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Extraction of engine and suspension

I used a dolly to tow the car down to the local garage with the intention of getting the engine removed. If you have not heard of a dolly before it is like a 2 wheeled trailer that the front wheels sit in. The wheels are then strapped down to the rotating portion of the dolly and the car towed. What I did not know about the dolly was that it was hard to reverse, I found this out the hard way......

I live in the country on just over 1 acre on the side of a small hill. From the house to the road is about 70 yards and it is gravel. the house is about 60 foot below the road. I hooked up the stag to my 1500cc Honda and set off. Unfortunately I was not paying attention and forgot I had to get some speed up to get up the hill (stags are not light creatures!!). The end result was trying to reverse down the drive (which is not straight). this is when I found out how easy it is(not) to reverse a dolly. The end result was getting stuck in the grass just off the drive and managing to back it in to the cow trough.(grrrrrrr). A pleasant 30 minutes later we ended up at the top of the drive minus some paint to the underside of the Honda and a few buckets of gravel sprayed around the paddock via the front wheel drive Honda.

2 minutes into the 6 mile trip I discovered that the Honda's electric fan was not working (telltale sign was the needle near the H). It probably had not been working for months for in normal country and town driving it sits just above cold. No steam or anything so decided as the rest of the trip was down hill I'd coast on down. The temperature settled down to just above C and has been there ever since. Must get the fan fixed on the Honda..........

Arrived at the garage and found that they had a hoist, so decided to get the front and rear suspension removed as well, as they had all the air tools etc. So thought it would be quicker for them to do it than me. Best $174 I've spent so far.

It was ready that afternoon. The following day I got a tandem trailer, a couple of 6"x2" planks and some tiedown straps and picked up the car. The reason I needed the 6"x2" planks was because the stag had no wheels any more and I did not have a hoist back home. I sat the planks across the tandem trailer resting on the trailers sides leaving a 10" gap between the planks and the trailer floor. Lowered the body onto the planks and tied it down to the trailer.

Back home I backed the trailer into the garage and proceeded to move the stag off the trailer by the use of a 2 ton jack, saw horses and a bench made to a height 12" higher than the stags current height.(plus points - trailer fitted into garage, bench right height) 4 hours later I had successfully removed the trailer and lowered the car onto 4 sawhorses.(minus points - did not really think how I was going to get it off!!) I am now getting a pair of stands made that will bolt to the front crossmember and read suspension points. These will have wheels so I can move the car around easier, perhaps even roll it onto or off a trailer!!! Hate this 20/20 hindsight I have!

Later on in the week I took the Engine/Gearbox up to the Stag Specialist in Auckland (about 100 miles away) and am awaiting a quote....

Two Front Guards

Again I had to travel to Auckland to pick up the front guards from the SOC NZ. They just fitted inside the Honda with the back seats folded down.

Radiator

I go the radiator recored in town at a local radiator repair firm that had been in business for years (the son now runs it). I discussed with him what to recore it with. An aftermarket core was $300, an "original design" $350, and one with increased fin pitch $606. As you can tell I opted for the last one. The idea with the increased fins is that more heat will be transferred via the fins. I understand that some testing was done for the SOC magazine and they found the 5 row was best. oh well....at least it will be better than the original.

Engine Quote

The Engine is being rebuilt by Stag Spares