It Finally Happened

Yard sales are good for some things.  You see, Sunday was the continuation and final day of getting rid of stuff and making money on it.  A man from out of town stopped by, didn't buy anything, but noticed the Hondamatic sitting on the street witht he hood off.  Collin and the nice stranger began a conversation and it turns out this man is a mechanic by trade.  He provided pointers on how to get the block out.  Turns out he really knew what he was talking about.

The block could be pulled out by tying a wire to either end and swinging this same wire over a two-by-four, conveniently located in our garage full of stuff.  The two-by-four was place above the block resting on some old clothes (from the yard sale non-sales) on top of the fenders as illustrated below.

To support the transmission Collin tied a thick rope around the frame under the transmission to sort of cradle it since we were not taking it out with the block.  That and the center rail is also bolted to the transmission.  See how pretty it looks all cleaned up in comparison to the rest of the engine compartment?  (Look in the middle.)  Yes, I did scrape all that nastiness off. 

Keeping the transmission secured up  with the rope allowed Collin the ability to take off the front and rear brackets that hold up the block and transmission as those were what was not allowing the block to be removed with them still in place.

Collin literally dead lifted the block out of the Hondamatic.  I helped a little.  Leaning over the left fender Collin grabbed either side of the block with the two-by-four underneath his left armpit.  I was helping lift from the front of the Hondamatic.  Using the two-by-four as leverage, Collin rolled backwards letting the two-by four roll down the side of the fender, essentially lifting him and the block out of the engine compartment.  Then very carfully the block was dumped onto the grass on the edge of the sidewalk. 

Ever vigilant of her people, Itsy made sure that she was always close by to render any assistance necessary.  Her first impulse every time she came down to the Hondamatic was to go under the car where Collin was often lying.  Little girl finally resigned herself to staying on the sidewalk watching and half-napping.

What A Lazy Day

Yay!!  I got the call from the radiator shop that the radiator is good and ready for pick up on Thursday.  Since I never get off of work on time, and even if I did leave at 5pm then I still wouldn't make it to get my radiator, I arranged to pick it up on Friday morning before work.  My repair guy brought it out and I really didn't believe that it was mine.  It is so beautiful!!  See the picture below.  It was in great shape for its age and it got boiled and cleaned and patched up a bit at a crease and then a fresh coat of paint. 

Gorgeous!!

$72.00 !!

I couldn't very well put an immaculate radiator back into a filthy engine much less put a disgusting fan cover back onto its fresh radiator.  So the bigger issue will be of course cleaning the engine compartment.  The more attainable goal at present was to clean up the fans and the fan cover.  If you remember it looked pretty bad: peeling cracking paint, a little rusty, greasy as all get out...  I finally cracked open the bottle of degreaser and went to town on the cover.  It was gross (but not as bad as the center rail that I tackled later).  I scrubbed and scrubbed as much as I could.  I couldn't soak the cover in the degreaser because of the electrical hookups on it and due to its size.  I don't have a container that big.  I finally decided the clean up was sufficient and hosed it off.  I took the fans off and wiped them down.  I then spray-painted the cover the silver Rustoleum that I bought for the wheels.  Hmmm.  It was a lot shinier than I had thought, I guess I'll be rollin' bling-y rims. 

Whatever, the radiator looks amazing now!!



BEFORE



AFTER



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Collin and I opened shop and had a yard sale today as well.  Both of us were up before dawn.  Collin arrived here a little after 6am and we went all around the neighborhood and further to hang up the 17 yard sale signs that we made last night in very strategic locations.

Then Collin masterfully manuevered the Hondamatic backwards down the driveway and to the left around the curb corner to perfectly parallel park on the street using only the e-brake.  Remember, no engine.
We loaded all of our disposable possessions into the now empty driveway and proceeded to make some money. 
We had a fairly good turnout despite the fact that my street is somewhat difficult to find and no one has ever heard of it.
I took some pictures of the engine compartment with the sun actually shining on it.  It looks a lot different with more light.  We tried to get some work done while in the midst of the sale but we kept getting pleasantly interrupted.  Most of the work on the Hondamatic was done after 3pm.
Oh, and Collin sold his own  '98 Honda Accord.  So I will be riding my bike to work for the forseeable future.  All the more reason to get the Hondamatic up and running as soon as possible.

I ended up cleaning not only the radiator fan and cover but also various bolts that Collin was taking out of the engine trying to to get the block out.  As I mentioned earlier I cleaned up the center rail.  It was NASTY.  I was (wearing gloves and with my cloth) literally scratching off 2cm thick goop and gunk.  Grooooossssss.  It looked good when I was done though.  Got those bolts cleaned too.  Collin put it back on to support the transmission when he tried to get the block off it.  That didn't really work out.  The block will not come off.  There are only a couple of things hindering the removal, but that's really enough.  But we got the starter and the oil pan out.  I cleaned up the oil pan nuts and bolts. 
But it was getting dark and we needed to clean up the sale and run around and change the dates and times on the 17 yard sale signs.  And eat dinner and clean up and then sleep. 
It was nice though.  Althought our yard sale was officially over at 3pm we did get some stragglers until 7 or so since we just left the stuff out.

In the sun from the left

In the sun from the right

More RadiYAYtor News

The radiator is in good shape!  A few minor repairs on the top end and it's good to go.  And cleaned up too!  All for $72. Can't wait to pick it up tomorrow morning before work.