As described in the last post, the motor build is mostly completed.  There are a few weird odds-and-ends yet to be done, like a drill and tap for a bolt to secure warm-up regulator to the block and such – nothing major.  But I realized that the final build specificatio...

The last post – Death by a thousand delays – ended with more parts missing and some health issues for me, causing another delay.  But, it turned out the time off from work allowed me to focus on the motor.  And I got it out the door and off to Sacramento, to be tinkere...

It’s been the far side of two-and-half months since the last post and the motor still hasn’t been completed and the body shell hasn’t really progressed.  That’s not to say there hasn’t been progress, but it’s been really slow.  Rob Siegel, The Hack Mechanic, counsels t...

With the crank in the block and the pistons and rods assembled, next was putting them into the cylinders.

First, rods needed to be separated.  The bolts were torqued down pretty good and I needed a little help loosening them.  An impact wrench does the trick.

Then,...

Avid readers will remember that the body work was chugging along, accomplishments each week to keep the momentum going, but the machinist seemingly was making no progress.  For months he kept promising to be done “by the end of the week.” And then, about a month ago, “...

According to Stu, it’s best for the project to keep momentum.  So, while there was certainly time to finish the body and paint work since my last update in early December, he chose to do a little each week (holidays excluded), slow but steady.  This approach was perfec...

Almost a month ago, progress was slow but hopeful.

The car had been taken to Sacramento and the shell stripped down.  Motor parts were ordered, acquired, and taken to the machine shop.  I wrote about both tracks progressing, but slowly.

Since then one track is compl...

Around a month ago the engine-less shell was loaded on a trailer and taken to the body shop.  About the same time I started delivering parts to the machine shop after deciding what to do with the engine (conclusion: squirrel away the genuine Alpina engine and build a b...

The first post on this blog, Sleuthing the Car, discussed how I found a genuine Alpina on Bring-a-Trailer and the harsh comments when the seller didn't do the leg-work to authenticate the car.  What it didn’t discuss was my stepping in the debate, where I offered that...

The motor is out.  The rebuild decisions have been made, the path mapped out (mostly, more on that later).  It’s time to focus on the body and interior.

While the car languished, waiting for my motivation to remove the motor, I tinkered with the body, interior, eng...