Project: Greta! engine pull

I’ve had the brown ’75 Gremlin (Greta) for over a year now. When I first got it, I got it running, fixed some lights that were out and took it on a drive to the local grocery store. On that trip I discovered that the clutch slipped really bad. I also found out that the car was leaking oil at a decent rate (needed a drip pan underneath it when parked) and the engine/trans were covered in oil and grime… and so I parked it. My guess was that the rear main was leaking and that there was oil on the clutch (in addition to it leaking oil from everywhere else as well). So I need I need to pulled the motor/trans.

Well, a year later, and with the race Javelin in the shop getting the 3rd link mount fixed (see previous posts) there was a “hole” in the shop. So I decided it was time to make some progress on this Gremlin. I drained all the fluids, removed the hood, disconnected everything I needed to and yanked the motor/trans as a unit. I used an engine leveler and that was crucial as you really need to tilt the motor/trans to get it out.

Once it was out, I separated the motor from the trans. First thing I noticed was that the clutch disc was NOT covered in oil. There went that theory… The clutch also didn’t look severely worn either. The flywheel didn’t look that great but I don’t know enough about how to “read” the flywheel or clutch disc to know if they are glazed or something…

So, now that the drive train is out the next order of business is to clean the grease off of everything and then replace a bunch of gaskets to try to stop all the oil leaks. And, because now’s the time to do it, I’ll replace the thermostat and waterpump. I’m also going to paint the block, oil pan and valve cover and clean the engine compartment a bit. More later.