Going a head....

I received the engine gasket package from John Wearing's in England, so have reinstalled the oil pan and the cylinder head.

Engine cleaning continued...

Still slow progress on the engine cleaning and reassembly. I did clean up the upper end of the engine as much as possible with spray on degreaser and brushes. The exhaust valves should probably be removed and cleaned up, but that job is just a little bit beyond my skill and equipment level, so I will reassemble as is and hope that the surface rust burns off.

Next job was a thorough cleaning of the lower end, including the thick gunk in the oil sump, and disassembling the oil pump for cleaning. The good news is that there did not appear to be any metal shaving in the oil sump gunk, which continues my optimism that I can reassemble it and get a running engine without major overhaul.
I have ordered a set of engine reassembly gaskets from John Wearings in England, so will proceed with reassembly when I see those.

I bought myself this interesting book for Christmas with the gift certificate from grandkids. Thanks guys!

 Pulled the car out of the  garage to clean the engine bay to prepare for eventual installation. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that the rather dirty mess rinsed right off! It appears to have just been heavy dust... no idea how it got on there.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

REALLY GETTING INTO MY WORK!

HMMM,  WHATS THAT FOR?

Head's Up!

It took me a while to get the head off the engine, partly because of the holiday season and partly because I was trying to get it off with three of the bolts still on it! Makes it a bit tricky.
As per photos, things look a bit messy in there, especially cylinder #3. I am sure glad I pursued getting the head off.
I will clean it up as much as possible, and then check out the rings etc. Valve job? Dunno yet. Will take a good look. Of course the exhaust valves on the P4 are in the block rather than in the head, so not so easy to ship out for a valve grind.