Frankenstein Spider status

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Being as I had most of the afternoon off and I knew my Spider 
Resurrection was up to the point of running again, I took a ride up to 
the shop to see how it's coming along today. 

It's definitely on the home stretch now. Everything but for about 10 
little details of the Frankensteining is put together and operates now. 
The interior's in, all the hookups are made, it's looking better and 
better. Mike and I spent an hour crawling over the mechanicals in detail 
to be sure that we're not missing anything. The awesome bulk of the work 
is done, the initial Big Check is about to be signed. They've done a 
fantastic job with it and put a lot of love and care into the job that 
money simply can't buy. This is going to be one really really nice 
Spider. I'm very pleased.

Now we have the more delicate parts of this colossal job to deal with. 
This engine has not been run since 1992, it'd been sitting in a field on 
a horse farm between then and when I brought it home on a flatbed in '94. 
That's seven years immobile, not good for anything mechanical. It fires 
up and runs, no nasty noises, but right now there's a persistent miss, a 
lack of responsiveness and power. Several of the sensors and injectors 
seem to be having difficulty waking up to service again. The catcon is, I 
think, toasted ... there's a consistent scattering of fine crud from it, 
which says to me that the internals are probably dead and corroded. Blue 
smoke .. possibly a stuck ring or leaky valve guide ... and a head gasket 
leak. 

I think we'll get the sensors and stuff sorted out or replaced pretty 
quickly, a new catcon fitted, new ignition wires installed, but a greater 
concern is that the engine suffered valve or piston damage from sitting 
so long. Monday or Tuesday we'll do a compression and leakdown check ... 
depending on what that shows, I think the head will come off, a valve job 
and a set of high compression pistons and new cylinders will go in. 

So the home stretch is entered but the plate is still aways in front of 
us. Next installment after some more analysis and diagnostics next week. 

Luckily, I have the week off and can do a lot of the incidental running 
around to scavenge bits right now. 

Godfrey

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