z :: work in the engine bay

Today I climbed in and out of the now vacated engine compartment and began preparing things for the engine. Most notably, the A/C lines heavily interfered with where the V8 will go. One day, I will pay someone to make up new lines to mate the ford A/C compressor with the Datsun lines, but until I have that money, I have to remove all of my AC components.



Pro-tip. Any time you need to apply large amounts of torque to opposed fittings like this (usually on plumbing or machine tools), utilize the offset on two separate wrenches so that the two handles are close together, then "squeeze" both wrenches together with both hands. You can generate a huge amount of torque this way. Surprisingly more torque than if you use your arms to push or pull the two wrenches.



Ok. I know this car is 30 years hold, but how the hell did all this grease get in all these obscure places?! Like...the entire hood latching mechanism was completely covered in hardened grease, as was the entire firewall. I spent lots of time today cleaning this up and there's still tons left. Also, it looks like someone sprayed underbody coating sloppily from the bottom of the car, getting it all over the engine compartment. I'm not sure how I will go about getting this out...


BEFORE:



AFTER:



I just had to clean up the hood latch, which was completely black before.:



Here's where it stands now. Two more weeks!