So the body is to primer now. There’s still a couple details left but it’s pretty much done. The undercarriage is getting sprayed with a acid wash to clean things up.

Also George found me a virgin 302 roller. Currently it’s getting bored out to .030 over and should be ready for the rebuild by some time next week.

This was the scene today. The engine and transmission were dangling on a cherry picker. The exhaust system sat on the garage floor in a tangled mess looking appropriately…exhausted. It was sort of big day as we were going to see if the engine was going to be re-buildable.

The guys had a good laugh at the “work” that had been done before. “Whatever happens, at least when we’re done taking it apart we won’t be short on washers.” I don’t know what was going on with the last guy who worked on this car. I guess he ran out of short bolts but he had a few long ones and about 75 washers sittin’ in the toolbox.

I was pretty funny to see them pull off parts on my engine and then throw them DIRECTLY in the trash.

This was the moment we were all waiting for—a good look at the block.

Bad news: it’s not the original engine. Good news: it’s a 302! Bad news: the block has already been rebuilt twic, making it useless. Looks like what I had was a rebuilt 302 bored to 60 over with 289 heads. Now at least I know why Betsy was always so hot. Boring out the cylinders this wide makes the walls of the block thinner, which in turn makes the engine run hotter. Plus, when you throw on the smaller heads you increase compression and again you have more heat. The guys were wondering how it even ran. I can tell you it did, just not very well.

Here George points to where I had a dead cylinder.

Here you can see “060″ stamped on the piston showing that it’s 0.060 over standard.

The last of the blood and guts. Hats off…

I think he’s going to save the crankshaft.

The good news on the transmission is that it’s in solid shape. Pete thought it had recently been rebuilt but it’s at least 10 years old as that’s how long I’ve had the car.

Also it’s a Type A C4 which is a little better than the C4’s that they dropped in the ‘65, ‘66, and some of the ’67’s. A small bonus. I’ll take it.

Betsy was my Grandfather’s car. He bought it new in ‘67—the year I was born. My Mom sent me this photo. I think this is the late 70’s in Marina Del Rey. Thanks Mom!

The new top is on and welded into place. The front fenders are in good shape and have been primered and are ready for blocking. The right side rocker arm is still jacked up and there still a few pesky little rust spots that need to be taken care of. The engine get pulled in a couple days.

Do we call this a two-tone paint job?

You can see where the a-pillar connects (the little blue patch).

The ‘68 rear quarter panel form the donar car is different that the ‘67—no vents. So you can see where they are doing the tweaks to get it right.

Here’s where the new rear quater panel meets the old dented rocker arm. Lots of work.

More rust…

Two more weeks to get the rest of the car looking like the front fender.