I promised Darrel I'd post these pictures, and thought maybe others would like to see them, too. Up, over, and in. Finally putting the engine and tranny back in the car.
The bolts aren't all tightened down yet. For some reason the tranny xmember isn't perfectly aligned, and I can't install the front bolts until I get the second intermediate engine mount insulator (the goofy safety pieces that go around the main insulator), but at least the whole assembly is sitting where it's supposed to for the first time in about 3 years. The stuff that's left seems pretty easy, by contrast.
Dave

 

Wow! Nice work Dave. Your patience will pay off with a pristeen engine bay. Actually I didn't know you could swing the engine and tranny in together. Is that an Arizona pan?

 

Thanks! It is the Arizona pan. It is one nice piece, and Dave at Arizona Z Car runs a very professional shop. I couldn't believe how quickly he got it shipped out, and the pan quality was top notch (clean, straight, and ready to go). The clearance with a '78 NA pickup is really close, but I did manage to get it to fit, only minorly modifying the flange of the mesh pickup guard (the edge just barely touched the pin on one of the baffle hinges).

The engine and tranny do actually fit as one, but in hindsight I'm not sure it's the smartest thing I ever did. I had to raise the whole thing to the max height of the crane, roll the car up to it, grab the tranny tail and pull it up and over the core support, and then get the tail pointed down behind the xmember. That wasn't so bad, but then the crane legs hit the tires, so I had to put the car up on jackstands and work everything a couple of inches at a time. There is very, very little clearance to do this, especially with the slightly larger Arizona pan. I used a bunch of old blankets and mattress pads to let me use every last inch of space to maneuver, and had to keep raising the front of the car higher and higher, effectively matching the tilt of the car to the tilt of the motor. An engine leveler would have been nice.

It did work, but including drilling the tranny for a short shifter, dremel-ing out the old pilot bushing and installing the new clutch, I worked on it for about 12 hours to go from engine on the stand, tranny in the corner, new clutch in a box, to the whole mess in the car. I bet it would have taken half that if I'd done it separately. Oh well, working on the Z is a fun way to spend time, so I can't complain. I just could have gotten more assembled and might be closer to driving it.

Dave

 

Blah I envy you guys lookin real good man

Daniel

 

beautiful, very beautiful

 

Nice! I like the shiny engine!

...maybe we'll get to see some more pics of your car once you have the engine sitting right...

 

I'll try to take some more photos this weekend and post them here. The "intermediate engine insulator" is on it's way, but it probably won't arrive until Monday (along with some long-awaited interior bits). I managed to get the tranny fully bolted in last weekend, and one engine mount is done, the hood's back on, and tons of wiring and hoses are now reconnected. New radiator and ignition coil should show up soon, too. The suspension definitely took some time to settle under the weight, at least a week. Seems pretty consistent now, though. Just reconnecting things is making the biggest appearance difference at this point. The several hundred string/wire tags I used to label every part and both sides of every connection are very effective and very helpful but also look really out of place now.
Dave