[My wife won't know whether or not to be mad about this picture. On one hand, she'd love if I put that much effort into, say, taking care of the yard or washing dishes. On the other, there are few things in this world she appreciates more than a well-organized to-do list. Ha.]
Last weekend I managed to get the engine and transmission back in the frame. Then I spent a few days staring at the result and trying to decide what to do next. I ran the whole gamut from redoing both the transmission and engine crossmembers as well as the motor mounts (to move the motor forward and down in the frame) to swapping to rack-and-pinion steering (to run a rear-sump oil pan and maybe allow for long-tube headers) to leaving everything alone. I ended up somewhere near the third option, mostly because I felt far less optimistic about being able to make drastic changes after I (wisely) bolted the steering parts back up and realized that three years ago I placed the motor exactly where it is now because that's where the engine crossmember and steering linkage fit best.
Once I dispensed with all silly notions of power steering and sweet, sweet headers I was able to focus on what really needed to happen. I mocked up a couple of fake lower control arms using 7/8" oak dowels from Lowes. I used those to level out the frame on the jackstands - I figured that if I got the frame to sit so that the dowels are level, then I can hack the front end apart and be able to more easily put things back in place (as long as I don't accidentally knock the frame off the jackstands, I guess). Other than that, I just took a bunch of pictures to have for a reference after I tear things apart and my memory fades to the point at which I can't remember what goes where.
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