Hacked: Getting a '67 144S Back On the Road

[fatcatbestcat]

Originally Posted by Quin

okay -- don't.

ez

[Scaramanga]

Hey, why didn´t you paint the head before installing it? Just thinking....

[fatcatbestcat]

Originally Posted by Scaramanga

Hey, why didn´t you paint the head before installing it? Just thinking....

I think a freshly painted head on a crusty block would look even worse. It's not even completely installed yet, I just got the head bolts on finger-tight just to line up the exhaust. If the engine's coming out completely, I'll probably separate the two, clean and paint them.

[fatcatbestcat]

It's been a while since I've touched the car, but I finally got my hoist and the leveler.





I'm a little busy today, but I have this coming Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off. My plan (assuming it doesn't start snowing again) is to get the hoist and my engine stand all assembled Sunday, then I need to clear some space in the garage, lift the left side of the car and put it on jack stands, pull the FL wheel, then I can try to slide under the car and disconnect the clutch linkage.

Then, I'll have to unbolt the bellhousing from the transmission, and jack the M41 up to prevent premature fall-based impact trauma.

Then, I should be able to remove the exhaust, and bolt up the leveler somewhere on the head (I was thinking to either the manifold studs or two head bolts on the front and back of the engine.

That's all for now, hopefully I can update this soon with some real progress!

[fatcatbestcat]

Originally Posted by fatcatbestcat

That's all for now, hopefully I can update this soon with some real progress!

Yeah, you can tell how that worked out.

I need to write something on this thread to make me feel better about my lack of progress recently, or historically. I've had this damn car since October 2019, and I have yet to mount a single new part on it. In theory, I could just crush this car and only be out $200, but honestly that would be a waste of a first-year 144S. I've been flirting with the idea of getting a cleaner shell to put the parts on, but a lack of second garage or driveway space kills that plan every time.

I'm going to have to work with what I have.

Anyways, here's some pictures I took right after my last post in November 2020.

I did, at least, manage to find space to put the engine crane. It's in my side yard, under a tarp. Building one of these on my own was not fun, but given three hours, I got it done. Let's ignore the fact that a bunch of bolts were mismatched, and I had to physically bend some of the parts to get them to fit.







Naturally, any further progress was halted by, well, Canada.



Yep. Until it warms back up to acceptable working conditions in 3-6 weeks, I'm not really able to do what I want. That being said, I think I have most, if not all, of the parts I need to remove, rebuild and reinstall the motor. I think that's really the point of no return on this project. If the B20 is borked in some irreparable way (destroyed bearings, etc), I'm either into a V-engine swap or just giving up on this car entirely. God, I'm a terrible pessimist.

I've already acquired some .030 over pistons for the rebuild, since I don't trust the rings currently in the motor, and I had a really hard time finding std. bore rings. Also, boring it over would help alleviate the cylinder wall taper that I know will come back to haunt me in the future.

Plus, it gives me to opportunity to clean and paint my rusty, crusty and grimy engine. Will look nice in my disgusting engine bay.

Getting under the car to disconnect the clutch won't be fun though...

Sketchy Wiring

I have absolutely zero confidence in any of the electrics in this car. Most of the chassis harness is gone, and it seems like what is here is just dash wiring, and stuff for running the engine. I managed to score a full loom from a '69 145, but none of the wires are labeled in any way. Sometime I'll have to go outside and stretch them out, then guess what they are and label them. The previous owner included a Hayne's manual, and I would suspect that he had trouble with the electrics, since the whole 'wiring' section of the manual is either torn out, or replaced with countless photocopies of other diagrams.

There's this sketchy aftermarket junction box under the hood. It's not bolted to anything, and just freely dangling on a bunch of wires. I have no idea what they do, or if this was ever hard mounted.



Also, the alternator (which I have since deleted, because it was stuck), seemed to have been connected in some way to a 3-pronged outlet of some kind? This isn't part of the rest of the chassis harness, and I don't understand what its purpose was.









Well, I guess that's all I can talk about for now. I'm hoping to start the engine rebuild process as soon as the snow melts.

Stay tuned for more not-progress.

[142 guy]

The 'sketchy aftermarket junction box' that you are referring to, is that that row of three relays mounted on a bracket? If so, that is not aftermarket. It is OEM and (on a 1971 model) the three relays are the reverse light relay, the rear window defogger relay and the headlight high/low flasher relay (rectangular). The bracket mounts to the top of the driver side inner fender wall.

I have some photos of the reassembly of my 1971 which show the routing of some of the wiring if you need some references. If needed ,I can also advise on where the various harness components should go. My 1971 Is an E so it has more wiring for the EFI than your car; but, the non injection portion of the wiring should be very similar.

[joel142]

There's also a battery distribution block just below and forward of that - honestly, it does look a little tractor.

[fatcatbestcat]

Originally Posted by 142 guy

The bracket mounts to the top of the driver side inner fender wall.

Damn, if only I had bolts to mount it. I think I can see where it's supposed to go, but perhaps cleaning 30-ish years of road grime off of that box is a good idea.

This does confirm my hypothesis that someone parted out a '72 140E of some description and just threw all the parts on this particular car.

[142 guy]

The bracket with the relays would have been common on all 140s up until at least 1972. No bolts associated with mounting the bracket, just a couple of phillips head sheet metal screws (probably #8 or #10) to hold it in place against the inner fender. You can see them mounted in this Skandix photo.

https://www.skandix.de/en/installati...28010/2000042/