Removing a Spitfire's engine is a pretty quick process and should take only
a couple of hours- most of which is spent staring at the beast trying to
figure out what item you forgot to unbolt that is hanging up the entire
affair. I would grealy recommend pulling the transmission out at the same
time as it's far easier to pull both of those at once than just the engine.
Aligning and slipping the transmission through the clutch cover is also
much easier done outside of the car.
Painting engines- you need it clean of as much oil and grease as you can
get it. If the 'new' engine is still loose and about, I'd take it to a
location that does steam cleaning of chassis and such. That really does a
nice job on engines. Pressure washers also can work decently. If you
spray the engine block down with a couple of cans of engine degreaser and
let it sit overnight it can help break it free. Another spray can to try
is typical household oven cleaner. It works great for motorcycle engines!
Once you have it cleaned, painting comes next. Pull your manifolds, put
some tape across their inlet/outlet ports. Pull off anything you don't
want painted including brackets, starter, etc. It's a simple engine and
doesn't take much to make it look nice. Spraying your brackets and valve
cover and such a contrasting color (black is universally a good accessory
color) works quite well. You might want to slip your old engine's rocker
valve cover in place on the new engine to make it easier to paint around
and let you paint the 'new' valve cover separately.
It's a day to remove and install the engine with transmission. It's
another day to clean and paint the engine. Start on Friday night, pull the
old engine. Saturday spend on getting the new engine up to par, cleaned
and painted. Sunday can be started early and get the engine installed.
You could very easily be puttering around in your car before dinner!
________________________________________________________________________
| | 1968 Triumph Spitfire Mk III * Furry Artist |
| Flinthoof |--------------------------------------------------------|
| | MINTMINTMINTMINTMINTMINTMINTMINTMINTMINTMINTMINT!! |
| Dan |--------------------------------------------------------|
| Canaan | ConiFur NorthWest 2001 - Furries in Seattle! |
| |--------------------------------------------------------|
| CONIFUR NW | Flinters@picarefy.com * http://jarmac.picarefy.com |
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