Well I called the machine shop. I was initially told 1-2 months, its been over 2 months. He said "We may be able to start tearing it down next week". I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, continued to get the engine bay ready for paint. Proving to be a lot more work than expected. I finally got it completely clean so I started stripping it. I think its to the point where I'll do a final sand and start taping it:

 

The machine shop finally started work on the engine. Stopped by and got to see it after initial teardown. Turns out it's been opened up before. One piston is different and it happened to be the one I had low compression on. Not sure what the story is on it. A lot of sludge, which makes sense for it sitting so long. So far the block and heads look good, we'll know more after it gets cleaned and magnafluxed. Hopefully I'll have it back within a month.

 

In the meantime, I've made a little more progress. I got the engine compartment painted:




Installed the seal for the air cleaner housing:

 

Installed a new battery tray with the '67 style tie down. Not really impressed with the overall fit of the tray, took a lot of coercing, but it's in:

 

90Runner,
I see you have a Grindrite Banner in you garage. You work in a ski shop?

Bruce

 

No, I just went skiing every weekend. My cousin is the one who worked in the ski shop and got the banner for me.

 

Spent the afternoon in the garage again. Amazing how long some of this stuff takes....

Got the headlight wiring harness installed along with the new voltage regulator:



Horns reinstalled and wired:

 

I also got the new parking lights installed, the rear housings needed a good sanding and shot of rust converter. The new lens' will go on once I get some replacement bulbs:

 

Small progress today. Cleaned up and painted the zbar frame mount and put a new felt washer/bushing on it:




Got the alternator wired up:

 

I also got the gas pedal back in and the clutch rod installed, both with new boots. I'm in a little bit of a predicament on the trunnion that goes on the clutch rod. Mine is slightly bent and the e-clip grove is almost gone. It looks like you can only buy the 65's replacements with the whole zbar. So I bought one for a '67, looks to be about the same except the clevis portion is a little long and looks to use a pin to retain it instead of the e-clip. We'll see how it goes, it was worth the gamble for what they want for a new zbar.