milestone!

Last week, I was looking through a tumblr feed and found an image of a beautiful pristine built Corvair engine. As I looked at it, I realized that the plug wires were not routed the same way we were routing ours. They didn't use the guides that were built into the block, but routed them under the belts. When I showed Jim, he said that we'd use that method until we found the right length of wires. So, the next break in the weather we had, we routed the wires so they would reach, set the points, reinstalled the distributor, and set the timing as best we could without it running.

Today, after a long great weekend, we decided to tinker with the car while the weather and the light were on our side. Jim got the starter fluid out and I turned the key. She wanted to fire! After pouring gasoline into the carb, she fired and stayed running! Woot! Jim added gas to tank and hooked up the lines and started her up. (yes, she's a girl) Jim set the timing while I continued to vacuum out the interior - with that mask I was waiting for!

After that, we tried to roll her up onto the ramps so Jim could change the oil. but the ramps just kept pushing back as we attempted to push the car up on them. So the car went up on jack stands while Jim crawled underneath to check things out. He seemed satisfied with what he saw, so he tried running her through the gears while she was still in the air. For some reason she quits running once she's in gear. Hmmmmm.

I finished vacuuming the car and shut the door. Only this time, instead of the usual solid "thunk" we usually hear when the door closes, it was a twang as the door didn't fit well. I tried again and got it closed with effort. But then I saw the large gap between the door and the quarter panel. It seems that the jack stands caused the frame to flex enough that the doors didn't close well. That was a bit of a surprise.

We took her down off the stands and buttoned her up for the night, knowing that she runs! We still have a list of things to do, but we've hit our first milestone!