Get Out the Advil

Once the easy stuff was out of the way, it was time to warm up the socket wrenches. One essential piece of equipment for engine and car dissection is a can of PB Blaster.

There are literally dozens of bolts that just won't budge on your first attempt. Finding the right angle to get at many of them with any kind of leverage becomes a major challenge. Many bolts can only be attacked from underneath with the car up on jack stands.



Most of the engine bolts were relatively easy, because they had been appropriately torqued back when I replaced the engine in 1982. There were 2 or 3 super-challenging bolts that took almost an hour each to figure out and get them undone. Getting each of them to budge for the first time were a series of major victories.



It was enjoyable to have my son Cooper help out taking off the valve covers and seeing the lifters, valves and springs for the first time.



For several days in a row, I felt like I had done Yoga, Pilates, and weightlifting together each day. It was fun.