A more generous compliment could not be offered Hank, thanks to you and Carol for your vote of confidence.

However unless I live to be 100 years old there is no way I can ever give this perfect specimen the love you guys have already shown over the last 35 years.

But I will try to do it justice.

So the first thing I did after reading your post was go to WalMart and buy one of those cheap car covers you recommended.

So now she is properly dressed:



And in between waiting for parts to arrive for the Jeep Fuel Tank Replacement Project (an ongoing saga, love that Chrysler design and manufacture) I've been picking away under the hood, getting ready for the engine transplant.

Don't be alarmed, all these are conservative changes, but I'm removing the AC, air pump, cruise control, cold start assist, stock header and cats, all going in a box for future reference.

I rarely use this stuff and once removed it will simplify under the hood and lose a hundred pounds or so.

The rest of the peripherals will be removed before pulling the 12A, to be cleaned up, rebuilt and/or replaced with new parts before reinstalling.

And yes, the Rat's Nest will be going back in once the Train Wreck 12A is in there.

Some good things happening to the interior as well.

I'm hoping to have it ready for DGRR this year, I'll update this thread with the progress.

 

Nice very nice car. I am going to DGRR, hope to see this car there. Hope things go well with motor swap.

 

Thanks Racer, this LE is such a pleasure to work on.

Last weekend I removed the exhaust system from header to cats to midpipe to muffler, lots of 34 year old nuts and bolts that usually have a very high breakage rate even on FB's in good condition.

Not this LE, I removed the whole exhaust system without a single stuck or broken nut, bolt or stud. Amazing.

And everything is still reusable, so into storage they go to make way for the new RB system:



I also got started on pulling the 12A by removing all the peripherals. Here's how it started:



And here's the engine ready to pull:





Here's my engine pulling apparatus, two come-a-longs attached to a chain wrapped around a lower branch of my maple tree:





And here's the pull, which I just did today:

 

The core 12A after a bit of pressure washing:



And the core 12A positioned in my 12A Management Device awaiting transfer to the 12A Tear Down Facility for the tear down (my favorite part):



A few shots of the engine bay, I'll be cleaning it up today before the Train Wreck 12A installation that's scheduled for tomorrow:







Robert and Mike are planning to come over tomorrow to help with the Train Wreck 12A installation, so we should be making good progress and having lots of fun (pics and videos of the install and start up to follow soon).

Note: Robert and Mike are the guys who gifted me the Train Wreck 12A, see this post for details:

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generati...k-12a-1061516/

 

Wow! That's great progress Ray! Just came in from garage working on my SE,thought i'd check in here. Looks like you have decent weather for your transplant. Hope all goes smoothly,fitting that two friends helping you with install are the same that gave you that great gift of an engine. Eagerly awaiting followup pics/narrative. Back out to garage now,unlike where you are weather here is horrendous,heavy rain,high winds lightning & thunder. Currently under tornado watch as cold front is passing thru.

 

We were in the upper 70's yesterday, not so much today, only the mid 60's and a southern breeze. Not bad, however.

Post us some pics of your SE James, I'd love to see what it looks like. Nothing beats working on your FB.

It makes you happy.

Here's the update, I moved the core 12A to the 12A Tear Down Facility and cleaned under the hood.

Here's the 12A core relocated to the 12A Tear Down Facility:





And here's the pics under the hood after the cleanup:







More tomorrow.

 

looking good there ray. can't wait to see it at dgrr.

 

We had 70s here past couple days & today til about 2:00,then it quickly changed. You're right Ray,working on the car is enjoyable,almost as much as driving it. In the middle of FC fusebox upgrade & ignition upgrade currently. Don't have a lot of pics of the car,cell phone pics i took while doing work to it for documentation for insurance purposes. You've been busy today,what did you use to clean up the engine compartment in your LE ? Looks like new. I like your teardown facility. Contemplating coming to DGRR this year. Hope everything goes smoothly for you & your crew tomorrow,appears you have everything well in hand.

 

Thanks Michael. I'm shooting for DGRR, fortunately it's really late this year so there's a chance I'll have the LE ready by then.

The weather was great today, upper 60's, sunny, no wind, a perfect day to get greasy. Gotta love that Global Warming.

And we did, it was a wonderful day in Jefferson.

Here's Mike and Robert fussing over the Train Wreck 12A:



And here's what the TW12A looked like after we added some parts:







Here's Mike in the car, Robert and Tommy discussing our next move after a hard day's work:



All made possible because I finally managed to get Ms. Scarlett on the road again so wife Cathy let me work on the LE:



She's so cute it makes working on that pain-in-the-*** piece of Chrysler junk worth all the trouble.

Despite our best efforts however, we did not get to the point of firing up the Train Wreck 12A after her 34 year sleep.

That's because I forgot to do a bunch of stuff first, like getting a clutch alignment tool and a water pump gasket.

Also I need to paint a bunch of stuff and rebuild the Nikki.

But we did get lots of peripheral stuff on, like the front pulleys, the oil cooler and lines, the intake manifold, the dizzy and the motor mount bracket.

Check out the pics, the TW12A is looking like a motor again.

But I need to do some more homework before we have the Formal Firing of the TW12A; and DGRR is still the target.

So I placed a RockAuto order for an Exedy clutch set, a Remy alternator and a GMB water pump with gaskets plus a bunch of other random stuff to do a brake job in case I ever need one.

More to come.

 

That's a TON of progress Ray!! I'm sure after another couple days of tinkering and that engine will purr to life once again!! Really looking forward to seeing it run! Do you have a back story on the train wreck 12A?

 

Ray,i'm looking at your pics and...your guys aren't even dirty,how hard were you workin?https://www.rx7club.com/images/smili...lies/smile.gif

 

Not sure what happened there.

 

Thanks for the encouragement Dave!

All things considered we did get a lot done and Robert and Mike are absolutely meticulous, so everything is done right. I can't wait for the RockAuto order to come in so we can get back to work, they ship pretty quick so it should be soon.

Here's the backstory on the Train Wreck 12A, we'll be continuing the Saga when the TW12A is installed and ready to fire up:

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generati...k-12a-1061516/

James those guys aren't greasy because I pressure washed everything before they showed up, it was like fixing a car in a dealership for them, no dirty greasy grimey stuff at all.

I was pretty greasy and grimey however, that's why there's no pictures of me.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the upper 70's again so I plan to go out and crack open the keg on that core 12A to see what's inside.

I love tearing down 12A's, it's like a treasure hunt to see what you get.

I'll post some pics.

 

Here's an update on the LE 12A core tear down, which happened this evening thanks to temps in the upper '70's and the rain holding off.

For the record, this is 12A core number 13 that I've dismantled. The results so far:

9 without any useful parts

1 with one good rotor housing, some decent rotors and usable end plates.

2 with excellent rotor housings (one with a street port!) and all the other stuff you need to build a first rate 12A.

Here's the LE core with the bolts removed:



And with the rear plate taken off, it's looking kind of cruddy in there:



Here's after removal of the rear rotor housing, now things are looking really cruddy:



The rear rotor reminds me of toast soaked in used dish water:



However the front rotor housing looks a little better, maybe even exciting:





I removed the rotors and started to clean up the rotor housings:



The rear rotor housing still looks like toast soaked in old dish water:



But the front rotor housing may have some potential, so far I haven't seen anything that would disqualify:





We'll see when I get them cleaned up, there may even be a decent rotor and end plate in there.

Not a bad evening at all I'd say.

 

I love that TW12A!!

No AC on this car?!?

 

nice progress ray! u'll soon be driving and enjoying her.

 

bumping for a train wreck update

 

That train wreck 12A story is incredible!!! What are the odds? Glad that engine is going exactly where it belongs. I couldn't think of a better place for that engine honestly!!

Looks like some major coolant seal failure on the original engine. how long did the car sit unused?