The rebuilding of Norman's 75 Eleganza II

Back to the Engine To my amazement the antifreeze/coolant looked fine and seemed to have done its' job for the past 21 years. There were very minimal signs of corrosion in the coolant system. However, it took about an hour to drain the oil, as it had become so viscous that it came out like honey. Another trip to the auto parts shack netted a new 165 deg. thermostat, radiator hoses (they took a while to find), heater hose, clamps, a low pressure radiator cap (actually I modified a high pressure radiator cap by trimming the spring), engine coolant, oil, oil filter, sparkplugs, fuel pump, fuel filter for the Rochester carburetor, carburetor rebuild kit, distributor cap, plug wires, in-line fuel filter (to be added ahead of the fuel pump), assorted fuel line hoses, assorted vacuum line hoses, air filter, more wire brushes, more spray paint, a set of torsion bar bushings, a new torque wrench and a compression gauge. After removing the plugs, several squirts of 30-weight oil and a long blast of WD-40 were injected into each cylinder and allowed to soak. I then went to get a cup of coffee for a couple of days. Returning, I took a ratchet and turned the engine over by hand several times to make sure that it would. No binding or strange noises were observed. I then installed all of the above items over the next few days and awaited the arrival of a new (rebuilt) 100 Amp alternator and the carburetor which had also been sent out for rebuild. We will get back to this again later…