Hitting Block Bottom

Ever wonder what the bottom of an engine looks like under the oil pan?

This:

That there is the engine for the Mustang turned upside-down on the stand. The flywheel flex plate is on the left and the crankshaft is in the middle. At this point, we’ve pulled the pistons and piston accessories off. The crank and cam shafts are all that’s left of note attached to the block.

We then unceremoniously loaded everything on an old tire in the back of my truck for the short trip to the machine shop:

We ended up taking it to Speedy Automotive in Grants Pass after repeated glowing recommendations. Before we even dropped the engine off, they were living up to their reputation. We’d stopped in the day before New Years to talk to them about the engine. We were told to bring it in, but that they closed at noon that day. We did our best to get home, get the pistons pulled and the block loaded but we’d run out of time. I called them to let them know we wouldn’t be making it.

No worries, come on down. We’ll stay open for you.

Turns out they stayed open an extra half hour just to wait for us to get there, unload the engine and shoot the breeze about what we wanted. Sweet!

The plan is to have them machine the block and heads and have a look at all the engine-y bits to see what makes sense to keep and what needs replacing. After that, they’ll send us home with all the major parts needed to put the engine back together.

We’ll get their recommendations on Tuesday or Wednesday. After that, we’ll see how long it takes to get all the pieces back.

I can’t wait.