A little at a time

I played with the rear main seal a bit more and followed the instructions I had copied from a post on the ChevyTalk forums.  Earlier, I had said to use a .040" piece of tie wrap behind the seal halves but my memory was mistaken.  It is actually .050" for each tie wrap.  Additionally, 3/16" is removed from each seal half using a dremel or similar rotary grinder.  The steel back rib of the seal prevents using any kind of compression cutting tool.  The old seal I had removed was in like new condition so I opted to practice on that one rather than cut up a new seal and chance ruining it.  The ends of the tie wrap were removed using side cutters leaving only the ribbed part of the tie wrap.  I applied some light grease to both sides of the tie wrap and gradually pushed the seal and tie wrap into the seal groove in the block using a pair of pliers to push the pieces around the crankshaft a little at a time.  The other tie wrap was  placed in the rear main cap seal groove and the shortened seal was pushed into place.  A light coat of silicone was applied to the mating machined surfaces of the cap where it meets the block and the main bolts were torqued to 100 ft lbs.  I check for any crank binding as I torqed the bolts in 3 steps - 50/75/100 ft lbs.  After each step I check the rotating resistance of the short block with my torque wrench.  The entire rotating assembly (minus the camshaft) would begin turning at 26 ft lbs.  This remained unchanged as I completed the 3 steps. The seal contact surface appeared to be quite heavily flattened against the crank surface so I'm not too confident that this will last.  I'm afraid the seal may burn up due to excessive drag on the crank.  Time will tell.  I ordered some gaskets from More Power to complete the front plate and timing cover installation.  With those in hand, I can put the engine back together to await reinstallation. 
     My brother made it over on Monday and we discussed options to install the motor mounts.  The driver's side of the engine has a lot of "stuff" to contend with and we decided to wait until I could get the steering column installed in order to determine where the steering shaft would need to be routed.  We are also curious as too how much, if any, compression we can expect on the rubber donuts used with the motor mounts.  I called Chassis Engineering on Tuesday but they are closed all week for the holidays.  With only 1/4" of oil pan to crossmember clearance, we want to make sure the donuts don't compress and allow the pan to hit. 
     I called Lecarra today since my steering wheel is still on back order so I could find out how far above the steering column mount the wheel sits (how much heighth the wheel adds to the column length).  The wheel is nearly flat with only a 1" addition to the column length.  This allowed me to temporarily install the Ididit steering column.  Once the column is painted, it is going to look awesome!

The top piece is merely sitting on the column in this picture and not fully pulled down.  This allowed me to determine the approximate wheel installation position sitting in the driver's seat.  I then tried various positions with a wooden dowel inserted into the column to see how the geometry will look in the engine compartment and how much clearance I'll have for the motor mounts.

I talked with Dick at More Power about connection methods.  Got some reading and research to do.  Since I was working inside the car today, I decided to remove the dashboard material that was preventing the installation of the new gauge panel.  A few seconds with a high speed grinder and a carbide bit and all was good!

Here's a preview of how the new gauges will look.

And here's the dash with the speedo and gauges in place.

The old wiring hanging from under the dash is the bundle of wires that run thru the roof to the trunk area.   I wanted to wait to remove them until I could check as to where they go.  I set the battery on the floor and connected a ground strap to the floor.  Then I used a jumper wire to test each wire to determine which lights came on in the back.  The dome light isn't in this bundle and the left brake light wire was running under the carpet!  What a mess the wiring was.  Sure will be nice when the new Kwik Wire kit is installed and the elecrical gremlins are banished!  The engine gaskets are waiting for me to pick them up so tomorrow is a trip to More Power.