Preparing For Engine And Transmission Install

When we went through the tubs labeling everything we discovered that the transmission cross-member still had not been treated with POR-15. It was caked with years of road grime and oil! This is what it looked like after I sprayed the majority of the grime off with the pressure washer while it was in a tub to help contain the grease/oil.

I set the pressure washer to a fine stream and worked on removing the rest of the grime. Once that was done, I let it soak with MarineClean and then Sara and I scrubbed on it with nylon and steel brushes.

This the old torque arm bushing and mount. I am not sure if this mount can be reused with the polyurethane bushing I ordered, but I think it can. The old bushing looks like it is riveted in; I may just have to drill this out.

With the cross-member cleaned, we treated it with Metal Prep and let it soak.

This is my little friend Chester. He is a very curious, very friendly, very young thirteen-lined ground squirrel (aka gopher). He often comes in the garage and will sit right beside me or play in the exhaust Y-pipe under KITT. He also likes to run under the shelves and chirp at me. Today he was just very curious about what I was doing with this tub.

With the cross-member prepped and rinsed off, it just needed to dry overnight.

This morning we hung the cross-member for treatment with POR-15.

I applied three coats of POR-15 Gloss Black just like we have done on the rest of the underbody.

Three coats on one side:

And three coats on the other side:

The miscellaneous hardware from when Troy removed the engine and transmission were also in a bag with the cross-member. They were just as grimy. We put them in a small tub with MarineClean and Sara scrubbed the heck out of them with a steel brush.

As she finished and dried each piece of hardware, I used the wire wheel to clean off any surface rust or remaining gunk.

Once the hardware was clean, we put them in a WD-40 bath.

I still need to find the new polyurethane transmission mount, but I know it is in one of my tubs in the garage. I will do that tomorrow morning. :)