Chassis prep, undercoater and a missing box of parts!

Today was a busy one, but progress is necessarily slowww.  Started the day with all intentions of getting the flywheel, clutch and bellhousing installed so that I could place the engine back into the chassis.  All that was needed was some minor detailing to those parts so things were looking good to meet that challenge.  And this is a good thing because Ikea is delivering my next project tomorrow and I really need that bay of the garage!

But first let's get that engine prepped.  First install the side cover.

Then, complete the touch-up of the bare metal at the flywheel end and of the flywheel itself.

Now go look for the clutch kit I had stored away.  No easy task considering the number of boxes of parts.  Keep looking...  Look again... Okay, look in places you didn't store parts.... Now look under all those body parts... in the attic?... Hmmm.

I CAN'T FIND THE CLUTCH KIT!

I am sure this stupid box is in plain sight, so I shake off the lost hour of searching and move on to the undercoating.  The weather is perfect for painting and I can do the clutch tonight (once I remember where I left the damn thing a year ago).

Complete the masking of the tub and clean off the bits of debris blown into it yesterday and I'm ready for the goo.  Undercoating does two things:  Protects from corrosion and deadens the road noise.  Frankly, I'm more interested in the latter.  This truck brings a lot of fun to driving (the white-knuckle variety) and it would be great if I could HEAR the laughter of my passengers!  And really, undercoater makes the undercarriage look smart!

My exhaust was custom made and fully welded.  I made the decision (because I could) to remove it intact and store it as such.  I was successful at both, but now I need to get that bad-boy back under the chassis.  It needs to be in place before I can drop in the engine.  Of course I still need to find that clutch...

Removing the exhaust, I recall, took patience.  My recollection was that there was one, and only one, way out.  Something about jacking up the truck and removing the left tire/wheel....  It took several frustrating attempts, but it's back in the chassis.   FYI: POR high-temp (1300 F) silver was used on the headers.  They make some incredible claims about this product!  We'll see.

Wondering about that missing clutch?  I spent another hour-and-a-half obsessing before the light went on.  I had never taken the box out to the shop after I had received it over a year ago.  I put 2+2 together... Nancy probably got tired of tripping over it and "somehow" it made it to the basement.  Too late to install... Bruins game 3 vs. Rangers is on!