Finally, 2 years after I'd bought the shell, I was ready to roll up my sleeves & get to work. This was in September 2000.
One weekend, my friend Jim came over to help with pulling the engine & transmission from the "donor car." I hadn't run it in about a year, but I shot a little oil into the cylinders and turned it over with a big socket wrench to prevent seizing.
And there it is in the air. The hoist rental from Friday afternoon to Monday morning only set me back $24.15. While the engine was in the air, I cleaned it up, hit it with a coat of Ford Blue, and gave it a new oil pan. I still need to clean up the carb & intake manifold, and get a nicer-looking set of plug wires.
Here's the engine just prior to removal. I took several of these from various angles in case I need a reminder of how things go back together. This particular photo reminds me that the power steering belt goes on before the alternator belt. I just hate doing things twice. The valve covers you see on it are a spare set I had around -- I didn't want to scratch the polished aluminum covers with the sling when I lifted the engine.
The radiator got a coat of paint.
I used special radiator paint.
Here's a picture of my garage. I used a larger version as my screen wallpaper for a while.