Engine ready for install

Unfortunately, the chassis is not. Well technically, the chassis is ready but there is some central tunnel stuff that has to happen before the engine goes in and removes all workable room in the area. I am waiting on some 14mm 90 degree silicone elbows, which are apparently so rare that they must be imported from Latvia. So… it might be a little while. Delivery is supposed to occur by months end. We’ll see.

So in the meantime, I have fabbed up the lifting hook referred to in the last post.

Which installs on the engine here.

So now the engine should be ready to go back in. Except that it’s been about 8 years since the engine was built, and the theoretical life of the timing belt is 10 years, and changing it means pulling the engine. Same for the water pump and the front main seal. And when you change the timing belt, it’s a good idea to change the tensioner pulley on that. So no reason not to do all that now. I got all that done today, as well as switching over to the gussied-up intake manifold I will actually be running in the car.

I figure with that Lancia badging on the manifold, I have managed to piss off the purists of both the Lancia and Ford crowd. The Yamaha people have yet to weigh in, but odds are that they are not happy either. Don’t care, my car, my rules.

Now if I could just get the Latvian customs people to release my precious silicone, I could be getting on with putting the engine in the car.