Update time -
First off, until I upgrade my OSX, I'm still unable to post pics through photobucket, but if you want to see what it looked like when I bought it, those pics are posted on my myspace account.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=78709114&albumId=2304217 Between work, gigs and garage time, I haven't been as talkative lately, so here's where I'm at.
The car is stripped down to the tub, and I've been rolling it around the garage on a furniture dolly.
The grease on the undercarriage has been a nightmare. On a Midget, the driveshaft tunnel is closed off on the bottom, so not only have I had to scrape the undercarriage, I've had to scoop out gunk and degrease the inside of a three foot long driveshaft tube.
This was made easier by simply flipping the tub over on its back on a piece of wafferboard and rolling it around on the dolly. It's a one-man operation - something to be said for a light-weight. My good friend, Billy Brunke, refers to this as my "Polish Rotisserie". He's Polish, so he can say that. I'm Czech, so I just call it "thrifty".
Taking down the old paint has made me a liar - My earlier claims of a "rust free" car have proven to be less than accurate. Gratefully, it's confined to the passanger side floor pan and the bottom of the passanger rear fender. It's a day's work, but easy to accomplish with the car on its back, and replacements are easily had. I'll be expecting a Christmas card from Moss Motors this year.
Parts are scattered - attic, garage rafters, basement, all tagged and bagged, labled. My boss is loaning me his sandblast box, so the little pieces are the next process. I want to have the tub ready to go before the snow falls, and will concentrate on the engine/drivetrain this winter in the basement.
Retrieved the block and head from the shop today - cleaned and magged - no problems - a solid starting point. Still juggling parts on paper/online. Destroking this thing is going to give me an outrageous rod ratio.
8.875 deck height. I'm thinking rod length 6.125 (Chevy), 72 mm pistons (Kawasaki or Honda - depending on the height to the top of the piston and how much meat is available for an offset rebore on the wrist pin), 2.4 stroke = 2.53 rod ratio (!?) I'll need a piston with about 1 1/2" from the center of the pin bore to the top. I'll take any thoughts on that - it's all pretty extreme. Looks like I can shave some off of the deck. I'll oil 'em and bag 'em tomorrow when I get home.
Tranny needs a rebuild - found a source for a close ratio gearset (Jack Knight - UK).
I've got, what, 48 weeks?