Stripping Down

I think my biggest regret so far with this project is the fact that I waited so long to start this blog.  I took a lot of pictures along the way, but it seems like I could have taken a lot more.  I think if I had started this blog earlier I would have better documentation of the disassembly thus making my reassembly easier.  For example -  I took the steering wheel, steering shaft and steering column all out of Kara and of that whole process this is the only photo I have:

One of my close friends was kind enough to let me use his two stall garage for this project.  I'm really pretty baffled by that kind of generosity, especially now that this project has been taking up the whole garage for over a year and he still doesn't mind at all.   At the time this project began I lived 30 minutes away, and 8 months ago  I moved in.  Thanks for being awesome Miller Time.

Stripping Down

First thing I did when Kara arrived at her new home was take the soft top off and pull the roll bar out.  I'm pretty sure I started with the roll bar because it was the least intimidating thing.  Shortly after that it was the fender, and then the grill, next thing you know you're 50% the way there...er well in hind sight like .05% the way there ...

 

 

To take the grill off I had to cut one of the wires in the harness.  I don't believe this harness is completely originally anymore...for one thing harnesses from 35 years ago tend to be all kinds of corroded.  Secondly the wire went from the body, into the frame, out of the frame, and then into the grill where it connected to my high beams.  So I cut it.

  

Once I had the front apart I just started taking pictures.  I didn't know what a lot of the stuff on the engine was (well...still don't in some cases) but I was pretty sure that I need to know exactly where it was when I put it back.

 

   

 

 

 

It's at this point in the blog that anyone reading with any mechanical knowledge might ask "Why is he taking so many pictures of things that don't matter?  Does he have any idea what he is doing?"  So please let me reassure you:  I have no clue about anything.  And I can prove it with more pictures that may or may not matter.

   

 

The above four pictures are of the carburetor.  As I needed to disconnected anything connected to the body (since I'm taking it off)  I figured a few good pictures of throttle and choke cables would probably be prudent.  

Once everything was disconnected from the body I had a handful of friends helped me pick it up off the frame.  I really appreciate the help from everyone.  I'd thank you by name, but I've decided to keep real names out of the this blog.  You'll all be named after a beer as you appear in the blog later.  I wish I had gotten a picture of everyone that helped that day.

One last thing before I end this post that takes months of work and compresses it into an 8 minute read;  Below is a picture of my gas tank.  The round thing is the sending unit.  It measure how much fuel is in the tank.  You can see two fuel lines coming into the tank right on top of the sending unit and then two breather lines down and a bit to the left.  There is also a third gas line that doesn't connect to the tank.  I have literally no idea why it is there.  I'm not sure if it is an old line that started leaking so the previous own ran a new line and didn't remove the old one, or if it actually serves a purpose.  If you know why please comment below and let me know.