[Skip Fix]

I want to think those window "gauges" you have to have the weatherstrip out of the channel.

[HWYSTR455]

I don't recall what exactly the manual says, but I kind of remember it was bare min, and not very helpful at all.

I may not use them, dunno yet, but should reach that phase fairly soon.

I still don't have my GTO glass lined up! Heheh!


.

[kingbuzzo]

this is next-level compared to my door slammer...good stuff

[mgarblik]

The month of October was spent getting the engine compartment ready to install the engine and doing touch-up on the engine as well. The engine compartment has been cleaned and some areas like the upper control bushings and nuts, the original fuel and vapor lines, and other items had accumulated a little surface rust over the last 50+ years. My good friend Steve, spent allot of time, cleaning rust film off these original parts rather than replacing them. Once the rust was removed, the parts were prepped and coated with a K2 epoxy dead flat clear to hold off rust. The inner fenders, firewall, frame and cross member were not painted and are original. Steering linkage, stabilizer bar, steering gear ball joints and such are original. Most of the brake lines are original except for the one that crosses the front cross member. The wiper motor/washer, power brake booster and combination valve are original as well. I was not able to save the master cylinder. It had deep rust damage and I decided not to sleeve it. The replacement unit is an excellent reproduction. I was able to rebuild the combination valve but it was a difficult procedure. I spent many hours sourcing a tiny internal spring that had rusted into 3 pieces. Steve also spent most of a Saturday taping off and air brushing the exhaust ports and several other tiny "rat bites" on the engine from transporting and dyno pulls. It looks great again. I feel I am staying on schedule and plan to install the engine in the next week to 10 days. Here are a few pics of the October progress.

[sdbob]

Thanks for sharing. Very nice. I had to replace my master cylinder and rear wheel cylinders due corrosion. Kept all the parts for future. I cant remember if I did calipers probably.

[Held for Ransom]

No SD decal?

What was the date code of your master? This one reads 3165CS (3=year, 165=165th day of the year (June 14th), CS=application).

[mgarblik]

I don't know the master cyl. date off hand. I have the OE one in the attic. I can look and get back. The replacement one is really nice. It has the same casting shapes on the sides and the bleeder screws. Most importantly, it works! The new FANTASTIC SD-455 valve cover sticker is safely stored away until the engine
is installed. Didn't want to take a chance bumping or scratching it. I also did replace the rear wheel cylinders. I was able to save and rebuild the front calipers. They were in pretty good shape.

[Skip Fix]

Very nice!

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Skip Fix

Very nice!

Thanks everyone. Engine compartment is finally ready for engine and transmission installation. It has been 45 years since this car was taken off the road and disassembled. I would be lying to say I am not excited to see this part of the project take shape. Plan to install engine and transmission on Saturday. Still plenty of work to do to get it running but this is a big step. Thanks again for the interest and pics will follow next week.

[HWYSTR455]

Very nice!

.

[Verdoro 68]

Looking good, Mike! I love seeing the progress and the care you've taken.

[sdbob]

Glad for you. My automatic SD the 'first' time full throttle 2-3 shift at 5400rpm scared me it was so firm and the acceleration!!!! I can still feel it.

[mgarblik]

Just in time! The engine and transmission have been successfully installed in the car today. Just ahead of our first predicted snow for the year. We are supposed to get a few inches of the dreaded white stuff tomorrow night. Weather was perfect today, sunny and around 60 degrees. The engine went in first without a hitch. Then the transmission from underneath. No "rat bites" and everything went into place like it was supposed to. Now some fun stuff begins for me at least. I will spend the next 3-4 weeks as time permits installing all the "engine stuff". Also there is no wiring from the firewall forward, so that will take some time. Here are some pics from today. Had help from Steve and Stan which made the install go much smoother.

[mgarblik]

Some additional pics.

[HWYSTR455]

Dang that's sweet! Very nice work!


.

[jhein]

Very nice.

[sdbob]

Nice,congratulations. Question how high is your ceiling? When I built my new garage I was not thinking of a lift 20 yrs ago. Its 10 feet high.Would a 2 post lift like you have work? Or drive on lift be better? Thanks

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by sdbob

Nice,congratulations. Question how high is your ceiling? When I built my new garage I was not thinking of a lift 20 yrs ago. Its 10 feet high.Would a 2 post lift like you have work? Or drive on lift be better? Thanks

My ceiling in the shop is about 11 1/2'. Packed with R32 insulation and then an outer cover of a fire proof paper. It really is fire proof too. I tried to burn it with a torch. It just chars. There are a bunch of threads about lifts and the plusses and minuses of drive-on and two post lifts, various brands and so forth. You will need to determine what suits your needs the best. There are advantages to both styles. There are some two post designs that will just fit in a 10' ceiling. I have seen some people take out or modify 3-4 trusses where the lift will go to a modified truss design for more clearance in that area. There are just so many options. I do know 2 things. 1. Any lift you decide on, you will love it. You won't know how you worked on cars for so many years without one. 2. I have a Forward Brand lift. I have only been marginally satisfied with it. 3 weeks after installing it, the pump and motor failed in spectacular fashion. It locked-up smoked and blew a 50 AMP breaker! It was all made in China of course. I called their National Service in KY, they were super nice. They had 1 electro-hydraulic unit left that was made in Italy and they sent me that one. I installed it and haven't had a problem in almost 10 years now. I have to assume all the service parts now are Chinese however. I also had a hydraulic ram begin leaking at the piston seal after a few months of use. They sent me a complete replacement unit right away. So the service has been really excellent, great people. The overall quality I can only give a C-. There are probably better lifts out there.

[67Lemons]

Originally Posted by sdbob

Nice,congratulations. Question how high is your ceiling? When I built my new garage I was not thinking of a lift 20 yrs ago. Its 10 feet high.Would a 2 post lift like you have work? Or drive on lift be better? Thanks

For a standard 2 post lift a minimum ceiling height of 12’ or actually 12’2” is required, 4.25” of concrete is also required per Rotary install specs.

There are low ceiling lifts, these will have a baseplate design since a two post lift either needs something on the top or bottom to keep the columns tied together. The baseplate designs are cumbersome when trying to use a transmission jack for instance but pretty good otherwise, in a low ceiling height application such as yours it’s better than nothing.

I sell lifts for a living (Rotary/Forward)and don’t even own one in my own shop mostly due to the narrow bays in my home garage but if I ever decide to purchase one it will be the baseplate design since my ceiling height is only 11’5”, like I said better than nothing and a huge help when working on the car.

[67Lemons]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

My ceiling in the shop is about 11 1/2'. Packed with R32 insulation and then an outer cover of a fire proof paper. It really is fire proof too. I tried to burn it with a torch. It just chars. There are a bunch of threads about lifts and the plusses and minuses of drive-on and two post lifts, various brands and so forth. You will need to determine what suits your needs the best. There are advantages to both styles. There are some two post designs that will just fit in a 10' ceiling. I have seen some people take out or modify 3-4 trusses where the lift will go to a modified truss design for more clearance in that area. There are just so many options. I do know 2 things. 1. Any lift you decide on, you will love it. You won't know how you worked on cars for so many years without one. 2. I have a Forward Brand lift. I have only been marginally satisfied with it. 3 weeks after installing it, the pump and motor failed in spectacular fashion. It locked-up smoked and blew a 50 AMP breaker! It was all made in China of course. I called their National Service in KY, they were super nice. They had 1 electro-hydraulic unit left that was made in Italy and they sent me that one. I installed it and haven't had a problem in almost 10 years now. I have to assume all the service parts now are Chinese however. I also had a hydraulic ram begin leaking at the piston seal after a few months of use. They sent me a complete replacement unit right away. So the service has been really excellent, great people. The overall quality I can only give a C-. There are probably better lifts out there.

Forward lifts are manufactured overseas and use Chinese parts to keep costs down. In the past it was a great lift and still better than anything else in its class, most notably due to its ALI certification and increased testing methods Rotary uses in its design and construction but with all that being said I definitely saw a run of pumps and cylinders failing a couple of years ago, those issues have been rectified with the newer lifts in my experience. While I would agree with your feelings on the performance or lack of performance/quality on your particular lift it is still a MUCH better lift than other import lifts, the most important part being that Rotary supports the lift with service and replacement parts. Believe it or not there a lot of lifts in the marketplace sold at a professional level of quality with zero support, warranty or replacement parts, it’s a sad state of affairs out there. The biggest problem with Forward in today’s market is that the costs due to various reasons and tariffs have brought the price to within a few dollars of the made in the USA Rotary lifts.

FWIW, our recommendations to a customer on Rotary vs Forward is if the lift is used more than 5-10 times a day than the customer is better off with the Rotary which is designed for over 30,000 cycles, generally speaking for limited use whether it be at home or light shop use we recommend the Forward, for high volume applications such as dealerships, high volume shops we recommend the Rotary products. Overall the Forward is a great lift for home shop use and you’d be hard pressed to find a better lift, especially after 5-10 years of use, the other lifts will have failed and needed replacement well before that time in my experience.