all the ribs ground with a dye-grinder for appearance's sake. My axle tubes are in primer at the moment, but they're going to be black by the end of the day. The Wrench is doing that stuff today, and tonight, I'll be there for assembly.
The engine is done. Two words: torque wrench.
We put it together a couple days ago, and took it apart after for tweeking. The end-play is .002, not the .004 called for in the manual. It turns so well that I'm willing to bet it won't care one way or the other if it's .002 or .004; they're SCAT parts. (And I'm doing this for the street, not the track.) The connecting rods are torqued to 40 pounds even, and they sing when they're thumped with a ball peen.
The cylinders are Chevrolet Orange, like my shifter and pedals, and the case, tubes and tranny are the same Universal Black. Both are Plasti-Kote paints. All the doodads are painted, too. They're either zinc paint or the Chevy Orange, depending on what they do for the engine. I also go my hands on a temperature gauge to mount through the block. As soon as I come up with a sending unit to stand it on, I'll be golden.
The heads are aluminum, the valve covers are black and the retainers are orange. My pushrod tubes are a brassy-colored finish on steel. My DTM shroud is Safety Orange. (I think Jake will approve.)
On a positive "glad I got up this morning," note, the Wrench and his father have been shoulder-to-shoulder on the engine for two days now. It's really neat for me to see them in action since each is a genius in his own right, but the two men haven't seen eye-to-eye for years.
It's kind of like watching the scientists on the Manhattan Project -- minus lab coats -- as these guys use all kinds of calibration equipment to tweek things to tolerances you can't see with the naked eye. They communicate with grunts and gestures like cavemen divvying up a mammoth carcass, but they move with the precision of surgeons.
All that's missing is a little Austrian farmhouse.
I got a few photos. When I find the gizmo, I'll post them. I'm on top of the world right now. This is GREAT!
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