All around the mulberry bush, the ...

 This past week I bought materials to make adapter arms for the engine stand. I got some 1-inch steel square tube for the arms, some 7/16 grade-8 bolts to attach from the arm to the engine, and some washers to make a bushing for the bolts and so everything was steady in place. I was going to buy a cutoff wheel for the grinder Dave loaned me, but it turned out that Dave had some so he dropped a few off on my front porch late one night.

On Saturday I went over to Doug's to borrow his drill press to put some holes in the square stock. It turned out that Doug also had a bandsaw, so I used that to cut the square tube into 6 inch pieces instead of the cutoff wheels. Then we went to Doug's drill press. As these things go, he only had the 7/16 drill bit I needed. He did not have the bit I needed for the other side. So I ran over to the ACE hardware store near his house and eyeballed a good 9/16 bit for the larger bolts. I drilled one of the 7/16 and sized up the hole to make sure it was a good fit before I drilled all four arms.

Then, I swapped to drill the larger hole on the other side. Only one problem - it turns out if I had measured the bolt I would have clearly known it was 5/8 and not 9/16. I asked Doug if he had a hole stretcher, but of course his had broken or he lost it. I thought about hogging out the hole with a round file for several minutes before I went back to get to the drill bit I should have gotten in this first place. It seems a job is not worth doing if you don't go the store twice before it is over.

Then a funny thing happened after I got back. About as soon as I was done drilling and was cleaning up the mess I made in Doug's shop - Doug found the adapter arms for the mount. You could not have scripted it better. 2 trips to the hardware store, 3 steel splinters, and 1 minor burn from the hot steel chip flying up my wrist - time to pack up - and then "Oh my - here is [the thing] you need". Hehehehe. I was grateful to be able to have [the thing] that actually was made for what I was trying to do. I am proud to have made a thing I will never use.

On Sunday, I asked the project manager to help me with the engine removal.

I joke that she is my "swamper". That is not really fair. She was a beast of a worker today. She worked the hoist. She held the engine while I worked the hoist. She helped me push the hoist and the engine around. She dead lifted the engine with her legs whiles I putzed around on the stand. It was like having a beautiful, classically trained orangutan on your team. I tried to finese the engine onto the stand. In the end, it got on there because she lifted one side and put her hip into shoving it into place.

And so - the engine is OUT. This week I will pull the oil pan and the front cover - and so we will know better why it is stuck.