As Herman said … the Motor & Transmission are in
First and foremost, had a lot of talented help from Herman (289fia_cobra), my son Mike, and fellow car enthusiast Larry amongst others. That really made the difference … thanks guys !!!
Once the pilot bearing was installed, it was pretty straight forward to put together the clutch assembly and reinstall the bell housing & starter.
With the water pump pulley off, but the crank pulley on, the motor was lowered pretty much straight down from over the driver's side fender into the engine bay. We had (4) guys up top guiding the motor and moving the cherry picker, with one guy underneath providing direction (thanks Herman). The front of the motor was being tipped up just a bit and once the bell housing cleared the firewall, we were able to then slide the cherry picker towards the rear of the car, lowered the motor some more and this brought the motor mounts right into alignment.
I had cut the heads off (2) bolts and ground a slot into the end, to be used as temporary guide pins on the bell housing (put in the upper bolt holes, after the motor was installed). The transmission was muscled into the car and then pretty well slid into place, as everything had been carefully aligned. It took a little nudging to get the last little bit to go together, but everything seemed to fit well, we did not have to force anything.
It was very cool to use a lead hammer for the first time … had to double check to make sure I was going the correct direction … next I'll learn how to safety wire
This was a big step today and while there is a lot of plumbing & electrical work, manifolds & exhaust system to install … the car is going together very nicely.
Here are some photos from today's activities:
