What did you do this weekend?

Continuing the Toyota Big Block Build, progress isn't super big this week as much of the work doesn't photograph well, I really only worked on it one day as it rained the other, and I'm in a bit of a holding pattern on the engine at the moment.

Started the day slapping some gold paint on the oil pan just because I wanted to and it'll be a little easier to see oil leaks on the pan now vs keeping it black. The drain plug was painted/sacrificed to keep paint out of the threads as I intend to replace it with a magnetic plug. If you're doing your own automotive work it's a good idea to do so as changing the oil and finding metal shavings on the plug can give you a heads up that something is going wrong, hopefully before it becomes catastrophic. Moved onto painting the valve covers next.

First mask off anything you don't want painted such as the underside, oil fill, crankcase vent, valve cover bolt gasket surface, and the threaded holes that hold the spark plug cover. Lay down three thick layers of the wrinkle finish paint in a crosshatch pattern with 5 minutes between coats. Then hit it with the heat gun to make it wrinkle and leave it to dry. Being more careful than me, remove the masking and bolts then put it into your oven at 200F for an hour to cure (you can also cure the paint by putting it on the engine and running it, but my engine isn't in the car so...). You'll want to be careful because while the paint is dry, it is quite soft at this stage and your apelike fumbling will nick the paint; be sure to open some windows/run the vent above the stove/etc as your home will smell like hot paint for a bit. Afterward you can leave them as is or can sand off the paint on the lettering for some contrast. If you decide to sand, again, be more careful than I or you'll smooth out some of the wrinkles and even take the paint off a high spot entirely. It is worth noting that that photo is pre-cleanup and so the unwrinkled spot below "Twin Cam" is significantly less obvious in person than it is in pictures. After the engine is in the car and ready to run (so it can cure on the car) I might touch up those areas with more paint, but I'm not sure yet as my cars are meant to be driven and it'll never be cleaner than it is the moment I put it in the car. When I blocked off the threaded spark plug cover holes I noticed that some were in good shape and some were corroded/galled, so ran the M6x1mm tap and rethread them.

Now to the oil pan adapter. While the holes on it are generally in the right place, it's still a homemade (read: non-commercial) piece made by a fellow forum member and plasma cutters aren't great at making small holes. For example the heart shaped hole is cute and all, but bad for getting a bolt through it. So grab the drill and clean those up. While you're at it use the punch to mark holes for the two that don't line up with the block at all and drill/tap new holes for the bolts-cum-studs you'll use to cinch up that area for oil leak prevention. Of the five holes in this picture, each has its own solution. The upper right hole is correctly positioned for a normal stud, of the center two the upper hole will have a reused low profile factory bolt that is entirely inside the oil pan when done, the bottom center (and the hole to the left of it) are the newly tapped holes for cinching up the old oil pan and the adapter in the one spot on the block that isn't just a straight line, the upper left bolt hole will be mostly inside the oil pan as it partially lines up with the wall of the oil pan and a normal bolt won't work, so I need to countersink the hole so a flat headed bolt will sit flush with the adapter surface. Oh, and did I mention that I didn't think about countersinking that hole until after I was home from the hardware store so I'll need to go back for one freaking bolt? Isn't this fun?!

Turn the engine back over, put the valve covers on with some temporary nuts to hold them down and go have yourself a drink.

Wife and I decided to go out with two of our bubble friends to our favorite sushi place. Lady at the door is taking names and numbers for a text notification waiting list so everyone waits inside their car. 40 minutes pass and text received, we go in, walk past the barrier that blocked a view to the actual tables from the door, see that every table is full, no barriers between tables, and watch two waiters walk by with masks below their noses. Do a 180 and walk back out. End up going to a rice flour Korean chicken place (one of the friends is a big fan of fried chicken and never had it prior) that I'd had before. Laid back, only a third of the tables are used, chicken and soju aplenty, good times had. Will wait until post-pandemic/vaccine to get sushi.

Took the $600 280Z project to the police station to have the VIN number run since there was no title (just a bill of sale) when we picked it up. Needs to be checked if it's stolen mostly, but also for them to sign off that the VIN is correct, unaltered, etc. so a bonded title can be obtained. Didn't want to work on a car that we may not be able to keep. Got a little push back from the auto theft division detective as they "usually only look at cars that can be driven" and this one is far from that point. A little bit of pleading, reasoning that spending money on a car you don't know you can keep is foolhardy, and bonding over Z ownership got us to have him agree to at least check the stolen car database for the VIN.

While waiting a guy that had built a trailer on an old chassis to showcase his company's products came over and talked about the Z (and various other subjects because he was chatty as hell) and he, in true salesman fashion never knowing who might be a potential customer, invites us into his trailer to show off his stuff. As we get to the door I make jokes about being invited into a stranger's windowless trailer and ask if he has any candy. Stuff is pretty cool, he makes battery powered tables for conferences and hotels so the chefs can cook and the buffets can be kept hot (or other electrical needs) without running power cables.

As we safely exit the trailer unmolested (and candy-less I might add) and sit on the tailgate of the truck a policewoman pulls up a couple of parking spots away and starts blowing kisses in my direction. I move my head back and forth to see if I'm missing something and seeing no one but my friend I blow kisses back just in time for the other policewoman that's been helping people get their vehicles checked comes walking up behind us blowing kisses at the policewoman in the car. That makes much more sense...

Little bit later and the detective helping us comes back with full paperwork saying we're good to go. He ultimately ignored the unwritten rule of only looking at running vehicles and the stolen car check was clean. He says it's also been sitting (or unregistered) for at least 25 years as that's as far back as their system goes and he can find no registration since then. The condition of the car says he's certainly not wrong that it's been off the road for more than 25 years.