The Resurrection of Vixen

Quote of the Week:
"You need chain... to put an engine in a DeLorean??? Those are chain drive??? " - Home Depot employee

A DeLorean certainly looks better with an engine in her. =)

I spent the past week finishing up all of the little things needed on the engine, and then borrowed a hoist from a friend on Sunday and started the process of the install.

Now, a few of you out there have helpfully commented that it's easier to replace the engine and trans already bolted together. I appreciate the advice, but usually do things the hard way anyway. (I'm stubborn like that).

Actually, in truth it just hadn't really occurred to me to do so. Oh well. But, since the trans was already mounted, I reached into my bag of tricks from the past to find an easy way to get the trans and engine together without having to take the trans out. (Gumption trap #1 -- "Out of Sequence Reassembly". See the Zen page and you'll understand.)

Now, I have mentioned that I also have a '58 Plymouth. That car and a DeLorean have very little in common, but hear me out on this story, and soon you'll understand the relevance to a D.

The automatic transmission on that Plymouth is called a TorqueFlite, and it's made almost entirely out of cast iron. Total weight is somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 pounds. Not an easy beast to maneuver you can be sure, especially while all covered in that greasy black goop that seems to accumulate only on transmissions. There was no way to lift the trans up onto the jack while lying underneath the car on my stomach, so I had to lift the -car- up enough to sufficiently clear the trans already on the jack. Now, with the car so high, the trans jack could not lift the trans enough to meet up with the engine. This is what is sometimes referred to as "a quandry". I referred to it as something else -- something in "French" -- and something definitely not repeatable on a family-friendly web site...

Lowering the car (and simultaneously, the jack supporting the engine) back down to where the trans could mate solved that little problem. However, another problem now presented itself, in that no matter how I tried (for 5 hours), I could not get the input shaft to line up with the engine. Those of you who have tried to maneuver a D trans into place may know the feeling. Multiply that by three and you've got a TorqueFlite. The thing was so heavy I actually broke three trans jacks, necessitating the "Plymouth up, Plymouth down" push-up process enough times to put an Army boot camp recruit to shame. It seemed impossible, but there had to be some way to get them aligned.

The solution was a quick trip to the hardware store with one of the engine-trans mounting bolts. I matched up the size and thread to heat-treated bolts approximately 6" long -- 4" longer than the originals. Arriving back home, I threaded these bolts through the trans casing back into the engine block, and then aligned the engine and trans to as close an angle as possible. Then, all it took was to slide the trans right up the bolts until it clicked in place, already pre-aligned. The whole process, now that the 'alignment bolts' were installed, took only about 60 seconds.

Big difference.

Soooo... Not having learned my lesson (I'm stubborn like that), I tried for around 3 hours on Sunday to get the Vixen's engine and trans aligned without the bolts, but to absolutely no avail. I had skipped buying the alignment bolts out of a total impatience to get home to try and install the engine. I should have known better, especially considering my past nightmares. I've learned that being impatient always takes more time than just being patient in the first place.

So, tonight I stopped at Pep Boys and bought two 10mm x 120mm and two 10mm x 100mm coarse-thread grade 10.9 bolts. At home, I threaded the two longer bolts through the trans into the block on the top, and the two shorter ones on the bottom. (You need the shorter ones on the bottom to clear the output hubs on the trans). A quick little lift on the hoist gave a rough alignment, and a push of the engine back onto the trans yielded a satisfying clunk as the two components clicked together effortlessly. Like I said, I should have known better.

If you're going to try this yourself, you could also use studs, but the bolts are only threaded at the end, giving a nice smooth surface to slide on. I should also mention that you should NOT support either the trans or engine from these bolts. The casings are not designed to handle the odd force vectors encountered in this situation -- just use them for alignment only, with both pieces supported well. Once you've slid the two halves together, pull the bolts one by one, and replace them with the correct bolts. Then as the French sould say... "Voila!" It's a different French language than I was using on the Plymouth, to be sure.

So, the engine installation is done, but the Vixen is far from being done. Not that that depresses me though, I do realize the value of progress. Every uphill climb consists of a lot of little steps. Tonight, we took a big one.

This whole crazy project might just work after all... A lot of people tried to talk me out of it, but I was (and still am) convinced that it can be done.

I'm stubborn like that.

The plate is the old "T" plate off of my Plymouth... Just so the police don't yell...

Costs for Week 25:


Date	Purchase	Store	Price
09-Apr-00	Chain for hoisting engine	Home Depot	9.48
09-Apr-00	Electrical tape	Home Depot	0.98
09-Apr-00	5/16" chain links (4)	Home Depot	10.68
09-Apr-00	3/8" chain link	Home Depot	2.93
10-Apr-00	Bolts, nuts, washers	Pep Boys	5.94
15-Apr-00	Brake fluid	Pep Boys	4.49
15-Apr-00	Hex nuts	Pep Boys	4.76
15-Apr-00	Fuses (10 amp)	Pep Boys	5.99
15-Apr-00	Fuses (30 amp)	Pep Boys	5.99
15-Apr-00	Belts	Pep Boys	11.99
15-Apr-00	Belts	Pep Boys	11.99
15-Apr-00	Accel Super Stock ignition coil (universal electronic ign.)	Pep Boys	29.99
		Week 25 Total:	$105.21

		Running Total:	$11,143.68

Year One:
Week 1	Week 8	Week 15	Week 22	Week 29	Week 36	Week 43	Week 50
Week 2	Week 9	Week 16	Week 23	Week 30	Week 37	Week 44	Week 51
Week 3	Week 10	Week 17	Week 24	Week 31	Week 38	Week 45	Week 52
Week 4	Week 11	Week 18	Week 25	Week 32	Week 39	Week 46	-
Week 5	Week 12	Week 19	Week 26	Week 33	Week 40	Week 47	-
Week 6	Week 13	Week 20	Week 27	Week 34	Week 41	Week 48	-
Week 7	Week 14	Week 21	Week 28	Week 35	Week 42	Week 49	-
Year Two:
Week 53	Week 60	Week 67	Week 74	Week 81	Week 88	Week 95	Week 102
Week 54	Week 61	Week 68	Week 75	Week 82	Week 89	Week 96	Week 103
Week 55	Week 62	Week 69	Week 76	Week 83	Week 90	Week 97	Week 104
Week 56	Week 63	Week 70	Week 77	Week 84	Week 91	Week 98	-
Week 57	Week 64	Week 71	Week 78	Week 85	Week 92	Week 99	-
Week 58	Week 65	Week 72	Week 79	Week 86	Week 93	Week 100	-
Week 59	Week 66	Week 73	Week 80	Week 87	Week 94	Week 101	-
Year Three:
Week 105	Week 112	Week 119	Week 126	Week 133	Week 140	Week 147	Week 154
Week 106	Week 113	Week 120	Week 127	Week 134	Week 141	Week 148	Week 155
Week 107	Week 114	Week 121	Week 128	Week 135	Week 142	Week 149	Week 156
Week 108	Week 115	Week 122	Week 129	Week 136	Week 143	Week 150	-
Week 109	Week 116	Week 123	Week 130	Week 137	Week 144	Week 151	-
Week 110	Week 117	Week 124	Week 131	Week 138	Week 145	Week 152	-
Week 111	Week 118	Week 125	Week 132	Week 139	Week 146	Week 153	-
Year Four:
Week 157	Week 164	Week 171	Week 178	Week 185	Week 192	Week 199	Week 206
Week 158	Week 165	Week 172	Week 179	Week 186	Week 193	Week 200	Week 207
Week 159	Week 166	Week 173	Week 180	Week 187	Week 194	Week 201	Week 208
Week 160	Week 167	Week 174	Week 181	Week 188	Week 195	Week 202	-
Week 161	Week 168	Week 175	Week 182	Week 189	Week 196	Week 203	-
Week 162	Week 169	Week 176	Week 183	Week 190	Week 197	Week 204	-
Week 163	Week 170	Week 177	Week 184	Week 191	Week 198	Week 205	-
Year Five:
Week 209	Week 216	Week 223	Week 230	Week 237	Week 244
Week 210	Week 217	Week 224	Week 231	Week 238
Week 211	Week 218	Week 225	Week 232	Week 239
Week 212	Week 219	Week 226	Week 233	Week 240
Week 213	Week 220	Week 227	Week 234	Week 241
Week 214	Week 221	Week 228	Week 235	Week 242
Week 215	Week 222	Week 229	Week 236	Week 243

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