Postage included

This Labor Day was spent working on the car, and what better project than retoring the bell housing?

First, the clutch fork and all the hardware were media-blasted and Parkerized.

The bell housing was really dirty and oddly
covered with black rattle-can spray paint.

The housing was pressure-washed before being soaked in diesel fuel for a couple of hours, which took off most of the dirt, clutch dust and the dried grease and oil.

After that it was blasted clean in the media blast cabinet. This removed the remaining grime and all that inexplicable black spray paint.

Next, this was glass bead-blasted to give the aluminum a satin sheen like it had when it was new.

Everything was assembled and has been set aside for when the engine is ready to be painted.

Weirdest of all was a 15-cent stamp that was found in a bolt hole on the perimeter of the bell housing.

This stamp is from about 1979 making this a pretty old Easter egg.