The engine and engine compartment itself are to be restored to original factory condition.  Since I plan on keeping and driving the car, I chose to modify the engine internals somewhat (The 'purists'  are going to hate me for this)  Luckily, a good friend of mine (Francis Levangie) has a well above average "hobby" shop which contains pretty much everything needed to rebuild almost anything. (He even has a crankshaft grinder! - It would put a lot of commercial shops to shame) Although the engine will appear to be completely stock, looks will be deceiving!  The air cleaner and valve covers are not 100% correct, but I also have the orange valve covers as well as black original style air cleaner.   I plan on keeping things such as exhaust manifolds, tower clamps, and GM hoses. 

The engine is an HA code block meaning L-48 engine backed by a 4 speed transmission.  Starting out with the engine was rather interesting.  Is appears as though it had seen rough times over the years - the roughest being the wrist pin that that left an eighth inch gouge in one of the cylinder walls!  This would explain why the engine was left to rust...  Luckily the tools needed to fix it were at close at hand.  Below is a summary of modifications to the engine:

Transmission

The car is an original 4-speed car which can be seen by the speedometer cable routing through the firewall (Towards the center of the firewall and not below the brake booster - there is a cap there).  Since the car was origianly geared low (high numerically), it received an M-21 close ratio transmission.  Cars that were geared higher received an M-20 wide ratio transmission.  The shifter is an orininal Hurst Competition Plus shifter as came from the factory.  This is topped off with a chrome shifter ball.  I rebuilt the shifter assembly since it had goteen quite gritty over the years.   Notice the original 4-speed crossmember in the background, ready for paint.  I also totally rebuilt the transmission too (Luckily I had a service manual - this helped alot).  I added a new rebuild kit which added new things like synchronizing rings and both bearings, as well as the cluster needle roller bearings and the list goes on.  I wanted the housing to look original too, so I decided to powdercoat the entire case satin clear.  I used Eastwood's powdercoating kit (www.eastwood.com) which works excellent.  This way the transmission will look brand new for good, and will be easy to clean.  It looks amazing with the clear!

Differential

The differential is a BU code meaning 3:73 gearing with limited slip rear. (posi-traction).  The original white sticker Limited slip warning sticker was still on the trunk lid of the car.  The differential housing was painted semi-gloss black as it was originally, and to finish it off, a new red 'posi' tag was added, along with a breather cap and factory inspection marks.  Otherwise, I replaced the axle bearings and seals, checked the ring and pinion over, and replaced the fluid.

Compartment

Components