Body dismantle begins

With the engine out, and the engine bay easy to access, it's time to start removing all the mechanical stuff in there. Brake master, heater hoses and tap, fuel equipment and so on. All must be out before I can paint the engine bay before the motor can go back in. I'm kinda on a timetable as I only have about 3 months left of suitable painting weather. I'm under no illusions that the car body will be done this season, not a chance, but I'd like the engine bay done at least and then all the mechanicals can go back in and be finished during the colder months.

Coke Can bog repair

So naturally I get distracted and start taking the guards off. It only started as I had to take the grille and radiator support out so they can be painted and also to allow easier replacement of the motor. And then the bumper came off and finally the passenger side guard. The guards have rust in the bottom corners, but alas I hadn't expected to find a coke can in there as a base for an earlier bog repair job! Home repairs from the 80's I say! I can hardly comment though, given my bodywork skills are mediocre. I can paint pretty well, but rust removal and panel beating?  No way! 

Chassis rust

So the guards, and the doors will be going to a crash shop for rust removal and priming. Oh as will the bootlid. It has a weird rust hole through the back of it. Where the guards have rusted, the chassis has a few small holes, which I will grind back and just fill with Mig weld (the picture makes it look worse than it is). The rest of the chassis appears pretty darn good.

Bootlid with weird rust hole and the side of the car without the guard / engine. 

Engine out

The blog's been a bit idle that past few months, but I haven't been with the Corona's progress. Following the installation of the diff and rear brake rebuild, attention turned to the front. First out was the radiator and I was surprised at how healthy the radiator appeared. Granted I'm not an expert, but compared to others I've had, this one looks like it won't need a recore. I'll still take it to Burton Radiators for a clean and a pressure test and we'll see then.

Why ropes? The chain I've used for engine lifts the past
maybe 20 years finally broke partway through this lift.
 It was then I found it was inherited from my Dad's dad
and was close to 90 years old!

I was also surprised at how much stuff required removal before the engine and gearbox would come out. There are more bolts and ancillary attachments than your average Old Holden. I probably should have read the Gregory's manual. Anyway after some false starts, and with the assistance of my Dad we managed to get the engine and gearbox out in one piece with a hired hoist from Kennards. The little 2R motor and auto trans weighs as much as a Holden red motor too! Talk about heavy casting! We had real issues clearing the front radiator support and also getting off the rear cross member. A rounded bolt saw the cross member have to stay in the car until after the removal. Man it was painful jiggling it up on an angle. Then the engine chain broke at the back, fortunately it didn't damage anything and only dropped at the back a few inches. 

So the cross member came out with a lot of time, some vise grips and persistence. Still have to replace the rounded bolt though. A couple hours was spent degreasing the motor and transmission... this thing was filthy. 40 years worth of grease and crap that I'm still accidentally tracking through the house on occasion. The gearbox came away from the block pretty nicely and is now at SA Race Transmissions and Diffs undergoing a freshen up. These were the same guys that did the diff. He recommended the bloke situated behind him for the engine rebuild, although I must save up some dollars before that though. Estimated cost for a full recon of a 4cyl is a little under $2K.