I had everything prepped for pulling the engine way back in late fall, but it took till now to finally plucked the motor.  One part of that delay was that it took some time to rustle up the hoist from my buddy. Once I had that piece of gear in place it took another good chunk of time to have my friend on hand for moral and technical support since I had never pulled an engine before.   

We finally planned to get together on a warm Friday last week, and I was all set for the big day. I had bolted the harness down to the two proscribed lifting points on the block and put a little tension on just to test (and be sure all of the bellhousing bolts were out and the engine was in fact free.) Still, my friend had a last minute conflict so we pushed to Saturday morning.

I was already antsy, so decided to try and crank the hoist a bit more and see what progress I could make on my own.  With a little more tension on the hoist and some muscling the motor around, the engine started to separate from the bell housing. Eventually I was able to wedge it forward off the gearbox input shaft and then  get it to rise a few inches in the engine bay. I had to take the alternator and distributor off to get enough clearance front and back, and had the engine about 90% free until I stopped to have an extra set of experienced hands on hand the next day.

The next morning, with my pal's help and adding a little tilt to the harness angle, we got the motor up and out in about 10 minutes. We also improvised a support for the transmission still in the car with a piece of wood across the cowl and a ratchet strap holding up the tranny.

To get the engine ready to transfer from the hoist to the stand, I pulled the clutch, flywheel, and starter. The engine runs well and I got the car driveable last year,  so the plan is to clean the motor, do the valve cover, oil pan and front engine cover gaskets (and probably front and rear main seals as well) as well as some other light restoration and TLC on the stand. In the meantime I will detail and paint the engine bay, take the front and rear subframes apart, cleaned the parts, get them powder-coated for reassembly with new bushings and hardware and  put back on the car. Next I will push on to the next big phases: interior refresh and a full, extensive exterior restoration.  I need to outsource all the body work and paint, so welcome any suggestions for trusted shops in the greater NYC area.

And now for the big reveal: in the intervening months of cold weather and other delays, I've become immersed in the emerging cottage industry for EV conversions of vintage, classic and older cars & trucks. So much so that I feel destiny is calling me to shift gears and make this special car something extra special by transforming it with an electric drivetrain.  I'm working on a book called the Roundie Restoration about how this original-owner '71 came into my life (in the middle of the pandemic),  how the whole experience has changed me and the Moto Mojo that has been reawakened in me along the way. 

I'm sure there are plenty of 2002 purists who may howl at the sacrilege of such a conversion, and I do want to gather your input and feedback. I also plan to keep the engine and all the other components so that the entire conversion could be reversed if I ever decide Phaedra (the car's moniker, inspired by a well known book) needed to revert to original form.

I'm actually working on a new cooperative organization for the NYC metro area designed to make EV conversions faster, easier and more affordable. So if you are also thinking about an EV conversion project for any kind of great older car, please get in touch. I love 2002s, especially this one, in their natural ICE-powered condition. Yet I am also heading in this direction for all the great reasons car people are being drawn to EV conversions -- for performance, for the technical challenges and for the sheer fun of it. The 2002's light weight, simplicity and sporting nature are some of the reasons it is a good candidate for EV conversion.

More than anything, I'm in it for the adventure and to build a new kind of collaborative network (much like this one) that aims to make EV conversions more accessible and achievable for people who love cars of all kinds.