The new engine mounts came. These are steel-and-rubber winguses that go in between the brackets attached to the front subframe and the engine block. They act as vibration dampers and also provide a bit of flexibility, which allows the engine to twist slightly in its mountings in reaction to its own torque.

When those arrived, even though the engine bay isn't really ready yet, we couldn't resist hauling an old bell housing and the case from a worn-out transmission out of the storeroom and mocking up an install.

Here it is all trussed up on the crane and ready to go. Note the traces of blue paint on the bell housing, which identify it as having come from something built sometime from the mid-'70s to early '80s (probably one of the several pickups of that vintage that Dad has scrapped over the years). The transmission that was in that case used to be in this very truck, decades ago, behind the six-cylinder engine that was in there at the time.

The reason we did this is because the engine is only mounted at the front in its own right; the rear mount is actually on the tail of the transmission case. Without one of those attached, it won't sit right, but since this is just a mock-up installation, we didn't need anything that actually worked and decided to save ourselves some weight. When we build it for real, it'll probably have this old Powerglide automatic in it, but it needs to be overhauled first.

Anyway!

It's in there! Fits like a glove, but then that's not too surprising, given that an engine built on that exact same block was an available option in 1966. As you can see in the shot of the passenger side, the Hedman exhaust headers (excuse me, Hedman calls them "hedders", because of course they do) bolt up with no trouble at all, which is not always the case with aftermarket headers.

Next we need to tackle all the other stuff that an engine needs in order to run--fuel, electrical, cooling, exhaust--and we can find out whether it actually runs, using the truck itself as a test stand. Then it'll have to come back out so we can do the metal work on the cab, which is kind of making extra work for ourselves, but, I mean... are we going to not take the chance to hear it run? :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

The last three shop sessions, we've been taking advantage of the fact that the bed is off the truck to install stuff that would be a real pain to put on there if it were all together.

First, though, a note about a tool. While we were installing the engine last time, I suddenly realized that the task provided a perfect, legitimate opportunity to go out and buy a tool I've wanted to have for literally decades because of a goofy inside joke with an old friend.

For background: the summer after my year at WPI, I worked on an industrial construction site as a general laborer and firewatch. While I was there, I developed a fascination for a steelworking tool called a spud wrench. This is an open-end or adjustable wrench with a tapering cone-shaped handle, used to align the holes when erecting structural steel or fitting pipe flanges. One day my high school friend Seann (of Shadowrun GM fame) and I wrote a punk rock song about it, of which I now remember only the chorus. Imagine this screamed in a punk-metal voice with discordant, clashing guitars and a frantic drumbeat behind and you'll get the flavor:

Spud wrench!
LINES UP THE HOLES
Spud wrench!
OUT OF CONTROL
SPUUUUUUUUUUUUUD
WRENCH!!

Obviously I had no Earthly need of such a thing, so I never had one, but the memory stuck in my mind, so the other day when Dad and I were struggling to get all the engine mount bolts properly aligned, I realized a spud wrench was exactly what we needed, and would need again when the time came to take the engine out and put it back. But we didn't have one...

... so I bought one.

SPUD WRENCH

*ahem* Excuse me.

With that job done, we turned to the next task on the punch list: installing the fuel tank.

In older pickups like ours, the stock fuel tank is behind the seat, inside the cab. You can see the filler cap in this old photo of the "Christmas truck" from my childhood (also a 1966 Chevrolet), on the side of the cab right behind the handle of the driver's door.

As you might imagine, this is a little disconcerting to the modern motorist. So much so that conversion kits exists to relocate the fuel supply to a more sensible location, such as inside the frame under the bed. Here's one such kit!

And here's where it goes. Note the field expedient work holding device...

As an aside, the day we started on this task was the first one this year on which it was warm enough to have the door open. So that's nice!

(Yes, the Volkswagen's still there. And still for sale, but for some reason book values have tanked since we first listed it. :/ )

This tank location is similar to where they put it in more modern trucks, where it's protected from rear impacts by the rearmost frame crossmember (to which the rear bumper is directly attached). It does require some slight modifications to the frame. Most notably, a narrow, non-structural crossmember has to be removed from the space where the tank goes. In the original configuration, that was used to hang the spare tire underneath the truck, but who wants to do that anyway?

More notably, the driver's side frame rail has to be notched to clear the filler neck:

This can be avoided if you get the version of the kit with the filler neck in the middle, but then you have to get up into the back of the truck to fuel it up. Anyway, the frame has more than enough reserve strength to handle one notch that size (it's a C-beam, so the bottom flange is still fully intact. Eventually, there'll be a filler cap or flap door or some such on the side of the bed behind the wheel. We're still looking at the various options.

Once the tank is in place, it's bolted to the bottom flanges of the frame rails on both sides, which gets it properly located...

... but that's not enough to hold it once it's in service. Empty, the tank is very light, but it's a 20-gallon tank and gasoline weighs about six pounds per gallon, so when full it'll be far too heavy for those small side plates and bolts to hold by themselves.

For that, there are steel straps that are bolted on at one side and hung from J-hooks on the other, supporting the full weight without relying on just the locating bolts.

Et voilà! One shiny new fuel tank, with sending unit installed, ready to be plumbed up and supply fuel to the new engine.

With that taken care of: on to the exhaust system!

After some research, we decided to go with a complete system kit by Thrush, a well-known maker of exhaust systems for classics and hot rods. It's designed particularly to work with Dynomax headers, but our Hedmans (Hedmen?) came with adapters that will work with more or less anything and most of this stuff is standardized anyway.

Here's what's going on up front:

We needed to get those flexible sections in order to make everything line up properly, but with those in place, everything connects up to the Thrush system's forward pipe just fine. From there, they run back to...

... this H-shaped section. Behind this section, there are two more connecting pipes, leading to...

... the mufflers and...

... tailpipes. This particular system has the exhaust pipes coming out from under the body just behind the rear wheels. Viewed from the back, they're slightly asymmetrical because of the paths they have to take to get around the rear suspension.

With the body on and the truck on the ground, that won't be all that noticeable.

(Guest appearance by the old man, who I think was taking the temporary wire off the H-pipe when I took this one. :)

The exhaust system isn't quite finished. For... reasons?...the headers came painted in non-heat-resistant paint that was only applied to protect them in shipping, which means we have to strip them and then repaint them in the correct high-temperature paint. Why Hedman chooses to do it this way, I couldn't tell you, but there it is. Once that's done, though, the exhaust will be complete, and we can move on to finishing the fuel system, reinstalling the radiator support and cooling system, and wiring up the engine.

After all that, it'll finally be time to crank it up and see if the engine I built will actually work. Which is exciting for me, and will presumably be more exciting for you than mufflers. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.