The Boat

In our house we have the propensity to assign monikers to our modes of transportation. We went and bought a car that we called THE BOAT. It was a 1974 Chevrolet Caprice. I bought it with the idea of teaching a bit about cars.

We took the engine out of it and overhauled it. Here you can see me stretching my hamstrings as I prepare to attach the hoist.



The first thing to be extracted from the engine was the fluids. The green and black mixture was discarded as we would install new fluids at the end of the exercise.



Julie was helping with the project by providing conveyance to the necessary tools.



Craig helped complete the exchange.



After we raised the car on jackstands then we began to remove all the fasteners that restrained the engine to the chasis. We then disconnected the torque-converter, the exhaust pipes, linkages, hoses, wires, tubes, and the transmission housing from the engine.



Here you can see the crew lying on the cold concrete floor doing the bolt extraction in order to release the powerplant.



A comealong attached to one of the rafters in the garage was the lift point. CRAAAACK!! We broke one of the 2X4 members that made up the roof truss. We repositioned the comealong and put a pipe across two trusses and extracted the engine.



It was a bit of a dirty mess.





We borrowed an engine stand. This was a 400 cubic inch small block Chevrolet two bolt main 2 barrel carburatored engine.



There are several frames of photographs missing here in the middle. The engine was taken apart by all of us and cataloged as to piston location, journals, and bolts. We used masking tape and wrote on the tape to label the parts. We took the engine block to a mechanic in the area that had the engine bored 0.030 inches and replaced the pistons. We assembled the lower end of the engine and put the remainder of the components on the short block.

First master mechanic Jeanette torqued the rod bearing journals to the specified value using a spring type torque wrench. You can see the flexing of the muscles as she applies the force necessary to engage the 3/8" hardened steel nuts and bolts sufficiently tight to keep them from coming loose, but not so tight as to damage the bolts.



Anita is helping with the torque wrench to tighten the rod bolts just the right amount.



After the bottom end was assembled and the camshaft was installed and timed, Brian installed the head bolts. These too must be tightened to a specified value to ensure proper performance.



And here we have the head mechanic snugging up the head bolts.



After which Craig performed the critical task of torquing the head bolts. The head bolts are tightened in a specified sequence in order to ensure the head gasket lays straight and is compressed enough to seal the combustion chambers and water jacket.



I believe we came to a unanimous decision that staying in school (other than mechanic school) was the thing to do. I seem to remember that Julie enjoyed this family activity. I was quite proud of our family for having completed this little project.

Arlo drove The Boat first. Craig had his turn at it. Brian used The Boat too.
I am sure the boys could tell some tales about what went on in The Boat.