Back on the road.... so to speak

We finally have some funds freed up so I can start working on my pet project again. Several things have changed around here in the meantime. Due to circumstances beyond my control, Taylor, who is supposed to be helping me with all of this has, has moved back to live with his mother and go to high school there.

I took the block and crank to a machine shop and they confirmed that the block would need boring and the front main would need grinding, which means the whole crank would need grinding. The biggest shock came when I looked up the cost of oversize pistons for a bored block. $200 EACH! Time for plan B......

Plan B is to find another engine that is in good condition and just use that. Luckily, Plan B is working MUCH better than plan A.

Today I went to a shop called East Of Sweden in a little town between Denver and Boulder here in Colorado. There I got a 2.3 engine that came from a '92 9000T with an automatic tranny. The fact that it came from a car with an auto is good because you can't (as easily) drive one of those into the ground. Since they shift at a much lower RPM than the typical manual transmission driver shifts, there is much less wear on the internal components. The high compression this engine has bears this theory out.

I love my 900. It's the most versatile car that I know of. Today it playing pick-up truck :) The new (used) engine is securely strapped in and and will be riding around with me until my step son brings back my cherry picker and helps me pull it out of the back.

Stay tuned for more....