5 or 6 years ago, I liberated the engine from my Stealth with the intent on finally building it the way I wanted it (turbos were whining..figured it'd be a good time for forced upgrades). Not long after I got the engine out, Kate and I decided to buy a house...(It wasn't just her idea It was mine, too).
Well, obviously I didn't want to waste the time putting a not-so-great engine back into the stealth, so I let it sit..
years later (after finally selling that other freakin' house) my stealth is in _our_ garage. I had it flat-bedded over.
Tonight for the first time in years I decided to tinker around with it a little bit. I got this notion in my head of stripping the engine bay and re-painting it.
So, I started the process tonight and very quickly got overwhelmed. Everything in these engine bays seems to be bolted, strapped, tied, through, or clamped to everything else. Everytime I loosened one thing, 5 more things got in the way!
I've seen pictures of guys who have stripped the bays down and repainted them...how the flying hell is it done? I mean, the sheer mess of wires/tubes/etc made my brain lock up. I stared at it saying to myself "there's no way in hell I can do this...I won't even be able to put it back together!"
You guys who pull these things apart...how the hell do you know where everything goes when you put it back together?
I have plenty of pictures and another vr4 that I can use as a model when putting it back together..but still...it's just scary looking.
I'm actually scared to try and strip the engine bay..I'm afraid I'd get into worse shape than if I just left it the way it is.
If I had the money, at this point, I honestly think I'd just ship it to GZP or DR to build it..but I don't have the money..so one way or another, I gotta get the parts and put this thing back together..whether the engine bay looks pretty or not. (But I really want to restore that engine bay..a couple bad oil leaks completely ruined it).
Who has experience stripping these things down? Should I even bother? Or just clean what I can reach then drop the engine in when it's ready?
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