I spent the winter of 2003 - 2004 cleaning and painting the engine I had removed from the Lincoln.  I tried to be careful not to change anything or disassemble it too far.  It was running strong when I pulled it and I wanted it to stay that way.  I also wanted it to look different, so I painted it "Hot Rod Yellow" with the accessories painted with an annodized-look blue.  It certainly looked different, but I really don't like it.  It will be changing.

On July 31, I successfully fired the engine up and backed it out of my driveway.  It actually drove.  I plated the car and started learning about operating it and finding out what bases I had not covered in installing the engine.  This was a painful process.

One by one, I started correcting problems.  The carb leaked (I put a gasket in wrong).  The starter died (bought a new one).  The transmission leaked (new pan and gasket).  The cover on the exhaust crossover by the carb blew off (drill and tap new holes).  The line for the the mechanical oil pressure gauge blew off twice, soaking the enigine compartment with oil (third time is the charm).  Through all this and more I kept driving it whenever I was able.  When I finally got that oil pressure gauge working, I learned an unfortunate fact.

When I put in 5 quarts of 20W50 oil and a pint of STP, I could get 40 PSI of oil pressure when the engine was cold.  But once it warmed up to operating temp, that dropped to 0, nothing, nada.  Once I knew this I realized I had to stop driving it and start fixing it.  So with a little more money on hand, I started my winter 2004-2005 project: rebuild the 460.  That is in process as I type this.  Watch for my next update to see how my engine turns out.